I am not going to lie I have been birding almost every day since the 20th and therefor there is too much to write about to put into separate blog posts as I have to admit it would take me way too long. So instead I am going to try and combine it all into a nice short-ish blog post. During this time I made 2 visits to Hampstead Heath and volunteered on the heath hands wildlife bike. Our aim was to raise awareness for the upcoming Big Garden Bird Watch and by the end of those visits we had just done that speaking to just over 400 people in what is going to go down as one of our best ever campaigns. Infact these 2 days spent on the heath reminded me just why I like to head out onto the heath as it was thoroughly enjoyable. There was also a good mix of wildlife with the best being a Brambling flying over Parliament Hill on the 20th. Above: Cormorant in Breeding Plumage Below: Juv Grey Heron Moving swiftly on Monday the 21st I made my first visit up to the London Wetlands Centre since 2012. I was surprised when I arrived to find that it was infact fairly quiet which was the complete opposite of how I had remembered it. I spent an enjoyable few hours walking around this urban Wetland. It was good to see such a wide array of wildlife within a stones throw of the bustling metropolitan area of Hammersmith. Snipe were easy to see as well as species such as Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon, Pintail, and Teal. Water Pipit was also an added bonus as well as a superb Bittern and the Wetlands centre's Yellow-billed Moorhens. Above: Common Snipe Below: Eurasian Bittern Above and Below: These are examples of the Yellow-billed Moorhens Now if your wondering why a few of the Moorhens here have Yellow beaks rather than Red the best that I have on it is that it is something to do with a recessive gene and therefor it isn't a common occurrence. I have to admit that the internet in this case didn't seem to have the answers and it doesn't look as though anyone has done any scientific papers on it so I guess the answer isn't fully known. There is however the small chance that they are Moorhen - Coot crossbreeds, however this seems unlikely given that the overall appears of the bird seems to be purely Moorhen based. (If anyone does know the reason then I would love to know, please do let me know in the comments below...) Now onto my two trips to Totteridge. The first was an interesting affair with a massive female Peregrine flushing everything in the valley Bullfinches, Teal, Common Gulls, Thrushes you name it they were up in there air. A Woodcock was a nice surprise as well however how I did not see it on the path in front of me I will never know as I so nearly trod on it. The best was yet to come though as a light drizzle quickly turned to heavy snow. I have to admit it was like nothing I had ever seen before. The snow flakes were massive and sticking to everything. By the time I had left the valley there was a nice white coating spread evenly across the fields. A magical sight to see. Above: pair of Coot in the Snow My other visit was a cool crisp clear winters day with my cousin Nicola and although it was much of the same it was good to see the bullfinch and Teal again as well as the Egyptian Geese which look ready to nest again soon. Above: Carrion Crow seeing off the Female Sparrowhawk Below: Fieldfare On Wednesday the 23rd I decided to head to Rainham Marshes to see what was about and with most of the smaller pools frozen to be honest there wasn't too much about. However what there lacked in numbers it was made up for in quality wildlife encounters. It started with a Robin that came and not only perched in the brambles next to me but also attempted to land on my hand even though I clearly hand no food on offer. Above: Robin The day wasn't finished there. While I was in the Ken Barret Hide I noticed that the Teal which were sitting on the bank on the right handside of the hide had vanished. Well that was until I got up to leave and realised they were feeding right up against the base of the hide. I watched for ages as they sifted through the mud with their bills trying to get out all the important grub. What stunning birds the Drakes are too. Above: Teal The best was however yet to come. When I was walking through the Northern Board Walk I turned a sharp bend to stop in my tracks when I came face to face with not one but 3 Male Bearded Tits on the board walk. Yep that's right they were on the board walk and showing at down to a few centimeters at times. I watch along with a few others for probably at least an hour. A bird that is at home in the reed beds certainly looked a bit out of place on the board walk, especially when they tried to run. It was actually quite funny to watch them attempting to run. They reminded me of a road runner as their legs seem to be all over the place as they sort of hop run about. What an amazing sight to see and it is something I and the others that came by will never forget. Above: The Little Gems which are the Bearded Tit/Reedling So if