Ross's Gull, Bowling Green marsh - 27/06/2014

An all too easy, rock-up-and-see-it Ross's Gull was the highlight of yesterday's outing. It had been present for about six weeks at BGM, and I had been keeping my eye on the Devonshire forum to see if it was hanging around. I had an early start down to the hide and sure enough, there he was, quite obvious amongst the BGH's. I'd forgotten my bins, so it was birding via camera again.

Also present were two Spotted Redshanks, giving me the second lifer, Brit, and year tick of the day. They were both looking pretty dapper in the finest Summer black, and busy pruning between rain showers. They were tucked away at the back of the marsh amongst a herd of curlew, and I had to borrow a look through another chap's scope to see them. Funnily enough he had the Opticron 80 ED.. It gave me an itch to get a scope so bad that a few hours later I had more or less impulsively bought one at Darts Farm. I've gone for a much cheaper model than the Opticron that I had been fancying, using my staff discount and going for the RSPB AG80, with a 20-60 Zoom eye piece,tripod/cover bundle. It's not the same quality level as the Opticron admittedly, however, a test drive yesterday evening and this morning shows that it is adequate for what I need a scope for currently, and I've saved myself easily £600. It also revealed some Common Sand's for a tick for 2014 that I would not have realised were there, the first bobbing on a buoy on the Exe, and the others on the slowly emerging sandbank in the distance.   

Getting 'savvy'. See what I did there? Newport Wetlands - 01/06/2014

With the forecast for nice weather today I made an early start and set off the the Wetlands before opening time. Upon arrival there was already a small gathering for the Savi's Warbler, and the bird had been in the same spot for over a week. He was showing much better today, and even allowed for some half decent shots. Only the 5th for Wales apparently, and first for Gwent!

Giving it some beans

After seeing Beardie's for the first time in Radipole a couple of weeks back, the gods of birding saw fit to mock me with some near the pontoon briefly. There was also a showy (and sing-y for that matter) Sedge Warbler in a tree of all places. After a quick chat with Rob and Mat, there was also a very showy Lesser White Throat in the lane. The sun seemed to be bringing them all out.

At Goldcliff there was an avalanche of Avocet, with three young 'uns feeding out on the lagoon. From the back hide I thought I had found a rarity, seeing what I thought was a golden plover, but with odd markings more similar to Yankee.. Humbling though, turned out to be a grey plover in breeding plumage, but I'd never realised how similar they get, having never seen grey this time of year. Chalk up another learning point, but still, one for the 2014 list...