It has been an interesting week in terms of birding with a visit to both my uni patches and a visit to a new site for me. This started off with a visit to Poole and Baiter Park on Monday. The first interesting sighting of the day was literally just as I was getting my binoculars out of my rucksack. I looked up in the tree above to find 6 Juvenile Long-tailed Tits huddled together trying to keep warm in the chilly northerly wind. I have to admit I absolutely adore young Long-tailed Tits with their bandit like facemasks. They weren't the only youngsters about as I headed just a bit further along I came across 2 broods of Mallard ducklings with a combined total of 10 ducklings. Otherwise the visit was actually quite poor with the lake main lake now refilled it is pretty much ecologically dead. The only good news is the fact that the Tufted Duck are back with 14 birds present and a Sand Martin was feeding over the lake, however I suspect that this bird was infact a migrant rather than a local. Even Baiter Park was quiet with a few Med Gull around, Sandwich Tern and 5 almost summer plumaged Turnstone to round off the day. Above: Juv Long-tailed Tits Below: ad Med Gull Above and Below: Turnstone in almost full summer plumage On Wednesday I decided to head out to Baiter Park again however the extremely poor weather meant that very little was seen except a new colour ringed Mute Swan which I believe will come back as either ringed in Weymouth or on Portland and if so would be an interesting recovery. Otherwise the only notable thing was a steady trickle of Swallow coming in off the harbour and heading quickly in land and also 3 Great Crested Grebe were back out in Parkstone Bay which is the first since the beginning of April I believe. Above: Mute Swan DUB. Hopefully it will provide some interesting life history. Moving on to Thursday and a trip to Hengistbury head was on offer. Again the weather was extremely poor with a strong Westerly and also some rather potent showers in the vicinity. Swallow coming in off the sea was interesting especially since the weather was so poor, but it seemed as though they must just be making up for already lost time and taking their chances. The first fledged Stonechat of the year were at Whitepits and an interesting Goose fly over the same area which I am not fully convinced isn't a White-fronted Goose yet. The flowers were out in full bloom in places although I am not to sure what they all are they sure made a dull day slightly brighter. Above: Juv Stonechat Below: Either Greylag or White Front still can't decide Above: Male Stonechat Moving on to the Sandspit where another Little Tern was found, however not the hoped for Black Tern. Brown Tail Moth caterpillars were however literally everywhere and munching away on the brambles near the beach huts. Holloways dock was next up and a decent sized flock of 92 Black-tailed Godwit was found feeding at close range. Otherwise there wasn't a lot to report apart from the usual stuff. Reed Warblers showed well at Wick and rather oddly a Common Sandpiper was found bobbing up and down on a parked Boat which was a nice surprising year tick. A few more Swallow moved through over head, but I decided to call it a day and headed for home. Above: Brown Tail Moth Caterpillar Below: Black-tailed Godwits Above: Reed Warbler And so now onto Saturdays trip to Longham Lakes. It was a rather last minute decision, however I decided that I would make the most of a glorious day and take the 13 up to Parley Cross which has the added bonus of being included on the Uni bus pass. I have to admit that I didn't really know where I was going and so I decided to follow the Stour Valley footpath towards Longham. As soon as I got onto the footpath and away from the main road I was transformed into this absolutely stunning landscape. Treecreeper and Blackcap sang from the neighbouring woodland and down towards the river Reed and Sedge Warblers could be heard as well as the odd Common Whitethroat. I headed down towards the river Stour and as I did the unmistakable sound of a Kingfisher could be heard and I picked up the bullet shaped bird flying up the middle of the river. I moved further on and it was clear that the heat of the day was encouraging some of the local Butterflies and also the first Damselflies of the season out of hiding. Peacock Butterflies were most numerous at this stage with one Red Admiral. Both Small Red and Large Red Damselflies were on the wing and I very briefly had a Male Banded Demoiselle which has to be one of my favourite. Mayfly's were also everywhere and this was the first time I have experience one of there mass emergence's. It was quite a sight to see and there honestly must have been 1,000s of them. To think that they have less than 24 hours to find a mate and trust me from what I could see the competition was tough. This was made even tougher by the bird life that was taking advantage of this fast food service. Swift and House Martin were hawking low over the river enjoying the feast and they were soon joined by my first Hobby of the year. A Group of Drake Mallards were enjoying the bounty as well as the local fish which were waiting for the Mayfly to venture just a little to close to the water and then 'splash' and they were gone. 2 Little Egret and a Grey Heron were feeding on the little