I thought it was meant to be warm this weekend! It certainly needed a lot of resolve to stay out to get a few snaps this morning.
Peacock butterfly
Wood pigeon
Starling
Goldfinch
Wood pigeon
Goldfinch
Blog
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4th April 2020 – Self-isolating in Bristol
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3rd April 2020 – Self-isolating in Bristol
I realise the quality of my photos today are not really worthy of a blog but it does give me a focus in these strange times and its worth keeping a record for myself. Especially as I added a new bird to my garden list (I’m not really keeping a list) when I spotted a distant male sparrowhawk flying over head – in fact it was probably more likely to be flying over the neighbouring district of Frenchay as it was a long way away.
#stayhome #staysafe
Male sparrowhawk 
Male sparrowhawk
Dunnock (hedge sparrow)
Dunnock (hedge sparrow)
House sparrow
Lesser black-backed gull
Lesser black-backed gull
Collared dove
Dunnock
House sparrow
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2nd April 2020 – Self-isolation in Bristol
Just a few birds taken from the garden this morning.
Carrion crow
Male house sparrow
Starling
Magpie (being mobbed by crows)
No wonder the magpie looked worried
Starling
House sparrow
Wood pigeon
Collared dove
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1st April 2020 – Self-isolating in Bristol
Even though it hasn’t been as bitingly cold as yesterday it has been a very dull day and my trips to the end of the path didn’t produce much. I did see the house sparrows, which are making a nest in the eves of the roof of the house opposite, mating in a nearby tree but the light was so poor for a decent photo. More and more sparrows are appearing and starlings, crows and jackdaws are collecting nesting materials. The dunnocks have again been looking at themselves in car wing mirrors.
What was quite an achievement was to get a photo of a blue tit on the bird feeder – my presence nearly always frightens them off.
House sparrows mating
Starlings collecting nest materials
Wood pigeon
Blue tit on one of my garden feeders
Blue tit on the tree opposite my house
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30th March 2020 – Self-isolating in Bristol
It was very cold standing outside my house this morning. I didn’t get much exercise but I did get some fresh air and was entertained for an hour or so by nature.
Male sparrow
Starling
Collared dove
Collared dove
Collared dove and sparrow
Starling
Female sparrow
Female sparrow
Starling
Female sparrow
Female sparrow
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28th March 2020 – Self-isolating in Bristol
I managed to get a short fix of nature this morning whilst self-isolating at home but I didn’t stay long outside as, with a strong north-easterly wind, the temperatures had plummeted.
The bird feeders in our garden continue to go down but I get little or no opportunity to photograph the birds on them because as soon as I go in to our small back garden the birds disappear. I can see them from the bathroom window but that’s too geeky for even me to photograph them from there. Consequently I am restricted to photographing birds discretely with a long lens in neighbours’ gardens or on nearby rooftops.
The wood pigeons were easy to spot but I didn’t see any of the collared doves which have been around recently.
There seemed to be more house sparrows this morning. It is very encouraging to see them as, although once quite abundant locally, they had disappeared in recent years.
Male sparrow
Female sparrow
I could hear goldfinches but didn’t see any today.
The dunnocks appeared again and instantly made for the car across the road to look at themselves in the wing mirrors or at their reflections in the car windows.
Dunnock getting ready for the day aheadOn the same wall I also saw a robin.
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European robin
In a distant garden there were a pair of blackbirds. I haven’t seen any locally recently but I have heard them. That’s the next thing – recording bird song!
The best I could manage of this male blackbird
On the roof tops there were jackdaws, crows and magpies.
Two jackdaws
Before going in I spotted a huge bee busy on a flowering red currant next to the back door.
I made a mental note to myself to learn the names of different types of bees. As Simon Barnes writes in the Sunday Times today:
” I can’t kiss you. I can’t buy you a pint. I can’t invite you to drop by and watch the football. All I can offer is the best thing in the world. Nature”. He goes on to say:
“It all starts with noticing. The second stage is seeking the name, and that will give a greater intimacy, as names do.”But enough was enough and I disappeared indoors to find some chores to do.
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26th March 2020 – Self-isolating in Bristol
We have been self-isolating at home all week. We had a 7 am walk in our local park last Saturday but didn’t feel safe as people, especially runners, came very close to us (even though I often pretended to be looking for a bird in the bushes). On Sunday we travelled to the Forest of Dean where we managed some exercise in isolation. However, reading what NHS workers had to say, and pleading with us to stay at home, we have remained at home. Neighbours and friends have helped with shopping. It has seemed very strange because it has always been in our nature to help others and now we find we can only help by staying at home.
To some extent I have enjoyed painting fences, building garden storage, cleaning the patio and so on as the weather has been wonderful for this time of the year. However, I have missed my camera (and nature) and today I self-indulged by taking photos from in and around our tiny urban garden. If I can’t go to nature, I’ll have to let nature come to me. I could see a herring gull, goldfinches, sparrows, dunnocks, wood pigeons and collared doves, jackdaws, crows, starlings, blackbirds, a robin (only heard), blue tits and great tits (only heard), bees and a peacock butterfly.
Unfortunately, all of the birds (except the blackbird on the washing line) were outside of the garden and I hope that neighbours don’t think I am being a voyeur with a long lens. I hope my photos are the proof of it.
Goldfinch
Dunnock
Wood pigeon
Jackdaw
Male sparrow
Male sparrow
Magpie
Female sparrow
Dunnock
Female sparrow
Jackdaw
Dunnocks
Dunnocks
Dunnocks
Dunnocks
Female sparrow
Female sparrow
Collared doves
Peacock butterfly
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22nd March 2020 – Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
At the end of the first week of self-isolating due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was a sure delight to get out and about today. I have kept myself busy during the week doing jobs in and around the house but I have felt hemmed in (not surprisingly) and the lack of social contact was beginning to have an effect on my moral.
