20th November - A half-day from work to go to Milton Keynes to drop off my defunct Leica scope (note, don't buy Leica!). En route back to Stansted, I swung off the A10 and walked the Hatchpen track at Reed where the second-winter male Rough-legged Buzzard was immediately noted directly overhead! It continued to show very well on and off over the next hour, occasionally alongside a ringtail Hen Harrier and a Red Kite.
8th November - News of a Steppe Grey Shrike in Lincolnshire on Friday evening dictated how my weekend would be spent! Playing it cool, I decided to wait on news before heading off - a tactic that some wouldn't agree with, but one which has worked well for me in the last few years. Indeed whether it is down to sheer luck, or purely good judgement, the Shrike kept up my good run - being the 48th potential new bird I have gone for since the start of 2006, and the 46th success! A 96% success rate can't be bad (and a half-day Rustic Bunting and the since reprived Audouin's Gull don't really hurt all that much!).
Back to the bird, and a casual mid-morning run up to the North Lincolnshire coast saw this cracking little bird showing very well. Having seen Southern Grey Shrike (of the form meridonalis) before, this was my first ever encounter with a pallidirostris - and indeed Steppe Grey Shrike is mooted as a possible full species in itself away from the Southern Grey group. I had been really keen to see this bird, as much for an educational experience as anything, and it was very worthwhile to see just how different such a bird appeared in the field, compared to the arguably similar Northern Grey Shrike.
The bird was ultra confiding at times, and after establishing that the bird was moving back and forth along a territorial grass bank, most of the birders present positioned themselves at the end of said bank and the bird showed no care as it flew in and landed on a signpost right in the middle of them! (See photo below!). Not so good to see were the usual numpties (most of whom had cameras it has to be said) who insisted on running after the bird whenever it moved. Now whilst this didn't appear to have any major affect on the bird most of the time, it was just plain uneccessary and just clearly demonstrated how little knowledge some people have about the bird's that they go to see. Having experienced a couple of other 'not-so-good' twitches in the past month or two, I can safely say that I am going to put much more time into local birding than ever before. Thankfully the halfwits haven't descended upon Coploe... yet!
7th November - A remarkably well-planned roost at Tednambury proved why it pays to count the dross! Watching squadrons of Black-headed Gulls moving SW to the west of the railway line may not have been the most glamorous way of spending an afternoon, but it paid off in big style when a Great White Egret appeared along the same heading! Only my third new bird for the local area this year, following Iceland Gull and Montagu's Harrier in the spring - and proof that good birds do come through the area if you put the time in. A flythrough Peregrine and at least one singing Cetti's Warbler were also of note on a good evening.
1st November - With fresh easterly winds having bathed the east coast in the previous few days, it was no surprise that numerous eastern gems started to appear. Red-flanked Bluetails no longer hold the same mythical status they have as when I started birding, and indeed there came be few birds that have ‘devalued’ in rarity value to such an extent in such a short period of time. Still, the appearance of a Bluetail at Muckleburgh Hill was enough to get me in the car, and a dawn start was rewarded with fine views of this eastern gem as it flicked around the oaks and sallows on the eastern edge of the hill. The behaviour of some of the small crowd present however really called into question some observer’s ideas of field-craft!
The rest of the day was largely spent searching for my own birds, but generally with little success! A large tit flock in the woods inland of Muckleburgh held a calling Pallas’s Warbler (not that it would show itself!) and a Firecrest. A couple of scans of the sea from both Weybourne and Salthouse produced a distant Sooty Shearwater east, as well as a Black-throated Diver and female Scaup. The walk down to Kelling Water Meadows produced three Lapland Buntings flying over, whilst a solitary Snow Bunting was by the beach car-park at Salthouse. Trying to end the day on a high note, I had a look for the American Golden Plover near Thetford, but with the weather closing in there was no sign!
26th October - A weekend of non-birding activities was rudely interrupted by the finding of the Welsh Little Blue Heron. As fortune would have it, I couldn't have gone to Wales, but just as things settled down again, this corking little Green Heron was found at West Hythe in Kent on Saturday. A quick divert down there on Sunday morning ensured cracking views of the Heron as it posed for the relatively small crowd. 
14th October - I happened to be passing Abberton, so called in for a quick lookie from the Causeways. Very little was happening, so little in fact that I actually took time to count the dabblers between the Causeways - including 345 Gadwall, 1040 Wigeon and 663 Shovelers - fascinating stuff! Slightly (slightly!) more interesting were a party of eight Red-crested Pochards, a female Goldeneye, 14 Spotted Redshanks, three Black-tailed Godwits, eight Ruff and a single Green Sand.
