Ed's Birding Blog

2011-01-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

visited 19 states (8.44%)
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Hampshire Dunlins

2011-01-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

I had to get incredibly muddy to get these pictures of Dunlin at Keyahven in Hampshire. They were tucked away in the seaweed as along the tide line. I've had quite a few close encounters with Dunlin over the last year (see my post on 13th Sept 10) and, as long as you're prepared to get down into the mud, they'll be very confiding.

Garden Wagtail

2011-01-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

Finally! The rusty bit of metal I'd stuck in the ground in the garden and repeatedly tripped over did what it was intended to do. The recent heavy snowfall had attracted the annual garden wagtails a month or two earlier than usual and they took kindly to my slighlty contrived perch. Interestingly, its actually a barbed wire stake dating back to WW2 that my dad metal detected...ok, maybe thats not that interesting!

Norfolk Seal

2011-01-03T11:25:00.000-08:00

With the start of a new year, what better time to start posting on this blog again?

Whilst trying and failing to get close to the various waders on Titchwell beach, we came across this young Common Seal. I've seen lone young seals on the beaches of North Norfolk before and to be honest I don't know whether they're "supposed" to be there or not. They certainly have the look of a lost, disorientated animal but I've read warnings by various seal rescue charities that they are young seals waiting or the return of their mother and shouldn't be moved. Anyway, this guy's painfully cute face attracted the attention of anyone who passed him and by the sounds of it the seal rescue people had their fair share of calls about him.

He seemed glad of our company and didn't seem to mind having his picture taken.

Norfolk Olive-Backed Pipit

2010-10-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

This Olive-Backed Pipit I saw at Stiffkey today is literally priceless...the Wilson's Phalarope I'd seen earlier in the day is currently priced at £6.70.

Arctic Dunlin

2010-09-13T15:28:00.001-07:00

We found these Dunlin hunkered down in the shingle at Cley. We were probably the first humans they'd ever seen. An amazing expereince and a great way to round of a rarity filled weekend.

more to come!

East York's Seabirds

2010-06-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

A great day spent photographing seabirds and ringing Tree Sparrows on the East Yorks coast.

Black and White in Beds

2010-05-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

Grey Day

2010-05-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

This prime example of a Grey Plover was the second Beds tick of the week and a cracking bird all round. Unfortunately he didn't come any closer than distant, hence the unflattering photo. Nice of him to stop of on his way to the Arctic though.

Frasier Cranes

2010-05-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Steve's call did interrupt Eastenders but I couldn't turn down a Beds tick and lifer. Once I'd set sky plus, I drove irratically to Quest pit to tick off these dog-sized birds. They're as close to Ostriches as you're gonna get in Bedfordshire!

Sunset Sedgie

2010-05-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

Iberian ZilpZalp

2010-05-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Derbyshire Dippers (and Grouse)

2010-05-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

The (in)famous Lathkill Dale proved pretty poor for photography despite amazing conditions. After walking in entirely the wrong direction we eventually came to the waterfall and were met with singing Redstarts and Grey Wags but the black and white birds were thin on the ground. We had two pretty shy individuals so we decided to cut our loses and don oxygen masks to begin the ascent to the summit/car park. We then made our way to Padley Gorge where we found a really confiding bird with an aesthetically pleasing mouthful of ex-invertebrates and a penchant for standing on cliched mossy rocks.

The birds of the day for me though were the Red Grouse. These game birds don't get much press but they really are good value for money with a bizzare call, an amazing ability to run hilariosuly and a face made for whisky. It was only when I read up on them when I got home that I found out they were endemic to the British Ilses! Long live the Red Grouse!

Ashwell's Dung

2010-05-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

The middens between Ashwell and Dunton are again stocked full of good classic farmland birds. The stars of the show are the 4+ Wheatears that aren't shy about having their pictures taken. Well worth a re-visit, if only it was in Beds...

Broom Bewick Bonanza

2010-04-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

The juv. Bewick's Swan at Broom today was a very welcome addition to my Beds List although I have to say it made the saddest noise I've ever heard as it paddled around with its Mute relatives. The whole sitiuation was a bit melancholy really- a bit too much like seeing Bambi lose his mum.

