Easter Week Birding !!! Bird Lifer and Moth Lifer's

A great week off work for Me and Dave lot's of birding but also just chilling out :)
We went to Farmoor for the Red-necked Grebe but he wasn't showing as well as last year but think that was down to a few plonkers there ;) but still lovely to see and got a couple of record shots.
Also we picked up are first Willow Warbler of the year and Common Tern which was great to get them in March and got to see the Great Northern Diver I just love them :)

1st of April we went to Draycote Water to try and get the Slav Grebe but it wasn't there I was very disappointed as it would of been lifer for me, so Dave took me to Rutland we saw the Osprey's which was amazing to be able to see the two Ospreys I had been watching on the camera online was brilliant also there was a Pergrine Falcon which was nice, then we saw a Red-necked Grebe then Dave was looking in the Scope and said I have a summer plumage Slav Grebe it was so stunning that bright orangy neck stands out even at a distant and the beautiful red eye and long ear coverts I was over the moon too distant for photos but so happy to of seen him love him :)

Also we saw lot's of Red kites which was a year tick for me, you could see all the detail on them flying quite low great to see :) 

The Next couple of Days were spent at Marsh Lane Nature Reserve got some photos of Lapwing which is nice as I hadn't really got any also got a record shot of Common Snipe.

The Highlight was an Osprey in flight Dave was looking in his bins then shouted Osprey Osprey it was so exciting to be able to watch one local in flight distant but still stunning feel very lucky two Osprey's at Rutland then the next day This one in flight as Marsh Lane just awesome :) 

Also over the Week I got two new Moths one that Dave found at Draycote on the wall Twin-spotted Quaker a new one for us both stunning Moth.

Then at Dave's We put the trap on and got Brindled Pug a new one for me, just love my Moths can't wait till I can get a Moth Trap. 

Summer Migrants 2016

Had a great few days picking up Migrants local we got Sand Martin, Swallow and House Martin all in the one day, the Swallows and House Martin were earlier than last year by about 11 days :) but the Sand Martins were later by about 11 days, Also we got Little Ringed Plover. (26/03/16) then the following day we picked up Wheatear (27/03/16)
On the (31/03/16) we got two more Migrants at Farmoor Res, Oxon, Common Tern and Willow Warbler excellent to get them in March :)

Cemlyn Bay and South Stack RSPB, Anglesey

Wonderful day started off at Cemlyn Bay in Anglesey, such a beautiful place very scenic, I love Wales so much always feel at home there which ever part I go to :)
We saw lot's of Arctic Terns, Common Terns and Sandwich tern amazing to see so many off them and hearing them call, and seeing them fly right passed us, the feeling watching them all is beyond words.
We also had lovely views of Red-breasted Merganser, lovely birds.
Also met one of Dave's very good friends Andy, was a pleasure to met him, such a great man, we then headed to Holyhead Harbour, where we had nice views of Black Guillemot stunning birds with those bright red legs and also a lifer for me,
Then we headed to South Stack RSPB, very very busy there but another amazing place, first bird seen here was Chough another lifer for me, wonderful bird to see I had watched a Documentary on them a while back and loved them then but to actually see them in person was lovely, beautiful birds, red bill and red legs so pretty, later on in the day we saw them on the deck, so nice to watch them up close and an added bonus that we got to take some photos of them, I could watch this birds all day :)
Also two more lifers was Puffin quite distant but great views through scope and was another bird I had always wanted to see, also saw Manx Shearwater distant but Dave got them in scope which was good I couldn't see them at all through my Binoculars, also saw Porpoises very nice to see had never seen them before.
The whole day was amazing can't wait to go back here again, once again big thank you to my lovely boyfriend :)

Weekend Lifers at Middleton and the Wyre Forest

While the rest of the Twitchers were racing down the Motorway like headless chickens to Somerset for the Hudsonian Godwit that had come all the way from South America, me and Dave opted for a more peaceful day, Dave had been working nights so had only had a couple of hours sleep, would of been dangerous to drive all that way to somerset and back, would of been a lifer for both of us of course being only the third bird in Britain and the first for 30 years but it's not all about the rarity of the bird, it's about enjoying the day which we did we had a lovely day in the Wyre Forest and I picked up a few lifers, and even though we never went for the Godwit was still nice because I had never heard of Hudsonian Godwit before so I was still learning about a new bird and looked up the differences between Hudsonian and Black- tailed Godwits.  
We started saturday morning at Middleton Lakes was fairly quite there, but then we heard a Cuckoo I thought it would be another heard but not seen but Dave quickly located it, my first ever cuckoo so happy to have finally seen one after hearing them quite a few times :)
We then headed to the Wyre forest were I picked up another lifer Pied Flycatcher such a beautiful little bird black and white plumage and nice song :)
Then another bird I had been waiting along time to see was Dipper, we searched all along the stream and no sign we were about to give up, we were just standing there and then Dave said there one !!!! he was so excited to get me Dipper, lovely feeling when you see a bird you've longed for, had really nice views, so pretty brown plumage with white throat and breast and a chestnut colour belly and crown this one's belly looked very chestnut.

The Sunday we went to Nottingham for the Night Heron dream bird I have written a separate blog for the Night Heron and other birds seen at Attenborough. :)
We then headed to Cannock Chase nice walk round but no new birds but still nice with the sun shining, we then headed back to Tame Valley and went to Shustoke, the Grey Wagtails were showing well so we took the chance to photograph them, also at Shustoke was 2 common Sandpipers and 2 Common Terns :)
We then headed home and checked Seeswood on the way, was two Common Terns showing well out of all the Common Terns I have seen these were my best views they landed on logs in the water was great seeing them close and taking photos, also saw another Cuckoo which Dave spotted it landed so got lovely views through bins amazing too see another cuckoo :)