Funk in a mason jar

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Had a good game of football this morning with my team beating the opposition 8-4. I made some good saves. The goals that they scored against me were mistakes on my behalf. Honest.

Had a long overdue meeting with Malka, the camera operator that I film with on a regular basis. We made plans and penciled diary dates for future projects including our trip to Budapest that’s organised for early June and our shoot day at the end of June with The Gay Birders Association, amongst others.

I’m shooting tomorrow with ITV so after Malka left I got to work with some last minute research and wardrobe decisions. I think that The Urban Birder should have a certain look – a look that is funky though practical at the same time. 
Unfortunately, a lot of the practical gear simply isn’t funky, so there’s a bit of a dilemma there.

Email

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The doctor rang me this morning to say that the results of my blood test were all clear. I have normal sugar levels, normal kidney and liver functions and I am not diabetic. Cool.

I have recently changed web designer for my site and she had to change the webmaster. I don’t really understand how all that gubbins works but one thing’s for sure, I’ve suddenly got an avalanche of sordid spam emails promising untold prowess in the bedroom, lengthening of the parts other men can’t reach and the secret cure to Swine Flu. I’m getting so bored of deleting these annoying emails.
My self imposed writing block has truly been shattered as I sit here watching Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto on Bravo. I have such an easily broken concentration span! 
I’d better go and delete some more viagra emails.

Book worm

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The two books that I weaned on

My visit to the doctor resulted in him not thinking that I had a sugar problem. His hunch was that I was suffering from headache-less migranes. It was getting stranger by the minute. I’ve never heard of that condition. But then, he hadn’t heard of mine either!

Today was a day of toiling behind a laptop screen mostly to catch up on emails. I wrote a review for The Birds Of West Ham Park which is a small book written about an urban local patch by an urban birder. All good in my book. I also chose the hotel that I will be staying at in Budapest next month when I go there to research an urban birding article for Bird Watching Magazine. I answered a question posed by the very same magazine about my first ever bird book and my favourite bird book. The answer was easy. The field guide and Eric Simms’ book was my favourite. I think that the survey that they are conducting will be published in time for the British Birdwatching Fair in August.
My biggest achievement today was to write a TV treatment that I have been struggling to start for the last 6 weeks in just over an hour. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

Doctor Doctor

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I think I need to see a doctor.

I think that I have an allergy to sugar – the very drug that I crave for everyday of my life. I woke up this morning hoping to hit The Scrubs, but I felt drained and unable to hear properly. When I was a fresh faced 16 year-old starting my first ever job, out of boredom I used to down 6-7 Doubledecker chocolate bars, a tin or two of 7up and a box of 6 apple pies – A DAY and FOR YEARS!!!
The funny thing was that I didn’t put an ounce of weight on, moreover, I was pretty fit looking with a six-pack and all. However, I’d occasionally get bouts of illness attacks. I’d feel extremely nauseous, very dizzy, lethargic and profoundly deaf. Over the years, the sugar consumption decreased and the attacks lessened in their intensity but it was only very recently that I realised that I may possibly have an allergy to sugar, so tomorrow I will visit the doctor for some proper medical advice.
I was contacted by the Wildlife Trusts about getting The One Show to feature the Peregrines in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust have a camera locked onto the goings on at a city nest site, whilst the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust have come up with a novel new DNA database for Peregrines. All very fascinating. I sent the information on in the hope that The One Show are interested.
Anyway, it’s deadline time again so I better go do some more writing as well as boning up on the butterflies of the UK. An Urban Birder’s work is never done… 

Are things turning around?

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A juvenile Whinchat at The Scrubs (sorry I have no spring picture)

Not quite the day I expected on several levels. 

Firstly, they promised a sunny warm weekend. Well that never happened. This morning was positively nippy at The Scrubs initially with impending rain clouds drifting in from the west. Thankfully, Mr Blue Sky made a brief appearance staving off the rain. But the drizzle did happen later as did the grey cloud cover.
Ornithologically, things brightened up this morning, lightening my mood. I discovered 2 migrant Whinchats in the grassland and there was a steady passage of Swifts and Swallows heading north. It was nice to see a movement of birds because up until now The Scrubs had a definite settled feeling with just the breeding birds doing their thing.
Back at home my time was spent catching up on the various writing projects that I need to complete. Sometimes I wish I had a factory like Andy Warhol that specialised in knocking out all my work for me.
Well, I can dream…..

Where are my Ring Ouzels?

