Category: Blog

For the last few months our nature watching has been restricted, in the main, to our local urban parks. For the next few weeks it’s is going to be rather different and, hopefully, rather special.

The first part of or trip to Africa has started in Windhoek, the capital of  Namibia. Following an overnight flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg and a much shorter flight on to Windhoek we had a relaxing first evening in the Windhoek Country Club. This gave us a chance to meet and get to know the other members of our National Geographic G-Adventures group; a very exciting eclectic group with 3 Americans (a couple from Texas and a young man from Boston), 3 Canadians (a couple from Toronto and a young woman from Vancouver), 3 Brits (a young woman from London and us), a young German woman from Hamburg and a young Swiss woman from Lausanne. Plus our South African guide, Julian, has an interest in birds, which makes it even more exciting.

Before we set off on our long journey to the south of Namibia I had a few minutes for some bird photos in the grounds of the Country Club. The most interesting of the birds was a Groundscraper Thrush but there was plenty of others to see, including hirundines of some sort which were screeching back and forth to their nests in the apex of the hotel buildings.

Groundscraper Thrush

En route to Sesriem (6 hours to the south) we saw lots of interesting birds and even stopped for a while to see and learn about the huge nests of Sociable Weavers which we would see regularly along the road.

Sociable Weavers

Sociable Weavers’ nest

We stopped for an excellent lunch at Conny’s Restaurant (which would make a blog in itself) where we also saw lots of Cape Sparrows, Southern Masked Weavers (who also have interesting nests),  a Sunbird  and three quite spectacular noisy Grey Go-Away-Birds.

Gunter preparing a coffee tasting at Conny’s restaurant

Southern Masked Weavers and nests (below)

Cape Sparrow

Female Sunbird

From the coach I saw several raptors and a Hornbill but there was no chance of photos. However, we did stop at one particular point and had great views of a particularly attractive lizard.

Agama lizard

Agama lizard

Agama lizard

The roads were quite interesting but our excellent driver Immanuel was never phased by them and we travelled in comfort in his comfortable Chinese coach

Road works – and not a cone in sight!

In the grounds of our lodge (Sossuvlei) we saw Guinea Fowl, lots of Sociable Weavers (scavenging near the hotel with the Cape Sparrows) and a very attractive bird which I haven’t identified yet.

The view from the lodge with younger members of the group.

White-backed mousebird

Dining al fresco

Click below for a gallery of photos from today (not always in chronological order as I used 2 cameras with different time settings – tut, tut.

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Following a twitter tip-off we managed  to bag a “first” on our Sunday morning walk in our local park when we saw a water rail. There wasn’t much else around except for a female kingfisher. But hey ho who’s complaining.

Water Rail in normal lurking mode.

But then it started to show off.

Female kingfisher showing the orange on its lower mandible

Short video of kingfisher

Boating seems to have returned to the lake

Click below for gallery of photos:

It may have been a very challenging day with poor light for photography but there is so much to see (and much of it very close up) that it’s always a delight to visit WWT Slimbridge.

The highlights for me were the constant action of Bewick Swans approaching on their flightpaths, the cranes out on the wetlands, the shear number of waders out on the wetlands and the opportunity to see close up so many exotic wild fowl from all around the world in the well constructed pools.

Bewick swan landing

Crane in flight

Crane landing

Shelduck in flight

The joy of the chase – a lapwing hounded by black-headed gulls

A riot of gulls

Mandarin ducks can be found in the wild too

You don’t normally get this close to a ruff

…or see the sweeping action of avocets so close

Some very exotic birds

…and some very common ones too – blue tits (and great tits) start singing again in January

Some very fierce looking birds

… and some sweet looking ones (such as this goldeneye)

Wigeon in flight

… and flamingos which aren’t going anywhere

Click below for a gallery of photos from today:

I was pleased to see all my favourites in my local park on the last day of 2018 even if the light was very poor: kingfisher, dipper, grey wagtail, grey heron and tawny owl. I was disappointed though that the goosanders seem to have moved off the lake: perhaps the cormorants are proving more serious opposition.

I had walked across to Stoke Park first of all but could only see 4 meadow pipits and so was my rewards were much greater in Eastville Park.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning’s walk:

Merry Christmas everyone; and it wouldn’t be Christmas without a robin.

It was great to go for a walk in our local park on a mild but somewhat misty morning and see so many people out and about enjoying the facility. There was plenty of wildlife for them to enjoy too.

The headline news still seems to be the goosanders with a record 13 there today.