waterfalls as well, but I think they were taking advantage of the fish that had been drawn to the surface. Above: Peacock Butterfly Below: Small Red Damselfly I think Above: Mayfly's Below: Large Red Damselfly I think Above: Not entirely sure what this is but it is either Common Blue or Azure (I think) Next I headed to Longham Lakes, however I had absolutely no clue where I was going and so ended up wondering up and down the main road that I had been dumped at by the footpath I took. Eventually I found an entrance down a little gravel road which brought me out onto the North Lake. This was my first time on site and honestly it was interesting experience. The first lake had just under 100 Tufted Duck out in the middle just generally dozing, and drifting about not really doing anything in particular. There were plenty of Mallard Ducklings about including one that was very well grown and also a group of 11. A proud Canada Goose emerged from the reeds with 7 Goslings following close behind. Reed Warblers were literally in every reed bed while Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Blackcaps, and Cetti's Warbler sang from the hedges surrounding the lakes. The odd few Reed Bunting were also around as well. Above: Canada Geese Goslings Below: Mallard Ducklings Above: The well grown Mallard duckling Below: Reed Warbler I decided to take a quick detour and have look in the fields that surround the lake. This meant walking along an extremely over grown track. The place was alive with more Small Red and Large Red Damselflies as well as the first Hairy Dragonfly of the year. Then all of a sudden a Rabbit bounded across the track in front of me and I realised that it wasn't alone as I could see a pair of ears sticking up from the lower bar of the gate ahead. Moving on further I found a field that had a flock of Canada Geese and Greylag, but not the hoped for Cattle Egret. Chaffinch were busying feeding young in the bush next to me and I assume the same thing goes for the Long-tailed Tits that I could hear. Above: Rabbit With not much else and the sounds of a distant rave I decided to retrace my steps and head back to the lakes. Next I decided to have a look around the south lake. Reed Warblers were still singing from every little small patch of reeds around the lake with Blackcap and Common Whitethroat singing from the borders. Almost 200 Tufted Duck were out in the middle of the lake along with a few Coot, a couple of Mute Swan and a Great Crested Grebe. A pair of Oystercatchers flew around the lake calling nosily and a pair of Greylag appeared with 3 goslings in tow which is apparently the first sight record of breeding for this species. Not for the first time in recent weeks there were literally 100s of Swift hawking above the lake with the odd Swallow and House Martin mixed in. It was a sight to see especially as the vast majority this time were flying around at head height. A pair of Med Gull also flew over mewing as they went and a tiny little fluffy black Moorhen chick was running about in one of the reed beds. Above: Mute Swan Above: Male Reed Bunting Below: Med Gull Above: Greylag and Goslings Below: Swifts There were however other highlights from the South Lake including another Hairy Dragonfly. It was infact the butterflies that stole the show. There were still plenty of Brimstone on the wing. Orange-tip were also numerous. However it was the small butterflies around the lakes edge that took my interest. This was in the shape of some stunning Common Blue's and also the slightly smaller Brown Argus. Just after having seen these I accidently bumped into the Dorset dragonfly recorder and he had told me about a Scarce Chaser which he had seen emerging along the Stour so I decided that I would head back that way to see what could be found. Above: Common Blue Below: Brown Argus I somehow found my self along an extremely over grown footpath to head back towards the Stour and then eventually re-found the main road and the path I was on before. The evening light was simply stunning and to make things better a pair of Kingfisher appeared from down river and spent the next couple of minutes chasing each other round the field next to me. I have to admit seeing a Kingfisher always brightens the day. Mayfly's were now even more abundant as the cooler weather now meant they weren't flying as high. More fish casualties were however evident. Moving on it was again the Dragonflies and Damselflies which took centre stage. This included freshly emerged Blue-tailed Damselflies, Common Blue and another Hairy Dragonfly. Bird wise it was relatively quite until an Egyptian Goose fly over and landed on the golf course next to me. I then realised that I need to move much quicker otherwise I would miss the last bus back to Bournemouth and so I paced the next mile back to Parley Cross passing Dudsbury Rings which is an old Iron age camp. The scenery was simply stunning though and the occasional stop to take in my surroundings and also to brush off Mayfly's almost cost me as I literally made it to the bus stop with seconds to spare. What a day. I am definitely going to head back over the summer for more Dragonfly and Damselfly hunting. And so I will leave you with some more photo's. My year list is now up to 170 only 22 more to go! Above: Hairy Dragonfly (I think)
