Paul's Birding Diary

Sunday 27th January 2008 On a glorious sunny day, I counted the following in my garden from 9.35-10.35am for the RSPB Garden Birdwatch: Blackbird 2 (♀ & ♂) Blackcap 1 (♀, photo above) Blue Tit 2 Chaffinch 7 Collared Dove 1 Greenfinch 4 Goldfinch 1 House Sparrow 2 (♀ & ♂) Robin 2 Wren 1 The highlights of a 6-mile walk this afternoon with Linda around Windrush, The Barringtons and Sherborne were 30 Fieldfares near Barrington Park, 70 Redwings near Sherborne, and a Water Rail was calling at the Watermeadows (see some of my photos taken on the walk here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Paulbirder/WindrushWalk ).

Saturday 26th January 2008 I spent most of the day in Warwickshire on family stuff, but managed to photograph this Kingfisher at Clearwater Drive wetland, Quedgeley, first thing. A Little Owl was at Elmore this evening.

Thursday 24th January 2008 A male Blackcap in the garden today, the first of the winter, feeding around a Mahonia shrub. I also counted seven Greenfinches , six Chaffinches and a Goldfinch around the feeders.

Sunday 20 th January 2008 A windier day with some light rain at times but also brighter spells. I spent most of the day around the forest with Andy and Mark, the birds were a bit few and far between, but the highlights were two Dippers at the Fountain Inn, Parkend (above) and a Great Grey Shrike at Farmer's Green (below) . Also 15 Siskins and two Lesser Redpolls were near Parkend church and another five Lesser Redpolls were at Cannop Wharf.

Saturday 19th January 2008 On a mild, mainly overcast but bright day with little wind it felt quite warm. The highlight of the day's birding was undoubtedly a female Hawfinch at Cassey Compton, near Withington. It was loosely associating with a Marsh Tit , six Long-tailed Tits and five Great Tits among Hawthorn scrub (SP048146) and perched obligingly to allow photography. Nearby were 30 Redwings , four Fieldfares and a Buzzard . Superb! Sightings from earlier in the day were: WWT Slimbridge, an Oystercatcher (pic. below) , 14 Ruff , two Spotted Redshanks , 39 Redshanks , a Black-tailed Godwit and 16 Curlews . At Cowley there were around 30 Bramblings with Chaffinches near Stockwell, and at least 60 Fieldfares were near Withington. A Bumble-bee sp. was in my garden on the winter-flowering Honeysuckle.

Tuesday 15th January 2008 Photo of Nuthatch taken at Highnam Wood today.

Sunday 13th January 2008 A very windy, dull and overcast day with rain this afternoon. At Buckholt Wood, near Cranham, I caught up with a very impressive flock of 200+ Bramblings at 1.00pm near Monk's Ditch at SO903133 feeding in the leaf-litter and drinking from pools formed by wheel-ruts along the woodland tracks. Also a Buzzard nearby. Returning home towards Edge I came across another 3+ Bramblings with Chaffinches along Sevenleaze Lane near Podgwell Cottage SO849112. (Photos: top picture taken at Buckholt Wood at some distance in bad light - but look carefully - the ground is covered with Bramblings! Bottom picture of Brambling and Chaffinch taken at Sevenleaze Lane near Edge)

Saturday 12th January 2008 On a beautiful sunny day following yesterday's rain and snow I made for WWT Slimbridge to see the Temminck's Stint which turned up with a Little Stint on the edge of the pool in front of the Holden Tower. It fed there for a while before flying off, but I just managed to get a few digiscoped images (above and below) . It was tracked by a fellow birder flying in the direction of the far side of the Dumbles, where I managed to re-locate it after a while still with a Little Stint. Also from the Holden, another five Little Stints , the Tundra Bean Goose with the White-fronted Geese and a Yellow-legged Gull . I then took Andy and Mhairi beyond Dursely to near Uley in search of Brambling, reported earlier this week at Bencombe. The snow was still lying quite thick up on the hills. We eventually located the flock of 40+ Bramblings with 40+ Chaffinches feeding on maize at ST802969 along the B4058 today near Croomes Grove Farm. Also c20 Red-legged Partr...

Tuesday 8th January 2008 A milder but windy day today. I took a quick excursion to Wainlodes this at lunchtime to view Leigh Meadows from near the top of the hill, where there were three adult Whooper Swans , three adult Bewick's Swans and 19 Mute Swans , also a Raven (photo above of Whooper Swan above taken from a range of c0.5km) .

Saturday 5th January 2008 I spent the day birding from dawn to dusk, with Andy and Mark, seeing how many species we could tick and to give our year lists an early boost. We clocked up a total of 96 species, the highlights being: A Tawny Owl at Elmore (first tick of the day at 7.25am) Two Water Rails and two Common Sandpipers at Frampton The Cattle Egret at Fretherne A female/immature Black Redstart at Sharpness A Little Stint , the Tundra Bean Goose , five Ruff , a Spotted Redshank , a Black-tailed Godwit , two Lesser Redpolls and 20+ Siskins at Slimbridge WWT Six Turnstones and two Rock Pipits at Berkeley shore At the Cotswold Water Park, a drake Smew , eight Red-crested Pochards and three Goosanders (2 m) on pit 44, five Goldeneyes , a Yellow-legged Gull , 24 Red-crested Pochards , four Little Grebes and a Chiffchaff at pit 57, nine Goosander (7 m) and a Smew on pit 41 A Tree Sparrow at Harnhill A Little Owl , seven Red-legged Partridges and two Ravens at Stonebench....

Tuesday 1st January 2008 Firstly, Happy New Year and good birding for 2008 to all! Let's wish for lot's of Gloucestershire rarities. On an overcast start to the New Year, but with no wind it felt relatively mild. One of the first ticks of 2008 was a Raven over Quedgeley. A family walk from Bourton-on-the-Water around the pits produced seven Little Grebes , a Marsh Tit , a Gadwall , a Kestrel , a Cormorant , a Great Spotted Woodpecker , three Great Crested Grebes , five Pied Wagtails plus Coot, Moorhen , Tufted Duck , Mallard , Long-tailed Tit and the resident Black Swan - not tickable but photogenic nonetheless.