Paul's Birding Diary

Saturday 7th February - Sunday 22nd February 2015 Last Sunday I spent nearly three hours in the hide at Ashleworth, watching the GREEN-WINGED TEAL and other birds, and getting quite cold by the end of it. The Teal made a few appearances, but most of the time was out of site. During its active moments it was displaying often among the Eurasian Teal which was quite fascinating to watch. The Green-winged Teal was always rather distant The previous morning I carried out a survey for the Winter Random Square Survey project at Mallards Pike. It's a while since I've been to this site and getting there early I beat the crowds and spend a pleasant couple of hours counting every bird in sight, and sound. Nothing exceptional but 23 Mandarin were a year tick and I found some very unusual 'hair ice' on some decaying Beech branches. Mandarin, Mallards Pike Hair Ice, Mallards Pike Mist rising off the lake at Mallards Pike A couple of weeks back I caught up wi...

Saturday 31st January 2015 Siberian Chiffchaff, Shorncote Heading for Shorncote, conditions weren't promising on a cold, dull, windy, rainy Saturday morning. However, the Siberian Chiffchaff seemed unperturbed and I found it quite quickly after sifting through the other Chiffchaffs present (I counted 10 common in all). The Sibe really stands out and is a text book example. A classic Sibe, and very different from the other Chiffys present Also here were three Cetti's Warblers showing occasionally, and two Water Rails w ere calling. Shorncote I went to WWT Slimbridge later for Mya-Rose Craig's talk, which was fascinating. The furthest I had been by the age of 12 was Bigbury-on-Sea. Mike Dilger's talk on Sunday was also excellent. I still haven't caught up with the Pink-foot, but the two Water Rails were showing very well at the Willow Hide, and the Bank Voles are still providing entertainment near the tunnel entrance. This Water Rail posed nicel...