After work trip out to Chew to look for the Richardsons Canada Goose. Searched Herriotts pool for an hour or so, looking at all the Canadas there. They all gradually disappeared, 2 or 3 at a time until there were only about 2 pairs left. Then out of the blue a birder friend said "Whats that?", looked up to see the Richardsons flying in. It landed at the back of the pool near a Shelduck. Amazingly it is about the same size!!! About ten minutes later it was gone again, flying off around the back of the pool.

Common Yellowthroat (1st Winter Male)

    Third time lucky for some photos of the Yellowthroat???

    Yes, not quite what i would have liked, but at least i finally managed a shot, which looks like a bird
(possibly, see what you think).


   Onto the Forest of Dean after, but rather quiet. Did manage Goshawk again from New Fancy view though.

An afternoon visit to Chew today. The Spotted & Green Sandpipers were both at Herriotts pool still. Heard a report of some Little Gulls in the middle of the lake, so went to Stratford hide. There was a drake Greater Scaup there, fooling a few birders into thinking it was the Lesser. Sadly, even though all the duck seemed to be in the Stratford bay area, there was no sign of the Lesser Scaup. There were a pair of Ruddy Ducks there. Maybe i should not mention that, as they will only get shot! Could see the Little Gulls, but still distant.
   Went around to Woodford and got better/closer views of them from there. There were 6 in total, all adults.

Spotted Sandpiper

    Chew again today, to try to at last catch up with the 4 Pink-footed Geese, which have been about for quite a while, at Chew and Blagdon. First decent bird seen was a Barn Owl flying around the back of Herons Green pool, it ended up going back to the nesting box and disappeared inside.


   Drove around to Herriotts pool, and spoke to a birding friend who told me the Geese were at Woodford earlier. The Spotted Sandpiper was in its usual place along the edge of the pool, managed one distant shot. Not one of my best.


   So onto Woodford for the Geese. No sign where i was told. Then i picked them up swimming near to Nunnery point. So Nunnery it is then! Got there only for them to fly back towards Woodford. From Nunnery managed my first Sand Martins of the year though, with about 25-30 flying between Nunnery and Woodford. Back to Herriotts, but the Spotted Sandpiper was still too far for pix, there was a Green Sandpiper there too now.

Pink-footed Geese

  At least i have seen the Geese at last, lets see if i can get some photos now. Woodford again and this time i got some!



   Right while my lucks in lets try to see the Long-tailed Duck as well. Went to the No.1 Picnic site, could not see much as i was looking straight into the sun. I drove to the other end of the dam. Looking over the wall i could see the bird, and it was close to the shoreline at Whalley Bank. As luck would have it the gate was open, so i walked slowly along the verge. Took a few shots, then closer, a few more. Finally i was stood on the shoreline and the bird was pretty close too.

Long-tailed Duck (1st Winter Duck)

Sparrowhawk

    The last hour or so of light was spent at Herriotts pool, just to see what happens. Usually a good time and place to see Sand Martins and the first Swallows on migration, but there were none. Did manage the shot opposite of a male Sparrowhawk as it flew by though.




   What a good day it turned out to be, and a good weekend too.

Red Kite (Juvenile)

   Just a quick hour or so to spare this morning, as i have a close friends childrens Baptism this afternoon. Went down to Aust Warth to try and get some shots of the Short-eared Owls there, or maybe the Merlin if i was lucky! As it turned out i was lucky, but not for that reason. A juvenile Red Kite was flying around, it flew out towards Chepstow, i thought that was the end of it, then it flew back over the Aust services area, and back over the Aust Road. Almost right over my head. Got the news out and quite a few people managed to get a view of it.

  Off home and out for a few beers, good start to the day though.

Great Grey Shrike

   Thought about going to Chew after work, but the light was not the best. So i thought it would be no good at all for photos by the time i got there! So, i decided to go and look for the Great Grey Shrike, which had been refound at Queens Charlton near Keynsham. The bird had been found earlier in the winter of 2011, but had not been seen for quite a while, so it was nice to know it was still around. Got there to find that the birders there had lost it, after it had showed "very well"! I waited around for nearly an hour before deciding to start walking back to the car. I heard a quiet call, which sounded a bit like a Shrike. I stopped and looked, thinking i may as well give it one last shot! Looking through the hedge, there it was, probably been sat there all the time i had been there. I managed to get a shot through the hedge, then moved to try to get closer and it disappeared!! Found it again a bit later, but it was always distant after that.