On the brighter side though a flyctaching Willow Warbler provided some good entertainment and there were plenty of Common Terns, Swifts and hirrundines to make it a good few hours birding in Beds.

World Wide Whimbrels

2010-04-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

Broom, UK- April 2010
Kotu Bridge, The Gambia- March 2010

The same bird?Maybe...

The ones that got away...

2010-04-20T13:56:00.001-07:00

The Yellow-Crowned Gonoleks were really quite common but seemed to absolute hate the sight of a camera and refused to let me stalk them.
This was a really frustrating missed oppurtunity. Its an amazing looking bird but to be quite honest I'm not really sure of it's true identity. The African Paradise Flycatcher and the Red-Bellied Flycatcher look pretty similar and commonly hybridise. I think this one may be a hybrid.
Despite these Black Kites being one of the most common birds I came across I just couldn't get them in the right light. This bird is of the Yellow-Billled variety and is the resident sub-species of Black Kite.

There were three or four Black-Crowned Tchagra around our beach hut but they always remained distant and seemed to enjoy hiding behind bushes.
I think this is a Red-Bellied Flycatcher but I gave my borrowed field guide back so I could be entirely wrong.
This Common Wattle-Eye couldn't be tempted out from the shade of a toilet block and the proximity of a cess pool quickly dampened my enthusiasm for Wattle-Eye photography.
The African Thrush above was a bit subtle lookswise and was clearly a bit shy about it! These are the reasons to revist somewhere. All the above are birds I didn't manage to get a decent picture of despite having more than ample oppurtunity! But then I really could have spent weeks playing with each species individually and then I'd never have come home.

They're just too Swift...

2010-04-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Little Swift
African Palm Swift

The less said about these pictures the better! Great birds though.

Biodiversity

2010-04-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Pied Kingfisher
Pic'n'mix: African Spoonbill, Sacred Ibis, Cattle Egret.

GWE
Cattle Egret

Long-Tailed Cormorant
Squacco Heron
African Jacana
All the above were photographed at a small pond near Kotu Bridge in The Gambia. The pond can't of been much bigger than the average village duck pond and supported more than it's fair share of the country's flora and fauna. It was a little microcosm of the Gambian ecosytem. I could have wasted away the whole day there had it not been for the unbearable heat, unbearable persistence of an overly friendly local "guide" and the unbearable lack of a Fanta Tropical!

From Senegal West Africa!

2010-04-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Senegal Coucal and Senegal Parrot -The Gambia.

Expect the Unexpected!

2010-03-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this Saturday morning I never in a million years expected to be sitting in the hide at the Lodge waiting for Bedfordshire's first Two-Barred Crossbill in over a hundred years. to show at the pool. I also didn't expect to have to get up at 5:30 (4:30 Non BST!) to have to try and see a Two-Barred Crossbil I hadn't seen the day before. Luckily at around half 7 a flock of 20+ Crossbill appeared in a tree right in front of the hide. They promptly flew off again leaving just one bird perched proudly at the top of the tree...

Gambian Dragonfly

2010-03-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Two Very Cool Birds

2010-03-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Yellow-Billed Shrike and Yellow-Fronted Tinkerbird.

Roller Disco

2010-03-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to find all 4 types of the resident speices of Roller in the Gambia. The most spectacualr was the Abyssinian Roller which was thankfully fairly common and often seemed to appear out of nowhere. On several ocasions I'd find them perched in the lower branches of a tree when I was sneaking up on Bee-Eaters and the like.

The most confusing of the Rollers we saw was the Broad-Billed Roller. A chocolate coloured bird with a splash of licac on its chest and a disctinctly falcon like shape to it. I spent several minutes perusing the falcons in the field guide before the bomb dropped. From the picture above its seems obviously not to be a falcon but from a distance and when its perched on a wire next to a road it looks very much like one- or perhaps the heat was getting to me more than I'd thought.

Black Winged Stilts

2010-03-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

I found these shockingly long legged birds beside a sewage pool near Senegambia. I'd like to say it was an wholly enjoyable expereince photographing these birds as Little Swifts swooped down to drink from the pool but 40 degree heat really doesn't do much for the smell of sewage.

