Shooting for Birdfair.tv (Russell F Spencer) Me & Bill (Russell F Spencer) The main star at Rutland (Russell F Spencer) I spent the whole of last weekend amongst throngs of birders at the British Birdwatching Fair in Rutland, Leicestershire. I had a great time shooting excerpts of the general happenings during the weekend. That involved […]
Eyes to the skies (Russell F Spencer) I had a bit of a restless night sleep last night. I was in bed by 1.30am (my usual time) and the alarm went off seemingly 10 minutes later at 4.30am. By 6am I was pulling up in the Tower 42 car park and ascending the many floors […]
Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi (David Fettes) Grey clouds and a blustery north easterly wind greeted me at The Scrubs this morning. I was in the company of photographer and great influence David Fettes. I’ve known David for 10 years and he was the first person to encourage me to live the dream, years before my […]
Common Whitethroat (Russell F Spencer) Whilst everyone else in London have been busily cleaning up on the falls of migrants for the past few days, I seemed to be struggling over at The Scrubs. To be fair, I have had good numbers of warblers with Whitethroats topping the list. I had over 30 of those […]
Juvenile Ruff feeding around the Round Pond, Kensington Gardens Feeding up The Ruff being twitched by a couple of pigeons I was at home minding my own business writing (what else) when I received a phone call from Tower 42 Bird Study Group devotee Des McKenzie. He excitedly told me that he was watching a […]
The view from MK’s highest point A great hedge in the shopping centre Mark, TUB, Gill & Russell Spencer (Yvette Spencer) I never thought that a trip to MK would be so enjoyable. I expected to be circling roundabouts the whole day. Instead, Yvette and Russell Spencer and I saw tons of lakes and watched […]
This morning I led a walk around Barn Hill and Fryent Country Park in Wembley, north London – few minutes away from my mum’s house. It was a quiet day with the main highlight being a high flying Hobby that spectacularly dived much collective pleasure of my group. My group looking for a juvenile Kestrel […]
I showed up for football this morning nursing an injured ankle – sustained from a previous battle on the astra-turf. When I arrived, I was saddened and angered to see that the beautiful trees that lined the western edge of the pitch that lined the Paddington to the west country rail line had been chopped […]
Garden Warbler (Russell F Spencer) Stupidly, I woke at 5am this morning after 3 hours sleep having convinced myself that I needed to check my patch out for migrants. I arrived in a stupor and remained fairly glazed over as I walked the realm with fellow Scrubber, Roy Nuttall. It was a bad move. I […]
This weekend was perhaps my most knackering for several years after I covered nearly 1,000 miles on the road, spanning 2 countries (3 if you’re into Cornish independance!). After leaving London at 10pm on Friday, I eventually rolled up in the car park of my hotel in Liskeard, Cornwall at 3.30am. I was wrecked before […]
Today, the 22nd July, is 50 years to the day since my mum first step foot in Britain. It’s quite amazing really, because she only intended to stay for 5 years. Instead, she got married to my late father and had me and my sister. It’s interesting to ponder on the thought that if my […]
South coast birder Clare Evans with TUB Things are looking pretty interesting and I hope to be able to pass on exciting tales to you all over the ensuing weeks. This weekend I will be ‘performing’ at the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall. I will be part of ‘ The Bird Effects’ a series of […]
Documentary maker Ceri Levy & TUB TUB on the Canary Wharf roof The view from Canary Wharf with Tower 42 in the distance A post dawn jaunt around The Scrubs resulted in little other than c60 Swifts wheeling over the grassland. In itself that many Swifts overhead was pretty impressive for us but I should […]
Barn Swallow (Russell F Spencer) On Saturday morning directly after a fantastic game of football, I bought a Daily Mirror in addition to my usual Guardian. The reason? Prince’s new album was being given away with every copy. Now, I absolutely love Prince. He’s written some of the most wicked music and I’ve been to […]
The view from Tower 42 Ohh, I’m loving these hot summer days and nights. There’s nothing like sweating, tossing and turning in bed in the baking heat counting shorn sheep. A couple mornings ago whilst watching fledgling Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits on the grassland at The Scrubs, a female Black Redstart flew fairly low […]
Male Reed Bunting (Russell F Spencer) Early this morning I was at home furiously writing my magazine articles that need to be completed this week – i.e Monday, instead of stalking the urban expanses of Wormwood Scrubs. The articles themselves are flowing fairly easily, it’s just the classic scenario – leaving it too late. Anyway, […]
Fact: British households waste 8.3 million tons of food every year. Fact: The food dished up at the ‘Great British Waste Menu’ lunch was originally due to be chucked away. Fact: Fellow The One Show presenter, Lucy Seigle is adorable! Fact: Jan Leeming, TV presenter and newscaster is my new best friend. Fact: Bill Oddie […]
TUB on Cape Clear 2008 (Kim Dixon) Once again it’s deadline time. I have to complete articles for Birds Magazine, BBC Wildlife Magazine plus 3 book reviews and an urban birding article for Bird Watching Magazine by next week. In fact the first of which has to be in the recipient’s inbox by Monday morning […]
Stock Dove (Tommy Holden) About 17 years ago I realised that Stock Doves, a bird that I had always considered as a country bird, were secret inhabitants of inner London. It was whilst I was researching birding spots in western London for A&C Black’s ‘Where to Watch Birds in the London Area’ that I discovered […]
Despite having to wander around town with my shirt undone to the navel, I must say that I am rather enjoying this hot spell. The weather is making me feel very chilled and mellow as a cello. It’s the first time that I’ve actually felt warm this year. Always a welcomed sensation! It’s June, so […]