12th October - With little happening, I decided on a quick run down to Amwell to see if the drake Ferruginous Duck was still present. Initial news was not very good, though after wandering around for a bit, I managed to relocate it on Hollycross Lake from where it showed well for the rest of the afternoon. Not much else of note aside from a couple of Green Sands, two adult Yellow-legged Gulls and a couple of singing Cetti's Warblers.
11th October - I couldn't resist a quick run down to Rettendon to see my fourth Lesser Grey Shrike in the UK, and my third this year! Somewhat excessive some might say, but this bird was an absolute belter! Catching late flying dragonflies over the heads of the crowd from the TV aerial of a house on a roadside in the middle of Essex - it's the sort of bird that makes you realise anything can turn up absolutely anywhere! Good reason to keep beating the patch is what I say!
Whilst watching the Shrike, news came through that a (presumably the) Broad-billed Sandpiper had been found(refound) at Canvey Point. Having dipped the bird on Wallasea earlier in the week, I raced down the road to try for this one, only to find out it had been reidentified as a Little Stint on arrival! Oops! Back north, and another look at the Shrike was followed by a quick sesh from Fremnall's at Hanningfield which produced the first-winter drake Velvet Scoter somewhat distantly, and a more confiding Black-necked Grebe by the Causeway itself.
10th October - As should be expected from a week off work for me in October, it has been somewhat uneventful! Every morning that the sun has risen has seen me on Coploe counting flocks of migrant finches - accumulating a mass of data which i'm sure will prove invaluable to someone. Erm... maybe not! The only thing that even came close to proving a highlight was returning from Coploe on Thursday morning. As I was casually unloading the car, my ears picked up a flock of Long-tailed Tits approaching through the adjacent gardens. Nothing exciting about that; that was until I walked to the house and at the tail end of the flock came a disyallabic 'tso-weet' call - Yellow-browed Warbler! As diagnostic as that one call was, that was all that came of it! Hours spent trawling round the local gardens and using some well-learnt 'Grosbeak-style' garden grilling drew a blank for the rest of the day, and also the next. Almost as galling of an experience as not seeing the Cornish Alder Flycatcher! To cheer myself up, I went and had a look at the first-winter Red-backed Shrike on Therfield Heath - which had it's compass taken it about seven miles further east would have found it on the top of Coploe, but as is life so they say!!
4th October - With the start of the new month, I headed for Coploe on a an absolutely freezing morning! Two hours produced a couple of site megas in the guise of a flock of eight Wigeon and a calling Rock Pipit! With things turning quiet, I decided to to take the 40minute run up to Sutton Gault where the adult Glossy Ibis was showing well feeding on the washes, though was a little distant for shoddy shots!
A quick look back at Coploe on the way home found absolutely nothing moving, but a scan of a loafing gull flock reaped rewards with a fine adult Mediterranean Gull dozing in amongst the Black-headeds.
28th September - With a bottle of claret at stakes - I was up and out early and peering into the murk and fog at Newport Sewage Works looking for a Yellow-browed. A total of 13 Chiffchaffs and a mass of Goldcrests later, and I was bored, so headed up to Coploe. A few finches included good numbers of Redpolls, but it was all a bit quiet. Deciding to go and visit friends in Ipswich in the afternoon, I couldn't resist making the short detour up to Shingle Street where a Radde's Warbler had been present for a few days. Ten minutes after arriving, the little cracker was showing admirably as it posed in the bottom of some bushes and bounced around on the ground. A stunning little bird, and well worth the detour!
27th September - Arriving home from a night’s drinking in London in the ‘wee’ hours - I took one look at just how ridiculously clear it was outside, and convinced myself that the glut of rarities that had been found on the east coast in the last couple of days would be using the ‘fly-day’ rule to do a bunk. Therefore it was a little surprising to wake up several hours later to news that the Blyth’s Reed Warbler was still at West Runton. With thick fog ensuring it was not to be a Coploe morning, I took a leisurely drive to join the day-tripping dudes in Norfolk. Lots of time at the Blyth’s site, and the bird was eventually seen a couple of times, and heard as well - but it was a horrendous experience, with people running around like headless chickens after a Whitethroat for most of it! A Pied Flycatcher was in a nearby hedge, and a familiar ‘ticky ticky choo’ call had me looking up at a flyover Lapland Bunting. An adult Mediterranean Gull, several Wheatears and a couple of flocks of Siskins were also of note.
