The Standlake Birder

     Male Redstart The Redstart is one of the trio of woodland migrants, the others being the Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher, that I would hope to catch up with in the Wyre forest annually in May. I’ve always found it hard to get decent views of the Redstarts at Wyre and this May was no exception with a brief flight view. For whatever reason, they seem to be somewhat more confiding in the Welsh forests so I planned a very laid back woodland birding day there on Thursday last week.   The site I normally visit is some 100 miles drive from home but the windy Welsh roads determine that this is a 180 minute drive. After a very enjoyable early morning dog walk at home I was the sole occupant of the small car park when I parked up at just before 9 am. The weather was rather overcast and chilly, a stark contrast to the heatwave conditions we had at home earlier in the week.   The male Redstart in summer plumage is a very handsome and photogenic bird. He has a slate-gr...

      Avocet Chick Its been a very tough week this week. Our lovely horse Finn, my personal favourite,  had to be put to sleep. With his heart giving out he stopped eating and there really was no alternative but to do the right thing by him.   On Friday I decided a day out birding  was required to cheer me up and, with nothing to temp me to go further afield, I opted for a chilled out visit to Slimbridge. In terms of new ticks for my UK list, its been a slow year so far with just 5 additions, all major rarities:- Northern Waterthrush, Social Lapwing, Indigo Bunting, Collared Flycatcher and Bridled Tern. Last year really was an exceptional year for great rarities in the UK so I guess its back to normal in 2024!   Taking my usual advantage of the members early access privilege I took a slow walk along the hides towards the Summer Walkway. The Rushy was alive with new beginnings with good numbers of Avocet chicks in various stages of development...

   Bridled Tern On Saturday 1 st  of June a very rare Bridled Tern was found in amongst the seabird colonies on Coquet Island a mile or so off the coast of Northumberland. This attractive Tern resides in my infamous mega dips category, see here .  Coquet Island is famous as the  location of  a small colony  of breeding Roseate Terns, the UK’s rarest breeding tern.  It is possible to do a coastal tour of the island with a company called Puffin Cruises and, in fact, Jeremy and I did this very trip to see the Roseate Terns in 2018. No one is allowed to disembark on the island, which has a permeant warden in breeding season, for obvious reasons.   Coquet island at 275 miles distant from home is a good 4 hour drive and during the week I blew hot and cold as to whether to visit. My mind was eventually made up when Wayne, who runs our “twitching the UK and Ireland” WhatsApp group, very kindly offered to organise some bespoke...

     Opportunities to go birding have been somewhat limited since I twitched the Indigo Bunting, see here , some 16 days ago. We have had our two oldest grandchildren to stay for most of half-term while their parents were busy with work. They are very well behaved and a delight to be with and look after so its always a pleasure to have them. The Landover has been playing up again, I’m starting to feel that its past its use by date, and we are still waiting for our dog, Loki, to have the staples removed from his foot wound. So when Carolyn kindly said she would look after everyone on Saturday if I wanted to do some birding I jumped at the chance and shot over to the nature reserve at RSPB Ouse Fen, a reserve that I have rather strangely never visited before.   Ouse Fen is a joint project between the RSPB and construction company Hanson UK, and together they are working to transform a massive quarry into a haven for wildlife.   It’s a wetland site, with pools and ...