I've been remiss in updating my blog recently, so before we look at this weekend, here's a catch up of the last few weeks:
Saturday 17th - Monday 19th January
A weekend away in Norfolk to celebrate my 50th. It wasn't intended as a birding weekend, but when you're in Norfolk, there's always something to see.
We were based in Coltishall, gateway to the Broads, and our meanderings took us as far as Horsey on the east coast.
An early year tick was a pair of egyptian geese in a field just outside the village. Our first stop was the picturesque How Hill Nature Reserve, where we had brief glimpses of a marsh harrier. The windmills draining water from the marsh were very picturesque.
Our main stop from a birding perspective was Horsey Mere. Skeins of hundreds of pink footed geese were flying over as we arrived. A field full of swans looked promising, but they were all mutes. A singing skylark from a nearby field was my first of the year. On the beach were a small breeding population of grey seals with a handful of sanderling skittering among them.
As we returned to the car park, we were bemoaning that we hadn't seen any owls, only to be met by a stunning barn owl quartering the field behind the car park in the gathering gloom.
En route home the following day, we stopped off at the RSPB reserve at Strumpshaw Fen. Lots more marsh harriers to be seen, as well as several Chinese water deer, which are fascinating creatures. The highlight though were some stunning bearded tits, which showed briefly from the reeds next to the River Yare.
Saturday 24th - Sunday 25th January
A weekend at my parents at Forest Row in East Sussex. Little chance for much birding, other than out of the window - nuthatch and long tailed tit being the only birds of interest. However, three fallow deer stags in the woods behind the house were lovely to see.
Sunday 1st February
My brother very kindly bought me a photo experience day with the falconry centre, Feathers & Fur out near Reading. The birds here a lovingly looked after by owner Sadie. After some tuition by local photographer, David Mason, we got to practice ourselves on some very unique models - a barn owl, tawny owl, kestrel, harris hawk & eagle owl. I was pleased with the results.
These beauties or possibly the dead chick heads, they were devouring, seemed to attract the local raptor population - red kite, buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk were all seen.
After yesterday's washout, I was keen to make the most of today, so a trip to Tring Reservoirs was in order. On opening my curtains, I was met with a foggy scene and a tumble on black ice as I was loading the car hinted at the cold conditions. The temperature was -2°C and it only rose to 2°C at most.
En route, a couple of perched buzzards were seen on the A41, as the fog thickened. I started at Marsworth, where unfortunately the bittern I saw earlier in the week chose to remain hidden. However, I soon started picking up new birds for my year list - wigeon, little egret & a drumming great spotted woodpecker.
As visibility reduced even more dramatically, I decided to walk up the Grand Union Canal, and was soon enjoying a pair of bullfinches. Further along the path, song thrush was also new for the year. I then found in quick succession another two pairs of bullfinches - one behind Tringford and the other on the dry canal. There also seemed to be a lot more redwings around today compared with earlier in the week.
I made my way to Wilstone Reservoir, adding greenfinch & dunnock to my year list. Visibility from the hide wasn't great, but I soon added common gull, lesser black backed gull, greylag goose & shoveller. A sparrowhawk put up all of the teal & wigeon. From the jetty, I saw a lovely male goldeneye.
Back to Tringford, where I enjoyed a small flock of long tailed tits, before getting the most fleeting of glances at a kingfisher. There were also a number of pairs of red crested pochard.
By now, I was frozen, so a quick spring around Startops, added a few species to the day list before I called it a day and, given the conditions, a respectable final total of 51 species (65 for the year)
I also had my camera with me, so here's a selection of pictures from the day:
It rained virtually all day today, which precluded any opportunity to go out birding. Instead I spent the morning shopping in Windsor, before heading back to Pinner from Burnham this afternoon.
I still managed to add a couple of easy year ticks in feral pigeon (Windsor) and pheasant (Littleworth Common). However, the birding highlights were a buzzard perched beside the Windsor relief road and a fly past grey heron outside my girlfriends window in Burnham.
January 1st - Jubilee River (32 species)I managed to get out for a couple of hours this afternoon along the Jubilee River & Dorney Wetlands, where I managed a respectable 32 species. Unfortunately, the recent ringed necked duck was not to be found (at Bray GP perhaps), but there was a decent selection of commoner species including cetti's warbler, little grebe, kestrel and a few fieldfare.January 2nd - Hambleden Valley (28 species, 48 for year)It was a beautiful sunny day today, so we went for an eight mile walk from Hambleden up the valley towards Turville & Skirmett adding another sixteen species to the year list.The highlights were a raven near Hambleden village and a female stonechat just outside Skirmett. There were lots of raptors to be seen with dozens of red kite, good numbers of buzzard and singles of kestrel & sparrowhawk. We also had a few flyover redwings in the car at Mill End, and a mistle thrush was merely a sideshow to the impressive herd of fallow deer with a number of majestic stags.
This is my first attempt at a bird blog.
I live in Pinner, Middlesex, with most of my birding taking place at a variety of local sites. Tring Reservoirs, Stockers Lake, Jubilee River, Otmoor RSPB and Little Marlow GP are probably my most regular visited.
I grew up in East Sussex where I also bird regularly - Ashdown Forest, Weirwood Reservoir, Pulborough Brooks RSPB & Rye Harbour being particular favourites.
As I work, most of my birding typically takes place at weekends. However, I'm usually on the lookout where ever I am.
I usually expect to see 175-200 species most years with 2011 seeing my highest total with 219 species.
My life list is currently 274 species (although that does include five plastics - snow & bar headed goose, black swan, ruddy shelduck & a pelican of unknown origin!).
