Over the past few days (end of May into early June 2016), 100’s of thousands, possibly millions, of the tiny moth, Plutella xylostella, have arrived in Britain. They have been trapped and observed in unprecedented numbers, right across the country and it must be one of the biggest influxes ever. The Diamond-back Moth, to give […]
Just recently back from a chill-out week on the Balearic Isle of Menorca. We had a great relaxing time at the beautiful resort of Cala Galdana on the south coast. The weather was superb, the food superb and the hotel superb. What more can I say. One of the reasons we chose this resort was
The past week has seen a frenzy of rare birds arriving into the UK, sending the newcomers to birding into mass hysteria, chasing lifers from the north to the south and east to the west of Britain. In some respects, the rarities have been quite incredible. A suspect Dalmatian Pelican was discovered in Cornwall, (not sure
Saturday 7th May 2016 and I lived in hope of seeing Whiskered Tern at Attenborough and Black-winged Stilt at Frampton Marsh. Despite my best efforts, neither species were at their respective sites, as they were on Friday evening 6th May. Never mind, I did manage to connect with a few year ticks. A fine summer
Saturday 23rd April 2016 turned out to be a mixed bag of birds. We headed off for Spurn in the hope of finding something. All we found was cold and windy weather but the sun was shining. After a long walk out to Sammy’s from the Crown and Anchor, we managed to find a couple
Derbyshire is blest with some stunning Limestone Dales that provide ideal habitat for the Dipper and of course other water birds such as Grey Wagtail. I spent Sunday 17th April with Glyn and Richard in one of the Derbyshire Dales. We had a great day, spending time watching several pairs of Dipper, including one pair
I think not – in our modern birding scene, so much emphasis seems to be made on rare birds, it seems to me that we can easily pass by the common stuff. I spent a few enjoyable hours on Saturday 16th April, within 10 minutes from home, just watching common birds. I don’t think they’re boring at
On Sunday 6th March, I spent a pleasurable hour at my nearby National Trust Country Park at Calke Abbey, Ticknall. During the winter there has been plenty of activity at one of the bird feeding stations in the park. Having recently returned from a hectic business trip to Hong Kong, I can’t think of a