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The Scrub’s first ever Ring Ouzel in April 2004

Yesterday’s recce at Kensal Green Cemetery with the director and cameraman team from ITV’s ‘Countrywise’ went well. They were impressed with the site itself and thought that come the shoot day I wouldn’t need a script – they just want me to chat.

This morning I journeyed to The Scrubs again. I’m still feeling a bit despondent due to the lack of ‘good’ migrants at my patch this spring. No Common Redstarts, Cuckoos, Nightingales and crucially, no Ring Ouzels. The Ouzel, my favourite bird, has been making a regular appearance for the past 5 years – as I have oft said. 
It’s still not too late. Well, that’s what I keep telling myself!

TV

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Kensal Green Cemetery, west London

I have been asked to do a piece on urban wildlife for ITV1’s ‘Countrywise’ which I will be hopefully filming next week at Kensal Green Cemetery – a stone’s throw from funky Ladbroke Grove. I suggested this venue, which is less than 2 miles from my house, because it’s an area of outstanding beauty. It was originally built in the late 1880’s and is the final resting place for several notables with some pretty fine crypts to match.

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with the the director and a camera person for a recce. I will be up there before they arrive to stake out Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker nest holes, as well as locating Great Burnetts and other regionally scarce plants. I’ll let you know when it will be aired.
I hope that like my little piece of the country.

Wedding bells

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Mr & Mrs Barbato and no, she isn’t nude!

I had a gorgeous day near Beccles, Suffolk at my good friend Sacha’s wedding. I first met him 21 years ago at Brent Reservoir whilst birding. We became great birding buddies thereafter. Sacha was with me on my first few visits to The Scrubs and was a great person to have birdy chats with especially due to the fact that he lived in London.

When he met Nathalie, his workmate, I knew that they were destined to be together. She is a cool girl with a wanderlust that matched his. When they moved to Norfolk 4 years ago I grieved despite being very very happy for them. I had lost my London birding mate.
I hadn’t really, as he is still at the end of a phone line and he still has a very keen interest in the birds that I find at The Scrubs, despite the fact the he is now seeing birds in East Anglia that I can only dream about.
They are a great couple and I wish them heaven. 

I never realised….

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….that people actually read this blog!

Seriously!
I often sit here pounding out the words on my Mac thinking ‘who the hell reads this stuff?’ Well, a few people obviously do, as I have been discovering recently. I’m sure that some of you have had people come up to you asking you about things that you had previously thought no-one knew about. That is until you realised that you had dashed your thoughts onto the stoney rocks of the ether for the world and his mum to potentially read.
Today, I called the marketing/promotions people at the London Wetland Centre to ask if I could film at their site on the behalf of Birdguides. The first lady I spoke with firstly knew who I was and gushed that she read my blog avidly. (If you are reading this now, I hope that I haven’t embarrassed you!)
I just hope that my mum hasn’t sussed out how to get onto my blog. She has a laptop and is experimenting with the internet but she is definitely in at the shallow end – not like her son who is well and truly deep see trawling on the net! 
It’s a lucky thing I haven’t been getting into the more sordid details of my life…….yet!

A sunny day in London

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Alas, I have to concede that the pair of Skylark that I so zealously guarded on the grassland at The Scrubs have finally deserted. To be fair, it was wishful thinking to suppose that they would stay and raise a brood, given the level of disturbance – both terrestrial (dogwalkers and humans) and airbourne (low flying model aircraft). I will now have to redirect my energies to make sure that our Meadow Pipits don’t go the same way.

As I strolled around my patch early this morning, I realised that I was still pretty knackered after my Polish adventure. There was not much to be seen, but I did see my first Swift in British airspace.
After a brief siesta, I set about the boring minutiae of the paperwork that has been lying on my floor for the past 2 weeks.

Poles apart

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This morning was a bit of a cock-up probably due to language misunderstandings. I was meant to meet ‘Chem’ my guide at 5.30am to check out a cemetery – or so I thought. So I crawled out of bed and slid down to the bustop to catch the 150 at 5.30am only to find that there was no number 150 and it was now 5.35am. Panicking, I jumped into a cab and paid 32 zlotys to get to the meeting place. Of course, when I called Chem, he was on a tram heading to work thinking that I wasn’t turning up. Miffed, I spent another 32 zloty to get back to my hotel for some kip.

How much are zlotys worth these days anyway?
To quote the late great Marvin Gaye, I was ‘flying high in a friendly sky’ by the late afternoon heading to Stanstead. It had been an interesting week. Football tomorrow.

