Blyth

By popular demand.

No thrill near Rhyl

Lured by the once in a lifetime chance of a twitchable Royal Tern we found ourselves up the M6 on a saturday afternoon and overnighting in Llandudno, North Wales. Sadly the tern had other ideas and despite a 4am vigil by many a keen lister it was not to be. Not to worry I can add it to my ever increasing 'rubbish days in Wales' list. LGRE's face says it all really !

Groppa !

A nice Buckton ringing first, in the cliff top dell and also heard later in song. This should have been on the site ringing list as far back as September 2001 when during fall conditions (we had already caught a YB Warbler and an RB Flycatcher that morning and there was a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler on Blakeney Point) Jenny noticed something creeping around in a pile of farm rubbish near the main dell. Steve Blain and myself got brief views of an obvious locustella and the adrenaline got pumping ! Graham Elliott who was with us calmly said it will be a gropper, we hastily errected a mist net across the rubbish and within seconds the bird was in and then out of the net, it flew across an open field and away.

Thankfully Steve had obtained several digiscope images which showed beyond doubt it was just a gropper, what chances an eastern race though - would have liked to have ruled straminea out.

The bird that we briefly had on the cliff edge last September, is another story all togther and one for the pub !

Dayjar vu !

Stunning views at the Lodge today, snoozed at very close range for hundreds of delighted visitors. Birds have power !

Icky handywork !

A nice surprise whilst checking the cliff top dell net at Buckton on June 1st, one of only two birds caught all day and in the exact same spot as the bird caught on May 27th last year. High pressure and warm easterly winds resulted in this bird being drifted over the North Sea, but quite why it made landfall in such conditions is open to speculation. Other bits seen included Cuckoo - first of year here. A total of 32 Tree Sparrow chicks were ringed within the nest boxes with lots of others on eggs. Over 12 hours skywatching on the cliff top failed to nail the hoped for Bee-eater, there is always next spring!

Scraping the barrel

Although the scrape looks great and is providing brilliant feeding it is drying out rapidly - June usually brings rain, if not floods!

not so full !

1st summer male, eastern England