Sometimes a days birding can deliver very little and then sometimes days like today come along where it all seems to go right. A Barn Owl as we pulled into the track to the reserve followed by two Short-eared Owls hunting at first light then a male Merlin flashes across us and sits out on […]
Tag: Skylark
Rare and unusual birds seen in Saudi Arabia in second half of 2016
A pair of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus with two recently hatch young, 12 August, were the first record of breeding for the species in the Kingdom. An unprecedented influx of Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris were seen with fifteen 30 kilometers east of Zulfi 8 November, six together 40 kilometers north of Zulfi 11 November and […]
Quiet morning at Minsmere
At the crack of dawn we’re walking the north bushes at Minsmere only to find a few Brambling and a Bullfinch for our effort. An Otter and four Red Deer showed as we walked the north wall and lot’s of Beardies pinged all around but despite the calm didn’t show that well. On the wader […]
Martin Down and Pennington Marsh
The last couple of weeks have been manic at work with some very early starts for breeding bird surveys, late nights reviewing documents and getting the company ready for the new and extremely tedious General Data Protection Regulations which come into force later in May. However, I have managed to get out a little to […]
Mongolia – 18th May (Day 11) – Barig Mountain to Sangiin Dalai Lake
We were up at 05:15 to the sound of screaming Saker Falcon, packed our bags and after a quick coffee headed back up Barig Mountain at 06:00 for a last try for Hodgson’s Bush-chat. After climbing the steep grassy and rock strewn slopes of the mountains in the vehicles we parked at the summit and […]
Catching a few ticks in Tuddenham
Saturday saw me going solo down at Elmley while the Jims enjoyed Vange Marshes Stilts. I had good but brief views of a day flying Barn Owl, a Peregrine hunting the marshes with several Buzzards and Marsh Harriers. Hares were putting on a show and the mating rituals of Lapwing and Redshank were in full […]
Another day at Dungeness
We arrived at first light to find the point covered in thick fog and the fog horn blasting out it’s warning to the ships that couldn’t see the lighthouse. By 7:30am the fog had lifted and we quickly found a couple of Wheatear on the shingle by the fishing boats. An hours sea watch enabled […]
Marsh Harrier and Short-eared Owls at Elmley NNR
I took a drive down to Elmley this afternoon after work thinking it’s as good a place as any to clear the head after a very hard week of chasing numbers. I spent two hours there with little to note other than singing Skylarks, Lapwings and a few Redshank before it all kicked off. First […]