Tales From An Essex Birder

The constant revision during my Cheshire stay often resulted in life feeling somewhat mundane. After the previous day's success with the Siberian Stonechat twitch, I decided to keep things interesting. News of Whooper and Bewick's Swans within walking distance of where I was staying proved just too tempting to resist. So, after revising hard, I decided to try my luck at the two species in the light that remained. Off I set with high hopes and visions of interesting Swans - the flittering of 3 Long-tailed Tits just before entering the marsh were a nice welcome. As a first-timer there, I was shocked at the sheer size of the place with seemingly never-ending fields in front of me. After some helpful directions from a fellow birder, I set off in the direction of the Swans just as a Kestrel hovered close by. Eventually, my chosen path led me up to the grazing marsh where I was greeted by a large number of distant Lapwing - with a solitary Great Black-backed Gull mixed in. So...

Having not been to see a rarity more than an hour from my location, I'd consider myself a somewhat modest twitcher. So when news of a Siberian/Stejneger's Stonechat in Cheshire came up on BirdGuides, I started to feel twitchy and just couldn't help going for it. Despite my Twitter handle suggesting that I've travelled up from Essex to see the bird, I have in fact been staying in Cheshire with my grandparents - a mere 25 minute drive away from the site in which the bird was seen. Circumstances (in other words revision) meant that I only had a couple of hours to have a good crack at seeing the bird. So, after an early start and 3 hours of revision, I managed to find sufficient time to have a go at the bird. The pre-twitch feelings of mild nervousness began to strike me on the drive to the Flashes, however news that the bird had been seen half an hour prior gave me some encouragement. On arrival, we spotted a few birders to reaffirm that we were in fact in the right plac...

For a sixth former like myself the Christmas period means only one thing... revision. However, I was gladly able to have a days break from the slog and elected to go birding a bit further afield. After some consideration, I decided I would pay a visit to my favourite nature reserve in Norfolk -  Holkham. This was mainly to try my luck again at the Shorelark and Snow Bunting that I'd unwillingly dipped almost a year to the day, and maybe even jam in on a White-fronted Goose or two. The day started off poorly when - despite it being 7:30 in the morning, my father and I were stuck in standstill traffic. This, and the fact that it was the shortest day of the year, really had me worrying about how much time I would be able to spend birding. Gladly, we eventually managed to get moving again and arrived at Lady Anne's drive at around 10:45. Birding proceedings began promisingly when a Stonechat hopped out obligingly - a matter of metres from our car - and was eventually joined by...