Our annual birding trip to the Isles of Scilly commenced on the evening of the 19th October. An overnight drive down to St. Just to catch our Skybus flight to St.Mary;’s on Saturday 20th October. This was to be my 26th consecutive year and our hopes were high as the weather forecast was predicting easterly […]
We arrived at Blackdog, Aberdeen at around 2pm on Friday 21st September 2012. A vast flock of Scoter and Eider duck were on the sea and after some careful searching, I eventually located the eclipse drake Surf Scoter amongst Common & Velvet Scoter. There were also numerous Red-throated Diver, 2 Arctic Skua, 7 Whooper Swan
Local Patch Birding Really paid off to-day. Another early morning start at Carsington Water. After a walk around "Stones Island" and a visit to the main Wildlife Hide, we had seen very little. The regular adult Yellow-legged Gull and a few Chiffchaff and Blackcap. We then made our way to Sheepwash Hide and on arrival
Local patch birding in my county of Derbyshire is hard work but sometimes rewarding. It is all down to the quality of birding one is looking for. In my view you cannot compare a days birding in Derbyshire, to a days birding at a coastal site in Norfolk or Yorkshire. These locations would win hands
A week on Madeira to re-charge the batteries and to relax and take things easy for a few days. Not so easy when the hotel gardens were full of Monarch Butterflies and two species of Blue Butterflies that were incredibly difficult to photograph. I had also lined up 2 afternoon seabird and Dolphin trips to try and
I managed to get a record shot of the lingering near adult Yellow-legged Gull that has been present on and off at Staunton Harold & Foremark Reservoirs for the past few months. Not a great deal else at the local patch this morning. Tufted Duck numbers are building as I count around 260 this morning.
Plenty of common waders on offer at RSPB Titchwell, in Norfolk and RSPB Frampton Marsh in Lincs. A total of 22 species were seen to-day. Highlights being a 1stw Red-Necked Phalarope at Frampton; 22 Spotted Redshank at Titchwell; c300 Black-tailed Godwit at both sites; c200 Bar Tailed Godwit at Titchwell along with 16 Spoonbill, an
Warm weather continues and this was my second Moth Trap of the year. A fairly good assortment simply running an actinic tube, “Neighbourhood Friendly" Trap. Twentynine species with Large Yellow Underwing and Common Rustic the most numerous. In no special order – THE MACROS – Marbled Beauty 4; Willow Beauty 6; Large Yellow Underwing
