At around 15:45 I arrived at Laurel Pond to do the start of my roost counts for the day. 23 Mallards and 3 Moorhens sat on the small body of water staring at me as I went past them and eventually carried on into Woodridge nature reserve. A vocal tit flock was seen and heard whilst walking past some of the rather large back gardens that back onto the reserve and some goldfinch sat at the tops of the trees as well. I decided to head to old Grasshopper Warbler field to have a bit of a sky watch and also to see what was about on the farm fields. When I arrived it looked as though I had missed the main movement of gulls for the day as I was looking at a field of muddy nothingness... My sky watch saw an unusual amount of Stock Dove for the time of year seemingly streaming through in decent flocks heading South with 35 through in total. Then I noticed 5 Lapwing very high up making their way west at some pace before a Cormorant rounded of the sky watch as it headed South East. The Lapwing movement out of the 3 was most expected however I was surprised at just how high they were! It then became quite after a while bar a lone Redwing flopping lazily out of the sky into its roosting spot for the night ahead! I moved on and headed along the Folly Brook towards Darlands. To my surprise in the same spot as on Tuesday a Female Siskin was flitting around the brook. I don't know if it is just me, but I think it is looking rather tatty and I would be surprised if it survives this up and coming cold snap! (Pictured Below) I then headed to Darlands to see what was around. After some extensive searching it brought about 4 Mallard, a Moorhen, 11 Teal, and a pair of Mandarin Ducks that decided to have a game of hide and seek with me. There was also rather oddly a pheasant patrolling one of the banks! A quick walk around the back of the lake lead to me adding Goldcrests to my list as well as a fly over Meadow Pipit! Above: Mandarin Duck Below: Teal I then headed to Owl Field to see what was around. To be honest unlike recent times there wasn't too much about. A Kestrel was hunting around the southern edge of the field and a few Fieldfare and Redwing called overhead and that was about it. I decided to wait a bit to see if my faithful Meadow Pipits would come into roost and sure enough they did with 18 coming in, eventually. Just as the sun was just going down below the tree line the Jackdaws started to stream into their roosting site alongside the Crows. 450+ came into roost at the end alongside only 150+ Crows! For Jackdaws that is an amazing count and I have to admit might be an understatement, and the Crows was surprisingly low for the time of year! I then headed down to Cow field and this is where the fun really started. I was taking photo's of the sun set when a Common Buzzard flew low over the sheep fields in the distance. As it did so I thought I heard the sound of a Cronking Raven! Sure enough the bulky figure of a Raven filled the sky above the sheep field and it Cronked loudly as it circled the field. It then decided that it wouldn't take any more chances at being harassed by the Buzzard and flew alongside the next flock of Rooks to come along and headed into the roost with them! No sooner had I seen this I noticed a pair of Ducks flying through above my head at quite a decent pass and height. The first thing that I thought when I saw them was those Mandarins have long necks.... It wasn't until my ice cold fingers had managed to put my binoculars to my face that I realised that they were in fact a pair of Goosanders! This was unbelievable as I was staring at a stunning Drake and his mate as they hurriedly headed South, and I had previously only ever seen 2 in the Totteridge Valley Prior to this! The fun wasn't done yet as eventually in the last glimmers of light a flock of 30 noisy Canada Geese and a pair of Grey Heron flew through towards Darlands and in the last glimmers of light I spotted something zig zagging through the air along the tree line. That's a rather large Bat I thought and to my surprise when I looked at it through my binoculars it was a Snipe! And as soon as I had thought that it had gone! I then headed up to Long Pond where a pair of Canada Geese and also a pair of Coot were roosting out on the water and then made it to the bus stop to head home.
This was an amazing evening as I have managed to get my patch year list up to 69 species. John today also had Lesser Redpoll and a Kingfisher early and so the Totteridge Valley combined year list now is up to 74. My year list also goes up to 108 with the addition of Goosander! To put these into perspective the Raven might be the first in the valley since 2011, the Goosanders are the 3rd sighting in the space of a year and previously there had only been one other, and the snipe is the first since the autumn and is often recorded annually in autumn! What an evening to wonder onto patch!!!
