Diary 2008    

May 12    I haven't posted for a bit because I've been too busy birding with the usual manic activity that May brings. Best bird since I last posted was the Spring adult Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the 100-Acre found by Dave Paynter, which I managed to see thanks to a detour on the way home from a family outing. Thanks guys! 

This weekend has been excellent starting with a lively rarities meeting hosted by Paul and Sheri, for which many thanks. Saturday morning early saw me in the Forest with Andy L where we polished up a few species including nice views of Firecrests. By Saturday lunchtime I was all washed and clean and in my Gloucester shirt waiting for James and Sarah to go to the Bath match. James rang and said he was coming (he had my ticket!) but he would be a little late because Dave Paynter had found a Whiskered Tern in the 100-Acre (Nick must be slipping) and he had to make the detour. So I paced up and down until James arrived and we made it to the ground in time for a pre-match pint. James produced a tatty blue rag from his boot and put it on rather shame-facedly, did I mention he was a Bath fan? Wisely Sarah was wearing red, an altogether better colour. Naturally Glaws demolished the threat of Bath, no sweat (8-6 Phew!) and at least I went home happy. Did I mention James was a Bath fan? In the early evening I went to Frampton and located the Whiskered Tern much to the delight of one twitcher who had travelled from Surrey. On Sunday morning I went back and had better views of the tern and also my first Hobby of the year. In the afternoon whilst I was at a Barbeque at my sister's news broke of a Rose-coloured Starling in the Forest, but it never came to anything, and I'd had one too many sherbets to drive anyway. If anyone knows anything about this bird please let us know. PS Did I mention James was a Bath fan?

Apr 20    An excellent weekend but not great weather yet again. I went to Frampton Saturday morning seeing little other than a sprinkling of migrants and the two Cattle Egrets. I had managed to walk all the way from the car at Splatt Bridge to Saul Warth when Nick Goatman called to say he had found a Yellow-browed Warbler at the pools. I blew my phone bill ringing everyone yet again, whilst running (well sort of!) back to the car and wondering if it could possibly be a Hume's Warbler. I arrived at the site around the same time as Jake, Neil and Richard. It wasn't showing although it was singing occasionally. However none of us had heard a YBW sing. Paul arrived shortly after and it started to be seen flitting around the hawthorns and willows. Doubts started to surface when we glimpsed a crown stripe and then it flashed its lemon yellow rump. Paul beat the rest of us by a nanosecond as we all exclaimed "Goodness me it's a blinking Pallas's Warbler" (a County first). We started to enjoy good views of it and it was singing constantly. A crowd of reprobates soon arrived with many birders not seen out unsupervised for a very long time turning up. (Pic by Graham). 

In the afternoon I took my daughter to her first rugby match at Kingsholm and enjoyed watching Glaws run in five tries against Leeds and polished off a few celebratory real ales. I don't know where she learnt to drink like that! A Top Day!

This morning I went back to Frampton early for another look at the Pallas's Warbler and was surprised to only find half a dozen people present, but I suppose the birds in Dorset and Northumberland had already been ticked off by many of the year-listers. I got even better views and was able to listen to its song. It was quite similar to Willow Warbler's song but at one stage it was mimicking Chiffchaff too. With its breeding range including much of eastern Asia, north of the Himalayas and a normal wintering range in south east Asia including India and Indochina I can't imagine it had even heard Chiffchaff before. Therefore it either picked up on the Chiffy's song very quickly or it had been here longer than we thought. Further birding just turned up a few new migrants and the Cattle Egrets again, but the first Cuckoo of the year felt like a proper harbinger of Spring. Well Done Nick for your find and as if that wasn't enough he just happened to be in Norfolk today and bumped into Black Lark!

Apr 14    I spent all of Friday afternoon and Saturday morning searching for the probable White-tailed Eagle in the Slimbridge area. Several birders were out both days looking to no avail with no further reports of it anywhere nationally. Must be hiding in a bush. It was first identified as a bird at about 10am Friday after it was first thought to be a log. Then it moved and was thought to be a Great Bustard. Then it took off and its white tail was seen and it was re-identified as an eagle. It was seen by just five people flying downriver low in a storm.

Two good birds have been found over the weekend in neighbouring counties - a Hoopoe in South Glos at Dyrham and a Penduline Tit was ringed at Pit 68 in Wiltshire and never seen again, as is often the case with ringed birds.

Sunday morning I came out of the house intending to go for the Hoopoe (yes, I know it's out of County but I like them) but when I got to the motorway it was black as thunder southbound so the car just gravitated northwards towards Cleeve Hill where it was sunny. After an hour of seeing nothing I met up with The Great Dipper (Graham) and figured I should just go straight home. However we persevered and I found two Wheatears, then whilst talking to some visiting birders Graham found a male Ring Ouzel flying behind us. Then we found a female and as if that wasn't enough then we picked up a Tree Pipit too. So a Cleeve Hill clean-up at the third attempt and so long as the Hill Trolls don't find anything decent I can avoid the place until next April.

