This morning saw me raising and dragging my carcass to The Scrubs – driven by the force that is known to many as spring migration. I had hoped to find more Wheatears or to discover our first singing Blackcaps. No avail.

I was standing by the grassland looking out for Meadow Pipits and any hidden Wheatears when from behind flew a Woodcock. It flew in a leisurely fashion across the grassland looking as though it wasn’t flushed as there was nobody in the vicinity. It plonked itself down into some shorter grass literally feet away from a dogwalker, who although was looking in the Woodcock’s direction, seemed oblivious to the bird’s arrival.

This was only our second ever record, although I dare say that they are probably more frequent than records suggest. It certainly made my morning.

Back at base, I continued to plan for the Tower 42 Bird Study Group launch. BBC London want to film me on the roof of Tower 42 on Friday morning so that they can use the edited footage as a news item on TV that day. I had to correct the news editor who had labelled the piece ‘twitching on the roof’. I reminded her that twitching is a very different discipline to standing on a roof waiting for migrants to fly over.

Perhaps they will get it one day!

The Tower looms. Well the Tower 42 Bird Study Group launch that is. Interest in this initiative is increasing daily. Now it looks like the Sunday Express may be running a piece on it and I’m being interviewed about it next week.

Got a big day tomorrow as I have a succession of meetings predominately at the BBC Bristol offices with my agent alongside me. I hope that they lead to something interesting.

So as I head off for some beauty sleep before catching the dawn train westward out of town, I will leave you with some more images of the birds of Extremadura taken by my good friend Russell F Spencer.

Life’s been pretty busy recently, as per usual. Since coming back from Extremadura it has been deadline after deadline plus I have the launch of the Tower 42 Bird Study Group happening a week on Friday.

Tonight, I made a rare appearance on BBC1’s The One Show with a piece on the Red Kites in Gateshead in the northeast. It went down well with many people texting and emailing to say how much they enjoyed it.

Oh, and the reason for the Tree Swallow picture is quite simple. I’m reviewing a photographic guide to the birds of Jamaica which made me consult the trip list from my visit there in 2005. I soon discovered that I had seen no less than 4 national rarities including a female Green-winged Teal and a sole Caspian Tern whilst seawatching off Negril. Best of all were a couple of Cliff Swallows amongst the more abundant Tree and Cave Swallows. Apparently, Cliff Swallows have barely ever been seen on the island. It just goes to show that anything can turn up anywhere and wherever you are, always expected the unexpected.

I sent my records in at the time but they were never acknowledged. I resent them to the author of the book and had a reply the following day to thank me. It’s good to submit your records no matter how irrelevant you may think that they are.

As I mentioned yesterday, before a flu induced haze came over me, I had a great time in Extremadura in the company of photographer extraordinaire, Russell Spencer whilst being led by the extremely knowledgable (and very nice with it) Martin Kelsey of Birding Extremadura (www.birdingextremadura.com)

Russell and I were based in Merida, the capital city of the region (which is the size of Wales). Merida has a rich Roman heritage and indeed the first place Martin took us to was The Roman Bridge that straddles the Guadiana River in the centre of the city. At 790 metres it’s the longest surviving Roman bridge in the world and aside from the river, it overlooked areas of reedbed and wet woodland. Well that was what we should have been seeing. Instead, because of the excessive and unprecedented rain that had fallen recently, a lot of the habitat was under water.

Despite that, we still managed to see (and hear) Cetti’s Warbler, tons of Chiffchaffs, a solo Penduline Tit, Pallid & Alpine Swifts, Barn Swallows and House Martins, Little and Cattle Egrets, Night Heron, a male Little Bittern and a couple of Purple Swamphen. The bridge is one of the best places in the region to observe Purple Swamphen.

We then nipped into the streets of Merida just as rush hour hit (if you can call 20 people a ‘rush hour’!) to take a photo of me birding in the narrow streets for my next piece in BBC Wildlife Magazine. It was all a rush because I was on deadline and had to email it over pronto. So we invaded the nearby Extremadura Tourist Office and created havoc as we took over their computers to get the email over.

