Sunday 30th March and a dull overcast morning. After an hour searching for Hawfinch at a well known site in North Derbyshire, Glyn eventually picked up a bird singing in a garden and we quickly had reasonable views before the pair disappeared into thick tree cover. Later another bird gave good views perched out on […]
A recent article, March 2014, on Martin Garner's website, Birding Frontiers, concerning the identification possibilities of Arctic Guillemot, ssp hyperborea, on Hornoya Island, Varanger, Arctic Norway, provoked me to check out my photos from last years trip (April 2013). Arctic Guillemot are seemingly rare vagrants to British waters and seldom do they move south of their arctic range. They
For the past week, I've been watching five Yellowhammer, regularly coming to one of the feeding stations at my local patch at Staunton Harold Reservoir. So this morning I spent my Sunday breakfast photographing them. Unfortunately I could only spare an hour due to family issues. Nevertheless, several males were reasonably obliging. The Yellowhammer is one of the brightest and most
Saturday 8th March 2014 and my first trip of the year to the North Norfolk Coast. For the first time, I have seen the devastation to the coastal system caused by the severity of the winter storms. The sand dunes at Titchwell have been completely flattended, but the sea defences have saved the fresh water
Following on from the earlier post, which covered the sea duck, this final trip post covers the remaining birds, mainly passerines, but also includes gulls and a few more sea duck just for good measure! During our week in New Jersey and in addition to Barnegat and Avalon, we spent some time visiting various reserves around the Cape May
Not so many years ago and outside of Fair Isle, the news of the arrival of a mainland UK Red-flanked Bluetail, would have sent shivers down the spine and mad panic would have kicked-in. Not any more it would seem, unless of course you find one on your local patch, far inland and in a Midlands county
THE SEA BIRDS – Scoters, Harlies, Old Squaw, Loons and Mergs. Between 7th and 13th February 2014, along with Glyn, Richard and Mike, three birding & photographer friends, we travelled to the state of New Jersey in the US. Our aim was to photograph the sea duck that congregate in the bays and off the
Last week I was in the USA on a birding holiday, watching plenty of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle), many down to several feet. Little did I know at the time that I would be watching one in the UK within a few days of arriving back home. To-day Sunday 16th February 2014 I connected with my