   Went back to Aust again. The weather was nowhere near as good today, but the Owls were there again. At least 3. I decided to take a walk along the seawall towards Northwick Warth. There were lots of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks. A distant Merlin, probably the female, was sat on a log. A Short-eared Owl was also staying just out of reach of the camera. The Owl eventually flushed the Merlin, which disappeared sadly. But, i was able to get the other side of the Owl and it then allowed a closer approach. Shame about the light!

Short-eared Owl

Took a detour to Aust Warth on the way home from work this afternoon. Really bright sunshine and the Short-eared Owls showing nice and close. There were probably 6, but i saw 5 for sure. Sadly, whenever they came close enough for photos, they were always into the sun! They would then fly into the sun at distance, as though they were taking the...........

Trip to Devon today in search of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. No sign im afraid, but did hear one calling in the deep of the wood. Good morning though. A Dipper flew along the stream and there were Grey Wagtails there too. No sign of Goshawks sadly, i have seen there on my last 2 visits. At least one Marsh Tit was seen and heard. Another late Redwing today as well.
    Also there i had the first multiple Butterfly sightings of the year. Brimstone (3), Peacock (3), Comma and a Holly Blue. The Holly Blue, i am told, is the equal earliest sighting of the species this year!

   What to do now was the next question, Exminster Marshes was the decision. Tried looking for the American Wigeon that had been around for a while there. Sadly the light was not from the best direction, we were looking straight into it all the time. On the way out of the reserve, i decided to take a quick look at the area where there had been a Long-eared Owl roosting a while back. We had gone down especially for it with no joy. To my surprise it was back! Showing well, but never quite well enough, always had branches or such in the way.

Long-eared Owl

Adder

   Trip to the Forest of Dean today.

   From New Fancy View i had up to 3 Goshawks, plenty of Buzzards, Ravens and at least one Sparrowhawk. Lots of Siskins in the area too. There was a family party of Wild Boar in the clearing below the viewpoint, but they kept hidden most of the time. A late Redwing was seen, and a Peacock butterfly, first of the year for me i think!
   Also an Adder along the path in one of their usual spots.

Nice weather today, so decided on another trip to South Wales for the Yellowthroat! The bird again showed well, but again NO photos, a real pain.

   Decided again to move on and maybe come back later. Drove to Cosmeston lakes near Penarth. Had a walk around the area before finding the drake Lesser Scaup, with Tufted Ducks, but could not get close enough to the area it was in for photos. But, did manage some shots of the adult Whooper Swan there. A small compensation i suppose.

Whooper Swan

Went back early am, for the Crossbills, but they were not coming down to the puddle in the hour or so i had there! Shame that. We then went up the coast. First stop was Salthouse, there was a flock of Snow Buntings feeding and bathing in the car park, great start. There was also a single Dunlin on one of the pools.

Snow Bunting (Top: Female, Bottom: Male)

Dunlin    Second stop was Kelling to try to see the Arctic Redpoll, which had been around for quite a while. No sign, no reports on pager either. Found out it had been there first thing in the morning, but hey no worries!! Then on to Titchwell RSPB. This has always been one of my favourite reserves, but not anymore sadly. There has been a lot of work done to the place and not all good im afraid. Hopefully the work will improve the place in the long run, but for now seems dead, up to its old self. Still we saw 2 Velvet Scoters on the sea, female Hen Harrier, Bittern, 2+ Spotted Redshanks and all the usual stuff at Titchwell. So not too bad, just doesnt feel right, maybe its just me?

Spotted Redshank

Velvet Scoter (Pair)

Decisions, decisions, do i go for the Paddyfield Warbler in Sussex or Norfolk and Suffolk. Dull overcast morning and decided to go to Suffolk. Started at Lower Hollesley Common for Crossbills. Found the puddle and not long after the Crossbills. Didnt get quite as close as i would like to, but got some photos. There were plenty of Siskins too.

