South Gare - 15th August 2026

After my trip to see the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, I drove up to South Gare, near Redcar (where I'd twitched a Brown Booby back in 2023 (see here). This time, I wasn't after anything in particular, so I had a couple of hours sitting, overlooking the Tees estuary.

There were several (10+) Sandwich Terns flying around, along with a smaller number of "commic", most likely Arctic Terns, a single Kittiwake, Herring Gulls, 5+ Guillemots, Linnets, Black-headed and a couple of Common Gulls.

Common Gull

A few wader species were also spotted: Dunlin (30+), Redshank (6), Oystercatchers (4) and, most importantly, a "year tick" 6 Bar-tailed Godwit (181).

Bar-tailed Godwit and friend!

A single seal was seen, and I'm pretty sure, its a Common/Harbour Seal. Here's a head-shot.

Common/Harbour Seal

Driving down the coast to Redcar, I had a quick stop at the beach car park and photographed a few Starlings that were hopping around.

Juvenile Starlings

Adult Starling (winter plumage)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - 4th Lifer of the Year!

 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!

Buff-breasted Sandpiper (with a Little Ringed Plover)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper!

Also present on site were: Greylag, Canada and a single (feral) Barnacle Goose; Dunlin, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover and 2 Greenshank; Black-headed, Herring and Common Gulls and Pied Wagtails.

Rufford Gulls - 12th August 2026

 Yesterday, on the way back from Blacktoft Sands, Jayne and I had a quick, half an hour stop, at Rufford. It was very sunny and 32 degrees, so we didn't hang around too long. There were c.70 gulls present, and we managed to see 6 "darviced" Black-headed Gulls, 3 of which were new for the season.

The three "new" gulls were: 273C,(last seen on 17th February 2026), 225H (last seen on 8th March 2026) and 2V16 (last seen on 17th January 2026).

273C (born in 2023)

225H (ringed in December 2025, as an adult)

2V16 (ringed in February 2025, as an adult)

The other gulls seen were: 258A, 273A and 255F. These sightings were the second of the season. 

Other birds recorded were: Kingfisher (1 heard), Mute Swan (5 birds) and Greylag and Canada Geese.

RSPB Blacktoft Sands - 12th August 2026

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. 

Green Sandpiper

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.

Yellow Wagtails

The Konik Ponies, which live on the reserve, to help with "conservation grazing", were also seen.

Konik Ponies

Linacre - 11th August 2026

 Today was my first visit to Linacre since the end of July (!). I was very pleased to meet a reader of this blog, in the car park. Hello to you. In all, I was on site for 2 and a half hours, and saw a few nice insects and birds.

First the waterbirds. Despite the low water levels on the bottom, and top reservoir, there were decent numbers of birds around. Mallard (81 - the highest count of the year, so far), Mandarin Duck (30), Tufted Duck (34), Great-crested Grebe (2 adults - no young this year), Grey Wagtail (1), Pied Wagtail (2), Lesser Black-backed Gull (10; 7 adults and 3 juveniles), Black-headed Gull (1 - a nice, early record), Coot (2 adults - no juveniles), Moorhen (3 adults - no juveniles), Cormorant (1), Grey Heron (2; 1 adult and 1 juvenile) and a single Common Sandpiper (2nd record of the year).

Common Sandpiper (heavily cropped)

Grey Heron (juvenile)

 Smaller birds seen were: Swallow (6), House Martin (5), Chiffchaff (1 singing, and others "wheeting", Song Thrush (1 juvenile), Stock Dove and 2 Common Buzzards.

Insects seen were: Painted Lady (3), Meadow Brown (2), Holly Blue (1), Common Blue Butterfly (1 male and 1 female, the first records of 2026), Red Admiral (1), Speckled Wood (1), Large White (2), Migrant Hawker (1), Brown Hawker (1), a Yellow Shell moth and a Grasshopper sp.

Holly Blue

Common Blue Butterfly (female)

Painted Lady

Field Grasshopper?

Long-tailed Shrike!!

 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.

Whilst I was there, just over two hours, the bird was feeding very well on a variety of small insects. Some of the pictures show how the bird is in full moult (note the tail), thought to be the reason why it has hung around for so long, and the brown fringing on the wings (black in a full adult, I believe). One, if not the best, bird that I've ever seen in Britain!

Long-tailed Shrike

A few other birds seen whilst there were: Wheatear, Red Kite (2) and a couple of Red-legged Partridge.

Southern Migrant Hawker!

 I've had a few attempts over the last few years to try and spot a Southern Migrant Hawker, without any luck, so today's trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh finally put this species to bed! As you'll see, however, my photos leave a lot to be desired!! Unfortunately, it didn't perch whilst I was there, but the intense blue of the abdomen and eyes were very clear to see "in the field". 

Southern Migrant Hawker (honestly!!)

Whilst on site, I had a walk around the the Reedbed Trail and saw plenty of Yellow Wagtails (mainly juveniles), Spoonbills (7),  Black-tailed Godwits (200+), Dunlin (30+), Ringed Plover (a great flock of c.30 flying over!), Ruff (10+), Avocet (3 adults), Redshank (20+), Spotted Redshank (4, including a Norwegian-ringed bird, flag CEW), Knot (year tick 176) and heard a Greenshank (year tick 177). I also heard Bearded Tits, Goldfinch, Linnets and Meadow Pipits. Birds of Prey were represented with a male Marsh Harrier, a Kestrel and two sightings of a Hobby (my first sighting of this species here).

Whilst on site, I also recorded a few insects, including included Painted Ladies, Green-veined Whites, Ruddy Darter, my first Willow Emerald Damselflies of the year, and a pair of mating Migrant Hawkers.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Migrant Hawkers