0 Comments
A Damp Drizzly morning saw me head out to the Totteridge Valley to stretch my legs for a bit. As I walked along the path that goes through the middle of Finchley Golf course there were Robins singing from either side of the path and a pair of Mistle Thrush chasing each other through the trees. A Pair of Ring-necked Parakeet were excavating a nest hole and Magpies flew hurriedly from one tree to another with nesting material in their mouths. The Usual Song Thrushes were still singing from their usual trees at the top of the path and so too were the Blackbirds! The first interesting bird came when I was walking along Burthonhole lane near the Substation when I spotted a flock of Redwing feeding in one of the Horse Paddocks next to a Little Egret. (Pictured Below) With not much else around, bar a few Mallards making the most of the saturated fields, so I headed off Burtonhole Lane and towards the Folly Brook. I hadn't gone too far when I noticed quite a large mixed Tit flock that contained on this occasion only Great and Blue Tits. I thought I heard a Chiffchaff call from inside the flock however I just couldn't see where the bird was to confirm this. I was just about to move on when I noticed a Finch fly in to a nearby tree and upon closer inspection I was surprised to be staring at a Hawfinch! This Hawfinch marks the first one I have actually been able to see properly and it sat in the tree for almost 10 minutes and giving me some amazing views, as well as slipping and breaking a part of my camera in the process! This was the first Hawfinch of the year in the valley after quite an amazing autumn for them and it suggests that there are perhaps one or two still lurking in the area! It did eventually fly off, but not before I had attempted to photograph it in the poor light (Attempts Below). After this massive bit of excitement I moved on to Old Gropper Warbler Field where a Bullfinch was seen and heard and so too were a couple of flocks of Starling and a good mixed Gull flock. A pair of Rook also flew over. I then trudged my way through boot deep mud along the folly brook and eventually came out by Darlands Lake. The trees surrounding Darlands Lake were alive with drumming Woodpeckers and nest building Stock Dove and Jackdaw. Upon closer inspection I eventually found a flock of Siskin alongside a flock of Goldfinch feeding in the alder trees at the back of Darlands Lake, where a large flock of Fieldfare had gathered and a pair of honking Canada Geese flew over. On the lake itself there were 4 Mallards and eventually 11 Teal slowly emerged from the back of the lake including a very well marked female that we both paler than the others and also looked as though it had put on too much eye linner, but the combination of it falling asleep in the trees after coming out for a brief stretch meant that no further identification was possible. Just before I head off to Owl field a pair of Mandarin flew in, but when they landed they immediately headed for the back pools and were gone! Above: Teal Below: Siskin Above: Fieldfare Below: Drake Teal Below: Drake Mandarin Owl field was unusually deserted apart from a pair of Bullfinch and a Siskin near the top end of the field. I decided to head down to Lapwing field for a change and to my surprise alongside a flock of 60 Woodpigeon and 6 Stock Dove there were 7 Lapwing! This I guess shouldn't really be a surprise due to the fact they are the main reason the field got its name however they were the first Lapwing in the valley since the end of July (I think) last year. I swiftly moved onto Cow field so that I didn't disturb the Lapwing too much and again I was surprised when I found a flock of almost 200 Common Gulls feeding in and around the sheep. Upon closer inspection there was also a large flock of Starling feeding at the top end of the field and also some Rooks mixed in with the Jackdaws and Crows! Above: Lapwing Below: Common Gulls mixed with some Black-headed Gulls Below: Rook I then headed up to Long Pond to see what was up there, but with only a pair of Mallard and a pair of Canada Geese about I ran across the road to where the bus had thankfully stopped for me! And so this was another amazing morning in the valley and sees the valley year list head up to a very healthy 69 species and my own patch list for the year up to 66 which is just about in the top 5 for London on the bird wiki! Pure patch magic! Above and Below: Canada Geese