Apr 08    Happy 28th Birthday Lisa! Now I feel old.

Apr 06    I haven't written anything for ages, but that's mainly because I haven't seen much or been anywhere. Over the really early Easter I became "Frozen of Fretherne" watching three big early morning tides and getting cold and wet and seeing little. In changing tack by going to Frampton on the Saturday I missed the only good bird of the weekend on the river, an Iceland Gull flying north. On Easter Sunday, Martin made the excellent discovery of the drake Green-winged Teal on the 100-Acre, one of the best marked drakes I have seen. Again I got soaked but at least it was worth it.

On the Monday evening I went looking for White Wagtail at the Sailing Lake. I found a flock of 40 Pied Wagtails, but not the White. It was the other side of the lake with just three Pied for company. I tried again on the Tuesday evening and failed again, but finally saw Green Woodpecker for the first time this year.

The next weekend saw me back down the 100-Acre with Jake and Jon for company. We saw little other than the first Swallow of the year and a Spitfire, which was better than anything on the flashes. After I had shaken off Jake (he went home) I headed north up the canal towards Saul and found my first Kingfisher of the year, the Cattle Egret hiding behind the houses in the village and best yet three Garganey (two drakes) at Saul Warth, which were a very nice find. 

Now I don't know why I do this, but on the Sunday I went to Cleeve Hill. It was a beautiful morning, the date was right for Ouzels but I saw nothing despite covering most of the hill except two pairs of Stonechats. Then I went to Puckham Scrub and was equally successful in not seeing the long-staying Shrike or the Reeve's Pheasant.

Yesterday morning I went to Fretherne for the tide, met Gordon H, and saw nothing again. Jon called from Cleeve to say he had found Ouzels, however I had had a puncture the previous night and didn't want to travel far on the spare. So I got the puncture fixed and you've guessed it, went back to Cleeve. Well, after freezing for nearly two hours I was thinking back to the heady day when I had at least some Stonechats. A pair of Linnets was quite exciting though. In the afternoon I watched the sad but predicted beating of Glaws by Munster.

This morning I thought, I'll cheer myself up by seeing the Lesser Spot at Highnam. Wrong again, I actually managed to get lost (thanks Mark for the help) and saw little again. However as I was leaving the cheery song of my first Willow Warbler of the year made things seem brighter. Am I down-hearted? Never! That's just birding for you, the next Mega is just around the corner.

Mar 21    I am pleased to put Ian Tew's Jordan January 2008 Trip Report online today, click here or go to the revamped (by Continent) Trip Reports for this and others.

Mar 13    Happy Birthday Michael! 

Mar 08    Just of couple of notes of interest. Firstly if you can help with this contact me and I will pass it on: 

"I was wondering if anyone would know of a location where we could film Sparrowhawks hunting. Somewhere where over a two week period we would have a really good chance of filming predation several times, and at reasonably close range (within a 100 metres). I did look into filming Goshawks but after several visits to possible sites it seems a highly unlikely thing for us to film with a wild bird. Maybe someone has a garden which is frequented by a Sparrowhawk, or know of a track where they see a bird every morning? Ideally a naturalistic setting, on the edge of a wood, maybe near a feeding station? But any garden with broad leaved trees might do the trick. I remember that we filmed this somewhere in Coombe Dingle in Bristol for Springwatch about five years ago.

This is for the birds programme in a 10 part BBC series called "Life" which will cover most groups of "Life" on the planet.  Thanks very much, Best wishes, Paul Williams, Researcher, Life, BBC Natural History Unit".

Secondly, I received this from Vince Jones:

The Barn Owl Centre have now moved into their new location at Netheridge Farm. Hempsted. Here is a link to their news page on our site. http://www.barnowl.co.uk/news.asp?ArticleID=73

Mar 06    I am pleased to put my Florida February 2008 Trip Report online today, click here or go to the revamped (by Continent) Trip Reports for this and others.

Mar 01    I'm back as you will obviously have noticed by now. Thanks for all the kind comments regarding the hole in your lives whilst I've been away. I'm glad some of you at least found the Forum. I had 19 lifers in Florida including some real goodies like LONG-BILLED CURLEW, BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD and BROWN BOOBY to name just three. A trip report is nearing completion.

Today together with Martin and Harriet of Anser UK I joined as a last minute member of a trip to twitch the WALLCREEPER at Wimereux near Boulogne. We had a very successful day connecting with most of our targets. I will write a short trip report for that too soon. I can thoroughly recommend the trip and it is nice and easy by Chunnel and probably no more expensive or time consuming than twitching Cornwall or Scotland. The bird is likely to stay for a few more weeks yet. Pic by Martin.

