Bewick's Swans and Great White Egret and Shoveler

 Shoveler at Ogden (Nice one DJS) takes me to 77 for the year..A quick trip to Boston in Lincolnshire was notable only for a small flock of 6 Bewicks Swan , Green Sandpipers , Brent Geese and a Great White Egtret.......

                                                              GWE from roadside

Latvia / Estonia....

 A real birders trip to Latvia and Estonia looking for  Hawk Owl and Steller's Eider . Other highlights included Ural Owl , Black Woodpecker , Grey headed Woodpecker , Great Grey Shrike , Rough Legged Buzzard , Hen Harrier male , Golden Eagle , White Tailed Sea Eagle (35+ sightings) , Smew , Crested Tit , Northern Bullfinch , European Nuthatch , Nordic Jackdaw , Pale Willow Tit ,  Long - tailed Duck and Scaup..Many thanks to Gary Waddington ( photos and everything else) , The man Nick Carter and Big Ady...cheers guys

We flew into Riga and headed straight for the Hawk Owl only 35 minutes from the Airport , we searched hard in the freeing cold conditions and found Great Tit , White Tailed Sea Eagle (3) , Great Spotted Woodpecker , Raven , Northern Bullfinch aprox 15 in a mixed flock but some cracking males , Hooded Crow and Blue Tit , but no Hawk Owl our luck turned when we bumped into a local birder who took us to see the Owl , amazing views of the Hawk Owl catching a vole and promptly ripping its head off to feed....WOW

Day 2 we headed into Estonia stopping on the way to for another Hawk Owl  with no luck , but 2 Black Woodpeckers showed really well and a total  5 seen throughout the day .Nordic Jackdaws were common along the roadside with there bright white neck collars. Hooded Crows , Goldeneye , Herring Gulls , GBBGulls , Sparrowhawk and Redwing were also seen along the way. Everywhere was fro en , every river , lake and seven the sea . Birds were hard to come by.....

                                                             White tailed  Eagle

Day 3 

The first birds of the day were 3 pale Willow Tits of the Baltic race  , Crested Tits , Nuthatch also of the pale Baltic race , Northern Bullfinch and Goldcrest in the garden of the B and B , a great start. Into the local pine forests next , the first bird a cracking Lesser Spotted Woodpecker , Ravens , an immature Golden Eagle flushed from one of the clearings which was a massive surprise to us all.. The highlight of the day was a Ural Owl , which gave incredible views . Another 2 Ural Owls were herd calling .2 White Tailed Sea Eagles were also seen .

                                                              Ural Owl

Day 4 

   We headed for  Saaremaa Island  in the search of Stellers Eider our second target species. The sea was frozen and White- tailed Sea Eagles were common with 5 + seen sat on the ice and 10 + throughout the day. !!! Hundreds of Long tailed Duck were seen on the crossing and the day count reached 1000 + .We headed for the harbour at Kuuli  where Stellers Eider were meant to be seen .an interesting herring Gull with yellow legs was surely Omissus.  A beautiful male Hen Harrier  and Great Grey Shrike were seen on the way. Arriving at the harbour we immediately saw one adult male Stellers Eider..what a bird stunning. When we turned and looked into the harbour there were at least 48 Stellers Eider ,150 + Tufted Duck , 15 Scaup , 25 Coot , 500 + Mute Swan in the distance Red breasted Merganser , Red-throated Diver 5 + , Whooper Swans , Velvet Scoter , Cormorants , Mallards , Long tailed Duck and a single Auk species which I id'd as Guillimot but was probably Razorbill so will go down as Auk sp....

                                            The frozen  Baltic

                                                 Stellers Eider and Scaup

Day 5 Sorve lighthouse

A real red letter day for me going here a place I have always wanted to visit and it did not disappoint..

25 Smew including 13 males , Snow Bunting 4 , Whooper Swan , White tailed Eagle 17 +  , Grey Seal 100 + , Great Crested Grebe , Goldeneye , Velvet Scoter  9 , Common Scoter 2 , Scaup 60 + , Nordic Jackdaw a flock of 50 Greenfinch , Red breasted Merganser , Goosander , Great grey Shrike , An adult  Rough Legged Buzzard was the icing on the cake.....

                                                               Male Scaup feathers

Reykjavik...Iceland..Northern Lights

 A city break to Reykjavik , Iceland the weather was harsh to say the least and the Northern lights hard to find...A few Birds around the city made for an excellent break.......

1..Raven a common bird around the city with 14 seen together over the harbour..

2 Starling common in gardens in the old quarter.

3 ' Icelandic' Redwing a common garden bird around the city..

4 Iceland Gull..common 

5 Glaucous Gull common in smaller numbers than Iceland

6 Fulmar..100 + in the harbour and sea front

7 Red Throated Diver..2 +in the harbour and sea front

8 Great Northern Diver..4 +in the harbour and sea front

9 Black Guillimot..50 + in the harbour and sea front

10 Red Breasted Merganser

11 Eider Duck 

12 Whooper Swan

13 Cormaorant

14 Shag ..1 fishing close inshore 

15 Common Gull

16 Black Headed Gull

17 Lesser Black backed Gull 

18 Great Black backed Gull

19 Kumelins /Thayers Gull

20 Snow Bunting a flock of 50 + on the way to the Blue lagoon and 4 over the Blue lagoon.

21 Mallard ..common 

22 Tufted Duck ..common

23 Gyr Falcon one grey phase sat on a post on the way to the Blue lagoon....

24 Redpoll..common in small flocks around the city some very pale ones looking like Artic but who knows nowerdays..are they all the same..??

25 Greylag Goose..common

26 Blackbird..common garden bird in the city

27 Widgeon 10 in the city Park

28 Gadwall..6 in the city park

29 Purple Sandpiper an impressive flock of 250 + in the main harbour

30 Herring Gull....Argentatus...common