Month: October 2017
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30th October 2017 – Stoke Park Estate, Bristol
A quick walk around Stoke Park Estate late this afternoon (which isn’t very late now that the clocks have gone back) and a pleasing number of birds: a male and a female stonechat, a wren, a meadow pipit, 11 long-tailed tits, a greenfinch, and 8 goldfinch. Long-tailed tit Male stonechat Female stonechat Wren Meadow pipit…
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29th October 2017 – Chew Valley Lake
Wow – how many great white egrets (or little egrets) do you want to see? A very brief stop at Herons Green (you can see why it’s called that) and enough action to make many birders salivate. Unfortunately, I only had a few moments to take a few snaps and that’s what I did. (Avon…
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28th October 2017 – Eastville Park
Another beautiful morning for a walk around the park (this time with a couple of young apprentices). The leaves are falling fast A brief glimpse of a kingfisher then a yellow wagtail were the best on the river; then three cormorants, 9 Canada geese, 2 mute swans, a grey heron and many black-headed gulls looked…
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25th October 2017 – Eastville Park
What a difference a day makes: yesterday we aborted our walk due to the persistent rain, today it was almost T-shirt weather and my local patch, Eastville Park, came up trumps. All the local favourites: kingfisher, dipper, grey wagtail, grey heron (and 2 handsome juvenile cormorants). Good to meet up again with some of the…
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15th October 2017 – Walberswick National Nature Reserve
I managed to get in an early walk on a gloriously sunny and warm day on our last full day in Suffolk. I was really hoping to get a photo of a male bearded tit but the only small bird I could see in the reeds was a reed bunting (the first this week). I…
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13th October 2017 – RSPB Minsmere
An early morning visit to RSPB Minsmere in the hope of bearded tits but unfortunately it was much too blowy and surprisingly fresh. However, good views of a kestrel in the field just before Island Mere and a brief glimpse of a green woodpecker was compensation.. At Island Mere just a brief view of a…
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12th October 2017 – Walberswick National Nature Reserve
This morning’s walk around Walberswick National Nature Reserve was quite stunning. At the beginning we saw a Red Admiral and at the end a Common Darter: in between a marsh harrier being harassed by a gull and lots of bearded tits (mainly heard, fleetingly seen but not photographed). The highlights were ringed plovers, dunlin, a…
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11th October 2017 – RSPB Minsmere
Not much different to see at RSPB Minsmere today from the previous days, but as it was very windy there were no signs of the bearded tits. The additions of note were a hobby, a kestrel, a snipe and greylag geese. As well as windy it was quite dull for most of the day except…
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9th October 2017 – Dunwich Heath and RSPB Minsmere
We had a walk on Dunwich Heath in the hope of seeing Dartford warblers and stonechats but all we managed to see was a dunnock and skylarks, although we were told that that Dartford warblers were around (heard that one before?) So full of disappointment we went to Minsmere. Minsmere never disappoints. At the Bittern…
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8th October 2017 – RSPB Minsmere
What a joy to be back at RSPB Minsmere! With a mild and still morning there was so much to see around the scrapes that we didn’t even venture to the Bittern Hide and Island Mere. Early on we had a good view of a jay busy hiding acorns. On the North Wall there were…
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