I spent several hours at Willington Gravel Pits on Sunday morning (25th February 2018), in the hope of seeing the regular Great White Egret. After some time, the bird appeared briefly on and off but never close. There was also a good flock of Curlew (16) and Wigeon (67), a single Little Egret, several Shelduck […]
Managed to catch up on a couple of local rare birds over the weekend. For several weeks now 2 Cattle Egret have been faithful to a sheep field adjacent to the main road into Newton Solney and the River Trent. The Birds of Derbyshire states Cattle Egret as a rare vagrant to our county with
I recently spent a few days photographing Mountain Hare, in the Scottish Highlands, with Pete Walkden. I had a fantastic two days with these attractive animals, often spending several hours alongside a single hare, being totally comfortable and at ease with our presence. The weather was just about perfect, with plenty of snow and several
A Spotted Sandpiper, the North American equivalent of our Common Sandpiper, has been over wintering at the National Water Sport Centre, at Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire. The bird has been present and site faithful for several weeks now and is very obliging with patience. A real treat as any North American wader in the Midlands is
January 2018 was a particularly difficult month for me. My brother passed away so suddenly and unexpectedly on the 5th and so the rest of the month, apart from a week in Bulgaria that had been prior planned, has been spent taking care of his estate, arranging the funeral and doing those awful jobs that
During the mid-part of January 2018 I made a visit to the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria and Romania. I must thank Chris from Wise Birding and Dimiter, his local representative in Bulgaria, for the arrangements, for the friendship and for helping to make this trip happen for me. It came at a most awkward
The 5th January 2018 kicked off with the first year & patch listing. There is nothing better than finding a good bird on your local patch and I did exactly that, a fine male Hawfinch at Staunton Harold Reservoir. Along with a few Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, Lesser Redpoll, Siskin, Goosander and Goldeneye, I managed to
A flock of 40 odd Redpolls, consisting of Lesser, Common and a single Coue’s Arctic, had been faithful to a small garden on Hazlewood Common near Aldeburgh in Suffolk. We had planned our New Year celebrations around a trip to Dunwich, staying at a really nice pub and so this coincided perfectly for a visit