Common Crossbill (Male)

Common Crossbill (Female)    Then to Minsmere for the rest of the day. There were 17 Bewicks Swans on the road in. Half a dozen Smew, at least 2 Bitterns and another half a dozen Marsh Harriers, not a bad day.

Marsh Harrier (Immature Male)

As promised, i have just put a very brief post on here about my trip to Sri Lanka. Mainly photos. Please scroll down to Saturday 14th-Saturday 28th January to see them! Hope you like the pix? Please leave comments if you have any.

Today saw a trip to Newport on the cards. A 1st winter male Common Yellowthroat, had been identified on Thursday evening, so here we go, first real twitch of the year! Got to the designated parking field, to be told they were not using it anymore and was told where the new car park was. Not the best of starts. But, where i parked i could see all the birders, so not as bad as i had thought. Walked up the hill to where everyone was, a chap pointed to where i could best see the bird, but there was no room for me and my camera gear. So, i walked to the other side, put down my tripod, and the bird popped up! Second lifer of the year in the bag! Easy huh? Spent the rest of the afternoon trying, very unsuccessfully, to photograph it, didnt even press the shutter! What a beaut, but a real pain too. Lets hope it stays around for a while.

Decided to go to the New Forest today, to see the Dark-eyed Junco and the Spanish Sparrow, which had both been found before my holiday and were still there. Our luck did, luckily, hold out and continue from yesterday. As you will see from the photos below!

Spanish Sparrow

First real chance to do some birding after my Sri Lankan holiday, went out to Chew to see if there was anything new about. Before i left there were a few things around, Spotted Sandpiper, Yellow-browed Warbler and a female Garganey (odd) were the best ones. So lets have a look!!!
  Got to Herriotts pool, where a Smew had been reported on the pool itself. Saw Gareth Jones near the bridge over the channel, so had a look there first. There was the female Smew, showing really well in the channel.

Smew (Duck)

Yellow-browed Warbler

  Not a bad first trip out, lets see how long that luck continues though!!!

  If anyone reads this blog and wonders where my Sri Lankan pix are, here is a sort of answer. We saw approx. 250 species of bird on the 2 week trip. Very good! But, i photographed 190+ of them. Even better! So, sadly will take a while to sort them all out. I will sort out a 'Best Of', and add them asap.

A two week trip to Sri Lanka, resulted in us seeing c250 species of bird, all the Endemics, and i photographed 190+ of them. I have put some of the photos here, and will (probably) do a more thorough report when i get chance. Still got plenty of photos to sort first! Hope you like what you see, all of these and the rest will be on my website asap. I can also highly recommend our guide in Sri Lanka, Amila Salgado, he was excellent, spoke brilliant English (which is always a big help), had a decent sense of humour too. You can find his blog, Gallicissa blogspot, and maybe if you fancy a trip to Sri Lanka you can contact him. I would highly recommend him, but even higher, i would recommend a trip to Sri Lanka, fantastic birds and wildlife, very friendly people, and nice and warm too! Along with the birds seen, i also saw my first Asian Elephants, Leopard, Water Buffalo and other wildlife, which included many Butterflies, Dragonflies and Moths too.

Decided to go back to Chew, to try to get some flight shots of the Ring-billed Gull, but light was nowhere near as good as yesterday. Found out that the Spotted Sandpiper had shown really well yesterday, before we looked sadly! Lets have a look. It was showing quite well, so i finally got some shots, not quite as good as i would like, but not too bad at all. It seems to be showing some spots, not sure whether this is usual for winter plumage or not, lets hope its the start of summer plumage, and it stays a couple more weeks or months even!

Spotted Sandpiper

   After the shots i got, the bird flew across the pool, came back, flew over the road and landed on the lake side of the bridge. Went over thinking this should be really good for photos, but the bird went under the bridge and spent a long while under there! Was seen near dusk again, not sure if it was seen inbetween or not? Went back around to Woodford Lodge again. The Gull was sat on the pontoons, looking as though it was fully fed. So i went back to the car. In the car park, there were 4 Bullfinches feeding on some berry bushes. They flew into the top righthand corner of the car park, so we followed. The Bullfinches were feeding on the floor, which i have not seen too often. They were eating Sycamore seeds, not seen that before either! Last thing i had not seen before, were at least 30 Bullfinches together, absolutely brilliant, what beautiful birds!!!

