The Standlake Birder

If I was asked to name my favorite UK bird I think it would be the Wryneck.  This small member of the woodpecker family has the most subtle, beautiful and alluring plumage and is a really captivating bird when viewed at close range. They are sadly long lost as UK breeding birds and can only is seen on passage, mainly in the autumn. A small influx over the past few days had me scanning the bird alert services for a suitable candidate to visit. I chose Farlington marshes in Hampshire because it was only 90 minutes from home and I’d never been there before. In addition there were a couple of half decent pictures posted indicating that reasonably views should be possible with patience. I must say that I approached this trip with a certain amount of trepidation as I had had wonderful and unbeatable views of a Wryneck in Norfolk last year. While I was sitting on the ground it appeared from the undergrowth some 20 or so meters from me and proceeded to spend the next hour sco...

On Friday morning I had a long, hot but very pleasant walk on the ridgeway.  My main aim was to photograph Wheatears which  were true to form in their usual locations, often revealing their presence in flight by their bright white rumps which gave rise to their old and not particularly flattering English name of white arse! Wheatear This morning I was faced with a choice. Settle down for the day and watch the cricket or get out and do some birding. Given the low probability of an England win against the old enemy, after all we were bowled out for under 70 in the first innings, I chose the latter. I decided to go to Frampton RSPB again and try for an American vagrant wader, a buff-breasted sandpiper, that had been there for a week or so.  My aim was to get there comparatively early before the forecast heat set in but when I arrived around 09:30 the mercury was already rising rapidly being well above 20 degrees. The friendly RSPB staff, as ever, pointed me ...

Pit 60 has been very very quiet recently. In fact, I believe there has not been a single wader there for the past couple of weeks. The reasons for the sad demise of what was one of oxfordshires best birding sites is well know to us regular patch workers, namely poor water and vegetation management. Looking at records from only 3 or 4 years ago it is very obvious how badly the site has deteriorated. So, to avoid another morning staring at coots and tufted ducks from the hide window, I went to farmoor this morning to see what must surely be the most photographed bird in Oxfordshire – the famous Kingfisher at the shrike meadow hide. I was very lucky in that the bird had just landed on its favored post just prior to my arrival. My birding friend Ewan arrived after a little while and we spent a pleasant 2 hours or so chatting and waiting for the star performer but he/she did not return during my stay. Thanks to all who have asked about my dog Dillon who ...

So this week hasn’t been great.  My lovely Irish setter, Dillon, has a major health problem and I’ve spent a lot of the week trying to get him sorted out via trips for various referrals and tests. It turns out that he has a soft tissue tumor  on his leg which is being operated on next Tuesday. This will probably be followed by radiotherapy to try and remove anything nasty left over. Thanks heavens that we cancelled his health insurance recently because it was too expensive (sic) !! Getting him sorted has been my big priority this week so birding has had to take second fiddle but today I had the opportunity for some lighter relief.  I got up early and walked the dogs to give Carolyn a bit of a lie in and then did the two hour drive to Pagnham harbor in Sussex to try to connected with a Squacco  heron that has been around for a week or so. This bird is a rare vagrant to the UK from its normal summer range in the mediterranean. My birding...

So it was back to Lincolnshire for another long days birding last Thursday. The attraction was two fold. Firstly, there has been a somewhat unprecedented influx of Wood Sandpipers into the country. This is a passage migrant that I expect to see in ones or twos every year. Exceptionally large flocks landed last week, for example a flock of over 100 were recorded on the Norfolk coast. The opportunity to see so many of these lovely waders together was simply too good to miss. Secon dly, although I did “see” the rare American White-rumped Sandpipers 10 days ago at Frampton it was a very poor one out of ten obscured view. So I arrived early at Freiston RSPB on the east coast to be greeted by Wood Sandpipers absolutely everywhere on the medium sized muddy pond know as the reservoir. The two White-rumped sandpipers were also showing on and off reasonably well. The highlight, however, was the big evening 6m high tide which pushed everything off of the salt marshes and onto to the reser...

Hi and welcome to my new blog which will mainly be about my birding trips and photography hoby with the occasional digression into my other interests such as physics and astronomy. I hope you like it!