The Standlake Birder

  Pied Flycatcher With the spring passage now in full swing, I’ve managed to get out birding four times in the past week. I’ve had a day out in the mid wales ancient oak woodlands, two trips to Grimley and one to the very local Clifton lakes.   Last Wednesday I set off bright and early on my semi-annual trip to the woodlands of central Wales. Last year this trip was a lockdown pipe dream so its now two years since my last visit. My chosen location in central Wales is quite remote which, I must confess, is really where the attraction lies. I’ve had whole days out there in the past when I haven’t seen a single soul. I find the peace and tranquillity of  nature and its solitude intensely therapeutic, perhaps I was a hermit in a previous life!  The subjects of my birding desires in said woodland were three woodland summer migrants, namely Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and Wood Warbler.   On arrival there seemed to be Willow Warblers signing their simple but no...

Today dawned in Pirton with clear blue skies and, as is my usual habit, I was soon out on my early morning dog walk. Two days ago I had heard, but not seen, my first Common Whitethroat of the year in a hedgerow close to our house. I find each and every spring reacquaintance with returning songsters exhilarating and uplifting quickly banishing all thoughts of dark winter days. I suspect the Common Whitethroat’s scratchy song is a bit of an acquired taste but I love it! Today the songster yielded himself up from the depths of the hedgerow and sung to me from the top of the hedge putting a smile on my face for the rest of the walk.   I dropped the dogs off at home, grabbed my scope, bins and camera and departed on the short drive to Grimley where I planned to spend a very leisurely morning birding. The car thermometer read 14 degrees as I arrived but it felt much warmer than that in the sun and I set off in shirtsleeves and a very agreeable mood. The camp lane pits complex at Grimley ...

  White-throated Sparrow A White Throated Sparrow has been present in the village of Barcombe in Sussex since at least early February. It was originally identified from a photograph taken in a garden but was un-twitchable due to both its private location and hard lockdown 3.0. It was subsequently rediscovered last week in the village allotments next to the recreation ground. Judging by the photographs appearing on social media, it was giving very good views so I decided to twitch it on Monday this week which would hopefully also be after the weekend twitching rush. I have seen both the White-throated and the closely related White-crowned Sparrow before in North America but this would represent a UK life tick for me.   The White-throated Sparrow is a comparatively common summer visitor to Canada and the Northern United States migrating south for the winter. The label Sparrow, however, is a little misleading to birders this side of the pond as North Americans call their Buntings...

  April and May are officially my favourite months of the year. My two hobbies, or as my wife would say obsessions, gardening and birding combine to produce an intoxicating level of delights guaranteed to dispel the winter blues. Or at least that is theory. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the weather gods and winter has returned to Worcestershire, as to the rest of the country, with vengeance. Last night it snowed heavily for a while and when I looked across to the Malverns this morning the snow had turned the hill tops back into a dazzling Christmas scene. This morning I dug out my winter clothes again and walked the dogs up the north hill of the Malverns. It was truly artic at the top with little sign of any birds except for a few Meadow Pipits looking totally bemused by the return of winter. Deep frosts have hit the early spring growth in the garden and I have had to protect vulnerable plants again.   Winter back on the Malverns Yesterday I decided to defy the wintery...

  During lockdown 3.0 the bird that I really really wanted to see but very much could not was a Northern Mockingbird which had been frequenting the gardens of Exmouth since at least the 3 rd  of February. This is only the third UK record of this very rare North American Vagrant and the first for thirty two years. In North American it is mainly resident, only moving south in very harsh winters leading to its great rarity in Europe.  With the legal requirement to stay at home removed last week I was up at 04:00 and on my way to Devon hence breaking my twitching fast of some one hundred and forty days since the Surrey Rustic Bunting.   The journey to Exmouth from home is 90% motorway and an uneventfully journey with a coffee break stop had me on site just after 07:30. A small group of birders were on the main road and they immediately got me onto the Mockingbird perched in a garden holly tree. It was as simple as that! I watched through my scope for some time, a lo...