However, there were also plenty of other birds feeding off the fish stock which must be getting low with cormorants, grey herons and kingfishers all seeming to find plenty to satisfy their appetites.

The kingfisher is always the highlight for me but today the best views were of two grey wagtails on the stream that feeds down in to the River Frome.

And now for my Christmas lunch …

Click below for a gallery of photos from this morning:

Just out in the countryside (near Marshfield in South Gloucestershire) keeping well clear of the shops on Christmas Eve when we saw a deer also keeping well clear of lots of horseman and women who were well into their snifters by then.

We were hoping to see some golden plover but just managed a single photo of a pied wagtail. The lure of a coffee was too great.

Click below for a gallery of the few photos from this morning.

I don’t seem to go very far afield at the moment but it was great to get out this morning having been housebound all day yesterday with continuous rain; and what a lovely morning it was.

My special helper spotted a dipper straightaway on the stream that runs down in to the River Frome. The photos are a bit grainy as it was very dark there.

We took a while to spot a kingfisher but there was a great spectacle as it dived right in front of us a caught such a large fish that it had to find a suitable spot in the trees to be able to club it to death before devouring it. We saw the kingfisher again later on but no great opportunity for photos.

The best I could get of the kingfisher and its large lunch

Even the goosanders took a while to spot (2 males and 2 females).

There was a group of 4 grey herons, a flock of 8 long-tailed tits, a grey wagtail and 8 cormorants  and a robin around the lake as well as lots of black-headed gulls and one lesser black-backed gull.

Lesser black-backed gull

A very satisfying morning.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

There’s always a concern about the wildlife when a major event takes place in the park but when Santa Claus visited the park today it seemed very much like business as usual. The goosanders (2 male and 2 females today) were in their usual place as were the kingfishers and grey herons, all unperturbed by the festive activities.

Reindeer in the park

Male goosander

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

It was a dull but still morning but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see the goosanders again in my local park. Today the numbers had risen to five (in fact 7 were reported earlier in the day),

There were also 4 grey herons, 13 cormorants, lots of black-headed gulls, a lesser black-backed gull, a couple of first winter juveniles, a mute swan, a couple of moorhens, a few blackbirds and robins, loads of mallards and the tawny owl but not a single view of a kingfisher (the first blank for a long time).

You can see why they are known as sawbills

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

I wasn’t going to go birdwatching today as I was having a small op this morning but when my wife read that there were three goosanders (quite rare for this park) I couldn’t resist especially as she offered to drive me there.

Our resident kingfisher and a grey heron also made appearances.

Click below for gallery of photos from today:

It seems to have been raining all week but that’s probably just my perception. I managed a brief trip to Duchess Pond in Stoke Park this afternoon. i’m  glad I wore my wellies as it was certainly very wet underfoot.

The area around the reeds has been dry until now. I saw a snipe here last year and so it was worth a look.

Other than 9 mallards and a couple of moorhens there were only 2 birds of note to photograph – a kestrel and a blackbird. A cormorant and a grey heron flew over but I was too busy trying to take landscapes to capture them with my camera.

Kestrel

Blackbird

Not a bird in sight

After a few rainy days I was beginning to get cabin fever and so it was great to get out and dodge the showers for a walk around the local park.

Cabin fever?

A robin seemed to greet us as we walked in to the park.

The water was running high on the weir and no bird was brave enough to take it on.

As we made our way along the River Frome we saw the first of 3 grey herons looking rather forlorn (and comical) sitting in the long jump pit of the adjacent school playing field. The ones on the lake looked more majestic especially with the gold back drop of the reflections on the lake.

However, they didn’t look quite as imperious as the cormorants sitting high above the lake and enjoying the sun which failed to spill down on us..

On the main island we could still see the tawny owl in its box but as it didn’t show its face it wasn’t worth another photo of a fluffy chest.

Pigeons and ducks fought for a pile of seed that someone had provided at the end of the lake.

A moorhen perched on a log alongside the black-headed gulls and another grey heron.

But the best was the male kingfisher which tantalisingly flitted around the lake and then perched close up as if to show off.

A ladybird seemed confused by the flowers on an abandoned glove on a park bench.

A moorhen took to the water and tried dodging the rain drops beneath the beady eye of a grey heron.

Before we left the lake, as I was looking for a customary grey wagtail, a pied wagtail appeared instead.

As we headed for home a great tit came to say goodbye.

Post script

Perhaps not just a fluffy chest – how many tawny owls here?

Click below for gallery of today’s photos.