The Kings of Africa

2010-03-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

One of the big draws of The Gambia was its outstanding array of Kingfishers. I still get overly excited when I see a common Kingfisher in the UK so when I saw my first Pied Kingfisher on my first day in Africa I almost passed out! By the end of the day however, I'd seen at least 20 Pied Kingfishers and found out they were not only the most common Kingfisher here in The Gambia but also the most common bird on the tidal mangrove pools behind my beach lodgings. I could never get sick of them though.

You don't even have to have seen a picture of a Giant Kingfisher to know that they must be cool. Those two words- Giant and Kingfisher- sound mouthwatering together. I'd seen pictures but didn't have any idea of the scale until I saw my first. I'd say it was the size of a Rook (although perhaps I've got a touch of fisherman's syndrome -"it was this big!"). What an amazing bird though. I saw my first at Abuko and my second on the same mangrove pools that the Pieds seemed to like so much.

Seeing the Blue Breasted Kingfisher was a bit surreal at first. All week I'd been drinking Julbrew, the local lager with a Blue-Breast adorning the label, so my first sighting of a real one was a bit like seeing a local celeb. The best Kingfisher of all though has to be the African Pygmy Kingfisher. I was being led on a chase by a flirtacious Pied when I noticed a sparrow sized bird flutter up onto a mangrove right next to me. I gasped so loudly that I scared the little guy off and so I didn't manage a picture- I've still not got over this!

African Dinosaurs

2010-03-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Nightjars in The Gambia

2010-03-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

I found these Long Tailed Nightjars in a small patch of woodland beside an old mineral mine behind the beach lodge we were staying at. I came across them for the first time just before night fall and, as their ghostly silouhettes fluttered around the leaf litter, I dont mind saying I was a bit spooked out. I've only ever heard our own European Nightjars though so it was pretty amazing to see ones with huge tails! I went back to the woods the next morning thinking that they'd be sleepy and wouldn't notice me poking a lens in their faces- I was wrong. They were just as skittish as they had been the previous evening but at least this time I could see where they'd land. Remembering the advice my guide had given me about Puff Adders ("Don't step on their privates!), I crawled cautiously through the leaf litter to try and get a frame filler. Unfortuantley, Nightjars are a lot better at avoiding predators/photographers than I am at stalking Nightjars so I only got some simple portrait shots. What a fantastic bird though.

To birding in comfort!

2010-02-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

I started the weekend off by reluctantly getting out from bed and clambering into my new (old) Land Rover to try and see the Firecrest at East Hyde. I picked up Dan Trim and we headed through Hitchin and Luton in a totally unsuitable vehicle and arrived at East Hyde a little shaken up (quite literally!). As anyone who's ever been to see a Firecrest before will know, they're not very cooperative and seem to have no regard for the cold birders who have turned out to try and see them. We ended up heading home with a severe dislike for very small birds and a few pics of a much more friendly Grey Heron.
After Saturday's dissapointment and after deciding not to go for the London Dusky warbler I decided to invest a little time in the garden birds. I could say that this was because I feel I don't give them the attention they deserve but in truth I just wanted to be able to bird in my tracksuit bottoms with an endless supply of tea and toffee crisps! The light was more than rubbish so I didn't achieve any life changing photos but it was nice to see this Greenfinch drop in for some food given the apparent lack of them this winter.
The relatively resident Goldfinches soon got used to me waving a lense around and dropped in like clockwork every 5 minutes.

There's a healthy little population of House Sparrows that reside in the Ivy that covers one side of my house and over the years I've just about got used to their incessant chattering outside my window each morning. They really are fascinating birds with an amazing social ecology and I really must spend a bit more time taking pictures of them.

These Snowdrops a are beggining to look a bit droopy and don't really do thier species justice. Nice to have in the garden though.
This Dunncok flew in, frantically waving its wings as though trying to make itself seem a lot more scary than it could ever hope to be. Suffice to say it had no effect on the other birds at the feeders. It was very interesting behaviour nonetheless and the whole day was a lesson that investing a bit of time on the birds on your doorstep can be better than travelling 20 miles in a rickety old Land Rover to not see some pimped up goldcrest!

Redwings and Fieldfares

2010-01-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

Norfolk

2009-11-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Lodge

2009-11-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

2009-11-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

purple first

2009-11-27T10:11:00.001-08:00

Recent Photos

2009-11-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

Behemoths!