Nearby, a long walk along the cliff-top from Weybourne produced cracking views of the adult-female Lesser Grey Shrike as it fed actively close to the path in the coastal fields. Unfortunately some rather unpleasant sea mist rolled in at the same time, so viewing the rest of the area proved impossible, with little other than a couple of Wheatears noted!
A speculative visit to Stiffkey produced no sign of the Siberian Stonechat present the day before, but another Lapland Bunting was bounding around the salt-marsh. A ringtail Hen Harrier and a juvenile Marsh Harrier were also noted.
21st September - The previous day had produced Britain’s third Brown Flycatcher on Fair Isle, and whilst musing this bird and recollecting last year’s bird at Flamborough - a MEGA text arrived. ‘Brown Shrike at Old Fall, Flamborough’. Sat in amazement wondering as to whether it could be the previous year’s Flycatcher returning - I re-read the text and the word ‘Shrike’ hit me for the first time! Bloody hell!!! So not for the first time, I found myself travelling to East Yorkshire. Good timing meant that we were at Flamborough just after Midday, and after a short wait, the cracking adult Brown Shrike was observed in a distant hedge on the Lighthouse Road. The bird remained distant throughout the duration of our visit, though the views were still very good! A first-winter Red-backed Shrike was also in the same hedge, and proved excellent comparison with it’s eastern counterpart! 
Making the most of our time at Flamborough, we took a circular walk around the Head. Starting at Old Fall, where a first-winter Red-breasted Flycatcher teased with the crowds in the Plantation. Several Yellow-browed Warblers were flicking in and out of the sycamores, with several further birds audible from further within the plantation. Common migrants were more difficult to come by, with just three Yellow Wagtails, five Whinchats, seven Stonechats, three Wheatears, a Redstart, Blackcap and a few Goldcrests noted. My first Brambling of the autumn ‘wheezed’ overhead, along with several Tree Sparrows and a flock of 15 Crossbills. A quick look out to sea from the Lighthouse produced little more than a summer-plumaged Red-throated Diver and a juvenile Arctic Skua.
14th September - A very special day by local standards! With Honey Buzzards pouring south into East Anglia and along the East Coast the previous day, there was no question that it was a day to be out on Coploe. Expectations were high - so much so that before the fog had even lifted, a vagrant Mike Harris had been noted! Raptors were slow to get going, but it was long before the first Hobby of the day (the first of 11!) had been noted, and soon the onslaught of Common Buzzards began with a grand total of 29 noted during the course of the day! The Honey Buzzard we were hoping for never came into being, but that disappointment was more than aptly levied by events shortly after 10am. A lone ‘mewing’ of a Buzzard above us had us looking up to see a kettle of five raptors above us - four Common Buzzards, with an Osprey right at the top! A long-awaited Coploe tick, which very rapidly was discarded as a small pale falcon whizzed through our field of view. The bird rapidly moved overhead to the southwest with our pulses racing all the time! But with some acute fortune, it decided to shoot back northeast right overhead, and allowing us to confirm that we were watching a female (presumed first-summer) Red-footed Falcon!!! Not at all what we were expected, and a magic moment if ever there was one! An exceptional bird on an exceptional morning, which also resulted in the movement of seven Wigeon, three Peregrines and single Tree Sparrow and Crossbill through the site. Local birding at it's best!!
5th-6th September - Local birding is still proving particularly quiet! Highlight of a scattering of migrants in the last couple of days involving single flyover Grey Plover and Redshank at Coploe Hill! A party of nine feral Barnacle Geese in a stubble field near Debden Park Lake is probably a sign of things to come!
31st August - A quiet day around the patch with just a few migrants noted. A party of six Whinchats feeding along the track up to Waldegraves was the highlight this afternoon.
30th August - After an early morning bash around the patch, I headed up to Paxton and to the Pumphouse Pit where after a long walk, the smart juvenile Baird's Sandpiper showed well, albeit somewhat distantly. My third in the UK, and my second juvenile. The bird was far too distant for digiscoping, but not for a shoddy shot! The shot shows the best thing about these birds, that being the whacking long primary projection which should make Baird's (and White-rumped) impossible to confuse with any other small 'peeps'.
Also of note were a pair of Ravens that went through overhead, along with seven Sandwich Terns (a singleton and party of six), whilst single juvenile Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Greenshank, three Green Sandpipers and a Bar-headed Goose were noted!