Next, Martin took us to a ruined Roman amphitheatre closeby were we saw plentiful Collared Dove, Serin and Greenfinch. We then drove north for 45 minutes heading for Caceres a city whose centres are dominated by Moorish and Medieval architecture. It was in the ancient part of the city that we came across the first of the many Lesser Kestrels that we saw over the ensuing days. They are absolutely lovely birds. We stood on the elevated steps of a cathedral watching them whizz past, along with seeing plentiful nesting White Stork and Spotless Starlings. In the sky above, the occasional migrating Red Kite passed over often in the slipstream of their Black cousins.

We ended the day outside a bullring in another town called Tujillo. We had come to see the nesting Lesser Kestrels that inhabited the tiled roof of the stadium. A Green Sandpiper flew overhead as Crested Larks and White Wagtails frolicked on the adjacent waste ground.

The next day saw us in the Extremadura hinterland getting a lesson in sussing the differences between Thekla and Crested Larks. We also saw Woodlark and Calandra Larks. I love Calandra Larks. They have this strange wader-like display flight on long black undersided wings. We also had several Great Spotted Cuckoo and heard our first Common Cuckoo. The region was amazing, especially when we headed into Parque Nacional de Monfrague were we witnessed masses of Griffon Vultures – and I’m talking hundreds. Plus loads of Black Vultures, a few Egyptian Vultures, a Golden Eagle, an impressive Spanish Imperial Eagle (or Iberian Eagle depending on what side of the Portuguese border you are), Short-toed Eagle, both kites and a Sparrowhawk – a relative scarcity. Did I mention the 120 or so migrating Common Cranes and the soaring Black Storks? I guess you get the picture, Extremadura was brilliant!

Anyway, I’m back at home, in the cold climes of London nursing the aftermath of flu. I certainly do lead a charmed life.

It seems like it has rained the whole year so far. It was a grey start today and the usual and expected rain kicked in later in the afternoon. I woke up early this morning intent on visiting The Scrubs. One look at the grey skies sent me packing back to bed. Of course, things could be a lot worse like it is in Madeira. What a dreadful situation out there.

Meanwhile, back in The Urban Birder Towers, it was business as usual. I’ve been asked to review a photographic guide to Jamaican birds by Birdguides and a book on wildlife in London by BBC Wildlife Magazine. The latter magazine has also invited me to attend their readers day as one of their experts at Slimbridge WWT in May. I have also been asked to attend the Birdwatchers Spring Fair in Tamworth for the second year in a row in April and finally, the London Wetland Centre have asked me to lead a walk and give a talk during their 10 year anniversary celebrations in late May early June.

The diary’s padding out!

After yesterday’s extreme laziness, I awoke early and ready for a jaunt down to The Scrubs only to be thwarted by heavy rainfall. No matter. The Urban Birder office doors swung open as there was work to be done.

One if the main things that I needed to do was finish my latest BBC Wildlife article which has to be in tomorrow. Another pressing thing is the launch of both the London Bird Club and the Tower 42 Bird Study Group.

And that’s just for starters.

Did anyone see Natural World on BBC2 at couple weeks ago about the natural history to be found in Essex?

What an amazing film! So beautifully shot and the wildlife footage incredible. What I liked the most about it – and it’s something that a few people had tipped me off about to made me go and watch it – was the interesting blend of urban and wildlife. The film made urban areas look gorgeous, but most importantly, it showed that wildlife was all around for all of us to see. It has the sort of production values that I have always envisaged that I would employ on my own urban birding series. Whenever that may happen.

Check it out (if you’re in the UK) on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qsxy5/Natural_World_20092010_The_Wild_Places_of_Essex/

A busy day was had at The Urban Birder Towers as I tried to draw up the invitation list for the Tower 42 Bird Study Group launch, to be held at the end of March. I also learnt today from the Italian Tourist Board that my request to hit Rome on my urban birding trail has been accepted. So I would hope to visit during May.

I’m writing my Brighton piece for Bird Watching Magazine but it is proving to be more difficult to research than I originally imagined. There’s barely anything on the net about birding in Brighton – unless you’re talking about Brighton in Canada. I’m disappointed that I have had little help from the people I contacted at the Sussex Ornithological Society thus far, which is pretty weird because every bird club I have contacted previously had been more than happy to help out.

I’m sure that I’ll get there in the end. Any Brighton birders out there?