Yank Ducks and Year Ticking - Bournemouth, Bodmin Moor, Matford Marshes - 15th - 17th February 201817/2/2018 On Thursday evening we had an overnight stop off in Bournemouth to break the drive to Penryn in two. In the late evening light we decided to head down to the beach to soak in the 'warm' sun's rays and also to have a look to see what was about. When we first got down to the beach I was quickly on to the fact that there was a flock of 9 Oystercatchers wandering around on the beach successfully finding and cracking open what I could only assume were oysters or some form of muscle; one of them even decided to tuck into an empty Cuttlefish shell which was interesting to watch. There were a few Black-headed Gulls and Herring Gulls loafing around on the beach, but not the hoped for Turnstones or Med Gulls. One thing that didn't catch my attention was the movement of birds just a bit off shore and to my surprise they was in fact a steady stream of Sandwich Tern heading towards Poole Harbour with a grand total of 7 seen in total. This is rather odd as they are usually a summer visitor to this area. However with increasing winter temperatures and being able to pick a prime spot for the breeding season it seems as though some of the local population now stay all year round with at least 35 individuals on the Isle of Wight and probably a similar amount in Poole Harbour and the Bournemouth area! After this surprising encounter there wasn't too much to report apart from a very large amount of Greenfinches flying up and down the cliff and also a pied wagtail down near Boscombe pier. At the end of the day I was pleased to say that the Oystercatchers and the Sandwich Tern had brought my year list up to 100 species. Above: Oystercatchers Above: Black-headed Gull Below: Sandwich Tern Above: Black-headed Gull Below: Oystercatchers Friday morning saw me have a relaxed morning with a small spot of sea watching from the window looking out over the English channel. The first bird of note was an Auk sp that flew West towards Poole Harbour at 0818. This is interesting because I can't recall the last time, if there ever was one, that I have seen any sea bird of this calibre in this area, as if they are nearby they normally stay out of eyeshot and right in the middle of the channel. At first look I thought it was a Guillemot of some sort, however I just wasn't sure enough to put it on the year list, however later that day I found out that a Black Guillemot had been seen near Brownsea Island...! After this I had 3 Brent Geese fly E towards Hengistbury Head (a year tick), and also 9 Common Scoter also flew in the same direction (yet again another year tick), rather oddly there was a small passage of Cormorant towards Poole Harbour with 11 through in the space of five minutes, and it isn't the first time I have noted this movement before. Finally as if to say that they were still here 2 Sandwich Tern flew through heading West. All in all a Good Morning! In the afternoon we set out for the second leg of our journey South West and decided that we would pay a visit to our first American (Yank) member of the wildfowl family! Along the way not only was there some stunning scenery to take in, but there were also some interesting sightings such as the ploughed field that had a flock of 18 Common Buzzards that had come down to feed. After 3 hours of driving we had reached our first stop, Dozmary Pool with one target bird in sight. I was told before we made the trip that this would be one of the easiest twitches I would ever go on however due to a combination of a road filled with pot holes and also a very strong wind reaching near gale force at times, this was not to be. I was also told that there would be no other ducks on the pool however on this particular day this was far from the truth. When we first arrived my Dad and I went for a walk round the Southern edge of the pool, however the track further ahead was flooded and also the wind made things virtually impossible. A Male Stonechat was the only consolation however photographing it was not easy as it was too windy and so in the end we retraced our steps and set about scanning the pool from the windshield which was our car! Above: Wind swept photograph of a male Stonechat... At first glance from the relative calm the choppy water was full of Black-headed Gulls and also a pair of Mallard. Moving from left to right there were several rafts of Tufted Ducks bobbing up and down with the waves and also a pair of Wigeon, Canada Geese and a few Pochard. A stream of Lapwing started to trickle through from the West and headed towards the horse paddocks on the other side of the water. A pair of Raven flew in cronking from the same direction and merited my first for the year. A flock of at least 214 Golden Plover flew in hurriedly from the south and in the end it appeared as though they had been chased in by a local Peregrine. After scanning for a while I eventually found what we were looking for in the shape of the Lesser Scaup as it sat dozing at the back of the pools blending in nicely with its Tufted Duck friends. It was great to be able to see both Greater Scaup (earlier in the week at Walthamstow) and Lesser Scaup in the same week and this Lesser Scaup was a lifer as well, and is by far the more scarce of the two. Above: Raven Below: Golden Plover Below: Phone Scoped Lesser Scaup.... I think it is time that I got a digiscope adaptor! After watching this bird for a short time I decided that the best thing to do would be to check the large lake nearby called Colliford Lake for the potential of getting another bird onto the year list and quite a rare one too. Along the way we briefly stopped at a field that was full of energy and had a large flock of Fieldfare mixed in with some Golden Plover. Once at the Lake I was