29th August - Back from Greece (more to come), and I had been hearing all week about the juvenile Marsh Sandpiper at Heybridge. Mike's suggestion that it was waiting for me to return made it only fair that I go and pay it a visit! A quick jaunt down early afternoon and the bird was in the bag as it showed very well on the small island close to the sea-wall. An absolute cracker as all Marsh Sands are; my fifth in the UK, this was my second in Essex since the bird at Abberton Reservoir back in 1999. 
Being a glutton for punishment, I ploughed on up to Landguard but managed to miss the Citrine Wagtail by arriving five minutes late... oops! A single Tree Pipit, c.10 Wheatears and six Mediterranean Gulls were little compensation!
19th August - On Sunday afternoon I had been trudging back home after thrashing my Newport patch when my phone buzzed into life with a text from Mike: ‘Audouin’s Gull again at Chapel Point, Lincolnshire’. Now normally news of a UK lifer within striking distance of home would have me in the car in a flash (as the recent White-crowned Sparrow, Black Lark, River Warbler and Sprosser can vouch for!), but this one was not making me budge! Vivid memories of the dip on the Audouin’s the previous year at Seaton in Devon came flooding back to me like some sort of intense nightmare, except I knew it was real because Dave S had been there to experience the pain with me!!! Sitting it out, it was almost a relief to hear it disappeared pretty rapidly, but of course by late evening I was regretting my decision as a jammy bunch had connected at the final curtain, including the jammy Mark Hows! The only was to succeed in twitching is just to go, and I was annoyed with myself for not heeding this advice.
Cue Monday, and I am sat at work watching news of the Audouin’s seemingly giving itself up to all comers. I had a couple of days off planned before heading to Greece on Thursday, so knew the opportunity was there to go, but I was still less than convinced with the very sporadic nature of the bird not giving me much fuel for optimism! Tuesday dawned… with me stood on Coploe! I had bottled going for it yet again! That was until news came through that the bird was again present, and I cracked and jumped in the car at about 10:30. Lincolnshire is no real distance from home, being just a little bit further than Norfolk, but the pace of driving once you get past Spalding is notoriously slow courtesy of a ridiculous number of lorries, farm vehicles etc. Still, I made the site in 2.5hours, arriving just before 13:00, to a despondent crowd with news that the bird had not been seen since 10:30 when it had flown out to sea. Hmmm, was this going to be another dip? For the next three and a half hours it certainly seemed so as scanning the sea and sand produced nothing even remotely Audouin’s-like! That was until shortly after 4pm, when scanning the sea, I picked up a ‘big’ gull right out on the horizon. There had been very few large gulls out at sea during the afternoon, so I kept my ’scope on it as it made it’s way towards the beach - for what reason I kept on it I don’t know, but presumably it was out of desperation for it to be the boy! As it got marginally closer, I was beginning to think it looked a bit small for a typical large gull, and had quite a bouncy buoyant flight. My interest picked up. It kept coming closer and plumage features began to become discernible - clean white head, dove grey mantle and extremely contrasting solid black wing tips. It was becoming even more interesting! The bird teased by doubling back out to sea, then coming back, then padding left, then right, getting mobbed by a Skua, all the while I was pleading for it to land! It got closer still and an all dark droopy beak could be seen. By now I was convinced it was the bird, and some 15-20 minutes after first picking it up, it suddenly aimed straight for the beach and came zooming in to land about a quarter of a mile south of our position. Forgetting to even shout to the birders around me I started running, and soon everyone had twigged on, as there sat on the beach in all it’s finery was a rather neat sub-adult Audouin’s Gull! What a grip-back! The bird lounged on the beach at close range for the next hour in superb sunlight and gave itself up to all present, before finally having enough and heading straight back out to sea.
Also noted whilst waiting for the Audouin’s to make an appearance had been a superb spooned adult Pomarine Skua, at least ten Arctic Skuas, an adult Mediterranean Gull and two Whimbrels.
Finally heading for home mid-evening, I went for a quick look at Freiston en route to check for the Pectoral Sandpiper present the previous day. No joy on that front although a female Montagu’s Harrier quartering the sea-bank was notable. Also recorded were two Little Stints, two juvenile Ruff, Green and a couple of Common Sandpipers, a first-winter Arctic Tern, two Barn Owls and c.15 Tree Sparrows.
16th August - Local birding remains the order of things with Coploe having a very good weekend, the highlight of which was a superb juvenile Red Kite which spent the weekend loitering over the ridge. At least four Marsh Harriers were also seen whilst Tree Pipit, Redstart and a couple of flyover Crossbills completed a good day.