Below: An unlucky Mayfly
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Now I have to admit one thing and that is the fact that I had no clue that International Dawn Chorus Day was a thing until last week and therefore I have decided to look into the history behind the day and infact it is quite interesting. The first Dawn Chorus Day was held in 1980s by Chris Baines when he held his birthday party at 4am so that all his guests could listen to the dawn chorus together. This started as a small annual event in Birmingham, but this tradition has now spread to countries around the world. Apparently some 80 countries now participate in Dawn Chorus Day activities. I thought that was quite a nice interesting fact before I get into the unfortunate reality. The reality is that now days the dawn chorus is not as it used to be in fact Conservationists such as Chris Packham reckon that we are heading towards a silent Spring and this is noticeable. Head out in to the heart of your local town and city at the crack of dawn and listen... The chances are that you will hear Robins and Blackbirds, but where are the other species that would normally inhabit Woodlands and Hedges out in the natural environment such as Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Nightingale. The chances are that you would have to go to a local park or Nature reserve to see these species. But even so the decline in Nightingale in the UK now means that they are only breeding in a handful of locations. Walking in farmland near where I live in North London and the sound of Lapwings displaying is brilliant, but they nest in one out of a possible 20 fields and there are only 4 pairs. In some years the Lapwing don't return and therefore the Farmland often has a quite spring since there are no breeding Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Yellowhammer, or Warblers. Why may you ask well it is unfortunately to do with the intensification of farming in this particular case. What's left of the hedgerows are destroyed over winter by the farmers trying to use every inch of space possible to grow crops. Pesticides and Herbicides are sprayed on the crops and the margins of the field are often left to whither and die. Ground nesting birds have very little chance at success since as soon as the grass is long enough to turn into Hay it is cut in order for the farmers to try and get a double crop. This in turn not only affects the local ground nesting birds but also reduces the amount of Wildflowers available to Butterflies, Bees, and insects. And this knock on affect means that there is now a limited food source for those species that do remain in the area and because of this Skylark and Meadow Pipit were lost as a breeding species in the 1980's the last record of a Yellowhammer was in 2006 and a whole host of other species have gone including Marsh Tit, Grasshopper Warbler, Tree Sparrow and Willow Tit and unfortunately these declines are mirrored nationally. If we aren't careful then the local populations of Lapwing and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker will disappear along with some of the other local specialities, and unfortunately for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker this year is the first spring in the valleys history that not one bird has been seen or heard which means that there is the potential that 2 pairs have been lost in the space of a year including the young that they manged to rear between them. The national statistics seem equally as bleak with around an estimated 44million birds lost from the UK since 1966 which is roughly the same amount of birds as the population of England and Wales combined. When you put that into perspective it is simply heart breaking and the chances are the numbers are only going to become bleaker unless something is done to try and reverse these numbers. 56% of the wildlife species in the UK are in decline which is another heartbreak statistic. It is worth at this point that the are other reasons for these declines and this can include Britain's changing climate which means spring is on average 15 days earlier. This means that migratory birds are returning to the country earlier and also nesting earlier in the season which can lead to them becoming prone to being effected by extreme weather in our changing climate. Climate change is also pushing species further North and whilst this means that our resident birds are suffering it is also allowing species such as Black-winged Stilts, Egrets, Night Herons, Cetti's Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Bearded Tit, Med Gulls, Collard Dove, Garganey, Little Bittern, Bee-eater to expand their ranges into the UK as our climate becomes more like their usual continental range and in the future other species will follow in their foot steps. Migratory birds also have to tackle obstacles along their migration such as illegal hunting across the Mediterranean for human consumption. Although this is now beginning to be tackled this still takes place not just in Europe but also along other major migratory highways. And of course potentially the biggest problem is habitat loss full stop which is unfortunately only going to grow as the demand for housing continues to increase. Of course there is also the problem of Litter and the degradation of the habitat that is still available. There are so many things that are going wrong for our wildlife that I just don't have space to put in this blog post. Especially since as I write something down another pops into my head. I guess what I am trying to say is that before everywhere falls silent we must think about what we are doing to our planet. We must take action and responsibility for what we as human beings are doing to the world. Anyway enough on this for now as I have some work to do. Read on below to find out how I spent International Dawn Chorus Day. My alarm went off at 3am yesterday morning which from what I could hear was just about the same time that everyone was returning from the local pubs and clubs. 