you thought wildlife experiences couldn't get any better lets see if I can top that with todays trip... For starters I awoke to snow falling outside my Bournemouth bedroom window and that was a surprise enough. The first bird I saw when I got of the bus was the stunning long staying Drake Mandarin Duck and as per he show well alongside his Mallard buddies on the small pond near the playground. Above: Drake Mandarin Duck Poole Park itself is now being quite an interesting place to bird since at the moment the main lake has been drained exposing the rather smelly mudflats that lay beneath the water. This has attracted not only hundreds of Gulls but also some species such as Avocet, Dunlin, Redshank, Shoveler, and Black-tailed Godwits which I had not seen in this part of the harbour before and for some of them the numbers continue to increase each time. A Siskin flock was also a nice surprise in the alder trees as well. Above: Black-tailed Godwit I then headed through to Baiter where there were over 110 Brent Geese off shore along with a few Goldeneye, Red-breasted Mergansers, Great Crested Grebes and 2 Shag. On rocky shore closest to me a large flock of Oystercatchers had gathered along with a Black-tailed Godwit. Upon close inspection I noticed that something was flicking rocks from in between the sea weed and then out popped not one but 5 Turnstone, but my day wasn't done yet with the best bird waiting till last.... Above: Camouflaged Turnstone Ok so what could be better than 3 close up Male Bearded Tits I hear you say well this could just be it. I headed from the harbour wall towards a small housing estate and once I reached the courtyard I met up with the brave few who hadn't been 'snowed in' by the earlier dusting. After about 2 minutes it popped up into the tree next to us. The bird in question was a stunning Charcoal Black and a bright red underside to the tail. An adult Male Black Redstart. What a stunning bird it was too. I watched for at least 3 hours while it made a circular route appearing roughly once every 15 minutes on the same fence. Occasionally we would lose it underneath a solar panel for a long period of time. There was one particular garden it seemed to like and it would often spend a huge chunk of the time feeding there only to reappear and head to a nearby gutter for a drink. Occasionally it would get chased by the local Robin and this allowed me to see the differences between the two birds. The Black Redstart is much thinner than the rather plump character of the Robin. It also tends to stand tall as well giving the impression that it is generally bigger than the Robin. It was interesting to watch its behaviour and to be honest it looked right at home in an amongst this Urban jungle/ Housing Estate in Poole Quay. What a delightful little bird and my first ever Male of this species too. Above: Adult Male Black Redstart So after all this the Bearded Tits and also this Black Redstart take my year list up to 114 species so only around 80 species to go to beat my last years total. I honestly can't believe how good the last 10 days have been lets hope that the rest of the year carries on the way it has started.
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I have been trying to figure out what I should write about for my 100th blog post as I wanted to make it as special as possible, however with a uni exam in the way I haven't been able to sit down and have the time to think about it. However I am going to take a risk and try and answer some questions that people often ask me and then I will briefly visit my first lifer of 2019. So here goes... How Did I Get Into Birding? Its an interesting story to be honest. It all started when I was in Reception and we had library sessions once a week where we could pick any book we wanted. I have to admit that I wasn't the best at reading and therefor I often took out books with many more pictures than words. This was also partially because I liked to look at pictures and I always tried to find books with the best photo's with lots of variety in colours. After a while I found the holy grail of picture books in the Encyclopaedia of Birds. This had everything under the sun from Birds of Paradise to Hummingbirds. Think of any Extravagantly coloured bird species and I am sure that book had it. In some ways I feel sorry for my parents a bit now who had to read me that whole book in a week and it didn't stop there as for the next few years I ended up bringing every bird and animal book home from the library and some more than twice and to make matters worse these books weren't light at all especially not when you are Reception age. This was only the beginning of my passion for birds. In April 2008 my Great Aunt invited me for a week at her Cottage in the small village of Oxton in Nottinghamshire. This was to be my first substantial amount of time out of the city and being thrown into the countryside. Now both my Great Auntie Joan and her partner Tom are keen walkers and also both of them have a great knowledge of Bird