Feb 03    I caught up with the Egyptian Geese at Ashleworth early on Saturday, quite a scarce bird for Glos and today I saw the wild Pink-foot at WWT which now thinks it's a Greylag and then had a turn around CWP which was freezing. 

I pleased to introduce Lewis Thomson's new site, which can be found at www.ltimages.co.uk. Please have a look at Lewis's images which I am sure you will have already seen regularly in the Sightings pages.

As to the rugby what can I say - that was just about the most pathetic capitulation I have ever seen from an England team! I think I could have put a team of birders out there second half that would have held that lead.

Jan 28    Happy Birthday Donna! 

A good weekend! I went to the Glaws-Wasps game Saturday, which we won by one point. Exciting for the neutral but a uncomfortable otherwise. Wolves even scored four goals away from home and I can't remember the last time that happened.

On Sunday I set off at 4:30am for West Wales to catch up with the second-winter PACIFIC DIVER that is wintering at Llysyfran C.P. near Haverfordwest. I got there in two hours 40 minutes so not too bad. Everyone else I usually twitch with had seen the Yorkshire bird last year whilst I was in Arizona. I did see what was purported to be the Cornwall Pacific Diver at Penzance, but it was nearer to Scilly than the shore so I didn't tick it. I found the bird to be easy to see and very obliging although it was about as far from the car park as possible. Because of the weird light conditions yesterday nobody was getting particularly good photos. I just took a few record shots. I was nice to have a Black-throated Diver here too to compare with. There was also a Black-necked Grebe and I had a Red Kite on the way back. I also had a Harrier species go over the M4 at Junction 20 heading for Severn Beach, but as I was going fast and was alone I couldn't identify it. It took me  just a little longer coming back but the trip was very worthwhile and I'm glad I made the effort. 

I seem to be going back to Mordor with regularity these days - my last tick was the Pechora Pipit very near here. 

Jan 20    After a tough weekend dipping everything in the Forest last weekend I returned this Saturday. I started at Boy's Grave and quickly located the Great Grey Shrike at the bottom of the clearing despite nearby tree-felling in action. I decided to walk around the bottom edge to get a better look and a mentalist dog walker went along the top. He spent 30 minutes hurling a large stick into the clearfell near the pond for his dog to fetch, so I didn't see the shrike again. I guess it just hid. What an idiot, in the winter he's just flushed a shrike but if he does that year round it is potential Nightjar habitat in summer and I think someone may have to fall out with him. I also had Crossbills and Ravens here. Next I tried Parkend Church for Hawfinches but there was no sign. There were none at Brierley earlier in the month either so I don't know where they are hiding. At Cannop ponds I added Goosander. In the afternoon I visited my Dad and on the way back I travelled over the top and dipped Bramblings in the fog and then had my first look at the Cattle Egret since New Year's Day. There also seems to be a good population of Little Egrets feeding here, now with 20 together. I also checked the Sailing Lake in Frampton. It is possibly higher than I've ever seen it and has overflowed into the adjacent fields. Nothing of note here other than my first Great Crested Grebes of the year.

Today I went up to Cotswold Water Park early morning. I called at Driffield first and found two pairs of Grey Partridges and then on to Harnhill for possibly (sadly) the only guaranteed Tree Sparrows in the County. Next I went around a few of the pits and added Red Crested Pochard and Goldeneye for the year but couldn't find any Smew. Two were reported in Wilts though. I think the weather is too mild, we need a cold snap. I came back across the top again and third time lucky found the Bramblings, 10+ but probably many more in the fog. I'm really going off the CWP these days, it seems to be being developed everywhere. It's awful to see Pit 57 now, once one of the loveliest places in the County to enjoy birding, and now it feels like a lake in a housing estate and very few birds either.

I don't know what I've got to do to make the site more interactive. The Forum could potentially be great with nearly 300 members but possibly only ten are active. I suggest you go and have a look because I am off to Florida in a few weeks and this is where you can exchange info while I'm away. As for the Guestbook nearly half a million visitors and just 24 entries! 

This weekend Wolves finally managed to win and Glaws beat Ulster but not before making us sweat, and the reward - a quarter final against Munster.

Jan 16    Following Steve's spot of The Biggest Twitch dedicated to following Alan Davies and Ruth Miller around the world, I picked up on this carbon-friendly effort on one of the Florida lists I'm currently subscribed to, it's called Bird Year and sounds quite an adventure for this family. I'd like to mention John Overfield at this point who is attempting a birding year by bike in the County, with which I wish him well. Richard Price alerted me to this one a one-click Save The Whales petition at http://www.whalesrevenge.com/

Jan 14    A live event at Slimbridge. Click here for details

Jan 10    Apologies to Ben I should have done this sooner - Ben Macdonald has a new website at http://www.freewebs.com/benmacdonaldbirding and I wish him well with it. Have a look for yourselves.

