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- July 2010 (17)
- June 2010 (18)
- 30: 2000: Summer Bird Count, Los Trancos Woods (0)
- 30: Good News from California (0)
- 24: Ever the Optimist (0)
- 22: All Quiet on the Wharfern Front (0)
- 21: Bird Tour by Train through Britain (0)
- 19: Eastwood, Portishead, Redux (0)
- 18: Tree(s) of Life, 2008 (0)
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- 15: 1999: Velvet Scoters, Lunan Bay (0)
- 14: 1-Day Bird Tour from Bristol (0)
- 13: May 2000: Wilson’s Phalaropes, Alviso (0)
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- 08: 2008: Denmark, Western Australia (0)
- 08: By Train to RSPB Bempton Cliffs (0)
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- 01: The Futility of Advice (0)
- 01: 2000: Mines Road, Santa Clara (0)
- May 2010 (19)
- 31: 4-Day Bird Tour round Britain (0)
- 26: Strathspey Guide (0)
- 23: Clifton Down & Avon Gorge (0)
- 22: 2008: Albany, Redux (0)
- 21: Endangered Species & Biodiversity (0)
- 20: RSPB Newport Wetlands (0)
- 18: The British Birding Year (0)
- 16: Goshawk, Wentwood Forest, Gwent (0)
- 15: 2008: Two Peoples Bay, Australia (0)
- 14: Barn Owl, Portbury Wharf (0)
- 13: RSPB Nagshead, Forest of Dean (0)
- 12: Long-eared Owl, Upton Warren (0)
- 10: 2000: Skyline Ridge, Silicon Valley (0)
- 09: Port Marine Pipits (0)
- 09: Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve (0)
- 08: Lyndhurst & New Forest (2)
- 05: Hobby, RSPB Pulborough Brooks (0)
- 04: Golden Pheasant, Brownsea Island (0)
- 03: Portland Bill & RSPB Radipole (0)
- April 2010 (22)
- 27: Objections, M’Lud. Overruled! (0)
- 24: One Hundred! (0)
- 23: Reed Warbler, Portishead (0)
- 22: Little Owl, Portbury Wharf (0)
- 21: Travel (0)
- 19: Common Sandpipers & Garden Warbler (0)
- 18: 2000: Hooded Oriole, Los Altos Hills (0)
- 17: 2008: Albany, Western Australia (0)
- 16: Treasure at Portbury Wharf (0)
- 15: Sunnyvale Baylands Park, 2000 (0)
- 15: Cuckoo & Clear Sky, Portishead (0)
- 14: 2008: Stirling Range, Western Australia (0)
- 13: House Sparrows, Portishead (2)
- 12: 2008: South to the Stirling Range (0)
- 11: The Sixth Extinction (0)
- 09: The Somerset Levels (0)
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- 07: Willow Warbler, Portishead (0)
- 06: Wheatear, Portbury Wharf (0)
- 06: Death and the Raptors (0)
- 02: ‘Avin’ a Larf (1)
- 01: Of BirdTrack and Broken Glass (0)
- March 2010 (25)
- 30: Chicxulub Meteorite: the Early Hours (0)
- 29: Meatless Monday (0)
- 28: While Flocks Last (1)
- 24: The Truth about Cats & Dogs (2)
- 22: No Swallows at Tyntesfield (0)
- 21: Ring Ouzel, Portbury Wharf (0)
- 19: Spring Comes to Portishead (0)
- 18: More Armchair Ticks (6)
- 17: Red Kite, New Fancy View (1)
- 15: Jack Snipe, Upton Warren (2)
- 14: The Waiting Game (0)
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- 12: 2000: American Sparrows, Again (1)
- 11: Peregrine Falcon, Black Nore (2)
- 10: 1999: Tree Sparrows at Usan, Angus (0)
- 10: Back Up? Even WordPress? (1)
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- 02: 2008: The Narrogin Lesson (0)
- 02: Gull Identification Solution (0)
- 01: 2009: New Zealand Honeyeaters (0)
- 01: Local Patch Buntings Cling On (0)
- February 2010 (30)
- 27: Portbury Wharf, Portishead (0)
- 25: Today, the Weston & Somerset Mercury… (0)
- 25: The Modern Slave Trade (0)
- 24: Slow Recipe for Earnings (0)
- 23: 1999: Ravens, Cotswold Water Park (0)
- 22: Cetti’s Warbler, Chew Valley Lake (0)
- 21: 2008: Narrogin, Western Australia (0)
- 21: Mystery Grebe, Portbury Wharf (0)
- 20: Registering with Technorati (0)
- 19: Thank You Anyway, Prize Cow (0)
- 17: Hawfinch, Parkend Church (0)
- 14: 1999: Winter Farmland Survey (0)
- 14: Bittern, Backwell Pond (0)
- 13: Portishead Crows & Pigeons (0)
- 13: Brown Pelicans, California (0)
- 12: Portishead Birds (0)
- 11: Good News, Bad News (0)
- 10: Birders 1 Anglers 0 (0)
- 10: 1999: Little Egret, Clevedon (0)
- 09: Mediterranean Gull, Portishead (1)
- 07: Reservoir Cats (0)
- 07: Colorado, Grand Teton & California (0)
- 06: Chuckling Chaffinch (0)
- 05: Black Redstart & Stock Doves (1)
- 04: Glossy Ibis, Catcott Lows (0)
- 04: Ten Years After: California (2)
- 03: Bird-Friendly Wind Farm (0)
- 03: Lost In Translation (0)
- 02: Lesser Black-backed Gull (0)
