birdgirl: rare British birds

Showing posts with label rare British birds. Show all posts

Saturday, 24 December 2016

Eastern Black Redstart - A Christmas Twitch

The best kind of twitches are when you get to see a really good bird close to where you are going anyway.

On 24th December 2016 I saw an Eastern Black Redstart on Christmas Eve close to my grandmother's house in North Yorkshire at Skinningrove on the coast. The bird had been there since October and been twitched by lots of people. We had held off from twitching it on the basis that we would be visiting my Gran for Christmas and hoping it would stay all winter.

It's a subspecies at the moment but is a stunning bird which stayed near the water-line whilst we watched. It's very distinctively different from other Black Redstart's and so is ripe for splitting.

Eastern Black Redstart Skinningrove, Teeside
Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 14 year old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She organised a conference in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter

Thursday, 22 December 2016

A local rarity - Blyth's Pipit at Blagdon Lake

On 21 December 2016 a bird that had been around a day or two locally was identified as a very rare Blyth's Pipit. They can be confused wth juvenile Tawny or Richard's pipits so had taken couple of days to pin down the identification. It was already dark when we heard the news and so too late to go and see the bird even though it was at Blagdon Lake, which we can see from our house and is only 3 miles away. The next 2 days I frustratingly wasn't able to go see it because of other commitments and a family wedding.

On 22nd December 2016 I was finally able to see this rare bird and get good but flighty views. I managed to get a few record shots but nothing good. It was fantastic to be seeing it especially so close to home.

Blyth's Pipit is a medium sized passerine bird which breeds all the way in Mongolia and then migrates to Southern Asia. It was another fantastic Asian bird to arrive here this autumn. This was also the second rare bird at Blagdon Lake in 2 months which was amazing. They were both found by Nigel Milbourne, our friend who birds there every day.

Blyth's Pipit Blagdon Lake, Somerset
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Monday, 16 May 2016

Lammergier Dip - Dartmoor NP

On Sunday 15 May 2016 in the morning, we heard about a Lammergier seen in Devon not that far from where we live that had been videoed by a non birdwatcher on Thursday but identified from the video. However there had been no more sign. It is the first time one has been seen in Britain, a first.

This morning, Monday 16 May 2016, my Dad left to visit his mum a long distance away. At 11.30 am Mum heard they the Lammergier was seen briefly on Dartmoor 1 1/2 hours south from our house. Mum doesn't like driving on the motorway, so she persuaded my sister Ayesha (who used to twitch before she had kids) to drive us after my school had finished, plus my niece Laila and nephew Lucas.

We did think about whether it was right to go without Dad, but decided that he would 'want us' to see a Lammergier even if it's without him.

As we started our journey we heard that the bird had been seen again at 3.30 pm. Little did we know that whilst one Devon birder friend had seen the bird another Somerset birder friend had been standing on the other side of the hillside and missed it.

When we got to the site, we couldn't find anyone else so were probably in the wrong place. We tried to find somewhere with phone reception, to get news, but that was hard. The bird wasn't seen again, which was really disappointing. This is called dipping.

We still had time to play outside with the kids and go up close to the wild Dartmoor Ponies. We stopped for dinner at a motorway service station but Lucas just wanted "dudu" (milk) but they didn't sell any at the service station. So I had to "collect" loads of milk sachets for tea/coffee and use them to fill up his milk bottle, just to keep him happy.

I was gutting to miss such an amazing first for Britain but at least I was i good company.

Lammergier twitch, Dartmoor NP
Copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Sunday, 15 May 2016

Lady Amhurst's Pheasant - 5th time lucky

Today I saw a Lady Amhurst's Pheasant in Bedfordshire. They are originally from China and were released here some time ago like our other pheasants. They bred and had a self sustaining population (meaning they survived here) but recently went into decline. There is now just one male left that we know about, 3 hours from our house, and really hard to see.

Today was the fifth time I had tried to see it. Twice last May and the third time this year. It's a stunning bird with an amazing long tail. Today I watched it for 20 minutes but it was deep in the woods and impossible to photograph. That is 3 new birds for me in Britain in 4 days - an unbelievable run of good luck. The photo is of me as soon as we were back in the car. I had to get up at 3.00 am and so I'm tired but happy.

Young Birder bird girl Mya-Rose Craig at Lady Amhurst's Pheasant Twitch

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig