American Robin (Mike Danzenbaker) Another frozen day with a fresh coating of snow. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep around my way. It was a quiet day in a busy kind of way today. Tried to line up a few urban birding trips including excursions to Cork and Reykjavik. Lord knows how Iceland could do with […]
I eventually finished my piece for BBC Wildlife Magazine. It’s always strange pressing the send button as I always feel as though I have just written a pile of poo. I will listen out for the features editor’s comments tomorrow. As I speak a ton of snow is falling from the heavens no doubt to […]
I read yesterday that this British Christmas was the coldest for 25 years. It certainly feels it. I’m used to this kind of cold in February. I fear for next week when I will be strolling around the wilds of Scotland. I saw a cow being slaughtered on TV tonight. Random thought I know, but […]
TUB at The London Wetland Centre (Russell F Spencer) The first few days of the years have been non stop for me – largely writing but also planning for the next few weeks. For example, I am trying to plan the next few trips for my Bird Watching Magazine tour of the cities of Britain […]
I hope that you all had a safe and enjoyable New Year’s celebration. I also hope that all that you dream for and desire happens for you during the ensuing months. I had one of my best New Years Eve ever. I was alone at home in front of my laptop writing whilst watching Sky […]
Common Stonechat (Jon Osbourne) Dawn saw me standing on the western edge of The Scrubs listening to hundreds of squawking Rose-ringed Parakeets getting ready to leave their roost whilst I scanned the skies for signs of hard weather movement. Ultimately, I was to be disappointed as the only real movement I saw were around 30 […]
I hope you all have had a fun and peaceful Christmas. I put on at least 6 stone on Christmas Day, although to be fair to myself, I did have a 2 hour game of scratch football in Kensington Gardens with my mates – you know, jumper for goalposts stuff. We played near the Round […]
Crested Tit (Hugh Harrop) I’m really looking forward to my trip to Scotland in early January next year. It’s going to be great, especially stalking around Mull. I’ve been thinking about my first trips to Scotland during the school summer holidays as a youth hosteling teenager. I went with my local youth club in Wembley, […]
I made it! I finally made it back to The Scrubs! As I pulled up on Braybrook Street (on the western edge of the site) I was surprised to stumble across a mass gathering of around 1,000 Rose-ringed Parakeets collected on a few roadside trees noisily chattering away. Occasionally, they’d all lift off only to […]
Before I start, I must unequivocally state that I have no beef with Scotland or the people of Scotland – I’m just a bit peeved with the tourist board. Just thought I’d mention that. Today was a freezing, crisp sunny day. It was so cold that I even wore my Berghaus puffer jacket in goal […]
TUB on the Cairngorms c1996 Since the last time I put finger to keyboard I’ve not been to my local patch nor lifted a pair of binoculars. This time I have no excuse because most of my deadlines are out of the way and apart from a few flecks of snow one morning and a […]
Hoopoe in Istanbul (Dean Eades) The stuffed bird debacle took a different twist today when I decided to hand the potentially offending item back to the giver. She was quick to confirm that her taxidermist only handles naturally dead animals, so there was no question of the Goldeneye being the victim of a twelve-bore. Today […]
This morning I visited a friend of mine who I’ve known for over a year now. We get on very well. She loves birds and has made her large garden in Holland Park, west London into a bit of a nature reserve with at least 12 nestboxes of all descriptions – ranging from owl and […]
Kucuk Camlica Hill, Istanbul a couple months ago (Dean Eades) I had quite a good weekend with very little birding involved. In truth, I’ve not been to The Scrubs for two weeks. It’s been a mixture of too much work to do mixed with the usual winter doldrums. I should really get myself out there […]
No it’s not a two-headed Common Gull! With most of my immediate deadlines out of the way it felt like a sizeable weight had been lifted from around my neck. I still have tons to do mind you. I have a truckload of stuff to ship over to my lovely web designer in order for […]
A frosty morning at The Scrubs I’ve been off the blogging scene recently thanks to the endless deadlines I’ve had. Due to the Christmas period, deadlines were pushed forward. It’s kinda weird writing about the onset of spring while staring out of a window at December fog. The first in my BBC Wildlife Magazine series […]
(Russell F Spencer) I’ve been immensely busy recently with several deadlines to reach by Monday and to be honest I’m currently struggling with my latest Bird Watching piece on my trip to Lisbon. The expedition was over a month ago and I haven’t written a word about it since – until yesterday! My problem is […]
Pool fun in Rejkjavik (Justine Watson) The last couple of days have been up and down. A couple of great moments occurred including this morning’s meeting with the management of Tower 42. They are very keen to set up my idea of a bird study group to kick off in the spring. I also had […]
A distant Cormorant (Russell F Spencer) Not that much to report for the last few days. I’ve just had my nose to the grindstone. Writing, thinking, plotting and planning – you know, the usual things for an urban birder. The other day my agent informed me that I had been approached by the Waterside Trust […]
Penduline Tit – for no reason! (photographer unknown) This morning was a beautiful sunny day. My local patch instinct is waning as winter sets in. This is usual as I tend to calm down a bit, find it harder to get up and the like until mid-march when I force myself into it again. I […]