- 01: Pochard, Portishead (0)
- January 2010 (20)
- December 2009 (15)
- November 2009 (25)
- 30: Publish and Be Damned (0)
- 29: Scotland the… (0)
- 29: 1999: Whinchat & Knot, Severn Beach (0)
- 28: A Disclaimer (0)
- 28: A British Thanksgiving (0)
- 27: Robins Fly to Malta (0)
- 26: White-Headed Magpie (0)
- 25: Cut those Birding Car Miles (0)
- 24: The Lesson of the Cucumber (4)
- 22: A Meaning for Bird Conservation, Redux (0)
- 21: The Winding Road to Black Cockatoos (2)
- 21: Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part II (0)
- 20: Thank You for Luck (0)
- 16: Herring Gull, Redditch (0)
- 16: 1999: Curlew Sandpipers & Little Stint, Titchfield Haven (0)
- 14: Add Senegal to the Wishlist (0)
- 13: Bewick’s Swans, Slimbridge (0)
- 12: March: Shearwaters to Tiritiri Matangi (4)
- 11: We’re All Doomed, Doomed!* (1)
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- 08: Goosander, Upton Warren (0)
- 07: Oh. My. God. (0)
- 06: Promoting Sparrers & Geese (0)
- 04: Lesser Yellowlegs, Aberlady (0)
- 01: Turnstones, Morecambe (2)
- October 2009 (14)
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Another new species for my Somerset list with an adult feeding two juveniles yesterday evening. Technically Lytes Cary should have the honour because a spotfly was hawking near the pictured bits of topiary late afternoon. In the name of efficiency though I’ll not add that National Trust house to my site inventory, unless it comes up with a real stonker some time.
Not that more…
Yes, whinchats. In the plural. Two family groups five years since my last sighting down in Galloway Forest. The year list gallops on to 185 – my best since 2004.
And no, this chap isn’t a whinchat. He was browsing near Loch Tulla when I pulled into the car park and quite unfazedly carried on browsing. So unfazed was he that he crossed to the other side of my car, where the passenger window was open, and calmly more…
This is one of my most southerly locations for velvet scoter. It’s also good for common scoters and reliable for little gull. All three were in evidence last week, and a common sandpiper gave me a nice bonus as my 96th species for the site. It’s one of my top spots. I got an even bigger surprise with the more…
Car-free species 104, it had to happen: the Wharf is perfect for this little falcon. The last couple of days have netted me a local patch list of 55 – 40 of them yesterday just wandering around Portishead.
I’m amazed. In my write-ups for the bird tours, even the most renowned sites only have a visit expectation of about more…
That was easy. Off the M5 at junction 24 to take the A48 (not the A455, as some authorities have it) into town. Then the brown signs take over and finally the RSPB signs. There was even a Tesco on the way, although we found that the reserve actually has a café.
And entrance is free, even to non-members, probably because the whole deal is mitigation for more…
Iberian chiffchaff was my intended target but it wasn’t until I met another birder that I even found the right location for it. BirdGuides had that down as 80m right of the car park. Duh! That put it in any direction, so I wandered aimlessly for about an hour before my saviour arrived.
Just getting to the Forest was a challenge. I knew to come off the A449 at Usk, where I sought more…
What can I say? More than five years since my last one, in Northumberland. A great 172nd year bird. And he (sorry, girls, I’m going to call him “he”) was completely oblivious to me as he hunted to within twenty feet of where I stood.
Then he twigged, wheeled away and moments later dived to come up with… more…
Ah, a white Lifestyle sign on the A38 north of the Swan (pubs are invading this blog in a big way!) Sign, or sentinel, for the eastward track to the Moors Pool of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust’s flagship reserve. I had about an hour to find the long-eared owl reported on BirdGuides.
Now, here’s a twitching trick. Instead of looking for the bird, look for the birders. So it was that I followed voices behind a screen of willows to find three shapes bent over scopes trained into the reeds. And I landed my 281st British species and a long overdue one at that.
So good was the bird that more…
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