Lovely bright colours in the park this morning on our morning stroll with our first peacock butterfly of the season and the (very) common kingfisher..
Category: Blog
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26th March 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol
Peacock butterfly Common kingfisher Common kingfisher Common kingfisher -
25th March 2025 – RSPB Ham Wall, Avalon Marshes, Somerset
I stopped off at Cheddar Reservoir on my way to Ham Wall with the hope of seeing some black-necked grebe which had been reported there. A grey wagtail was all I achieved for my efforts which involved a major detour by road and then another on foot. It was also very cold by the water and so not a great success.
Grey wagtail 
A rather coquettish grey wagtail At Ham Wall there was much more to see with plentiful views of marsh harriers and a glossy ibis. The best, though, was the booming of bitterns all the way round. Disappointingly there were no sightings. However, I did get a glimpse of a common crane but I was too slow to get a photo.
A cheeky chiff chaff at Ham Wall 
A great crested grebe – can’t help thinking of Yorkshire terriers 
Tufted ducks 
No reed show from these two great crested grebes 
Tufted ducks over the water 
A male marsh harrier over the reeds 
Marsh harrier 
Marsh harrier closer up The same marsh harrier 
Male and female marsh harriers 
Eurasian teal 
Glossy ibis 
Glossy ibis 
Glossy ibis 
And just as I was leaving the sun came out and lit up this male chaffinch -
21st March 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol
There wasn’t much about in the park today, but who’s complaining?
Grey heron 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher … and away … 
Grey heron -
16th March 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol
Kingfisher And who says that birds in the UK are only LBJs (little brown jobs)?
Kingfisher It’s definitely a good time of the year to see kingfishers and robins in our local park. This morning the sun shone brightly but it was still very cold. No reason to complain though with these bright little birds to lift your spirits, as they always do.
Robin 
Robin 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher 
Kingfisher And then its was Sunday brunch time.
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11th March 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol
Kingfisher in the gloom The kingfisher was very obliging again this morning as we walked around the park. Unfortunately, the sun was not so obliging.
Male kingfisher Kingfisher on a rusty chair frame 
Slightly different pose 
Rear view 
Back in the gloom The one oddity was a pink footed goose at the lake!
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9th March 2025 – Eastville Park, Bristol
We had an enjoyable gentle Sunday morning stroll around our local park in the sunshine chatting to new and old acquaintances.
We were well rewarded with a fleeting visit of a male kingfisher who stayed only long enough for me to take 3 frames (although everyone told us that the male and female had been around for ages. I also missed a treecreeper that everyone else seemed to have seen.
Male kingfisher I think robins are about my spotting ability and there were plenty of those to choose from.
Robin – one of half a dozen we saw 
I like this pose 
Same robin as above 
They do like to show off Around the lake there were lots of cormorants. The mind boggles to think that they eat 30 times their body weight of fish in a day. That doesn’t bode well for the fish in the lake, although there always seem to be plenty there.
Cormorants above the lake 
Canada goose on the lake -
5th March 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
A lovely morning spent photographing birds at Slimbridge. Nothing remarkable except for nature itself and the warmth of the sun on our backs.
Statue of Sir Pater Scott who established the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in 1946 and helped found the World Wide Fund for Nature, 
Northern pintail 
Greylag goose 
Common crane 
Mute swan taking off 
Eurasian curlew 
Eurasian teal 
Common crane 
Avocets standing out from the wigeon and the shovelers White fronted geese in front of the barnacle geese 
More barnacle geese arriving above the Canada geese 
Greenfinch 
Goldfinch 
Long-tailed tit 
Blue tit 
Coal tit 
Common chaffinch 
Robin -
25th February 2025 – Catcott Lows, Avalon Marshes, Somerset
It was very wet on the Avalon Marshes today and there was a fresh wind but, thankfully, the light was very good. I couldn’t face getting muddy so I hunkered down in the hide at Catcott Lows and enjoyed seeing a variety of birds at quite close quarters.
The rarest bird was a spotted redshank and it was a toss up between lapwings, wigeon and shovelers for the most prolific numbers.
The spotted redshank was difficult to see at first … and then it took to the air 
… and was almost showing off There were distant marsh harriers, a red kite and a peregrine which caused constant consternation and allowed me lots of opportunities to take photos of birds in flight.
My favourites, however, were the great white egrets which are quite common here.
Great white egret 
Great white egret photo bombing a little egret 
Northern shoveler 
Wigeon having a snooze 
Wigeon 
Lapwing up close 
Lapwing in flight 
Wigeon taking to the wing 
Northern shoveler in flight 
The peregrine was responsible for all of this 
Great white egret 
Great white egret 
Great white egret 
Not very often you see a single starling in these parts. I did see huge flocks of them as I drove here. 
Just had to get a silhouette of Glastonbury Tor in somewhere I won’t bore you with the other 900 photos I took during the day!
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13th February 2025 – Ria Formosa Nature Reserve, The Algarve, Portugal
There is a roundabout just outside our hotel with a statue of a seahorse. There is the largest population of seahorses in the world in the Ria Formosa Natural Park.
The seahorse roundabout On our last full day here in Portugal we decided to revisit the Ria Formosa Nature Reserve at Quinto de Marim. At the entrance to the park there is a poster reminding us of the fragility of the seahorses in nature with the population diminished by 90% in the last 15 years.
