Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
The incredible run of rare waders continued today, when a Baird's Sandpiper (197) was found at Redmires Reservoir, Sheffield. Another lifer!!
Unfortunately, I couldn't get there until late afternoon, but , thankfully, the bird was still present, feeding on the middle reservoir with 4 Dunlin, and a couple of Ringed Plover. I managed to get a few record shots.
News broke of not one, but two, juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers (196) at Carsington Water, Derbyshire, yesterday. Amazingly, I haven't seen this species since 2016, and never in Derbyshire, so Jayne and I drove across this morning to see them.
We parked up in the Visitors' Centre, just to hear that both birds had just been flushed, and has flown to the other end of the reservoir! We set off, along the dam wall, and 15 minutes later, were watching both birds feeding happily, about 90m away. Derbyshire tick! They continued to feed in the same area, so we settled down to get some photos and video.
Jayne and I had a trip over to RSPB Old Moor, on Saturday. We had a few hours there, and managed to add another couple of species to the Year List: Wood Sandpiper (194) and Caspian Gull (195).
The Wood Sandpiper was seen from Wath Ings hide, and was feeding close in with several Ruff and a Greenshank. Other birds seen from this hide included: Green Sandpiper (5), Lapwing (50+), Dunlin (3), Black-tailed Godwit (4), Grey Heron (1), Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Canada and Greylag Geese.
Our next stop was the Wader Scrape Hide, where we spotted a very confiding Common Sandpiper, Wigeon, Gadwall, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan (2 ringed birds: Y848 and Y812) Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single Caspian Gull. The Caspian Gull, a 2nd year bird, was ringed with the darvic number PY1X, and appears to be a Polish-ringed bird. I'll update, when I hear back from the ringers. The final bird species of note was Marsh Harrier. We saw two birds, a male and a "cream crown".
Yesterday, whilst doing the weekly shop (!), I got a message from Luke that there was a Birdguides record of a juvenile/1st winter Red-backed Shrike (193) that had been spotted in The Avenue Washlands Country Park. Jayne and I went straight across, and found the bird feeding by a small pond.
It posed well, and even caught, impaled and then ate a Migrant Hawker whilst we were there. A later photo, not mine, unfortunately, also showed it eating a Lesser Emperor dragonfly!!! Here are a few photos (the last three slightly enhanced!).
Yesterday, I went for a family walk to the Upper Derwent Valley. Whilst there, we managed to get a couple of very nice Derbyshire ticks: Crossbill and Osprey (192). I managed a couple of poor "record shots".
Following on from the Wryneck visit yesterday, I travelled over to RSPB Frampton Marsh to pick up another two "year ticks": Temminck's Stint (190) and Curlew Sandpiper (191). Luckily, both species were seen, feeding on the Marsh Farm Reservoir, and I spotted them, just before they were flushed by something, most likely an unseen raptor!
I haven't seen a Wryneck (189) for very many years, and I've never managed to photograph one, so I drove over the RSPB Freiston Shore, in Lincolnshire on 2/9, to see if I could catch up with the bird that has been there since the Bank Holiday weekend. I think the pictures show I was successful! What a bird!
Hot on the heels of the terrible "record shot" of the Black-winged Kite, here are another awful, distant, heavily cropped photos of a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope (188) that I saw, on Saturday morning, on the top reservoir of Redmires Reservoirs, just over the border in South Yorkshire. It was first reported, whilst I was away in Suffolk, so I was very pleased that it kindly hung around, until we got back. I think it is my first British record!
On 7th September 2025, a Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus), appeared in Hickling Broad, Norfolk. It then toured around other Norfolk sites, before relocating to Hempstead Marshes, Sea Palling on 7th May 2026, and has been reported pretty much every day since! It is just the 3rd British record in the UK, but this species is moving north, through mainland Europe, breeding in France, The Netherlands and Hungary recently, and has also attempted to breed in Denmark (see here). Surely, it won't be long before we get the first British breeding attempt?
Whilst driving back from our holiday in Suffolk, Jayne and I did a detour, and got some excellent (if somewhat distant!) views, as the bird flew around the fields and perched up in the bushes. This bird is my 187th species of the year, my 6th "lifer" of the year, my 309th British bird and my 525th World tick! Here's a very distant record shot!
Amazingly, on the drive across, we also spotted a Hooded Crow, feeding by the side of the road, just outside Great Yarmouth. Unfortunately, it is no longer deemed a separate species from Carrion Crow, so can't be officially added to the "Year List".
Before we came away, a good friend shared an excellent place to see Stone Curlew, so yesterday afternoon, I set out to have a look at the spot for myself.
I found the spot easily, and was very pleased that the site was easily accessible. Unfortunately, there was a very strong heat haze, so I didn't see any curlews on that occasion. I did, however, had great views of another Wheatear, and amazing 3 Hobbies (including 1 that was catching and eating dragonflies on the wing!). There were also 10+ Graylings, Red Admirals and a single Wall Brown butterfly. Afterwards, I drove across to Westleton Heath, where I managed to spot a single Dartford Warbler (183), a male Muntjac Deer and a family of Stonechats.
I went back to the Stone Curlew (184) site (part of RSPB Minsmere), again this morning, with Jayne, and within a few minutes of arriving (at 5.30am!) we saw 3 birds, and managed a very distant, heavily cropped photograph.
Over the last few days, down here in Suffolk, I've seen a few birds, including the three species listed in the title.
The first bird, Whimbrel (182), was found on Walberswick NNR , whilst "dipping" the Zitting Cisticola!
Yesterday, I was dropping Jayne off for our daughter's "hen do" in York, so I decided to drive on to Scaling Dam Reservoir on the North Yorkshire/Cleveland border to "twitch" my fourth lifer of the year: Buff-breasted Sandpiper (180th bird of the year and my 524th species worldwide).
To say that the bird was "distant" is to put it politely, but I did manage to get a few 'scope views, as it fed, on the far side of the reservoir from the bird hide. Here are a couple of very, very heavily cropped photos! This is what one should look like!
Jayne and I had a couple of hours at RSPB Blacktoft Sands yesterday morning. The reserve was quite dry, but that did mean the birds were concentrated onto the wetter areas. We got 1 "year tick"; Green Sandpiper (179), with at least 4 on the reserve.
Other birds seen included: Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Lapwing, Spotted Redshank (1 winter plumaged bird), Redshank, Snipe, Bearded Tit (showing very well on the mud at the bottom of the reeds), Teal, Mallard, Canada and Greylag Geese, Pied Wagtail, and, best of all, 10+ Yellow Wagtails, which showed very well, in front of Marshland Hide.
I've been very lucky to have seen many species of shrike over the years, but the one I saw today; Long-tailed Shrike (178) wasn't, to be honest, one that I was even aware of until this year! It is a proper 5-star, mega rarity in Great Britain, with just 1 record here before this year. The second record for Britain, an adult type, was found earlier this year (5th July) in Crail, Fife, and stayed for just three days. Amazingly, "my" bird, this time a 1st summer male, was found in Eastleach Martin, Gloucestershire on 18th July, and is still there at the time of writing.
I went down this morning, and couldn't believe either the tameness of this bird (down to 10m away) and the amazing colours of this bird's plumage. A real stunner!! Here are a few photos (!) and a video.