4 and a bit hours of sleep was going to be enough. By the time I had left the building it was eerily quite and so I headed down to the bus stop. The first Herring Gulls of the day were already up and using the street lights to commute between roof tops and also to find food. After an anxious wait the Night Bus finally turned up late which is impossible to understand since there was one person on board. The journey was smooth and I arrived on Stour Road in Christchurch at just after 430am. The first rays of light were just starting the appear on the horizon and a rather chilly breeze was blowing from the North keeping things well below freezing. One of the local Fox's ran across the road in front of me. Eventually I made it to the River Stour at Tuckton community gardens and although it was still dark the place was alive with sound. Dunnocks, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, and Song Thrushes were singing from all around it was like a wall of sound. I have to admit that I just stood and listened for a while closing my eyes as I did so taking all the stress away. It was awesome, but just a shame that there was no one to share this moment with since everyone else appeared to be tucked up in bed (possibly the more sensible thing to be doing). I continued along the river finding the first Mallards of the day just starting the get their voices in on the action and I guess bringing me back to reality. Herring Gulls also called over head as they moved up the valley from their over night roost. I continued onto wick where the first warblers of the day were heard with Sedge, Reed, and Willow Warblers, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Common Whitethroat all singing. In fact Blackbirds were more numerous here to such an extent that at one point I had 6 singing males visibly singing their hearts out. There was one in a bush to my left, two on an small tree to my right, and then one on each of the visible roof tops. The whole concoction of song from the species combining was magical. The days first Little Egret flew past calling and as it did so the first Cetti's Warbler burst into life from the reed beds. (I did have some videos to post but I can't seem to be able to get them off Instagram) Moving further into Wick the sun was just starting to appear over the horizon as the days first Long-tailed Tits fed young in the bushes next to me. Blue and Great Tit were vocal but hard to see and a Sandwich Tern passed over head along with the days first Swift. As the sun rose a little further it was starting to become apparent just how cold it was as for the second dawn chorus walk I have done the sun revealed a completely frozen landscape with frost covering everything insight. Moving further along wick towards Hengistbury head it was more of the same really. The days first Chaffinch were seen as well as plenty of Greenfinch. Then as I neared the end of wick a bird with a white rump was flushed from the bushes next to the path and landed within a meter of my head on the bush next to me. A Male Bullfinch. I am not too sure who was more surprised whether it was me or him, but he seemed comfortable in my presence and started to feed on the buds of the tree he was now sitting on. After a while he gave a little 'peep' call and flew off towards the Visitor Centre only to be joined by a second in flight. Above: Male Bullfinch After this incredibly close encounter I headed to Barn Field to see if there were any Wheatear about. I hadn't gone more than a few feet when I noticed that there were actually two Wheatear on the path ahead of me along with a few Skylark and Meadow Pipit. Eventually a third Wheatear gave itself up as well. The beauty of being the first one out. A few Stonechat were also about and a Dartford Warbler called from the cover of the Gorse as 8 Med Gulls passed over heading East. Above: Meadow Pipit Next onto Barn Bight where a flock of 96 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding as it was low tide. A Little Egret was also about along with 77 Mute Swan which is a staggering count. Ducks wise the only species I could see were Mallards which makes a change to my last visit where I had 6 or 7 species. Common Whitethroat were singing in the bushes surrounding me and a Lesser Whitethroat was also present, but as I headed through the woodland to my surprise there were no Crests singing but given how cold it was I guess they were probably concentrating on keeping warm. Above: Black-tailed Godwits Below: Common Whitethroat Above: Male Reed Bunting and Male Greenfinch I then moved onto Holloways dock where another 9 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding along with a Shelduck and the days first Whimbrel. In the bushes on the right handside of the Dock a Willow Warbler sang and a Coal Tit appeared from the depths of the bush which was a welcome patch tick and the days first House Sparrows and Starlings could be seen and heard flying around the beach huts. Above: Whimbrel I then headed down along the Sandspit which in the hour or so that I spent down there produced the days best birding. Sandwich Tern were literally everywhere with around 60 feeding offshore in the Solent along with at least 10 Common Tern, and 3 Gannet. 