species as well regularly visiting nature reserves not just in the UK but also abroad seeing some amazing species. On the first day we went down to the local Ford and had a look at the Ducks and Geese that were around there. Presumably just Mallards and Canada Geese however at this stage my notes don't specify. This was however just the beginning. The next morning I was up at the crack of dawn as any young kid would be. I decided to go and have a look out of the window and into the garden. The thing that caught my attention was just how busy the bird feeders were. Now my Great Aunt didn't just have any old feeding station she had 3 or 4 separate feeding stations in the garden, including 2 bird tables and at least 10 feeders. I watched the hive of activity for hours until at sometime after 7 my Great Aunt emerged. It was at breakfast that we decided to get a note book that I could record what I had seen and sure enough I continued to record everything I saw over the next few days at breakfast and I even included the weather as well which is something I still do to this day. Every morning I would be excited to wake up and see what was going to appear on the feeders at the start of the new day. Sometimes Red-legged Partridges would join the mix of Sparrows, Jackdaw and Chaffinch under the feeders. There was never a dull moment and this captivated me and I guess inspired me to see what else was out there. This carried on and eventually I ended up asking to go to nature reserves. On my next visit we went to Lound and the one after Wisbee which was and still is the only time I have seen and heard Nightingales with 11 seen and heard on this trip. All of these had one aim to see a bird that I had picked out as my Favourite, but what was it? Above: Blue Tit Below: Collared Dove What's My Favourite Bird? So if you ask me my favourite bird now and you asked me the same question back then you would still get the same answer. It is of course the Kingfisher and I can still remember the first time I ever saw one. In fact this species is one of frustration because in the early stages of my birding career we visited many reserves including RSPB Rye Meads where the so called Kingfisher hide your almost garneted to see one and yet I failed to connect with one despite spending over an hour and a half in there. This didn't dampen my spirits at all in fact it probably sparked a desire in my to head out to more nature reserves and to also spend time at the local Brook. I have to admit though that prior to the trip to Rye Meads I was more of a garden birder. Having begged for my own bird feeders shortly after getting back from my first trip to Oxton. It was great to be able to witness the comings and goings in my garden now as well. So after 6 years of trying on 2nd of August 2014 whilst watching a Hobby perched just of to the left handside of the hide at Collage Lake that first flash of blue will be something I will never forget as it flew from left to right along that same side as the Hobby. Magic. And guess who it was that found that bird for me... It was of course my Great Auntie Joan and since that day I have managed to encounter Kingfishers on 51 other occasions with the latest being one that was sheltering from the storms at Hengistbury Head on the 28th of November 2018. Any day is a good day when you have seen a Kingfisher even if it is raining. In recent years though I have begun to take quite a liking to other species in the UK as I have expanded my knowledge and seen new birds. Although the Kingfisher is my stand out bird favourite bird by far, there are others that will make my day when I see them and I guess you could call them the runners up. One being the Short-eared Owl. This day flying owl I saw first at Rainham with Dante and Frank back in 2016 and it was amazing to watch not one but 3 hunting in close proximity to us. It is truly magical to watch them drifting back and forth over the marsh and even in cases catching an unsuspected Vole or two in front of your very eyes. The next bird is in my opinion very underrated. It is the Grasshopper Warbler and to be honest the Totteridge individual from May 2017 was the bird that made me enjoy this species as I would head up in the afternoon and sit in the field waiting for him to come up to his perch and give us a rattle of his reeling song. They are called Grasshopper Warblers for a reason what a song it is too. The final contender is the Bluethroat which I will let the photo's do the talking... Above: Kingfisher Below: White-Spotted Bluethroat Does being colour-blind affect birding...? The short answer is no not really. Thankfully I am not Black and White colour-blind. Instead I am Red, Green, Blue and Yellow. So what does this mean...? In short this means that I have a tendency when any of those four colours are present for my eyes to pick up the wrong colour. For Example the Green traffic light, up until early this year I thought was a pale white light and that is what everyone saw. Nope it turns out what you guys see is actually