Last night saw me at the Mall Galleries, a stone’s throw (if you were using a high powered catapult) from The Queen’s Gaff to ogle at an art exhibition put on by the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA). The evening was hosted by the British Trust for Ornithology and they were honouring and awarding outstanding […]
The night trip I talked about previously was only one part of The Sagres Birdwatching Festival. The Sagres Peninsula was the venue for the festival on the 4th to 6th October 2013. It is the only site in Portugal where the autumn migration of soaring birds can be observed. The festival is the biggest birdwatching event in […]
The Parque Natural da Ria Formosa was totally different from the salt mountains I mentioned in the last post. These wetlands are internationally important; consisting of costal dunes, barrier islands, peninsulas, marshes, canals, sandbanks, salt evaporation ponds, freshwater ponds, streams, woods and pine forests. What I didn’t expect was for our guide to walk us […]
The Algarve is the southernmost area of Portugal covering approximately 2,090 square miles with a resident population of about 450,000. It’s Europe’s most famous secret, or so publicity tells me. Is it though? Every year about 1.9 million Brits visit Portugal (and that’s not to mention tourists from other countries). In the summer they come […]
The Scrubs in the rain This is the sight that met me at 7am this morning at The Scrubs. Driving rain. Ordinarily, I would have turned around and gone back home to bed but with the weather we have had nationally and the birds that it has produced it prompted me to brave the elements. […]
The first Ring Ouzel ever recorded at The Scrubs in April 2004 The Ring Ouzel has always held a very special place in my heart since I was a little boy swatting up the aves featured within the Birds of Britain and Europe. When I cam across the plate that featured this wild montane species […]
I spent a very enjoyable couple of days in Scotland visiting Aberdeen and Dundee. The purpose of my visit was to speak in both cities to their respective bird clubs, RSPB local groups and Scottish Ornithologists Club members. Both talks went really well and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking at their respective universities. I spent a […]
…with my currently very threatened local patch, Wormwood Scrubs. Dawn The mist rising The glorious sunrise It depresses me to think that my patch of over 20 years may shortly have its very soul destroyed if the Mayor’s Office, Transport for London and HS2 have their way. They would like to see the northern edge […]
Looking west over London from Tower 42 It’s the end of September and I haven’t been able to organise a session with the Tower 42 Bird Study Group as yet. The main reasons are that I haven’t been around and when I have been able to set something up I was put paid by the […]
Brent Geese The winter is coming…..
Spotted Crake – Oare Marshes Sunday 22nd September 2013 I led a tour today in north Kent visiting the Isle of Grain and Oare Marshes near Faversham. I must say that I have been mighty impressed with the good people of Kent that I came across. They were courteous and extremely friendly. I thoroughly enjoyed […]
On Sunday 8th September I took a walk through The Scrubs blearly eyed and jetlagged after returning from Peru the previous Friday. Little did I know that was about to discover a mega for London! I noticed two finches fly into a bush on Lester’s Embankment at 0740. One was a male Greenfinch the other was […]
Every blue moon a bird book is comes out that changes everything. Given the plethera of books published on the subject of birds it has become increasingly hard to produce something that truly breaks the mold. Enter The Unfeathered Bird. Author and illustrator Katrina van Grouw explains in her acknowledgments that this work has been […]
Conor Jameson is a name that will be well known to the many RSPB members who read ‘Birds’ the society’s membership magazine, for which he writes a very popular column in every issue. I enjoy his columns so when I saw that he had penned a book on Goshawks I just had to delve in. […]
Red-and-green Macaw What is a jungle? Jungles are steamy hot places filled with impenetrable vegetation, danger and invisible but very vocal animals that tease you with their apparent closeness. Now I’ve been in jungles before. For instance, there was the feral scrubby wilderness near my home in Wembley, north London that I explored as a […]
…to these amazing Peruvian vistas?
Fasciated Tiger-heron White-collared Swift Andean Lapwing Chiguanco Thrush Torrent Duck Great Potoo Sparkling Violetear Tropical Kingbird
A Black Skimmer An elegant Great Grebe Eared Dove on the wires Rufous-collared Sparrow Peruvian Pelicans A pair of Franklin’s Gulls Grey Gull An injured Barn Owl Common Nighthawk Great Egret Assembled gulls: mostly Belcher’s Gulls Absolutely amazing urban birding to be had here in Lima. Tomorrow we move into the Andes! Lima – 23 […]
My blood boiled over several times yesterday after learning about and seeing pictures of various species of animal ranging from Brown Bears to thrushes shot in the name of sport organised by a company that was apparently based in the UK. Well, it turned out that the page was a forgery put up by people […]
One of the heinous entries on Hunting and Sporting Scotland Ltd Facebook page How can people like this lot be allowed to advertise shooting trips to kill Brown Bears in Romania, Turtle Doves and Song Thrushes in Spain. How can a company based in a civilised country but clearly run by barbaric animals be allowed […]