Slowly approaching 300...

The Saturday after the Great Snipe was not so great with the long drive down to Hampshire for a Brown Shrike but unfortunately it was nowhere to be seen but their was some compensation on the way back with 3 Female type Blue-winged Teals which were lifers for me. During the week the winds turned east and brought shed loads of Yellow-browed Warblers to the east coast so I went down to South Gare on the Wednesday and connected with 3 of these little beauties. Saturday 28th September was a great day with 3 lifers, the first was a cracking male Sardinian Warbler at St Abbs Head just over the boarder. Although it was very elusive it did give some great views at times showing the black head, white throat and a silver ring on its left leg. The odd thing about this bird is that a male Sardinian Warbler was ringed on the 30th June this year in almost exactly the same place this bird was found on the 25th September but their was no further news. So is it a different bird? unlikely, but were has it been for the last 3 months? their where also 2 Yellow-browed Warblers calling in the area and some Redwings and Redpolls flying overhead.

(Sardinian Warbler - Steven Fryer)

(Sardinian Warbler - Jack Bucknall)

(Blue-winged Teals - Harry Murphy) 

The next stop was Whitburn Coastal park to look for a Blyths reed warbler that had been seen on and off for a couple of days, although we didn't see the blyths reed we still saw 3 Richards Pipits together in the field opposite the entrance to the coastal park. This was a real bogey bird for me so to see 3 on the deck at once was a great sight, for the majority of the time we were there the pipits were quite distant but one gave fairly close views allowing me to see the large wagtail like shape, pale lores and bold head pattern. I also got the chance to see a Yellow brow in the hand witch was a real treat.

(Yellow-browed Warbler - Harry Murphy)

The last lifer of the day was a fantastic Barred Warbler at Hartlepool which gave brilliant views in the front gardens of Cliff Terrace another treat after dipping about 10 Barred Warblers in the last 2 years. This now puts me on 298 thanks to George Randall and Chris Bell for the car lifts.

(Barred Warbler - Hartlepool Headland)

(Barred Warbler - Harry Murphy)