On our boat trip earlier in the week we had seen buoys protecting the area where the seahorses exist.
We had much better light on our visit today but the tide was very low and the mudflats were almost empty of waders. However, we did have a very good view of this plover below which, according to one ID app, is a semi-palmated plover. However, it is more likely a non-breeding adult common ringed plover. In fact, having studied several sources, the slight webbing between only one of the toes convinces me that this is definitely a common ringed plover
Semi-palmated plover or more likely a non-breeding adult common ringed plover 
Stonechat 
The flora was even more beautiful after the rain and with quite warm sunshine 
Oxalis pes-caprae has all sorts of common names, including slender yellow wood sorrel 
The mudflats were empty of birdlife but it was great walk 
The tidal mill with very little bird life today 
Mainly cattle egret with a few little egrets at the freshwater pond 
Chiffchaffs and/or willow warblers were putting on quite a display at the freshwater pond – difficult to say which when they weren’t singing 
Little grebe 
Teal 
Teal and shoveler 
Terrapins 
Lupins have appeared in flower after the rain 
… and these beautiful crocus-leaved romulea 
Iberian magpie 
Iberian magpie 
And saving the best to last, just as we were leaving the park a Eurasian hoopoe Eurasian hoopoe 
And then back to Olhão for a celebratory last lunch – although, we didn’t really need an excuse.
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12th February 2025 – Estoi, The Algarve, Portugal
This morning we had a non-birding trip to the pretty little town of Estoi, about 10 kilometres north of Olhão. There were three interesting tourist attractions: the Matriz de Estoi Church (which we only visited briefly as there was a service on); the Palácio de Estoi (a 19th Century Neo-Rococo styled palace, now converted into a luxury posada hotel, whose beautiful ornamental gardens are open to the public; and the nearby Ruínas Romanas de Milreu, the best preserved Roman ruins in southern Portugal.
The Matriz de Estoi Church 
El Palacio de Estoi 
The orange and lemon groves 
Although it was a non-birding day we did have a very good view of a European hoopoe in the gardens and white storks flying high overhead.
A traditional Portuguese farmhouse (Casa Rural) was built on top of the Roman Villa 
Inside the Roman villa 
The temple was one of the earliest churches in Portugal , and has been used as a Roman temple, a church and a mosque, but is now a ruin 
There were many fine mosaics 
Of course there had to be a bath house 
The beautiful spring flowers are just everywhere in the countryside at present 
And they are a feature of town gardens too -
11th February2025 – Olhão, The Algarve, Portugal
Today’s forecast was always looking pretty dire, with torrential rain supposedly lasting all day. As it turned out we did have torrential rain all morning (which allowed me to catch up with blogs) but it abated for a good 2 hours at lunch time and we made the most of it with a walk into town to get a spot of lunch. The rain returned in the afternoon but again stopped in time for us to get a late afternoon walk around the Salinas de Olhão. We were well rewarded with a massive number of birds in decent light, the best of which were five spoonbills. And so it wasn’t too bad a day, although we had to cope with pretty muddy boots.
Kentish plover 
Chiffchaff 
Chiffchaff in different light 
Eurasian spoonbill 
Eurasian spoonbill 
Dunlin 
Lots of dunlin (and probably a few other waders). 
Las Salinas de Olhão 
Common ringed plover 
Common redshank 
Black-tailed godwits 
Black-winged stilts 
Grey plover 
Lesser black-backed gull with crab supper 
Lesser black-backed gull with crab supper 
Stonechat in the fading light -
10th February 2025 – Quinta de Marim, The Algarve, Portugal
We took an Uber to Quinta de Marim, a few kilometres to the east of Olhão.
Quinta de Marim (or Centro Educação Ambiental de Marim) is a beautiful estate with many different habitats that attract birds. A 3 km trail takes you through various ecosystems – dunes, salt marshes, pine woodlands. There is a visitors’ centre and a couple of hides at the edge of the marsh, one looking across the mudflats and another looking over a fresh water pond.
The dull weather was rather disappointing for photographs but it was still quite warm (17C) and we didn’t need coats. The visit was not at all disappointing.
Lavender 
Iberian magpies in the pine trees 
Rosemary in flower 
Iberian magpie 
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Stonechat 
Swallow 
From the roof of the mill there were spectacular views along the coast 
There were waders everywhere along this stretch of the coast 
Grey plover 
Bar-tailed godwits and a whimbrel 
Greenshank 
Iberian magpie 
Purple viper’s bugloss 
A flyover Eurasian spoonbill Tidal mill at Quinta de Marim – In other times, when energy sources were scarce and limited only to muscle power, wind and current, tidal mills had a major advantage over other forms of energy: their constancy and predictability. There are two daily tides that guarantee approximately 4 hours of grinding. They were built in estuaries on low land and in sheltered areas where the water could be dammed 
Kestrel 
White stork, not looking so white in this light 
Dunlin 
Little grebes on the freshwater pond 
Cattle egret 
Wigeon with barn swallow flying past 
Roman salting tanks 
Cowpea 
Barn swallow on a wire 
Blackbird on a log In the late afternoon on our return to Olhão we had another walk around the Salinas de Olhão.
Whimbrel 
A different swallow ? 
Pied avocet 
Redshank 
Pied avocet
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