surprised to find that it was almost deserted bar the odd Great Crested Grebe and also a raft of mainly Herring and Great Black Backed Gulls! It took me a while to find what I was looking for, but eventually I managed to pick out the small speck amongst the Gulls which was the Great Northern Diver and again due to the distance and the wind I had to result to Phone scoping it! (Pictured Below.... You will see it eventually!) On Saturday we headed to the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus for an offer holder visit day. The sun was out in its full glory and you could feel the first signs of the spring warmth starting to peep through. The campus itself is a wildlife haven and to have House Sparrows, Goldfinches, Herring Gulls and soaring Buzzards on site is amazing in itself along with amazing scenery and a decent course. Once the open day had finished we headed off to RSPB's Matford Marshes to have a go at finding another American Duck! This is the part where I say that this is not the first time in my life that I have been in a magnitude 4 earthquake and not felt a thing and so we carried on our day swiftly by heading back up the A30. When we eventually arrived at Matford Marshes we set about looking for the Wigeon flock. Before we reached the main viewing platform we came upon a small group of Wigeon with some Canada Geese, Shoveler, Teal, and Goldfinch for company. Although there was an interesting female Wigeon there was no sign of our Drake here so we moved swiftly on! Above: Shoveler with Wigeon Below: Wigeon We then moved on to the main viewing platform. Here there was a much larger flock of Wigeon numbering almost 200. There were also a few Shoveler, Teal and Coot mixed in as well. Just before I set about scanning the flock of the American Wigeon, 3 Bullfinch flew past calling, which was a relief as they had been bugging me for some time calling from the bushes to the left hand side of the view point, but remaining unseen. A mixed Tit flock was also in the trees behind and consisted of Great, Blue, and Long-tailed. After a decent amount of time spent sifting through the Wigeon the Drake American Wigeon eventually poked his head up from the back and gave me some decent views. It is interesting to see that the only real thing of difference between them upon first glance is the head pattern, with the Eurasian drakes only really having a plain monotone head! Whilst I was looking at the Wigeon flock I spotted a Wren in the reed beds at the back of the pool and also a Little Egret on the railway line. Above: Wigeon Above: Little Egret Below: Wigeon. I have labelled the American Wigeon in each photo as best as I could, however with out the use of arrows it is a bit tricky. The drake should be directly underneath the writing in each one! After a while the Wigeon were flushed from their spot and I was surprised to see the head of a Male Pheasant sticking out from a ditch in their place. A fox was also nearby, but didn't seem to bother any of the birds! Just before we left to head back to the car and call it a night a Chiffchaff popped up calling from the bushes to the left hand side of the viewing platform. Along the way back to the car a few Redwing were feeding in the long grass to the right hand side of the path and a steady trickle of Rook, Jackdaw, Herring Gull and Pied Wagtails filled the sky as they headed to their respective roosts. As we were pulling away from the Marshes I spotted something on the pylons. To my surprise it was a flock of 24 Cormorants roosting! The next morning I decided that I would try my luck with sea watching from Bournmouth again. This time I watched for an hour and to be honest for the majority of the first 30 minutes I was just watching Herring Gulls and Great Black Backed Gulls moving around. Almost bang on the 30 minute mark a Shelduck flew through heading west marking the first interesting bird to fly through. With 10 minutes left of my hour the fun started when I picked up a Cormorant heading west and as I watched it flying west I spotted something lazily sitting on the water's surface. When I looked through my scope I could see that this bird had quite a white front and was almost completely black on its back. It was a Diver and it was floating just off the end of Boscombe Pier. However from where I was it was just a dot in my scope. All I know is that it was some sort of diver and to be honest I think it was either Red-throated or a Great Northern as they both frequent the area, but I am just not sure enough to call it either. This bird did however lead me to find my next interesting bird as the floating Diver eventually floated past a Duck which had a Black head and White body! Yes, that's right it was a Drake Common Goldeneye. This was the final bird that I saw before packing up my equipment for the trip back to London. This weekend was an amazing weekend full of year ticks and 2 lifers and with my life list now on a healthier 207 species and a year list that is only 100 behind that I think I could be in for another great year of birding! Who knows what could be achievable once the weather warms up!?
