Sunday 27th January 2013 Glyn, Mike, Richard and myself caught a Ryanair flight from Standsted to Vasteras, Sweden. We set off in search of Sweden's Big 4 winter birds, Nutcracker, Pygmy Owl, Siberian Jay and the infamous Hawk Owl. We also expected a few more good birds to fill in the time and we were […]
Snow & ice was still prevalent this morning, although the thaw seemed to have set in. I managed to get round Staunton Harold Reservoir OK but access by car was still closed off. I managed to find a few new birds for the year – Skylark, Meadow Pipit and single Lesser Redpoll, hiding amongst the Goldfinch
With the worst weather of the 2013 winter hitting Britain over the last few days, this weekend was going to be Car Free and only using Shanks's Pony to work my local patch at Staunton Harold Reservoir. There had been a good 5-6cms of snow falling on Friday and the reservoir area was closed to motor
After last weekends Fog-Out, a few days birding in Derbyshire. Saturday 12th January – Staunton Harold Reservoir – I managed to find a drake Gadwall (an uncommon duck for this water), also 119 Wigeon, 150 Grey Lag and 6 Pochard of note. I also found a Tree Creeper another good bird for my site this year.Still a
My cousin lives in the beautiful small seaside town of Tywyn, in Gwynedd, North Wales. On the 31st December 2012, I received an email from my cousin telling me that a Chough was frequenting her mother-in-law's garden in Tywyn. The Chough was colour ringed and she was able to send me the ringing details. The garden
January has started well at my local Patch – Staunton Harold Reservoir. Early morning on the 4th I found 4 adult Whooper Swans showing well from the dam car park and also an adult Yellow-legged Gull sat on one of the marker buoys. A good flog round the site this morning produced 2 Raven, 40
I "Kicked-Off" off the new year in typical fashion. A morning's session around my Local Patch, Staunton Harold Reservoir. My target was 50 species but I only made 48. I did manage to find a female Pintail amongst a large flock of Wigeon (Pintail is an uncommon species for my patch) and also one of the adult Yellow-legged
This may well prove to be my last post for 2012 – What better way to end the year than to observe, at close quarters, a bird that is usually viewed miles out at sea with other seaduck. Velvet Scoter are not often seen inland but this winter a small number have found their way onto a