Trip to Chew today to see the Ring-billed Gull, which has been around the Woodford Lodge area most of the week. The bird showed down to a few feet at times, coming to bread, if not Carrot cake, sorry Dave! It has an injury under its wing, maybe flew into something like a wire, but seems to be coping quite well.      

Ring-billed Gull

   No sign of the Spotted Sandpiper today, the spit it has been showing on is now underwater, so it has to either return to the pool at Herriotts or go altogether, lets hope it stays around! Would be nice if it stays into summer plumage.

   First Jack Snipe of the year, was showing from Stratford hide, asleep most of the time, sadly! There were at least 6 Common Snipe there too. 2+ Ruddy Duck and a drake Scaup were also seen from there. Looks perfect for Water Pipit at the moment too, but none seen.

A New Year, same weather, same luck with photos im afraid!!!!

  Had a trip down to Ham Walls RSPB, on the levels, to see a Yellow-browed Warbler. Sunny when we arrived, but soon changed into a hale storm, they hurt dont they!!! No sign. What to do, stay or go to Burnham for the Lesser Yellowlegs??? Went to Burnham, weather cleared up, until we got there that is. Got to the pools and walked down towards them, the Yellowlegs was on the back pool on its own, or so i thought! Got a bit closer, seemed quite settled even with me there, then a Redshank called and 2 of them flew from the pool, taking the 'legs' with them! Had a look along the river, no luck. Walked back past the pools, only to find the 'legs' on the front pool. It flew straight onto the back pool and was again settled. Got a couple of rubbish, fairly distant 'record' shots, then moved closer. But, my recent luck held, as a Redshank flew in from the river, calling, and chased the 'legs' back onto the river again. Then came the rain again, i'm going home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lesser Yellowlegs

Back to Slimbridge today for the Bitterns, lot colder and duller than last trip! Which turned into a bit of a blessing as there were a lot less people in the Zeiss hide.

   I got to the hide, put down my bag and tripod. By the time i had got my camera off the tripod, a movement in the reeds revealed a Bittern, which flew up and landed in the open area between the reedbeds. Took some shots, camera on wrong settings, BUGGER! "There are 2" someone said. Looked, but couldnt see the second one. But, kept an eye on the area anyway, which paid off, when another movement put me onto the other Bittern. This one then continued through the reedbed towards the hide. After about a minute of trying to hide behind a fence post, it walked out into the open and out onto the grass. It stood in the open for probably 3 minutes, before walking, out in the open, along the fenceline. Then flew along in front of us and down into the reedbed again. Sadly, neither showed again for the next 2 hours! So i went to the Rushy Pen hide to look for the, probable returning, female Lesser Scaup. She was sat on an island asleep! So, no photos, but got the Bitterns anyway, so happy.

Great Bittern

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all my blog readers

A short visit to Catcott Lows saw some good birds even with the crap weather. We arrived in the car park and immediately saw a female Marsh Harrier in the air with a Pergrine! Not bad. Walked int o the hide and someone said "We have had Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and Hen Harrier in the air together". I asked where the Hen Harrier had gone, and was told it was flying along the tree line to the left of the hide. Saw it and rushed outside to try to get some shots, only to see it disappear behind the trees! Still decnt start, but then nothing happened, as the Peregrine decided to sit on the ground, for most of the rest of the time we were there. The Marsh Harrier went out towards the Canada farm reedbed.

Another trip to the Forest of Dean, to look for Crossbills, hopefully. Again nothing at the normal good spots, New Fancy View and Speech House, and the usual Tits, etc at Cannop. So, last chance, Parkend Church. We got lucky as a female Crossbill landed at the top a large tree, had a preen and flew down towards the ground, a couple of minutes later the female and a male flew to the line of larches at the back of the Cemetery, before flying off. No Hawfinches yet though.