The first bit of good news for the day was gifted to me at just before 11am this morning and this was the fact that I had passed my driving test! This brings about a whole new opportunity for summer birding. However the one small problem is the fact that I don't yet have a car! As a reward I decided to head out to Walthamstow Wetlands/ Reservoirs to see if I could see some of the long staying rarities on site. When I arrived at the 'Scrub' I was surprised at how few people were still waiting to see the bird. There were only two other birders still searching for the bird and one had been there since 10am and not had any luck. We were soon joined by two others. However by the time my first hour staring into the bush was up, we had only seen 22 Linnet and around 6 Reed Bunting flicking around the bushes and some rather creepily tame Canada Geese! Above: female Reed Bunting Below: Canada Geese After this hour was up some of the others decided that they would bird a little before they tried again for the rarities. However I stuck with the idea that staring into a bush was the best idea at this stage despite it starting to feel rather chilly. After a little while long I picked up some ducks coming in from the North and when I got them in my binoculars I was surprised to be staring at my first British Red-crested Pochard with 3 dashing Drakes and a female. They flew low over the houses in front and looked as if they might have gone towards west Warwick reservoir. Then the fun started as a bird that sounded similar to a Robin exploded out from the long grasses between us and 'the bush'. To my surprise when I got my binoculars on it, it was in fact the bird we had been waiting to see, the Little Bunting! It sat on top of the bush we had been told to look in and stayed for a few minutes before disappearing back down into the long grass with the Reed Buntings. This was yet another British tick and was the first Little Bunting that I have seen since the five in the Canary Islands back in December. Below: Little Bunting After these stonking views were had, the three of us that remained decided to head round to Reservoir number 4 to see if we could add to our interesting species list. To my surprise it was much easier than expected with 3 male and 2 female Goldeneye diving in and out of the Great Crested Grebes on the far bank of the Reservoir. These were also alongside some Tufted Duck, a Pochard, a few Coots, and several Cormorants. It wasn't long before we had added Mute Swan and also a dapper Drake Scaup to the list, which was feeding alongside a large group of Drake Tufted Ducks. We headed up to the 'causeway' that overlooks reservoir number 5 and here we could see 3 Little Grebes diving just a bit further along as well as a number of Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail. Just as we were about to head back to the tube station to warm up our frozen fingers and toes, we stopped to watch a pair of Magpies tussling over a prey item. In this case when they left we were able to see what they were fighting over and unsurprisingly there wasn't much left of the Black-headed Gull that they had slaughtered. Above: Drake Scaup Below: Drake Scaup alongside the Tufted Ducks Above: Mute Swan Below: Coots, Tufted Ducks, Herring Gulls, and the Drake Scaup Above: Grey Wagtail Below: What once was a Black-headed Gull We then headed back via a small group of Tufted Ducks that were feeding close in and a Drake Goldeneye that had made its way a small bit further towards us. This finished off yet another great, but awfully short day's birding and has left my British list standing at 205 Species, my London List at 173 species and the year list ticking ever closer to the 100 mark on 98 species. With the new licence I can see a few trips further afield that need to be planned! With a target this year of getting my UK life list up to at least 220 species and my year list as close to 200 as possible! Above: Drake Goldeneye
Below: Tufted Ducks Friday afternoon saw my dad and I take a trip to the local garden centre to fill up on bird seed as we had almost completely run out. I decided to take this opportunity to be given a lift to my local patch the Totteridge Valley. The first thing that I noticed when we arrived was that there was a large flock of mainly Common Gulls up in the air over us making the sort of movements you would expected a starling murmaration to perform. It wasn't until after I had set off from the garden centre and into the valley that I found the culprit. A large bulky raptor came towards me flying from the general direction of the substation and when I got my binoculars on it I was surprised to see a female Peregrine with some sort of prey item, which I think was a black-headed gull, but I am not too sure. I later saw what I presume was the same Peregrine over the Owl Field near Darlands Lake. This is quite a decent record for the area and a species that in recent times has slowly been increasing. I then continued down Burtonhole Lane and into old Grasshopper Warbler Field. Here I sat and waited for a while as the Gull flock slowly trickled back in, but with no sign of anything interesting with them I carried on to the sound of Redwings which by now had started to gather before heading into their roost. (Pictured Below) I then carried on my journey and headed along the Folly Brook. The pond in John's field was still full of water, but no birds could be seen there this time. A pair of Teal were feeding in the Folly Brook just a bit further up from John's Pond. (Pictured Below) I then headed onto Darlands Lake where a group of 11 Teal had gathered and the 