Linacre First - Green Sandpiper!

 Before I write this blog, I need to clarify something about the title. I was at Linacre this morning, and saw MY first ever Green Sandpiper. It may not be the first ever record, as I was contacted last week by someone, who said they'd seen two there last week. Also, one of the volunteers (Pete) said he, and another volunteer (Antony) had, also seen a "sandpiper" on the top reservoir last week. Despite this, I was very pleased to get my first record.

Green Sandpiper

Other species seen were: Lapwing (8 flew in, and landed briefly - the first record since 2023, and the first to land since 2011!!!), Mallard (103), Tufted Duck (30), Mandarin Duck (20), Black-headed Gull (4 juvenile/1st winter birds), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 adults), Moorhen (6; 5 adults and 1 juvenile), Coot (2 adults) and Cormorant (8).

Lapwings

7 of the 8 Cormorants

Three Ringed Gulls!

I know that the title of this post wouldn't come as a surprise to regular readers, as I often blog about ringed gulls here. The reason I've used it though, is because the three ringed Black-headed Gulls are all juvenile/1st winter birds, that have been ringed in three different countries!

The first gull, TCEP, is a bird that was ringed in Poland this summer. I've sent off the details, so I'll update, when I hear back.

TCEP

The second gull, this time a Danish ringed bird, had the metal ring number VA9644. Again, I'll update as soon as I hear back.

VA9644 (ringed on right leg)

The third bird, was a Lithuanian-ringed individual. Annoyingly, I didn't manage to get the full ring number, so, I'll have to try and see it again, and get the remaining letters/digits. I managed to see  _ _ _31.260!

Lithuanian-ringed Gull (ringed on left leg)

In addition to these three gulls, I also managed to spot just one (!) of "our" birds; 2V16, which is the second sighting this season.

2V16 (losing its hood)

The last gull I wanted to mention was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, that was on the lake. Unfortunately, it appeared to have its left leg tangled in something (presumably fishing tackle). Very annoying!!! It appeared well, despite the entanglement, so, hopefully, it was cope.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

As well as the gulls, there were also 7 Mute Swans (all un-ringed), including one with a wobbly neck, who I've nicknamed Crinkle Neck ( very original I know!!!)

Mute Swan - Crinkle Neck

Red-necked Phalarope - 29th August 2026

 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!

Red-necked Phalarope

Black-winged Kite!

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! 

Black-winged Kite

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".

Herring Gull HE21J

 Yesterday (27th) was our last full day in Suffolk, so we had a walk down to Southwold Harbour. Whilst there, I spotted a ringed Herring Gull; HE21J.

HE21J

Checking on the European Colour Ringing website it appears that the bird, a juvenile, was ringed in Northern Germany this summer. I'll update, as soon as I hear back from the ringing group.

Four New Birds

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.

Stone Curlew

Whilst there, we carried on around the site, spotting many of the same species as on 22nd, except for a single Little Stint (185), that was feeding with a small flock of Dunlin, and 4 Barnacle Geese (186). Other new species included a single Common Sandpiper, 2 Wheatears (in the dunes), 7 Bar-tailed Godwits, a single Knot and 5 juvenile Shelducks.

Wheatear

Shelduck (juvenile)

Whimbrel, Wheatear and Whitethroat!

 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!

Whimbrel

The next bird, a Northern Wheatear, was seen today, on Aldeburgh beach. Its always great to see this species on migration. I even managed to spot it catch a grasshopper!

Wheatear

The last bird, Whitethroat, was a juvenile bird, that was spotted in the hedge of the garden where we're stopping. At first, it was quite skulking, but then it popped out and posed beautifully. This photo was taken through a glass window.

Whitethroat

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.

Whitby - 15th August 2026

My last stop on the North Yorkshire/Cleveland tour on Saturday was an old favourite, Whitby. As always, I was lucky enough to spot a couple of darvic-ringed Herring Gulls: Y:B55 and Y:829.

Y:B55 was the first gull I saw, on the swing bridge, in the centre of town. Annoyingly, I emailed the ringer the wrong number, but I'm sure had been ringed, at Rufforth Waste Disposal Site. I'll update, when I get the exact details.

Y:B55

Y:829 (GV52855), who I saw in front of the RNLI building, by the West Pier, was ringed at Rufforth Waste Disposal Site on 4th November 2016. It was a 3 i.e. born that year, which makes it 10 years old this year. Interestingly, this gull has been seen in Derbyshire twice since ringing. The first sighting was at Carr Vale, on 3rd April 2020, and then at Poolsbrook Country Park on 17th December 2022. It has also been seen in Leicestershire (Cotesbach Landfill Site on 2nd January 2025), before being recorded again in Whitby, in the summer months.

Y:829

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?