I spent two lovely days in the Netherlands last Thursday and Friday at the behest of the Netherlands BirdLife International partner. Thursday was spent giving a talk about my work promoting urban birding around the world and then taking part in a seminar on getting urban kids interested in nature. The following day I cycled […]
Our 1st Whinchat of the autumn As the rest of London shuffles knee deep in delightful Whinchats, we at The Scrubs were crying into our peppermint teas lamenting at the non-appearance of our archetypal autumnal migrants. In days gone by we used to regularly host up to 20 birds on our grassland. Back then, we […]
A migrant Sedge Warbler A female Four-spot Orb Weaver Spider A dew bathing Robin More bathing Yesterday, we recorded our first ever autumn migrant Nightingale at The Scrubs. It was found along the western end of the embankment. This morning I came back to the scene of the crime in the vein hope of trying […]
I took a trip out to Southend, Essex on Sunday to check out the urban birding for a forthcoming piece in Birdwatching Magazine. Having not visited this famous seaside town since the devil was a boy, it was like I had never been before. I was pleasantly surprised. There were many places both in the […]
A male Common Redstart is in there somewhere – honest! I have been thrashing my local patch on a near daily basis for nearly two weeks now – and mostly for selfish reasons if the truth be known. You see, many other London sites have recorded some amazing birds like Wanstead Flats in east London […]
Recently, I have managed to squeeze in reading a few books in between my usual mix of birding, writing, tour leading with perhaps a bit of sleep thrown in for good measure. Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm Petrels of North America by Steve Howell was one book that I didn’t expect to get into as much […]
A funny thing happened on my patch this morning. I watched a Greylag fly in and land on the football pitches. It was immediately swamped by a posse of Carrion Crows – I counted around 50 at one point – who surrounded the goose and followed its every move. Each species was weirded out by […]
A series of bad shots of the Wormwood Scrubs Weasel Yesterday, I was standing on the path facing the embankment area at The Scrubs when I became aware of a Song Thrush around 70 yards away standing bolt upright and stock still. When I scrutinised it I was amazed to see that it was being […]
The canopy in Gunnersbury Triangle LNR The lovely group I took around the site I like this mural On Sunday morning just gone I led a bird walk around the London Wildlife Trust’s Gunnersbury Triangle LNR. It is a small yet perfectly formed Silver Birch and Willow woodland in Chiswick, West London that is totally […]
The Scrubs looking east a couple of mornings ago. Can you see now why I love the place so much? Male Reed Bunting in the grassland
A Willow Warbler pauses for thought It’s has been all about The Scrubs recently. It has become a major drive in my life to visit my local patch come rain or shine (usually rain of late) to witness migration and hopefully add to the species tally. These days I am also now fully equipped with […]
The pipit sign at the ‘migration watchpoint’ at The Scrubs It feels like it has been a thousand years since my last entry and a lot has changed in the world. We are in the throes of the London Olympics; an event that I openly admit to initially doubting its relevance. How wrong was I? […]
A melanistic male House Sparrow (all images by Paul Davis) Sparrows have been the flavour of the month recently especially in the London area. I’ve been involved in the Cockney Sparrow Count organised by the RSPB, London Wildlife Trust, Green Information for Greater London and the London Biodiversity Partnership. The idea is to encourage Londoners […]
Black-crowned Night Heron (David Fettes) Brown Shrike (David Fettes) Pacific Swallow (David Fettes) After being depressed by the the persistent dull autumnal weather and thieving Barclays Bank bosses I started to reminisce about my recent trip to Taiwan. Normal service will resume at some point – surely?
Been totally busy recently giving talks and leading walks for a range of different organisations ranging from Wildlife Trusts to the Womens Institute. The latter talk was of particular interest. I was invited by the Borough Belles based near London Bridge, to come in and speak to their members about the wonders of urban birding. […]
All images by Paul Davis Urban birder Paul Davis sent me this selection of images taken of a weird bird that he could not recognise coming to his feeder in his Mitcham garden in south London. At first I thought it was some strange escaped weaver species but closer examination, especially of its upperparts, left […]
Nordmann’s Greenshank (David Fettes) Have you ever had a situation when you’ve gone through a set of photographs and stumble across a gem? This evening I was going through a cd of several hundred photos taken by David Fettes, the photographer I took with me to Taiwan last month when I noticed this one. He […]
Atlantic Puffin (David Fettes) It has taken me two days to sufficiently warm up after a stupendous week on The Shetlands. I never really appreciated just how far north these islands were – literally just 200 miles east of Norway. Nor did I fully comprehend just how big the main island was – some 100 […]
My little Shetland Pony Life can be a beach Views of Shetland
A male Northern Wheatear (Russell F Spencer) I’m sitting here in an airport lounge at Aberdeen Airport on my way to Shetland – a mythical destination that I have never been to before but have always lusted after since my monstrous Dixon’s 10 x 50 wielding days. The sky is a glorious blue. Thank good […]