Paul's Birding Diary

Saturday 29th September 2007 At Slimbridge with Andy this morning: Five Spotted Redshanks from Robbie Garnett hide (one caught a fish and was having great difficulty swallowing it - see photo above with the fish still in it's neck!), a Temminck's Stint was in front of the Holden Tower at high tide, while on South Lake there were two Curlew Sandpipers , a Knot , six Spotted Redshanks (five of them probably the aforementioned birds seen earlier from Robbie Garnett hide), two Black-tailed Godwits and 26 Dunlin . At Fretherne later, three Arctic Terns (above) and two Little Egrets .

Thursday 16th to Saturday 25th August 2007 Here is my birding (and other wildlife) report of my recent holiday in Italy. The birding was mainly incidental, but we made a couple of trips to specific bird 'hotspots' thrown in. The weather was hot and sunny for the first few days, in the low 30's Celsius, but from the Monday we had quite a bit of rain, though mainly in the mornings with improvement in the afternoons. The weather got better from Wednesday and the last couple of days saw a return to normal Mediterranean August weather - scorchio! Day 1 - Thursday 16th August We arrived in Pisa for our two-night stay there around midday after the two-hour flight from Gatwick, picked up the hire car and headed for Hotel Verdi . Flights (BA), hire car (Avis) and airport parking (BCP) were all booked online with Expedia . The hotel is quite centrally situated in a quiet part of the city and within easy walking distance of the main 'sights'. Not too many bird species on the f...

Tuesday 25th September 2007 I travelled to Upton Warren in Worcestershire after work today to see the Wilson's Phalarope which has been present since Sunday. It was showing extremely well in the early evening sunshine along with 120 Black-headed Gulls , six Snipe , 10 Curlew , five Lapwing , 30 Teal , 40 Shoveler , three Stock Doves , two Pied Wagtails , seven Coot , a Shelduck , seven Mallard and 14 Moorhen .

Friday 14th September 2007 This was one of two Whinchats at Mid Point today. There was also a Wheatear but little else there. At least two Ruff and two Spotted Redshanks were on South Lake along with the Common Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits .

Sunday 9th September 2007 After listening to a singing male Chiffchaff in the garden this morning, I went to Slimbridge WWT with Linda and booked on to the morning safari. Before the safari, on South Lake, there were three Spotted Redshanks , three Ruff and a Greenshank with the Black-tailed Godwits and Redshanks . A Peregrine was over the Tack Piece. On safari there were two Little Egrets , a Whinchat , two Hobbies , three Buzzards , a Kestrel , a Sparrowhawk , three Little Grebes , an immature Great Crested Grebe , a Kingfisher , a Cetti's Warbler heard singing and calling, a Clouded Yellow butterfly, Common Darters , Migrant Hawkers , Common Blue Damselflies , two Common Shrews and two Common Toads (photos of Hobby, Common Darter and Common Shrew).

Saturday 8th September 2007 I went to an excellent meeting for the new BTO Atlas today. It was really encouraging to see so many enthusiastic people present, and as square steward for SO81 it was great to meet some of my tetradders, it is going to be a fantastic project. If you are not yet involved and would like to take part, please see the information page or go to the BTO Atlas website . This evening, a Square-spot Rustic moth was in my spare room (photo below).

Sunday 2nd September 2007 On the wader walk this morning at Slimbridge: At South Lake there were three juvenile Garganeys , seven juvenile Red Knot , seven Ruff , three Spotted Redshanks , 10 Redshanks , three Greenshanks , 81 Black-tailed Godwits , 321 Teal and a Pintail . On the edge of the Dumbles at high tide, the best bird was a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper , also 18 Dunlin , 14 Ringed Plover , three Red Knot , 140 Curlew , a Ruff , three Common Sandpipers , a Wheatear , two Peregrines and 12 Little Egrets . (Photos of, from the top, Curlew Sandpiper, juvenile Garganey, Dunlins and Ringed Plover, and another two of the Curlew Sandpiper) Thanks again Martin for an excellent morning, and the lunch in the Water's Edge was very good too.

Saturday 1st September 2007 I went to Symonds Yat this morning with Andy and Mhairi to see the Osprey that has been present all week. Mark gave us news he had found a second one as we were on our way, and we arrived to see the two Ospreys flying around over the River Wye below our position on Yat Rock. We watched them for some time, having superb views. At one point both birds perched together on the same dead tree next to the river. A Peregrine and two Ravens were also present. An excellent start to the month.