2009-08-02T01:56:00.000-07:00

Dan and I decided to do a bit bit of trapping at Arlesy Old Moat Nature reserve. It was a cold night and our hopes weren't high so imagine our suprise when we looked on at 3 huge Poplar Hawkmoths in the trap. These guys are absolute monsters! We also had several Swallow Prominents and a Chocolate Tip.

Chicksands Butterflies

2009-07-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

Norfolk Natterjack

2009-07-08T09:17:00.001-07:00

3 Days in Hampshire

2009-06-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Demoisel

Two Butterflies and a Gropper

2009-06-13T00:41:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is another post featuring exactly zero birds but it is summer and so butterflies can't help but take centre stage for a while! I hadn't been out birding (butterflying) for a while so decided to go for a summer stroll with my girlfriend around Rutland Water. After introducing her to her first Grass Snake we spotted what turned out to be a Large Skipper, the first lifer of the day. I then got a suprise as I heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling away just the other side of a bush. I eventually managed to get good, albiet short views of the bird- a nice yearer! On the way back I picked up my second butterfly lifer in the form of a Speckled Wood. All in all, a very nice day. This butterflying is addictive!

(Strange looking bug. No idea what it is but there were loads of them so obviously nothing rare)

Blue Tit Baby!

2009-06-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

Just as I was leaving to go back to Uni, I noticed this fledgling Blue Tit on my driveway. It's the offspring of the two Blue Tits that I've been watching from my window throughout Easter. It's really nice to know that they've been successful! I quickly took these pics of the little guy without getting too close and watched to see the parents return to it throughout the day with grubs and bugs. I knew they'd make great parents!

Great Knot Dip.

2009-05-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

We set off early this morning in order to catch up with the suspected Great Knot that was found at Breydon Water last night. Unfortunately it wasn't early enough; the bird was seen at 4:45am and flew off at 5am. This was my first big 'dip' but we made up for it by visting Britains's largest Little Tern colony containing nearly 400 birds! We also saw a Curlew Sandpiper, Whimbrel and two Stone Curlew on the way back. Steve also introduced me to the world of Butterflies to alleviate the boredom of waiting for the Knot to reappear. I can see me getting more and more interested in them...

The species photographed are: Wasp Beetle, Wall Brown, Hairy Hawker and Green-Veined White. The Wall Brown and Hairy Hawker dragonfly are apparently both fairly scarce.

Bird Hunt!

2009-05-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Despite the terrible weather forecast I decided to go on a bit of a bird hunt today. My targets were Golden Oriole and Montagu's Harrier. I got to Hockwold Fen (Lakenheath) just after 7am and someone helpfully directed me to a Oriole nest site. Once I got onto the nest I could just about see a tail poking out and after waiting a few minutes the tail turned into an Oriole as the female left the nest. She came and went several times and gave us brief but good views. We also heard the male calling frequently but just could get on to him. Just as I was about to leave the Bittern that had been "booming" away behind me appeared out of the reeds and flew 20m or so. As I was walking back to the car I caught a glimpse of two MALE Orioles chasing eachother through the trees. They really didn't look like they belonged in amongst a rainy grey backdrop of windswept Poplars!

Next stop was Norfolk and the Monty's. I'd been "tipped off" about a location that reportedly held several breeding pairs. As soon as I arrived at the site I caught a glimpse of a harrier quartering a field. Naturally I slammed the brakes on and got the bins on it...it was a brilliant female Monty's! Unfortunately it was a little distant and incredibly dull and blustery, so taking pictures was tricky to say the least:

I decided to have a walk up to the top of Burnham Overy Staithe but the weather got progressively worse and I started to wish I hadn't! I was rewarded with nice views of two Little Terns on the way back though. My first of the year...

(Frustratingly just out of focus!)

Life list = 237

Black-Winged Pratincole

2009-05-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

As a sort of post exam treat I decided to twitch the Black-Winged Pratincole down at Stodmarsh NNR in Kent. Luckily Dan decided he could afford to take a few hours off revision to come and stop me getting another mega on him! I started the journey from Leics with an overnight pit stop in Beds and got to the reserve at about 7am. Dan had to come from Southampton and arrived shortly after.

