Red-footed falcon at Willington Gravel Pits

I want to begin by saying I'm not a twitcher, I don't collect sightings of rare birds, destroy habitats and distress the bird. To me the main focus is the welfare of the bird. A couple of years ago I was on the east coast and a rare bird turned up and as I was already there I decided to take a look. I saw the bird but was astonished at the levels people were going to in order to photograph the bird, people were flushing the bird out in order to see it, as soon as they saw it they dashed off, I assume to find another rarity. I was appalled, these people don't seem to have a lot of respect for the wildlife around them, if any at all!

To the title of this post and the red-footed falcon Falco vespertinus. At the beginning of June a red-footed Falcon was seen at Willington Gravel Pits in Derbyshire, it's not too far from where I live so off I went. The usual scenario arose, I arrived and it wasn't there, about 15 minutes later the bird arrived. It was a bird I'd never seen before and was truly magnificent and a real beauty.

The red-footed falcon is most commonly seen in eastern Europe, but from time to time they do appear in Great Britain.

Unfortunately this photo isn't great but was the only decent one I managed to take on the camera I had at the time.

Red-footed falcon

Bempton Cliffs (28th May)

I'm trying to get up to date with my photographs, I've been quite busy recently with one thing or another, but finally University is over for 4 months so I have time to take photographs and wildlife watch, alongside doing my dissertation.So I'm back tracking on some of my photos and placing them on here.

So, on the 28th May, I went to Bempton Cliffs to see the seabirds there, there were the usual puffins Fratercula arctica, guillemots Uria aalge, fulmars Fulmarus glacialis and kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla.

Unfortunately due to light conditions and the weather conditions I didn't take a lot of photographs, but the one below stood out to me: a lonesome guillemot in what looks a desolate landscape.

Guillemot

Whisby Nature Reserve (May 21st)

A first for me today: a beautiful nightingale! A friend managed to record the song on his dictaphone and it's a bird song I could listen to forever.
Besides the nightingale there were plenty of common terns Sterna hirundo and black headed gulls with chicks.

Common Tern