I’ve recently had a fabulous few days in Sao Paulo, Brazil. My mission was to be keynote speaker at the Avistar 2012 – an annual Brazilian birdfair organised by Brazilian ornithologist, Guto Carvalho. I met a host of fantastic conservationists including the wonderful Martha Argel and Betty Petersen who took me under her wing. Seeing […]
Pale-breasted Thrush (Rick & Elis Simpson) Rufous Hornero (Rick & Elis Simpson) My keynote speech that I wrote whilst delivering it went down a storm at Avistar 2012. My translater and I worked in complete harmony. Quiet day otherwise. Did very little birding apart from looking around the park where the birdfair was based. I […]
Burrowing Owl (D. Fettes) Just got back to my hotel room after attending the opening of the Avistar 2012 Brazil Bird Fair. Held in a classy auditorium close to the fair venue I must say that I was taken by the professionalism displayed by organisor Guto Carvalho and his team. It wasn’t just straight presentations […]
I read the depressing news yesterday that Britain is going to be variously shivering and soaking until mid-June. What a brilliant summer we’re having! I mooched around The Scrubs this morning at 6am in the vain hope that the ominous dark clouds that were swiftly moving in from the west were not going to envelope […]
All images courtesy of Susan Sammons We’ve had a fantastic couple of weeks at The Scrubs that has involved the discovery of great birds like Northern Wheatear, Common Redstart, Ring Ouzel, a Whimbrel feeding on the football pitches and a wayward Common Sandpiper. We had high hopes for the discovery of another great bird yesterday […]
Asian Glossy Starling (D. Fettes) I’ve been back in the UK for four days since coming back from Taiwan. I hit the ground running with wall to wall writing deadlines, talk designing and meetings. I managed to spend some quality time at The Scrubs, but more about that tomorrow, especially seeing that I am leading […]
Taiwan Blue Magpie (D. Fettes) Taiwan Barbet at nest hole (D. Fettes) Oriental Honey Buzzard (D. Fettes) Oriental Honey Buzzard (D. Fettes) A male Plumbeous Redstart (D. Fettes) Kuen-Dar Chiang (guide) with TUB looking up! (D. Fettes)
Oriental Skylark on a brownfield site (D. Fettes) A gorgeous White-winged Black Tern (D. Fettes) The past few days in Taiwan have been heavenly as we traverse the west coast of the island. I had loads of lifers like the Grey-tailed Tattlers (a Redshank-like wader with plain grey wings) and Oriental Skylark. The lark was […]
Straited Swallows (D. Fettes) Brown Shrike (D. Fettes) Black-shouldered Kite (D. Fettes) Crested Goshawk (D. Fettes) Pheasant-tailed Jacana with a Common Moorhen (D. Fettes)
A male Swinhoe’s Pheasant (D. Fettes) Pacific Swallow (D. Fettes) Taiwan Barbet (D. Fettes) Formosan Macaque (D. Fettes)
Chinese Bulbul Oriental Turtle Dove Yellow-bellied Prinia Rain over Taipei
The world tour continues and this time I have found myself in Taiwan checking out the nature that this interesting island has to offer. My first jet-lagged day was spent exploring the urban delights of the capital city, Taipei. Within minutes I had already clocked the first of my several ticks that included Pacific Swallow, […]
TUB on a rocky outcrop in northern Serbia (Philly ‘The Kid’ Aylen) I must apologise for my complete lack of communication over the past days since my guided trip to Serbia – which was a complete success might I add! We had a fantastic array of species including a Pallid Harrier, several Montagu’s Harriers including […]
Apologies for not posting anything for nigh on a thousand years but I have been super busy plus led two tours; one in Portugal and the other most recently to Serbia. A full explaination for my absence will following in due course. For the time being, please enjoy some amphibians that were stumbled across in […]
A pugnacious female Sparrowhawk (Ian Alexander) Uh-oh, she spotted us! (Ian Alexander) A visit to Gunnersbury Triangle Local Nature Reserve in Chiswick, west London yesterday resulted in witnessing an unusual experience. This woodland reserve is under severe threat of being walled in by development. It’s currently bordered by industry, housing and a railway line – […]
Black-shouldered Kite (Stephen Daly) Our final day in Portugal involved a round of sightseeing around the centre of Lisbon whilst watching swirling Pallid Swifts. It’s interesting that I never realised that Pallid Swifts screams are in shorter bursts than their Common Swift cousins. After lunch we visited Lisbon Gardens that lay within the shadow of […]
Azure-winged Magpie (Stephen Daly) A fantastic day was had spent in the semi-urban wilds of the Tagus Estuary on the doorstep of Lisbon. Aside from Azure-winged Magpies, Corn Buntings, Sardinian Warblers, Wood Sandpiper, loads of Greater Flamingoes and a vagrant Lesser Yellowlegs we had no less than 16 species of raptor. We were treated to […]
Great White Egret (Stephen Daly) It’s been a long day as I wearily type this post. I’ve been up since 5am and had spent four hours in the field under a blazing sun wandering Sado Estuary. Good birds were seen whilst I was leading my tour including Osprey, Hoopoe, Caspian Tern (irregular here), Sandwich Tern, […]
Rainham this morning Originally billed as kids bird walk, my excursion to Rainham this morning was more of an adult affair with few kids in attendance. No matter, I had a great time alongside the talented Howard Vaughan, the reserve’s Information Officer (Warden to you and I). It was a misty, nippy start to the […]
Wormwood Scrubs (Paul Thomas) Spring is coming and every spare hour that I have is being spent at my beloved patch, The Scrubs. Today I heard the first returned Blackcap singing. What will tomorrow bring? That’s all I wanted to say really.