Andy Gibb: Where Only the Birds Sing » raptors

Spotted Flycatcher, RSPB Ham Wall

Andy — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 10:27:42 +0000

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 [...]

Port Marine between Showers

Andy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:30:46 +0000

This is more like the Bristol area. I’ve survived six months without an umbrella but today had to don the old cagoule to check the local patch. And if the weather is no longer surprising, so too are the birds. Usual suspect time. Of those that weren’t lying low, which birds tend to this time [...]

Red Kites, Devil’s Bridge

Andy — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:36:32 +0000

These birds are really branching out from their Rhayader stronghold. The last time I was up the Ceredigion coast, albeit back in 1998 at RSPB Ynys-hir, I had no record of them. Now you’d be hard put to miss the species. Ones and twos all the way down from Machynlleth to Aberystwyth, then inland to [...]

Goat Fell, Arran

Andy — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:25:37 +0000

Golden eagle would sound nice as the star species of an ascent of the island’s highest point but consider this: the 2007 Arran Bird Report notes only half a dozen sightings from thousands of contributions. These may not be all the submitted records and certainly they don’t include the known nest sites. Quite right too: [...]

Marsh Harriers, Leighton Moss

Andy — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:07:21 +0000

Bearded tits and bitterns are an excuse for dropping in any time; harriers are an added bonus in the summer. So, I got one tit pinging its way… hmm, perhaps I’ll use its alternative name of reedling – anyway one bird across the Griesdale Hide’s path – a reasonably regular spot for it – and [...]

Donate

Andy — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:55:58 +0000

My charities page may have snuck onto this blog without much fanfare, which was an oversight: it’s ultimately what I’m all about. Unless I can achieve world domination but I’m not holding my breath for that one.

Anyway, check it out and give, give, give – either directly to the links or via my [...]

Hobby, Portbury Wharf

Andy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:22:11 +0000

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 [...]

2000: Mines Road, Santa Clara

Andy — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:20:29 +0000

Having read all the previous trip lists from this area, on May 29 I decided to go and fill my boots. Er, not quite.

I certainly got Lawrence’s goldfinches although they resolutely would not turn around to give me a frontal view. Yellow-billed magpies took my Santa Clara list up to 150.

I got yet another yellow-looking [...]

Goshawk, Wentwood Forest, Gwent

Andy — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:51:33 +0000

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 [...]

2008: Two Peoples Bay, Australia

Andy — Sat, 15 May 2010 13:30:51 +0000

Back home is definitely where I did not wake up on Monday, the first day of December. There was something naggingly familiar about Albany, though, as I left it for Two Peoples Bay. Something that turned into the reality of rain by the time I arrived.

In fairness, I was travelling a few days behind some [...]