As soon as I got out of the car I heard a Turtle Dove purring which was a nice addition to the year list. The sun was out and the reserve was absolutely buzzing with life and we soon heard the unmistakable booming of a Bittern. This was the first time Dan and I had ever heard it so we were really excited and as the morning progressed we heard several others along with loads of Cuckoos

The bird wasn't showing when we first got to the hide so we were in for a pretty tense wait. After about an hour though, a fellow bedsbirder managed to catch sight of the Pratincole's head poking out from behind a clump of mud. We managed to get the tick and tehn five minutes later the bird gave brilliant views out in the open. I think we both agree that its THE best looking bird we've seen! Despite it giving great views through the scope, it was just too far away for our SLRs so we tried a bit of dodgy digiscoping with my compact. Dan eventually managed to get the above record shot. We aslo saw our first Hobbies of the year. A great morning's birding...

Wood Warbler at Uni

2009-05-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Whilst pretending to write my essay and revise I did my half hourley check of Birdguides and saw that a Wood Warbler had been spotted in Victoria Park, Leics. This is the park right next to uni so I had to go and check it out. Got on to it more or less straight away in some willows next to the "lake" (or what some may call a stagnant, trolley filled pond). It was calling fairly regularly against a backdrop of sirens, rap music and traffic!

Anyway, a lovely bird to see in somewhere you definitely wouldn't expect to see it.

The Big Twitch

2009-05-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

After getting back from twitching the Lark I settled down on the sofa to recover. A few hours later and I got a call from Mark asking if I was up for twitching the Collared Flycatcher down on Portland in Dorset. This was a mega and a great looking bird, so obviously I couldn't say no! Jenny kindly drove us down there (along with two dogs and a baby!) and four short hours later we arrived. It didn't take long to get on to the bird and it gave good views on an apple tree in someones garden. In the rush to see the bird, I jumped out the car without my camera so didn't manage any pics. We were very lucky though as the bird disappeared soon after we got there and wasn't seen again untill 20:40! This was the first day in years that Mark had got two lifers in one day and the first time I've ever had two megas in the same day. In 24hrs we'd been to two bird observatories on two different stretches of coastline and driven over 600 miles. I was totally shattered by the end of it but I can tell that it'll be the first of many epic twitches.

We left the Bill as dusk fell and headed for Macdonalds with yet another mega under our belts!
(Thanks to Mark and Jenny for putting in so many tiring hours behind the wheel and to Blyth for being so well behaved!)

Crested Lark Twitch

2009-04-30T03:10:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, that small, vaguely bird shaped object is a Crested Lark! We actually had pretty good views of it on the ground later on after chasing it around for several hours. At one point it flew right over our heads. The bird was very flighty and the autofocus on my camera was terrbile at picking it up (hence the dreafdful image).

It was noticably different from a skylark. In flight it looked slightly larger with broader, more rounded wings and a buff underside. Once we got good views of it on the deck we could finally see why it's called a CRESTED Lark but unfortunately it was just too far away for the SLR.

This was the biggest twitch I'd been on. It was pretty manic at times as birders actually sprinted to wherever the Lark decided to land next! Life list = 233

(Many thanks to Mark for driving!)

(Crowds at Crested Lark twitch)

More Corn Buntings...

2009-04-30T03:07:00.001-07:00

Love these little guys!

Corn Buntings etc.!

2009-04-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Whilst at the Whiskered Tern twitch in Cambs, Frank t0ld me about a great place to see Corn Bunting and it turns out it was only a few miles from my house. I needed Corn Bunts for the year so decided to pop along today a try and get some pics. This place is a small patch of farm waste between Eyeworth and Ashwell and is actually pretty awesome! There were Yellow Wags everywhere:

Apparently there was a Whinchat present in the morning but unfortunately I couldn't find it. I did get onto at least 4 Wheatear though and got incredibly dirty whilst trying to stalk them! Such brilliant birds though:

As soon as I stepped out the car I heard what sounded like keys being jangled and knew there must be a Corn Bunting nearby. Actually there were several:

There were also plenty of Pied Wagtails and the odd Reed Bunting.

