The Standlake Birder

   Black-winged Kite   For part 1 see here.   Well its certainly been an up and down week!   On Monday I learned that I had won the much coveted BirdGuides picture of the week award with my inflight shot of a Greenshank at Slimbridge, see here . I haven’t posted a photo on the BirdGuides site for over a year but I was technically very please with this pic so I thought I would enter it. Judged purely technically, I personally feel it’s one of the best I’ve taken so it was nice to have this confirmed by BirdGuides. Greenshank Come Monday evening I was watching the TV with Carolyn when a report of a Mega rare Black-winged Kite hit Rare Bird Alert at Hickling Broad in Norfolk. First thing on Tuesday there were negative reports and I guessed it had gone. I hence followed my normal morning routine of an early morning dog walk then helping Carolyn with the horses. We were sitting down to have a coffee when the kite was reported again from the same site and was said to ...

  Bird watching in July is somewhat akin to extracting blood from a stone. It is one of the quietest months when many birdwatchers turn their attention to Butterflies and Dragonflies. My other hobby, gardening, keeps me busy but I do keep an eye on the bird alert services for anything unexpected.   The weather forecast looked reasonable for Thursday, what a fool I am – read on for why, so I decided to visit the comparatively local Arrow valley country park in Redditch where a Tundra Bean Goose of debatable origin was located. Arrow Valley had the added attraction that I’ve never visited before and I do like going to new places.   Arrow Valley is a 30 minute drive from home and with no urgency involved I enjoyed an early morning dog walk before packing the car at 08:30. When I went to the car I found a juvenile Barn Swallow, probably one that recently fledged from our stables, tangled in a bramble. After it was carefully untangled I took it back to the stables and put it o...

    I was out in my Worcestershire garden early evening today when I saw a juvenile bird that at a glance I quickly dismissed as a Robin. It then flew a short distance and it displayed an incredibly white rump – I immediately thought Wheatear but surely they don’t breed locally? I quickly grabbed my camera and ran off a few shots - I'm not great on juvenile birds!   I then ran them through the Merlin app which immediately said Wheatear! More research of web based images of juveniles appears to confirm this. It really doesn’t look as though its long out of the nest. So I’m guessing that they either breed on the local hills, i.e. Malvern or Bredon or this youngster has flown a surprisingly long way! I've only seen them locally on spring and autumn migration. What a pleasant surprise!   Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!     

Greenshank Quail can be described succinctly as easy to hear and nigh on impossible to see. They are not particularly common birds, being rated as scarce or local in the Colins bird bible, but they tend to be faithful to particular locations where they return to breed. Their song is loud and completely diagnostic, three chirps  normally repeated three times in quick succession which is said to sound like “wet my lips”. It is loud and carries a long way and is most commonly heard around sunrise and sunset. It is, however, a bird that is notoriously difficult to see, keeping hidden in crops and long grass, and is very reluctant to fly, preferring to creep away instead. They are almost un-flushable and will only take to the wing if you are literally about to step on them. They are also small birds which are exceptionaly well camouflaged. They are summer visitors to the UK which winter in Africa and southern India.   I decided to try a new location to look for them this year ...