13 Mute Swan were in the Solent as well with a lone Canada Goose sitting with them looking rather lost. The days first Oystercatcher few past calling while 4 Turnstone flew past in the opposite direction. 3 Bar-tailed Godwit randomly came into view over the sandspit circling me before heading back into the harbour as 2 Swift and 2 Swallow flew through heading North. I decided to have another scan of the Tern flock off shore and too my surprise I could now see some remarkably small Terns fishing with them. They were of course Little Terns and while 3 remained offshore another two came into the harbour over the sandspit. It was actually quite good to see the size different between the Sarnies and the Littles and lets just say its noticeable to say the least. Finally a Wheatear appeared on the rocks near where I was sitting and continued to fly catch as if no one was watching despite me sitting right next to it. Above: Sandwich Tern Above: Wheatear I then headed up to the top of the headland to check out the heathland here. Stonechat were numerous along with plenty more Common Whitethroat bring the day total to around 56 individuals. Sand Martin were everywhere with well over 80 individuals zipping through at various heights. However most of the time they were zipping through barely above the gorse and heather heading to and from the cliffs with plenty of insects about for them to gather. Above: Sand Martins and the Chat Below: Male Stonechat with grub for the growing youngsters I continued along the headland to the view point which was truly magical. Whilst I was up at the view point I picked up a Siskin circling over head. It was a nice Male and passed to the east as it flew over calling. A rather bazar late record if you ask me. 2 Rock Pipit flew in calling and briefly alighted on the fence, but I have to admit that the scenery stole the show again as I just love the view from this part of the headland. Next I headed back past Barn Field where the Wheatear were still showing well, but the area was now full of people so they were quite flighty. Yet more Sandwich Tern were fishing offshore, but with nothing else on the sea I headed slightly inland and into the dunes at Whitepits. A Reed Warbler was bizarrely singing from one of the bushes here so must have been new in. This stop to listen to the Reed Warbler was interesting as I noticed a few skulking Warblers in the bushes near it. More Whitethroat were in the bushes as well as a Chiffchaff and eventually the final warbler in the bush showed itself and I was pleased to be looking at my first Garden Warbler of the year, before it went back down to the bottom of the bush in typical skulking fashion. And so with my grandparents down to visit this brought an end to my morning however the birding wasn't done yet as the restaurant we went to looked out over the harbour and to my surprise at 12:45 an Osprey entered the harbour carrying a fish being mobbed by around 20 large gulls. It circled the area for 5 or so minutes while still being pestered and eventually gave up and proceeded inland over the restaurant and vanished. This brought and end to a great National Dawn Chorus Day walk and I have to admit I am already looking forward to next year. And with my year list now up to 168 it leaves me in a very decent position to reach my goal. I wonder what the next species to end up on my list will be....? Above: Male Wheatear Below: Sandwich Tern Above: Common Whitethroat I would also just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who reads my blogs and for the continued support it means a lot to me.
I am tempted to start to write more conservation minded blogs in the future and also I am working on trying to upgrade my equipment so that I can make some short films and perhaps even mini documentary's so stay tuned.... Also any feedback on blog post would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you again for your continued support! The Return Of The Swift - Hilfield Park Reservoir, Aldenham CP, Totteridge Valley - 2nd May 20192/5/2019 A chilly, but muggy morning saw the 1st returning Swift over the garden along with 2 Swallow flying through heading North so upon finding that my mum was going to be driving past one of the local reservoirs I decided to take a chance and head up since I guessed there would be some decent Hirundine passage and the chance of a year tick or two. Upon arrival at Hilfield Park Reservoir I looked up to see a Red Kite circling above the car with 2 Swift close by. Moving on into the grassland I could now see that the sky was full of Common Buzzard, Swift, along with a Sparrowhawk and a few Swallow mixed in for good measure. There must have been close to 100 Swift already just