A Scops Owl had been found at Ryhope, near Sunderland, Co Durham last week. It became a little difficult to twitch as it seemed to be one day there and one day not. Obviously with it being nocturnal, fairly small and well camouflaged it would been hard to see. As I checked the bird news early last Tuesday morning, I saw that the bird was showing quite well, there could be a trip to see it?
Kevin C & Bob K both showed a lot of interest so, off we went with Bob at the wheel. The two and a quarter hour journey with a few checks about the Scops Owl soon passed. We parked up in Ryhope and walked under a road/railway tunnel and out towards a valley that led down to the sea, a really nice spot. A crowd of around 40 birders greeted us with the news that the bird was showing pretty well, a quick look in a waiting telescope soon confirmed the sighting. The bird was watched for about an hour and a few snaps with my camera were taken. It was hunched up close to a branch of a tree so, it was difficult. A new bird for one of our number and what a cracking find by a patch worker from this area. With nothing else unusual in the area we headed for home, nice mini twitch.
Grey Phalarope
A Grey Phalarope had been found on Audenshaw Reservoir near Manchester on Friday afternoon. We decided that if the bird stays overnight that we would go for it. An early check revealed the phalarope was still present, so I picked up Kevin C and off we went. If you know the way to Audenshaw Reservoir its easy enough to find, but if you dont you could get lost! We made our way along the permissive footpath and up onto the banking. Kevin was impressed by the sheer size of the reservoir`s having only been once before. We soon joined around 8 other local birders who told us the bird was still present but had flown out into the middle. They also told us that it had been showing down to 20 feet! We soon found it and after a while it did show down to 20 feet, what a little cracking bird. We enjoyed the bird for 45 minutes until the grey Manchester sky told us to head for home.