Jan 08    A hastily arranged holiday - brilliant, I've managed four whole days at work before cracking - took me to Norfolk with the boys to twitch the WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW at Cley. Just about a year after seeing 75+ in Arizona I didn't expect the chance to add one to my British list. We left at 4am and arrived on site at about 8am. We were met by Richard Millington who gave us the story of the bird and then said it had never appeared before 10:45am yet and then it flew in at 8:17am. We should really thank the Lord for this one. The householder noticed the bird last week, didn't know what it was so he drove to Norwich Library and looked it up. Then on Sunday morning he went to church and casually mentioned to a birder in the congregation that he had a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW at his feeders and do you think it might interest anyone?!!! Quickly arrangements were made for his feeding station to be moved from his tiny garden to the driveway viewable from the road. Over 1000 birders have now visited since Sunday. A brilliant bird. 

Surprised at having had stonking views four times by 9am we decided to spend the rest of the day birding. We toured the popular North Norfolk sites and highlights included five Marsh Harriers, 70 Snow Buntings, two Lapland Buntings, two Black Brants, the resident Sacred Ibis of unknown origin, 25 Twite and a Red Kite on the way home to name but a few. A fabulous day!

Jan 02    Steve Dark has alerted me to this website http://www.thebiggesttwitch.com/Default.aspx dedicated to following Alan Davies and Ruth Miller around the world on their quest of seeing over 3,662 different species of birds in twelve months, from 1st January to 31st December 2008 and beating the current record. Some of you may have met Alan and Ruth whilst twitching the Black Scoter at Conwy. I did and was glad to have them there as many birders over the years had gone away ticking bright-billed Common Scoters. As Alan was the warden and (I believe) original finder I ticked it with confidence with his help.

Jan 01    A Happy New Year to you all, I hope it is a good one and filled with lifers. 

I started the year at Fretherne and amassed a reasonable list of 70 species during the day, with a further three heard only. Bonuses included a Cattle Egret, a Tundra Bean Goose, a Merlin and a Cetti's Warbler. 

2007 was a memorable year and highlights by month in the County were:

January       The Glaucous-winged Gull, sadly not twitchable, a Bittern at WWT and a long-staying Glaucous Gull in the Severn estuary.

February     A Great Grey Shrike in the Cannop valley and an unseasonal Temminck's Stint at WWT.

March         A female Ring-necked Duck at WWT and a surge of early migrants.

April           A Marbled Duck arrived at Saul Warth shortly followed by 17 Glossy Ibises initially at Frampton and a Stone Curlew on Cleeve Hill.

May             A Hoopoe at Wotton and a Great White Egret at Saul.

June             Fairly quiet with Spring rarities lingering.

July             The floods which will never be forgotten.

August         A Spotted Crake at Coombe Hill Meadows.

September   Two Ospreys at Symonds Yat.  

October       A quiet month with a Great Grey Shrike (or two?) at Ashleworth and another back in the Forest.

November     Water Pipits at Ashleworth, returning Bittern at WWT and elusive American Golden Plover and Siberian Chiffchaff there too.

December     A Cattle Egret at Fretherne.

On a personal note I've had a busy year birding in Arizona, the French Alps, Majorca and Scilly with the occasional mad dash the length of the country for the odd rarity.  In the County the wonderful flock of 17 Glossy Ibises take some beating. In the UK there have been a lot of great birds this year, from the Scottish Barrow's Goldeneye in January via the Cornish White-billed Diver and Gyrfalcon in March, the Kent Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in August and the Blackpoll Warblers amongst others on Scilly in October. However my favourite is a bird I thought I would never see on the mainland let alone at a range of six feet, November's Welsh Pechora Pipit. I saw loads of great birds in Arizona in February including California Condor, displaying Anna's Hummingbirds and brilliant Burrowing Owls, Lammergeiers in the Alps in the Spring and midsummer Eleonora's Falcons on Mallorca. However my bird of the year is Alpine Accentor which I finally got to grips with in May after several hardcore dips in various mountain ranges.

I want to thank everyone who has been brilliant company on these various trips particularly Paul, Andy, Tony, Richard and Colin who have been my regular companions but most of all I want to thank Bridgette who I can't speak too highly of.

I would like to congratulate Graham on winning the Birding League with 198 species, a great achievement, and to anybody who thinks not reaching 200 is a failure - try it sometime! I hope you do, I know Graham is off to a good start.

Finally I was surprised and pleased to find that people have finally been posting in the Forum, long may it continue.