Purple Sands

There were thirteen Purple Sandpipers on the East Arm at Newhaven this afternoon including three that were particularly photogenic. Other highlights included good numbers of Dunlin, Curlew, Common Snipe and Lapwing.

Newhaven

Having returned to university, I've been reacquainting myself with the 'away patch'. Yesterday produced the wintering male Bearded Tit and ten Purple Sandpipers along with a single Eider. A walk through a promising-looking field today did not disappoint, with seven Jack Snipes and at least thirteen Common Snipes coming up. Raven and Moorhen were also ticks while two Eiders were offshore.

To the Highlands...

Well it wasn't long before the first long distance twitch of 2014... This time an overnight drive with Dave from London and Bob from Bedfordshire proved a success when the AMERICAN COOT gave good views in the early morning light at Loch Flemington. A nearby LESSER SCAUP was distant but interesting to compare alongside both Greater Scaup and Tufted Duck while two Crested Tits showed well at Loch Garten near the beginning of the long drive home...

Grey Phal

I went back to university today and and the Grey Phalarope just a few miles to the west in a paddling pool at Hove sounded too good to resist, phalaropes always being guaranteed show-stoppers. The sun was out, the bird couldn't swim more than ten yards away and was almost oblivious to human presence.

Beddington

I planned to go to Canons today but the awful weather ruled that out and I spent most of the day at Beddington. It was a pretty productive and enjoyable day, some of which was spent catching up with Cliff Allan and Ian Jones. A pair of Pintail on the main lake early on was a good start and the rest of the day produced the long-staying juvenile Iceland Gull, 1-2 Caspian Gulls and two Jack Snipes.

Pintail is a scarce bird locally

Caspian Gull

Iceland Gull

Newhaven

Paul Goodman and Josh Burch wanted to check out my uni patch so we headed down there for a look today. I managed three 'away patch' ticks: Black Redstart, Little Grebe and Pheasant. There was a pair of Black Redstarts and both the male and the female were rather obliging. There were still four Eiders between the piers.

female Black Redstart

male Black Redstart

White-billed Diver and a second helping of the Brünnich's

Ian couldn't get away yesterday so I jumped in his car as he headed southwest early this morning. An unpromising start at Portland Harbour saw the BRÜNNICH'S GUILLEMOT eventually show well, adding itself to Ian's list. After enjoying this bird we made our way to Devon for the bird that I was really there for which had taken up temporary residence in Brixham harbour. We soon picked up a Black-throated Diver and the odd Great Northern Diver but it turned out we were in the wrong part of the harbour as Liam Langley called to say that he was watching it in the inner section. We rushed round there and were soon on the White-billed Diver which showed spectacularly well at times; the bill truly was something to behold! How great it has been seeing this run of Arctic birds this winter in Britain. As a tag-on we called in at Broadsands to see the Cirl Buntings on the seed put out for them, a nice finish to my and Ian's first twitch together for too long!

White-billed Diver in Brixham harbour

Black-throated Diver in Brixham harbour

Boxing Day Brünnich's

Josh Burch and I rushed down to Portland when news broke late this morning of a BRÜNNICH'S GUILLEMOT in the harbour. It had just gone out of view when we arrived, but the Black Guillemot that has been around for a few days was showing distantly. It wasn't too long, though, before we moved a little further along and the bird bobbed up in front of us, very close. We were treated to excellent, albeit usually fairly brief views, between the bird's frequent dives (during which it typically moved a considerable distance). A fantastic late Christmas present!

A year to remember...

I doubt I will ever have as good a year for twitching as 2013. It has been utterly insane. Mental. Ridiculous. But it's been great fun, here's a video I knocked together featuring all of the rarest birds I've seen this year across the country...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZoTuGIMnJs

Ringing and Iceland Gull

A ringing session at Leith Hill this morning was enjoyable with the highlight being a female Brambling. I met with Ian Stewart and Peter Alfrey at Beddington in the afternoon where we located the first-calendar-year Iceland Gull on the tip.