8 males could be seen and heard displaying to the group of 3 females that were on the lake. Upon closer inspection I noticed 4 Drake Mandarin Ducks and eventually when they came out of the shadow I could see that they were joined by 3 females. (Pictured Badly Below) I decided to have a look round the back of the lake and in with a mixed Tit flock I found a couple of Goldcrests and also a fine Treecreeper. (just about Pictured Below) Next I headed into owl field to see what was about. At first I have to admit there was very little except an extraordinary sunset. Eventually the field started to come to life. Out of nowhere not one but five Bullfinch exploded from the dense brambles down to my left and flew up calling. As this happened I noticed some smaller birds starting to circle the end of the field and to my surprise a flock of Meadow Pipit had started to descend for the night. It took me a bit of scanning, but after a while I realised that there was also a Reed Bunting in the flock and once they had all settled the Bunting decided to show itself briefly before disappearing into the undergrowth. A Pair of Common Buzzard had started to circled the line of trees on the right hand side of the field and a female Sparrowhawk gave a quick flythrough. Fieldfare and Redwing also called overhead as flocks of them filled the sky as they headed to roost alongside several hundred Carrion Crows and Jackdaw. Above: Common Buzzard Below: Sparrowhawk I then moved onto Cow field where I waited and watched for a bit. Rather oddly only five Rooks came into roost which is way down on the 112 I record back in December, same with the Canada Geese with only 26 into roost rather than the previous total of 120. All rather strange. I then head up the path to Long Pond whilst taking in the remains of the sunset. Whilst I was waiting for the bus what happened next was quite unexpected. I spotted something flying in from over the farm building on the other side of the road and it proceeded to fly almost straight at me and gave me some decent views under the light of the lampposts as it battled the wind. It was in fact a Barn Owl and It then dived into the field behind the bus stop and proceeded to hunt. This was the first one seen in the area since early October so it made the sighting even more special and it was also a welcome addition to my ever growing year list. Early Saturday morning I had preplanned with my Dad a trip to Staines Reservoir for a spot of twitching. A Red Kite was a good bonus bird from the car. As we pulled up to the site I got my first glimpse of Staines Reservoir and I have to admit it wasn't quite what I was expecting. When we got up onto the causeway which splits the North and South Basin we were met by a group of birders busily searching the bank and when I asked them why, they told me that the Lark hadn't been located yet this morning. This was just my luck as everywhere I go I am always told that something has just flown off or it went overnight etc. So I prepared myself to take on board the potentially bad news and started to scan the water to see what was about. A large group of Wigeon and Coot were resting on the causeway's bank and also a few Teal were dabbling in the corner of the North Basin. It wasn't long until someone half way along the causeway shouted at us to get down to the other end as it had been found. Some rather surprisingly slow walking to the other end resulted in being put straight onto the North American Horned Lark and I was able to watch it running about on the moss covered bank below. It was amazing and played ball, however my fingers were now numb and absolutely throbbing from the ice cold wind that was blowing in from South Basin. Occasionally the Lark was joined by a Meadow Pipit or Pied Wagtail, however most of the time it preferred to be by itself and kept flicking little bits of mud and moss from the ground as it searched for its food. Rather unsurprisingly this bird was a lifer for me as it is only the second record for the UK and the first record for London. At the moment this bird is considered as a Subspecies of the British equivalent which is a Shore Lark, however when they are eventually split I will be able to say that I saw the North American Horned Lark before I saw a Shore Lark (as I have never seen a Shore Lark before!) (Horned Lark Pictured Below) Above: Horned Lark with Pied Wagtail behind After a bit of time my Dad and I headed back along the causeway towards the car and hopefully some sort of warmth. Along the way I got the chance to have a look out for some of the rare wildfowl that had been about, however I only managed to find 15 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Little Grebe, a flock of Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon and Coot. There were also the odd Tufted Duck dotted around and a rather lonely drake Pochard. Near the end of the causeway there were also a group of 5 Linnet feeding on some seed that someone must have placed there. Above: Gadwall Below: Drake Tufted Duck Above: Wigeon Below: Drake Pochard My Dad and I then headed on to the University of Reading Applicant Day where a few Red Kite were seen and also an Egyptian Goose with two rather early Goslings.
And so this rounds off a great 24 hour period in which my London List has reached 170 Species, the Totteridge Valley year list has reached 65 and also my Life List has rather more importantly got to 203! So, do I think I will go on another twitch? Well, we will just have to wait and see! |
AuthorI have been a birder since i was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 17. ArchivesCategories |