After a few days of rain and very high pollen count, a lull in the weather and slightly lower pollen levels lured us outdoors, despite missing yesterdays birding group morning. Our target bird was, of course, the breeding Black-necked Grebes.
Jun 19 2019
South Stack, Maltreath Marshes and Gronant Dunes 19th June 2019
We started our second day in Wales with a return to the Fish Dock to see if we could get more than just the one Black Guillemot we had got the previous evening. We were rewarded with six of the birds gliding along at the opposite end of the dock. It was all set to be another beautiful day.
Jun 18 2019
Birding Group Visit to North Wales 18th June 2019
The next birding group outing was to North Wales starting at RSPB Conwy. We had thought just to do a quick tour of the nearest hides but, in the end, we did the full circuit. There were reasonably good numbers of birds but for the best was a very good sighting of a Lesser Whitethroat.
Jun 08 2019
Ring-necked Parakeets in our Garden 8th June 2018
We had the very first visit of Ring-necked Parakeets to our garden on the 8th of June with three of them being quite entertaining. Of course, that may not be so appealing if the three grows to thirty!
Also in the garden the same day were good numbers of House Sparrow, fledged Starlings, Robin, Blackbird etc.
Jun 04 2019
Birding Group Trip to Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs 3 – 4 June 2019
The fist birding group outing of the month was an overnight trip; this time to Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs. This was our first chance of the year to get most of the cliff-nesting birds that we had not already got. An additional bonus was a couple of other passerine year ticks.
May 31 2019
May 2019 Summary
May 2019 : Summary
UK Species Year List to May: 161
Total UK Species in May: 128
New “Year Ticks” in May: 23
New “Life Ticks” in May: 0
May 28 2019
Birding Group at Burton Mere Wetlands 28th May 2019
The last birding group day of May was to Burton Mere Wetlands on the 28th. Early rain eased off to give us an overcast but mild morning. The highlights were a pair of Spoonbills in Summer plumage, preening on the bridge pool, flying overhead and roosting in the trees. Another good sighting was a pair of Reed Warblers at the Marsh Covert hide that appeared unaware of the group of people looking at them through the window at about six feet. At that dstance they looked surprisingly large.
May 21 2019
Goyt Valley and Dane Bower Quarry 21 May 2019
One of the birding group visits I look forward to most each year is our visit to the Goyt Valley looking for Redstart, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers and Tree Pipits. We usually also go to the nearby Dane Bower Quarry to look for Ring Ouzels and Wheatear. Were we going to be lucky this year?
May 14 2019
Birding Group Visit to WWT Martin Mere 14th May 2019
The first birding group day out after our holiday in Norfolk was to WWT Martin Mere. We changed our usual routine and decided to do the reedbed walk for the first time (at least my first time) This involves heading out to the Harrier Hide first and then going through the door in the middle of the ground floor.
May 11 2019
2019 East Anglia Holiday Birding Summary
Between 26th April and 10th May we had a birding holiday based on East Anglia and North Norfolk in particular. On the way there and back we also took in Rutland, Suffolk and Lincolnshire. Our itinerary was as follows :