feeding on the insects that were already starting to annoy me. Above: Common Buzzard Below: Common Buzzard and Lesser Black-backed Gull I headed through the field listening to singing Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and Whitethroat as I went. I then headed through the little gate and through a massive swarm of flies before finally arriving at the viewing platform looking over the main Reservoir. The 1st noticeable thing was the swarms of Swift feeding at varying heights over the reservoir. With some extremely low over the water, to those at extreme altitudes and barely a dot in the sky. It felt like the place was being over run with swifts but it was an amazing sight to see. A one point the lower birds grouped together screaming as a Red Kite fly low over the lake. There must have been some 2-300 Birds present it was utter madness. (The Video below gives an idea of how many swift there were, but they are merely specs shooting across the screen) Above: one of the many Swift Below: Screen grab from the video showing Swallow, House Martin and Swift To be honest I was quite surprised that there were no Hobby about, however the flock of Swifts did contain around 30+ Swallow, 6 House Martin and 4 Sand Martin so it wasn't bad going. The rest of the birdlife on the resi was actually quite quiet with Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, and Coot all present. 3 Grebe Species were seen including the incredible Black-necked Grebe. I have to admit that I love seeing them at this time of year with their little red tufts on the side of their heads. They are truly stunning. An Arctic Tern was fishing with a Common Tern showing a nice comparison in the two species, however after a while I noticed that the Arctic had vanished and so presumably it had only briefly stopped of on its journey North. Eventually after having a bite to eat I decided to head to Aldenham Country Park since it was starting to get unbearable with the shear amount of insects swarming the viewing platform. Above: Black-necked Grebe Below: Common Buzzard being mobbed by a Carrion Crow As I left the field and headed out onto Hogg Lane I could just make out the faint sound of singing Skylark coming from the general direction of the Elstree Airport, which is interesting considering how busy the airport is. Along the way to the Country Park Blackcap, Whitethroat, and Chiffchaff were singing, along with a few Goldfinch in the hedges of the country lane. There was one particular hair raising moment when a lorry was coming down towards me and just like last year resulted in me throwing myself into a hedge to avoid the wing mirrors. This year I was unlucky since I throw myself into a Black Thorn and lets just say it wasn't pretty. Anyways moving on I finally made it to the Country Park and headed towards the Reservoir. A Pair of Grey Wagtail fed under the first tree that I came to along with the usual Mallards and Canada Geese. 3 Greylag were my first for the sight and a pair of Mute Swan were good to see. Tufted Duck, Coot, and Great Crested Grebe were present along with an Aylesbury, an Indian Runner and a Muscovy duck which had all probably at some point in their life escaped from the local farm. A flock of around 20+ Swallow hawked insects above the lake, however even though hilfield is barely a few hundred metres away there were no Swifts, which was rather odd. One of the Great Crested Grebes was fishing close by or at least that's what I thought it was doing. It turns out that what it came up with in its beak looks like a dead bird. Either way it proceeded to swallow it whole. Finally to round things off over by the boat club I found a family of Canada Geese that had 4 newly emerged Goslings. Above: Great Crested Grebe Below: Mallard Above: Pied Wagtail Below: Coots Territorial Dispute Above: Canada Goose and Gosling After this I headed up to Elstree with a Red Kite circling the road and a few Swallow passing through. I decided that I would head up to Totteridge to see what was about. Although as luck would have it no sooner had I gotten of the bus the heavens opened and the first of the days hail storms passed through. I have to admit that I wasn't properly dressed for this sort of weather and it was obvious that this wasn't going to be the last. So rather than doing the full circuit I decided to head down to Folly Farm where 2 Male Pheasant were squaring up to each other in one of the Horse Fields. Now I am sure that if the Horse hadn't intervened then this battle could have ended differently. 8 Lapwing were still in the field so hopefully they will have another good breeding season this year. I decided to head back home via Oakfields however the Firecrest of recent weeks wasn't singing, however I don't blame it since the heavens had opened once again. 2 Muntjac were some compensation for the lack of birds, however after a complete soaking I was now ready to head for home. And so this rounded off another great day of London Birding. To be honest now that I am birding in 2 parts of the country I have to admit that I have missed being in and around London and so I am very much looking forward to the summer. With 164 Species on my year list now the target becomes ever closer. Below: Male Pheasants |
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. ArchivesCategories |