Red-tailed Shrike - 300 UP!

What a cracking bird to see me reach 300 UK bird species!  This mega rare Red-tailed or Turkestan Shrike has been at Bempton Cliffs RSPB for a few weeks now and today I finally made the two and a half hour drive to see it.  

I just can't bear the heat, so there was no way I was going to spend a day in sun at Bempton in the recent unprecedented heatwaves we've been having.  But with the promise of slightly lower temperatures as autumn progresses, I decided to go for it and I really wasn't disappointed.

There have only been seven previous recorded sightings of this bird in the UK, with the first being seen in 1995.  It normally breeds in Asia and overwinter in the Middle East.

Shrikes are carnivorous passerines or songbird, but sometimes I think they should be classified as raptors as they eat small birds, mammals and amphibians as well as beetles, wasps, bees and flies.

It was feeding well today and its tail feathers have mostly regrown after being damaged a few weeks back.

So who knows, it may well be shortly off back home soon.

My Top Five Birds of 2021

All this Covid stuff has made a lot of us take stock of our lives and what we do, and me no less than anybody else. In particular I’ve been reviewing my bird photos for some of the time and I’ve realised that I’ve got some decent shots of most common UK birds - so I’ve asked myself, ‘Do I really need any more of the same species?’

I’ve never understood why some photographers get on the annual seasonal bandwagon of having to shoot the same birds in the same location at the same time of each and every year - I mean, how many Owl, Kingfisher, Puffin, Kite, Gannet, Black Grouse, Snow Bunting, Osprey and even White-tailed Eagle shots do you really need? And then they flood the internet with countless similar images which are pretty much the same as everyone elses. Madness, and it happens every year. 

Surely less is more here and one good image is better than countless similar ones where you couldn’t decide which one was best. After a couple of shots most people scroll on or turn off.  I’ll hold my hands up and say that in the past I’ve done it too, but not any more. From now on I’ll be mainly photographing UK birds of which I’ve got no decent shots, which generally will mean seabirds and rarities. I’m not saying that I’ll never shoot one of the aforementioned species ever again, but I won’t be on the annual cycle going from one species to another (which often includes otters, deer, hares, foxes and badgers) getting even more shots to add to a library stuffed full of similar ones.

So if you’re wondering why I’ve not been posting much recently and you may have even noticed that I’ve left a lot of Facebook groups, there’s the reason. Perhaps not everyone will agree but I’m happy with my decision.

Anyway, reviewing my bird photos from this year (what else is there to do on these gloomy late December days?) here are my Top Five birds of 2021. Considering I didn't go out much this year and there were two or three months where I didn't take a single bird photograph, I'm pleased with these rarities which were all Lifers for me.

Black-browed Albatross - Bempton Cliffs RSPB, East Yorkshire

Belted Kingfisher - Roach Bridge, Lancashire

White-tailed Lapwing - Blacktoft Sands RSPB, West Yorkshire

Elegant Tern - Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey

Long-toed Stint - St. Aidan's RSPB, West Yorkshire

Albert Ross Revisited

My Latest Lifer

Here's a photo of my latest lifer - a Hume's Leaf Warbler taken a Bempton Cliffs RSPB.

 

 

Bempton Cliffs Practise

In order to help choose which lenses and camera bodies to take to the Farne Islands later this week, I took a long day trip to Bempton Cliffs RSPB on the east Yorkshire Coast. Gannets were to be the main focus here with Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwakes and Fulmars also prime targets.

Gannet - Look into my eyes!

4th Year Gannet

2nd Year Gannet

3rd Year Gannet

3rd year Gannet

Jackdaw

Fulmar

Guillemot

Guillemot in flight

Guillemots

Puffin

Razorbill

Yorkshire Trip Day 2 - Bempton Cliffs RSPB

Bempton Cliffs RSPB - more text to follow ...

Day 3 - L.O.S. Fieldtrip to Bempton Cliffs RSPB

In the weeks before I set off on this mini-break to east Yorkshire, I'd realised that not many people were going to attend the final L.O.S. fieldtrip of the season today. May is a time when people go on holiday if they can to avoid the higher summer prices and the family crowds when the schools have broken up.  It's also a time when people arrange their special events such as weddings and christenings. We still had at least six people going in the last few days leading up to the trip, but a succession of messages telling me people weren't coming turned my mind to cancelling it altogether.  The weather forecast and the distance had perhaps put them off going.

However, one person, John Preston, was faithful until the end and never wavered in his desire to come.  He even volunteered to meet people with a map and directions at the usual place on Doctors Nook car park in Leigh, mainly because I wouldn't be there as I was already in Flamborough.  So I was consoled to the fact that there would be just the two of us at Bempton, and naturally I was very pleased to discover on the car park there that young birder Kristian Wade had also turned up and come with him.  Kristian went on our previous trip to Bolton Abbey last month, and he obviously wasn't put off by the age profile of the L.O.S. membership!

To be continued ...

Day 2 - All aboard the Yorkshire Belle

As my boat trip along the sea cliffs at Bempton didn't start until 4:30pm today, I more or less had the whole day to do some exploring around the Flamborough area.  This was useful because I could get the lay of the land in case anyone wanted to extend their L.O.S. fieldtrip visit tomorrow.  It also meant that I didn't need to get up very early and, after a very pleasant evening at the campsite, followed by a shower and then breakfast in my motorhome, I only left at around 9:15am.

I started at Flamborough North Landing, before visiting Thornwick Bay and finally Thornwick Pools. The scenery here is fabulous, with white chalk cliffs carved into stacks and caves by the action of the waves on it over hundreds of years.  It's a geographer and geologist's paradise and indeed I first came here when I was studying for my B.Sc. Honours degree at Manchester University in the 1980's.  Unfortunately I didn't bring a lens suitable for landscapes with me and so I had to make do with photos taken on a mobile phone.

To be continued ...