green according to the news paper article that I was reading. To be honest from that moment I started to wonder just what I have been seeing differently to you guys. The easiest way to describe colour-blindness is that everyone sees colours differently, but mine are so obscure that I get labelled. So does this have an affect on my birding. well in some situations it makes it easier whereas in others it is twice as hard. There isn't much I can do about it, however it does make birding more interesting and it does also make it somewhat ironic that when I was younger I was picking up the books purely because I wanted to see colourful pictures... Personally I think that is enough about me for now. As a treat for my 100th blog I decided to head up by bus to Blashford Lakes on Monday the 14th. While I was there I saw a Yellow-browed Warbler, Bittern, Lesser Redpoll, Goosanders and Goldeneye bring up a few new species for the year. I was however more importantly offered a lift up the road to see a Bewick's Swan and sure enough as soon as we arrived on the road we picked up the tiny Swan on a pond. We turned the car around and used the car as a hide rolling down the windows to get a better view of this road side swimmer. What a bird it was. With it being no bigger than a Canada Goose it was absolutely swamped by the much larger Mute Swans near by. We watched it for half an hour as it bathed and swam about before two Canada Geese came over. This saw it decide to waddle off towards the other Swans which were grazing in the meadows. As I finish this blog post I will leave you with some photo's of the Swan. Which was my 224 bird in Britain and sees my year list reached 111 Species. What a day it was! This year has gotten off to a pretty fast paced start with me managing a birding outing on 10 of the first 12 days of the month which is quite an unusual spell for me. The aim was to get to 100 species for the year but did I make it? Read on to find out... On the 1st I set off bright an early for my regular new years day wonder around RSPB Arne. This year I was able to drive myself there and this allowed me to spend a decent amount of time around the reserve. The first notable bird of the day was literally as soon as I stepped out of the car with a nice Male Firecrest singing from the bushes behind where I had parked. After this I headed out onto Coombe Heath already clocking a good deal of the commoner species around the reserve centre. I hadn't gone particularly far when I got the feeling that I was being watch. Sure enough down a track to my left hand side three faces were staring at me. These were the faces of 3 hind Sika Deer. An interesting fact about Sika Deer which I really like is the fact that Sika actually means deer in Japanese and therefore the translation would be Deer Deer. If that makes any sense. Above: Sika Deer I then headed down to the raptor watch point and to say that the view was spectacular was an understatement. It was purely amazing with a large flock of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing out on the mud making it all the more spectacular. The main reason for coming to this point of the reserve was to look for a particular heathland specialist and sure enough after a little waiting 6 popped up into view including 2 with in touching distance. They were of course Dartford Warblers and they showed exceptionally well for a supposedly hard to see species. Above: Dartford Warbler Above: Avocet on the left merging into the flock of Black-tailed Godwit on the right The rest of the day was pretty average with another Firecrest on the road to the church and plenty of Brent Geese around. The Spoonbills at Shipstal were unusually awake when I was in the hide and then proceeded to fly of to another part of the harbour to feed. Also at Shipstal were plenty of Red-breasted Mergansers including a good mix of Males and females as well as the odd Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebes. A few Pintail were on the mudflats mixed in with the masses of Wigeon and Teal and were a new addition to my growing Arne site list. I then headed up to the viewing point over the harbour when a Stag Sika Deer was grazing and took absolutely no notice of the attention he was receiving. I then headed back down towards the farm in the hope of seeing the bullfinch and sure enough a Male was encountered and even sat still just long enough for a photo. I then decided to head off to the neighbouring Hartland Moor since Arne was now heaving with people which is actually quite spectacular as even during Winterwatch and Autumnwatch it wasn't this busy. Above: Stag Sika Deer Below: Male Bullfinch Onto Hartland Moor I went and honestly it was rather disappointing with very few birds at all. Raven, Carrion Crow, Rooks, and Jackdaw made an almost full house of corvids, however apart from Stock Dove there was nothing else. Which is a shame. Fortunately the now moody skies made the scenery quite spectacular. Although since there wasn't a lot of bird life I decided to head