Window Blue Tits

2009-04-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

I noticed a pair of Blue Tits nesting in the ivy right next to my bedroom window and couldn't resist trying to get a few pics of them:

Paxton Pits

2009-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

(Lesser Whitethroat)

After a week of mega early starts at Broom, Dan and I decided to get up slightly later on Saturday and visit Paxton Pits in Cambs. Paxton is an amazing site for Nightingales and Dan had never seen one! We'd dipped on them last year after I'd guaranteed him there were loads about so the pressure was on. I needn't have worried though as almost as soon as we got there we heard one singing and shortly after we got some good views. As we walked around we must have seen/heard 10+ individuals. We both managed nothing more than a few record shots however; they just dont seem to want to cooperate with photograhpers! We also saw a Lesser Whitethroat, a new bird for the year making my year list 163.

(Nightingale)

The Big Weekend at Portland

2009-04-22T06:46:00.001-07:00

Dan and I left home at some terrible hour to pick Sam and Robbie up from Wiltshire at 7am. After stopping for a quick cuppa we headed off to the Obs at Portland Bill. We stopped off in Weymouth for a Macdonalds and a look round RSPB Radipole. After seeing several singing Cetti's Warblers and a flyover Peregrine I picked up my first lifer of the weekend - Hooded Merganser. Despite being a bit of a controversial bird it was a brilliant bird to see:

Once we got to the Obs we went for the first seawatch of the weekend. Passage was very quiet but the resident Auks, Fulmars and Shags kept us entertained. I also picked up my second lifer of the weekend in the form of a Kittiwake. These were abundant around the Bill and we saw several over the 3 days.

(Fulmar)

(Fulmar, Razorbill and Shag)

Three of the Bill's Short-Eared Owls showed really well in the evening and provided a great way to end the birding for the day and start the drinking!

The weather on Saturday really wasn't great for seawatching and after starting at 6am with big hangovers (some worse than others) we called it a day around 9am and went to search the Bill for migrants. These were thin on the ground as well with the highlights being several Redstart and Wheatear. Nevertheless, we had a good time birding and soaking up the sun! We did manage to see the two resident Puffins, a lifer for Robbie and exciting birds to see.

(Linnets and Pied Wag)

(Redstart caught and ringed in the Obs garden)

A really sunny day meant perfect conditions for stalking Rock Pipits:

Whilst hunting for migrants in the paddocks we managed to get some nice views of Skylarks. Never realised how long their claws are!

Another unseasonably sunny day on Sunday meant that the Bill was a bit quiet on the migrant front. The situation got so desperate that we even resorted to photographing House Sparrows! However, news of another kind of Sparrow had come in the day before and that meant a twitch was in order. A White-Throated Sparrow at Old Winchester Hill in Hants was a mega and a lifer for all of us. After driving for 1hr 45mins we arrived at the reserve and we joined the rest of the twitchers pointing their scopes at a patch of bushes right next to the car park. After about an hour the bird finally showed. The only trouble was, I didn't see it! Dan, Robbie and Sam all got some kind of a view before it ducked back inot cover but somehow I missed it. After about 5mins of panicking I managed to get onto it making its way up to a vantage point and we all eventually got a lovely prolonged view off it. Such a nice looking bird and nice to be able to compare it to the White-Crowned Sparrow I'd seen at Cley last year.

On the way back we stopped off at Blashford Lakes where I picked up another lifer in the form of a Mealy Redpoll. As well as having fantastic views of woodland specialities at the feeders, we also the the huge Greenland Redpoll of the Rostrata race.

(Above: House Sparrow and WTSparrow)

(Song Thrush)

(Mealy Redpoll above and Greenland below)

Before dropping Sam and Robbie off, we stopped off again at RSPB Radipole. The highlight was totally unexpected great views of Bearded Tits. Dan picked up on their call before they showed brilliantly, feeding on reeds just 15ft away. Annoyingly, the auto-focus on the cam just couldn't deal with all the reeds so only Dan managed anything more than a blurry record shot! Nice views of Marsh Harrier added another tick to the weekend list.

After dropping Robbie off in S'oton, Dan and I did a bit off birding in the New Forest. After a bit of searching a Dartford Warbler popped up on some heather making it 231 for my life list!! Unfortunately, the battery on my cam had packed in so I didn't get any photos. We also had good views of Redstart (singing high in a tree), Crossbill, Tree Pipit and Curlew. A nice end to a great weekend!

(SEO near the lighthouse and Grey Heron)