RSPB Minsmere - 22nd August 2026

 Yesterday, Jayne and I had an early morning visit to RSPB Minsmere. We had three hours on site (6.30am - 9.30am), and added a new butterfly species for the year - Grayling.

We started off at the Visitors' Centre, before walking around the Coastal Trail. Our first bird of the visit was a Green Woodpecker, that flew off as we drove onto the site. Carrying on, we saw a good number of warblers, including a very bright, showy Lesser Whitethroat, along with a family party of Whitethroats. Chiffchaffs and Cettis Warblers, were also heard.

Arriving at the famous Scrape, we soon added a fly-over Hobby and a number of wader species: Lapwing, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Avocet, including a couple of well grown juveniles. It was here that we spotted our first Grayling of the day.

Grayling

Other birds seen around the Scrape were: Common Tern (adults and juveniles), Great Egret, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, a single Barnacle Goose, Canada, Egyptian and Greylag Goose, Moorhen, Coot, 2 Little Gulls and Pied Wagtail.

Great Egret

Little Gull

Island Mere Hide was quite quiet (we missed the Bittern by a few minutes!), but we added Cormorant and Great-crested Grebe to the morning's list.

Arriving back at the Visitors' Centre, we finished off the morning with a vegan sausage cob, which we shared with a local Pheasant, a Robin and some Chaffinches.

Year List Update and a Lifer!

Today has been a pretty great day, in terms of Year List species, and a very nice, completely unexpected "lifer".

The day started well, with a nest box check at Linacre (more on the boxes in another post), when the first Garden Warbler (137) of the year was found in the ringing site.

After Linacre, Jayne and I drove across to Lincolnshire, where we saw a couple of Common Cranes (138) at Willow Tree Fen, before driving across to RSPB Frampton Marsh. On arrival, I had a quick check on Birdguides, and saw that an American Golden Plover (139 for the year and my 520th bird for the worldwide Life List) had been found on the reserve, that morning! Luckily, it was still present, and 5 minutes later, we were watching it feeding some 100m away.

American Golden Plover

After enjoying the plover, we walked around the reserve and added the following "year ticks": Ruff (140), Whitethroat (141), Spotted Redshank (142 - a beautiful breeding plumaged bird), Lesser Whitethroat (143), Common Sandpiper (144), Yellow Wagtail (145), Reed Warbler (146), Spoonbill (147) and Common Tern (148). This Yellow Wagtail was seen, on the road, driving out of the reserve.

Yellow Wagtail

Other species seen were: Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Reed Bunting, Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Linnet, Goldfinch, White Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Canada, Brent and Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Pintail (1 pair), Gadwall, Teal, Pochard, Wigeon, Redshank, Lapwing, Avocet and Little Ringed Plover.

Little Ringed Plover

Butterflies seen were: Orange Tip, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue.

RSPB Frampton Marsh - 29th April 2023

 Jayne and I had a drive over to RSPB Frampton Marsh yesterday for our annual visit. As always, the reserve was fantastic, and we had a great few hours there, enjoying the weather (warm and sunny) and adding 11 species to this year's list.

The first new species was Ruff (142), followed quickly by Avocet (143), seen on some newly-created wetlands by the car park.

Ruff

Avocet

Sedge (144) and Reed Warbler (145) were added next, along with 3 Spoonbills (146), that we saw from the 360 Hide. Walking down to the reservoir area added singing Lesser Whitethroat (147) and Whitethroat (148), as well as a single male Brimstone, one Holly Blue and 6+ Peacock butterflies.

Walking back down to the Visitors' Centre we spotted 6 Yellow Wagtails (149, including 2 bright yellow males) and a Whimbrel (150).

Spot the Yellow Wagtail!

The final two "ticks" were Barnacle Goose (151) and Common Tern (2 birds seen, 152). Other species seen around the reserve included: Mute Swan, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal, Canada and Brent Goose (Dark-bellied and 2 Pale-bellied), Greylag Goose (with goslings), Shelduck, Shoveler, Spotted Redshank ( 2 breeding plumaged birds), Little Ringed Plover, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Cetti's Warbler (heard).

Greylag Goose

After our visit here, we drove across to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Willow Tree Fen reserve where we had fantastic views of a Common Crane (153) and a hunting Hobby (154), along with a Brown Hare, 2 Muntjac Deer and a Fallow Deer. At one point, we had Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and Hobby in the binoculars at the same time!

Common Crane

Pied Wheatear!!

 A first winter male Pied Wheatear turned up in a skate park in Whitley Bay last week, so, after a week of umming and ahhing (!) Jayne and I drove up there today to have a look at this new species.

Pied Wheatear!!

When we arrived, the bird wasn't in the Skate Park, but was, instead, hopping about along the seawall opposite The Spanish City. At times, it hopped to within 2m!!! Luckily, the weather was decent, still and sunny, so we managed to get some decent shots.

Whilst there, we also had a walk up to St Mary's Island. The tide was out, so we spotted a few waders on the way up (Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Ringed Plover) as well as several Pied Wagtails and Rock Pipits. On the Island there were a dozen or so Grey Seals enjoying the sun, and two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew overhead. A couple of Red-throated Divers also flew past, and Black-headed and Herring Gulls were seen.

