Paul's Birding Diary

Sunday 23rd February 2014 Scaup, Walmore Common, 23rd February I've caught up with a few county birds recently, including the fem/1st-winter Scaup at Walmore Common today, and Hen Harrier at Great Barrington. I couldn't locate the Chrcham Whooper Swans late afternoon, maybe they had returned to roost at Walmore Common. The ringtail Hen Harrier I saw briefly yesterday was east of Great Barrington village, just inside the county boundary - presumably the same as the bird seen near the Rissington trig; three Red Kites and a Buzzard were also here. A trip round the local lanes Friday evening produced a Tawny Owl at Longney at Hillfield Farm at dusk. The highlight of a local Winter Thrush survey this morning was 115 Redwings and two Fieldfares feeding on a field next to Haywicks Farm. Jackdaw at WWT, 22nd February I've seen the Tundra Bean Goose at WWT Slimbridge a couple of times now: Tundra Bean Goose, WWT Tack Piece, with Russian White-fronts, 15th Febru...

Saturday 8th - Sunday 9th February 2014 The cracking Red-flanked Blutail - does what it says on the tin I went for the RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL near Marshfield on Saturday with Andy and Mark , after several days of hoping it would stay for the weekend; oh, and thanks to Mike for motivating me in light of a poor weather forecast. In the event, conditions were very pleasant in the valley by the stream, and we got on the bird straight away. It gave good views, even though spending most of the time in the trees, only occasionally flitting down to the ground. It's a long way out - Glaucous Gull This morning I made a quick trip to WWT Slimbridge to get the immature Glaucous Gull which was sat out on the river. I also pick up two Kittiwakes going upriver, and the two Little Stints were showing well around the Holden pool. A male Sparrowhawk had caught a hapless Dunlin, with which it landed for a while before carrying it off.

Saturday 1st - Sunday 2nd February 2014 The Dumbles at High Tide, Saturday The high tides this weekend produced some impressive scenes. At WWT Slimbridge on Saturday morning's tide, the Dumbles was completely covered, with the water rising to just a few feet below the sea wall. Two Roe Deer were swimming in the river and another ran in front of the Holden Tower and later back again, with a dog (what's wrong with some people!) in pursuit. The Tack Piece hosted thousands of birds, the highlights being a Greenland White-fronted Goose with c180 Russian White-fronts (later joined by c80 more), three large pale Greylags which looked like migrant birds, five Ruff and three GCP Cranes . The Brent Goose was on the river with the Canadas at high tide; the best birds were two Little Stints which showed well after the tide had dropped on the near edge of the Holden scrape. I also enjoyed watching several Bank Voles scurrying about from Willow Hide. Looking straight out fro...

Wednesday 1st to Sunday 5th January 2014 Green-winged Teal on the Top New Piece on 1st The bad weather on New Year's Day meant that the traditional family walk was off, so I spent the morning at WWT instead. The highlights were an adult drake GREEN-WINGED TEAL on the Top New Piece from Zeiss Hide and a LITTLE STINT on the Dumbles from Holden Tower near the scrape. Several other year-ticks didn't include The White-fronted Goose - these were out of sight on the 50-acre. I even tried from the Sloane Tower but couldn't see through the rain lashing on the windows. On 3rd, a good count of 10 Goldfinches were on the garden feeders. On Saturday 4th I headed for the forest with Andy, where highlights included 20+ Hawfinches and a Dipper at Parkend, and three Goosanders at Woorgreens. Nine Crossbill sp. were also seen in flight at Woorgreens but were too distant to determine the species; the calls and size more suggestive of  Two-barred though. I returned to WWT Slimbridg...

Friday 27th December 2013  I travelled with Mike setting off early to Portland Harbour and arriving at Osprey Quay just as it was getting light. Almost immediately we got a poor, untickable, view of the target bird in silhouette only at 7.50am. And then it disappeared. For three hours. The BRÜNNICH'S GUILLEMOT finally showed at 10.45am by which time we had weathered several squally showers and the ever-present strong westerly wind (at least we were looking east and not into the wind); and as the bird popped up in front of the crowds, driving hail. It was worth it though, what an excellent bird, and what a relief after the long wait. It was even worth the M5 delays on the way back. Other birds included two Great Northern Divers , a Common Guillemot , three Razorbills and c30 Red-breasted Mergansers . Just a few of the birders present

Saturday 14th December 2013 What a treat seeing the first-winter male DESERT WHEATEAR at Severn Beach with my fellow amigos Andy and Mark. I had already made the trip to see it on Friday afternoon to make sure it was in the bag as it were, being a lifer and all that. On Saturday conditions were much brighter and the bird showed extremely well in the fine conditions. We stopped off at Aust Warth on the way back where we saw the two Twite which were a nice bonus. Back in the garden bird numbers at the feeders are increasing, the most notable being the Goldfinches which have reached nine in number.

Saturday 16th November 2013 Male Two-barred Crossbill Sometimes things just come together in birding and you get one of those memorable days. Already heading for Woorgreens in the forest (despite gloomy conditions), exciting news came through from Lewis Thompson that he had located several TWO-BARRED CROSSBILLS feeding in trees along the Gloucestershire Way beyond Kensley Lodge; in fact near the location Gavin Black originally found them last Saturday. I spent the morning watching what turned out to be at least 15 birds, possibly around 20. A small number of Common Crossbills were around too, but nearly all the Crossbills I saw were Two-barred. The Two-bars were predominantly feeding on the small cones of Western Hemlock and Larch, and sometimes seen taking buds, and were also reported on Alder. Lots of Siskins and Lesser Redpolls around too. An absolutely amazing experience, including hearing the distinctive calls including the piping 'trumpet' calls and song too. Oh, ...