Birding Braunie

Oh my days! Is it Friday already? This was our last full day with Heatherlea and it was destined to be a big one. Correction: The big one. Do these birding tour operators plan this? Do they always save the best for last? I don’t know. Some would say the Capercaillie caper would have done it and it did in many ways but this day would match it or in some eyes surpass it. You be the judge. Another full fat breakfast! My only thoughts during this now routine ceremony was whether I would still fit in the minibus. To be honest, I thought we would be doing a bit more walking on this trip but apart from the odd amble up a hill, we were never far from the transport. The birding day began with an excursion to Roseisle and initially around some of the farmland minor roads where we picked up a couple of corn buntings just sitting on fence wires. Looking out from a viewpointon the Moray Firth at Burghead Bay there were velvet and common scoters, eider and a few red-breasted merganser. Telescope out...

What chance have I got? I mean, I would quite like to hit the 200 species mark this year and my chances are looking rather Dodo like. I know there’s no prize for reaching this total or I’m not doing a patch race etc... but I like to have a target because it motivates me to get out early or go a bit further to see more. This is the problem though, I haven’t gone that bit further. I do get up early but I have realised I haven’t been that far from home this year with Thetford in Norfolk being the only trip I have made outside Essex/London. Having said that, the species are ticking over slowly. Obviously I would like to bag at least 20 new species a month to realistically reach that score and the arrival of spring has helped boost my total. Just by snatching a couple of hours here and there, before work, after work, en route to somewhere and by just looking up sometimes has got me the majority of the common spring migrants. At Wanstead Flats a Wheatear and a Whinchat. Common Whitethroat,...