Year List update: 

160 - Lesser Whitethroat (1 seen whilst ringing back in September) 

161 - Pied Wheatear

Year List Update- 14th April 2019

It's been over a month since I last updated the year list, and, since then, I've added quite a few new species, including a "lifer", the Siberian Lesser Whitethroat (blythi) that I caught and ringed in February (see here). As you can see, most of the new species are summer visitors, except for the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (heard at Linacre on 30th March - my first record there since 2014), and the Red Grouse, seen yesterday at Stanage Edge.

Ring Ouzel

Year List update:
126 – Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

127- Lesser Whitethroat (blythi) 

128 – Blackcap
129 – Willow Warbler
130 – Swallow
131 – Sand Martin
132 – House Martin
133 – Red Grouse

134 – Ring Ouzel

French-ringed Reed Warbler

Yesterday I was out for my first ringing session in a while at Poolsbrook Marsh, with 5 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group.

We arrived on site at 5.00am, got the nets out and started to catch some birds. By the end of the morning's session we had caught 73 birds of 15 species. Totals were (new/retrap): Wren 2/0, Dunnock 2/0, Robin 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Sedge Warbler 1/0, Reed Warbler 33/2, Lesser Whitethroat 2/0, Whitethroat 3/0, Blackcap 6/0, Chiffchaff 2/0, Willow Warbler 5/1, Willow Tit 4/0, Blue Tit 0/1, Bullfinch 4/0 and Reed Bunting 3/0.

As you can see, we had a good range of resident and migrant species, including 7 species of warbler. The vast majority of birds were new (and juveniles), but we did have a few previously ringed birds, including a very special Reed Warbler bearing a "Museum Paris" ring!! As the name implies, this bird, which we aged as an adult, had been ringed in France. It'd be great to think that it is a bird that was born at Poolsbrook, and was then ringed on migration through France, before returning the breed here in Derbyshire. I'll update the blog when we get the details back from the BTO.

Other birds seen today included Kingfisher, Common Buzzard and Water Rail (heard only).

Year List update

I was looking through the blog yesterday, when I realised I'd not updated the Year List since the start of May. Since then, I've added another 8 species to the list, including one (Lesser Whitethroat) that I've not had a for a few years. This species was seen (briefly), and heard singing at Holmebrook Valley Country Park in Chesterfield on 7th May. After seeing this bird I picked Luke up, and travelled to Barlow where we had great views of a Little Owl.

Little Owl

We then drove up to Padley Gorge where we recorded Pied Flycatcher (2 singing males), Redstart (1 singing male), Cuckoo (1 calling male) and Tree Pipit (2 singing males at nearby Barbrook Plantation).

The final "tick" came at the weekend, when a male Whitethroat was recorded singing in the ringing area of Linacre. Hopefully, we'll be able to confirm breeding of this species here again this year.

Year List update:

146 – Swift (first seen in Chesterfield on 5th May)

147 – Lesser Whitethroat

148 – Little Owl

149 – Pied Flycatcher

150 – Redstart

151 – Cuckoo

152 – Tree Pipit

153 - Whitethroat

Carr Vale Ringing - 2 new species

On Saturday I was out ringing with my trainer and Brian from The Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Carr Vale reserve. It was the first visit for a while, and hopes were high for a few warblers. We were not disappointed as we caught 27 individuals of 7 different species, including 2 new species for me.

The first new species was a Lesser Whitethroat. It was one of the first birds out of the nets, and also my first sighting of the year. Unfortunately no photos as I was busy getting all the information from it!

The second new species for me was a Sedge Warbler- 1 of 3 birds processed today. The bird I ringed was a new bird, born this year, while the other 2 were retraps. 1 had been ringed by my trainer at Carr Vale last year, and we're still waiting for information about the other bird. Here's a couple of photos- the first is the bird held safely in the "ringers' grip", whilst the second is a close up of the bird's head. What a super bird!

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler's head

Along with these 2 birds I was also lucky enough to ring another 27 birds of 13 species -Whitethroat (2), Chiffchaff (2), Wren (1), Blackcap (2), Reed Warbler (2), Reed Bunting (1), Bullfinch (1), Great Tit (2), Blue Tit (2), Long-tailed Tit (2), Dunnock (1), Robin (1) and Song Thrush (1). All these birds were new birds, except the Dunnock, which was a retrap.

Year List update
163 - Lesser Whitethroat

Ringing at the Avenue

This morning's ringing session at The Avenue produced a toatl of 11 birds, which included 3 "ringing ticks"; Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, along with several "year ticks"; Swift, Little Ringed Plover, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge and Grasshopper Warbler!

Whitethroat

Other birds ringed were: Blackbird, Dunnock, Yellowhammer, Blackcap (a male and a female) and a male Bullfinch.

Male and female Blackcaps

After the ringing I popped down to the reedbed to see the LRP, a male Wheatear, several Sedge Warblers and the Grasshopper Warbler that was "reeling away". Listen here to hear what one sounds like.

This afternoon I went for a walk around Padley Gorge were Jayne found me another 2 year ticks; a Dipper and a Stonechat.

The Year list moved on:

127 – Swift

128 – Whitethroat

129 – Lesser Whitethroat

130 - Little Ringed Plover

131 – Grasshopper Warbler

132 – Sedge Warbler

133 - Stonechat

134 - Dipper