for home and ended up sitting in stationary traffic for 40 minutes in Wareham which is unheard of especially for a Bank holiday. On the 4th of January I headed to Rainham Marshes for the second London young birders meet up. In fact Dante and I nearly didn't make it as the trains had other ideas with C2C running an absolutely diabolical service infact part of the problem was that they weren't running a service at all. After an hour and 4 C2C trains later we finally arrived at Rainham Marshes for what turned out to be quite an average days birding. We started off the day heading along the river wall to the Stone Barges. The aim of this was to try and get everyone to see both Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls. After several hours of search or several hours of Dante searching we had seen 2 Yellow-legged Gulls and 2 Caspian Gulls much to everyone's delight. We then headed back to the centre for lunch passing at least 12 Rock Pipit and several Water Pipits which rather oddly chose to sit in the bushes along the sea wall which is something I haven't seen these species do before. A few pairs of Stonechat were also about along with Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank and the usual flock of Avocet. Above: Male Stonechat Below: Avocet For the rest of the day we headed out onto the main part of the reserve. Honestly there wasn't too much to report however the Barn Owl was helpfully sitting in view on the edge of his box preening himself and as we headed down towards the Terrapin Pool Ben and I were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of Rainham's elusive Water Rails as it made a dash for cover. A Ruff was also a great sighting on Target Pools, but despite all this it was a perfectly normal winters day with pretty much what you would expect to be about for the time of year. However 71 species wasn't a bad haul at all. It was however great to see everyone again and I hope to be able to run more meet ups like this in the future. And so now onto Totteridge where my aim was to get to 50 species before I headed back to uni and sure enough I managed this with 56 seen before today. Most birds have been pretty much as expected however a Peregrine flying through Burtonhole Farm on the 3rd was by far the best bird that I had, as just its presence sent all the Common, Black-headed and Herring Gulls scattering in all directions for safety. The Finchley four (3 Greylag Geese and a Farmyard) also continued into the new month however they now seem to spending more time at Brent Reservoir than in the valley. The most notable things since the new year is the sheer amount of Bullfinch around at the moment with at least 15 in the valley during the day mainly in and around Owl Field. Also at the moment decent numbers of Teal and Mandarin Duck are still about, but often hard to see as well as a pair of Coot returning to Long Pond. All in all it has been pretty average so far with even the odd Woodcock still cropping up. Above: The Finchley Four (Farmyard in front of the three Greylags) And so on the 10th of January I decided to give Rainham Marshes another shot and this time I managed to get there without a problem. I decided to head a way that I hadn't been for quite sometime and so I took the train to Rainham Station and headed up to Ferry Lane industrial estate to see what was on the Thames. Surprisingly there was actually quite a bit to see with Dunlin, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits all feeding on the muddy banks along with tonnes of Black-headed Gulls. I then continued down to the Stone Barges where there were surprisingly no Large Gulls at all however in their place there were Hundreds of Black-headed Gulls and a few Common Gulls. A few Teal, and Gadwall were dotted around along with a high flying Juvenile Swan which unfortunately turned out to be just a Mute Swan. Above: Black-tailed Godwit Next I headed up to Cold Harbour Point where there were actually a few Large Gulls about however not any of particular interest. Infact the most interesting thing that was about was there shear amount of Common Gulls. A few Snipe were also dotted about here along with Gadwall and Wigeon. Above: Juv Great Black-backed Gull along with a Black-headed Gull (Bottom Left) I then headed down towards Aveley Bay passing more Godwits, Teal, Lapwing, Shelduck and the flock of Avocet. I also managed to pick out the Adult Caspian Gull again from a group which was sitting on the muddy bank and as it took flight it showed the characteristic white wing patches in the Primary Coverts of this particular individual which Dante says is a sign that the bird could be Leucitic. Above: Black-tailed Godwit Below: Avocet I then headed back to the centre along the lower sea wall. There was quite a large mixed flock of Meadow, Rock and Water Pipits in and amongst the muddy reed along with some Chaffinch and Reed Bunting as well. Occasionally they would flick up to show them selves before heading back into the cover of the Long Grass. Wigeon and Teal were also