Not a bad weekend...

Planning to visit family in South Lincs on Friday night and Saturday, I could resist calling in to Broom Gravel Pits near Biggleswade on my way up. A White-winged Black Tern had been found there earlier in the day and was still present on arrival, showing well over the pit - if a little distantly for photos. the bird was characteristically restless, rapid and unpredictable as it fed over the pit; occasionally it would head down to the south end of the pit and rest on the spit for up to ten minutes before recommencing feeding. I haven't had chance to check yet but I think this may be the first White-winged Black I've seen in Britain since 2006!

It was a pretty grey evening in Bedfordshire and photo opportunities were limited, this being the only half-decent shot I managed. There are a couple more on my Flickr page.

The pits at Gypsy Lane look great and it's no surprise to see that good birds are regularly reported there; best of the rest in the hour I spent on site was a Black-tailed Godwit plus the usual Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks, Yellow Wags etc.

Saturday dawned bright and warm, and I was out early shovelling gravel on mum's drive. Needless to say I didn't go back inside and look at my phone until almost half past 8, by which time news of a Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset had been floating around the airwaves for an hour. Twitching never has been a sociable pastime and plans to meet family instantly went out the window. Four hours later and I was looking at this:

This meagre image hardly does the 'Hudwit' (to give its beautiful name an ugly abbreviation) any sort of justice. It really was excellent and although others had great flight views of the bird wheeling around with the Black-tailed Godwits, I was happy enough to see it wake up, walk around for a bit, kindly flap and then wing stretch to reveal the startling black underwings. There are loads of better shots here.

With news that it flew off a few hours later and didn't return, the decision to leave family behind was justified - in the mind of a twitcher, at least. Off to Azerbaijan on Sunday - hoping that's it for spring now, or at least until we return on May 17th.

Green-winged Teal etc

Finally got out and did some London birding on an initially frosty morning that soon turned in to a glorious spring day (not warm, just mild). First up in the paddocks for Rich and I were a group of at least 15 Wheatears - 21 had been seen the evening previous:

On route back to the riverside footpath, a couple of Yellow Wags flew over and a female Redstart showed reasonably well for a minute or two before vanishing. On the Thames itself, Rich's Green-winged Teal eventually showed really well - perhaps 40m or so, wish I had a bigger lens sometimes. If you got the light right on this bird, I reckon really good shots could be possible with a bit of luck and patience.

Finished off late morning on Rich's patch at Rotherhithe, taking in Russia Dock Woodland. There were several Willow Warblers (some in flutey subsong) but no hoped-for Redstart/Pied Fly/Wood Warbler. Nice bit of scrub though - must get some good passers from time to time. Thanks to Rich for the lift as always.

Lapwings at k20 saltpans

This White-tailed Plover was one of the highlights of the week for all of us. Only the second individual I've seen after the Caerlaverock bird several years ago, it goes without showing that this one showed a little better!

Spur-winged Plovers are trash birds in Israel, but they're bloody smart. For some reason, this is the only decent shot of one I took all week despite their abundance!

Red-winged Blackbird

A displaying male photographed just prior to sunset at Shollenberger Park, Petaluma on February 18th. Sadly didn't have the chance to obtain the desired images of this species.

Golden Wonder

I said around 24 hours ago that I'd update my blog no more than every two days. Well, today sure merits a bit of effort to throw something together

The day started as that previous, in the top part of Fojo looking for the Wood Thrush. No sign of the thrush but we did hear a couple of contact calls from the Blackpoll (not seen). Then the radio crackled in to life - "GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER IN LIGHTHOUSE VALLEY" was repeated several times and everyone scrambled out of the wood and started to run north like a bunch of headless chickens.

Meeting Jens on the way there, it transpired that he had seen the bird briefly on a juniper bush before it had disappeared, not to be seen again. We headed down to the valley, but there was no sign of the beast - in the mean time, I managed to find a Red-eyed Vireo in dense vegetation midway along the valley and the French machine Pierre picked up a Black-and-white Warbler at the GWW site. The Black-and-white showed extremely well to most; I was one of the few people who had just a few calls and flight views - maybe I'll try it again over the next few days. In the meantime, the weather got pretty awful, with heavy rain and a strong westerly blowing down the valley and causing most of the birds to take cover. The next couple of hours were the most miserable I've endured on The Rock; we all ended up pretty soaked although eventually it did brighten up slightly and the Golden-winged search could begin again.

With the Black-and-white again showing in the improved conditions early afternoon, we were starting to believe the Golden-winged had done one. Deciding that the bird must have moved somewhere different, I elected to head up the valley and check some of the more sheltered areas beyond where I'd had the vireo in the morning. Plenty of searching but no reward; I was out of the valley a minute too late to see the bittern-type bird Stew flushed from fields on the south side. I continued to walk along the north side of the valley until, a further 100m up, I heard a wood-warbler give a sharp 'tsiip' call. Five minutes later, another 'tsiip' and then a flash of yellow - holy fuck! The bird landed on top of a hydrangea, and there was no mistaking it - black mask, black throat, ridiculous golden-yellow wings and forehead - it was the Golden-winged Warbler!

I couldn't find my radio in my panic and just started to wave like a maniac until those gathered down the valley saw me. Fortunately Ernie was on hand to put out my message on the walkie talkie and soon the twitch started to gather pace; thankfully the bird obliged and showed incredibly well for the next hour or so (down to 3m) - one of those monster WP birds that everyone dreamed (but no-one dared to believe) would turn up here. Simply incredible - words cannot describe! I even managed some digibinned pics; the fourth pic down shows the tiny hydrangea stand the bird spent about half an hour in.

On the way back, we had great views of the vocal Indigo Bunting at da Ponte bridge. Back in the village in the evening Pierre found an American Barn Swallow showing extremely well over the middle fields - a perfect end to a brilliant day.