We were pleased to hear earlier in the week that the National Trust was keeping its outdoor spaces open but as people went there in their droves social distancing was clearly not possible and this decision was revoked. So we decided to give the Forest of Dean a go. We have been many times to the RSPB Reserve at Nags Head in the past and never seen many people. Fortunately again today there were very few people around and we could keep a good distance from them.
ErrorThis video doesn’t existThe aim of our sortie was to get some exercise and not particularly to do bird watching, which was just as well as we didn’t see many birds at all (we avoided the bird hides even if they had been open). It was a lovely sunny day and the beauty of the forest certainly lifted our spirit.
Although we didn’t get many sightings of birds we did have a wonderful moment when a bat flitted around above us. A managed one rather poor shot which might enable anyone who knows about these things to identify it. – a pipistrelle perhaps?
Right at the beginning of our walk a lone greylag goose mystically appeared from nowhere.
Greylag gooseThere were a few blackbirds, some coal tits and frequent noisy robins. We also heard woodpeckers, probably Great Spotted although Lesser Spotted are found here.
Blackbird
Coal tit
Robin
Robin
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16th March 2020 – Eastville Park, Bristol
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get out and take photos and write a blog as its been very wet and I have also been sidelined with a poorly foot. As a septuagenarian the risk of Covid-19 will clearly limit my opportunities for a while. Hopefully I will manage a little exercise in the park and maintain social distancing.
It was truly beautiful this morning. The stars for me were a peacock butterfly, a wren, a chiffchaff , a couple of grey wagtails and a kingfisher but I also enjoyed photographing the ducks, geese and swans on the lake.
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27th February 2020 – Eastville Park, Bristol
It may seem a bit mundane reporting on the same walk around Eastville Park but its all we had time for and anyway there’s nearly always something interesting to see. Today’s highlight was definitely a tree creeper.
Tree creeper
We heard, and generally saw, robins all round the park. Early on we saw a goldcrest (sadly no photo) near Fishponds Brook.
A robin to greet us
Another robin half way round
On the lake there was a grey heron, a coot, a couple of moorhens, 6 mute swans, two Canada geese, lots of black-headed gulls and a couple of lesser black-backed gulls.
Grey heron
Mute swan
Canada goose
Moorhen
Black-headed gull
Lesser black-backed gull
A pigeon strutting its stuff
CrowFor the first time for a while we saw no cormorants but there were plenty of corvids, mainly crows and some jackdaws lurking in the trees and around the lake.
We saw the tree creeper along the River Frome. True to form it landed on the tree and made its way around the trunk out of sight. When it reappeared it hid frustratingly behind the small branches but then fleetingly gave me a chance to capture it. I’m sure my editing of the photos makes its stand out much more than we saw as its camouflage on the bark was quite amazing.
Tree creeper
On the way home we saw a jay, lots of magpies and several wood pigeons.
The other pleasing sight was the celandine which was quite prominent in the sunshine
A different robin to bid us farewell
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25th February 2020 – Eastville Park, Bristol
Back to reality! I decided not to be a wimp and got out for a walk this morning. Light showers were forecast and I must admit it wasn’t raining when I left home. But when I arrived at the lake at Eastville Park it began to rain and continued to pour until I got home. Light shower indeed!
I caught a glimpse of a kingfisher but anything moving faster than a hovering black-headed gull didn’t get captured by my camera!
The only way I could make any of the birds look interesting was to try and get in close.
The highlight was being able to see the tawny owl on the island and a pied wagtail which followed me around the lake. A coot and a moorhen came close too. What did the robin find to be so cheerful about?
Tawny Owl
Brightly coloured pigeon (it wasn’t the sun catching its plumage!)
Pied wagtail
Pied wagtail
Coot
Moorhen
Black-headed gull
Cormorant
Magpie
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Birds of South Africa January/February 2020
In this blog I have tried to compile a record of the different birds we saw on our holiday to South Africa in January and February 2020.
We started our holiday with a safari trip to the Thornybush Private Game Reserve in Greater Kruger. Although the main focus of the trip was to observe the animals in the park there were plenty of opportunities to see lots of birds.
We spent three nights at the Chapungu Lodge in Greater Kruger and took part in 6 game drives (3 in the morning from 5 am to 8am and 3 in the afternoon from 4 pm to 7 pm).
We then flew back to Johannesburg and then on to Port Elizabeth. From there we drove along the Garden Route to Cape Town stopping (for 2 or 3 nights each time) at St Francis Bay, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Robertson, and Franschoek. When we arrived in Cape Town we spent 10 nights in Camps Bay.
We were due to do a bird watching trip up the Kromme River in St Francis but this was cancelled due to persistent rain. The only other organised bird watching trip was to the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve when we were staying in Cape Town.
Not all our time was spent bird watching We managed to pack lots in to our holiday including seeing South Africa play England in a cricket ODI at Newlands and visits to lots of vineyards and botanical gardens.
I have tried to show a variety of the birds we saw at each place. Although I am very pleased with many of the photos others are not so good but are included for ID purposes. Currently there is no particular order to the birds but they are generally in the order in which we saw them.
Please note: I am still adding photos to this collection and continuing the process of identifying and labelling them.
Click on heading for each place (on the following pages there will be a link to return to this page or use the back button on your browser)
I would like to thank Larry Sweetland and David Swanepoel for help with identifying birds in this blog.
Birds of Thornybush Private Game Reserve, Greater Kruger
Birds of Strandfontein Birding Area, False Bay Coastal Park
Birds of Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
Birds of Blouberg Strand and nearby lagoons
Birds of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 