about off shore and Greylag flew around above the marsh having been flushed by the Toilet waste removal lorry. Above: Greylag Below: Reed Bunting I then headed into the centre for lunch and to prepare myself for heading out onto the main reserve. It was equally as quiet as last time to be honest which was a shame however some species gave excellent views including several Cetti's Warbler, Lapwing, and the usual Robins by the woodland. However the best was yet to come as when I was had just left the second view point at Aveley Bay everything lifted up into the air and started scattering in all directions before I picked up a Peregrine stopping in from a great height. It singled out a Starling from one of the flocks and as they both hurtled towards the ground the Starling just managed to twist and turn just enough that the Peregrine had to pull out of its dive empty handed. This peregrine then proceeded to land on the pylon closest to me and it sat here for several minutes before out of nowhere a second female Peregrine started to dive bomb it and all of a sudden they were both in the air alarm calling and tussling, before diving and fly past just feet away from where I was. They then head low over Aveley Pools before veering up. This was when a third chunkier female Peregrine stooped in from height alarm calling. I didn't know where to look at this point at this commotion was sending birds flying in all directions. Eventually after a minute the dispute was over and two of the Peregrines carried on towards the visitor centre while the other proceeded to the nearest Pylon where it sat for the rest of the day. What a sight and sound to behold and something I don't think I will ever be able to witness again. One thing it did do for me was it just highlighted the sheer agility that these birds have with the ability to Stoop at around 250mph. What a display it was. Above: Robin Below: Lapwing Above: Lapwing Below: Female Peregrine Above and Below: Lapwing With me now on 98 species for the year I decided to head back to the centre and have a quite rest before heading out to have a look for the Short-eared Owls. However unfortunately the heavens opened and therefore I didn't get a chance to see them meaning that I would have to wait for that all important 100th species that bit longer. What would be my 100th? Well on the 12th of January I headed back to Uni and on the way down I managed to see my 99th species, a Red Kite over the M25 at the A30 Junction. So this made me more determined to see my 100th species and so after lunch I decided to take the bus down to Poole Park and Baiter Park. When I arrived I immediately set eyes on the Mandarin Duck on one of the small ponds near the play ground. He was showing well among the Canada Geese, Mallards and Greylag. I then headed around to the main lake where I was surprised to find that it had been drained. The reason for this is that they are going to be dredging certain parts of the lake and creating more lagoons and reedbeds to try and increase the bio diversity in the area. Apparently the last times they drained the lake 2 rarities were found so in the coming weeks hopefully there will be a repeat. I know that I will be watching this closely. However at the moment it has attracted some local scarcities with a Drake Shoveler, 2 female Teal, and a Black-tailed Godwit as well as increased numbers of Coot, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Redshank, and Tufted Duck. However a decrease in diving birds was noted with only 3 Goldeneye. Above: Oystercatcher with Black-headed Gulls Below: Drake Shoveler with a Drake Tufted Duck Above: Drake Shoveler Below: Black-tailed Godwit And so I met up with Ethan and we headed over to Baiter Park where I was convinced I would find my 100th species, however as we scanned the harbour it was scarily empty. A large flock of Brent Geese was over the far side as well as a smaller flock closer to us and a Great Crested Grebe was eventually found out near on of the Buoys. Eventually I picked up a slightly smaller bird fishing out with the Cormorants near Brownsea Island and when I took flight it confirmed for me that it was my 100th bird. A Eurasian Shag. We weren't fished there yet though as we headed down to Poole Quay in the aim of visiting the Birds Of Poole Harbour HQ to see what it was like and as we did so we passed a small flock of Turnstone taking my year list up to a nice healthy 101 species. And so with only 12 days of the year gone I am sitting in quite a healthy position to attempt to beat last years 192 species and with some great days ahead. Also while I am thinking about it this is my 99th blog post since I first wrote one almost 2 years ago to the day so please do let me know what you would like to see for my 100th. I plan on trying to make it extra special. I would also like to thank everyone who has read and commented on my blog posts over the last 2 years. Above: Adult Brent Geese
Below: Juv Brent Goose |
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 18. Archives |