Dipping at the Fish Ponds

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Penduline Tit – photo from the Polish Birders Forum.Photographer not known

After 2 minutes sleep for the previous night, I got up at 4.30am and began my perilous journey to the Fish Ponds (40km outside Krakow). Eventually got to the site at 7.30am after a few hiccups. I spent a mega 10 hours birding and walking – and boy am I feeling it now!

The highlights were 5 Bitterns plus 3 booming, a Blue-headed Wagtail that nearly landed on my head and my first Swift of the year. The top prize however, goes to the pair of Penduline Tits that I watched weaving their nest in full view. When I came across them I sat myself on the dirt road and just enjoyed. Whilst watching them, I noticed a large raptor sitting in the same tree – literally feet away from the tits with it’s back to the action. It turned its head and suddenly noticed me sitting on the floor, staring at it through my bins. As I realised that it was a female Goshawk, she nearly jumped out of her skin and promptly flew off!
How often do you get to sneak up on a Goshawk?
Unfortunately, I dipped on the Savi’s Warbler despite my best efforts. It just would not even give me a hint of it from deep within the sedgebed it was singing from. I’ve only ever been near a Savi’s Warbler once before and that was in 1986 in Norfolk. I never saw that one either!

Heaven in a fish pond

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Black-necked Grebes – Dean Eades

I was up again at the crack of dawn and after a lame hotel breakfast I walked through the city heading south to the river. Once at the River Vistula I took a left turn and headed east. The river was fairly concreted at the edges for the first mile or so. When the banks became natural I began to see the birds; another migrant Common Redstart, a female Black Redstart, Wood Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Tree Sparrow, Lesser Whitethroat and Kingfisher were added to the list. It was a bloody long walk and I got back to more or less where I started some 4 hours later.

After having some lunch, I hooked up with Chemink (after walking over 2 miles to get to our meeting point) to head some 40km out of town to visit an area of fish ponds with a name that I won’t even bother to try to write down. Essentially, it was an area of around 15 gravel pits, some of which were drained. It was absolutely amazing! Whiskered Terns, around 10 Marsh Harriers, White Stork, Garganey, Great White Egret, Black-necked Grebe, Wood Sandpiper, a booming Bittern were all in evidence. Plus I heard Penduline Tit, Savi’s and Great Reed Warblers.
I decided to change my plans for tomorrow and brave a long bus journey to get back to these fish ponds and spend a day tracking down the abundant birdlife. It’s not quite Urban Birding, but everybody needs a fix every now and again.

Epic city stroll

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Przemyslav – my guide
No sooner had my head hit the pillow the annoying unmusical rattle of the alarm on my Crackberry caused me to rise again, bleary eyed at 5.15am. The light outside was fantastic. Dawn was well and truly on its way. Przemyslav was waiting for me in the hotel lobby. 
Now I’ve been struggling with the pronunciation of this fella’s name for weeks now (he originally contacted me via email a little while ago). But now I know. It’s ‘Chemink’ as in Temminck.
A tract of forest in Krakow
We walked for the next 8 hours through city streets, forests and alongside the River Vistula that cuts through the city. The forest was most interesting for it was here that I discovered a couple of rarities that excited ‘Chem’. The first was a male Middle Spotted Woodpecker which was my first ever and the second was a gorgeous male Collared Flycatcher that was calling in a tree over our heads. We also had singing Wood Warbler, tons of Hawfinch and a couple of Black Woodpeckers.
Outside the forest I had my first Redstart of the year; a male that flew across the road and I also found his first Swallow and Common Tern for the year. We walked through a riverside forest in the hope of finding the elusive Grey-headed Woodpecker, but no avail. We heard several (to my ear) Green Woodpeckers and found a couple lizards, grass snake, frogs and flushed 3 Roe Deer.
Chem invited me back to his home to meet the missus and his cute 4 year old, Thomas. We had lunch. The plan then was to go out in the field again, but I chickened out and got a cab back to the hotel for a well deserved siesta.

Krakow tonight

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I often wondered about the logic behind passengers cheering and applauding as a plane touches down to land. I could understand it if, God forbid, the craft had engine failure and the pilot had to guide the plane down safely against all adversity. That’s fair enough. 

Tonight, I had a fairly routine flight between Stanstead and Krakow. However, when we touched down it seemed as though the plane had just landed on two of its wheels – and not necessarily the same two wheels at any given moment. I found myself clutching my armrest rather too tightly for my liking. As we rocked and jerked down the runway at great speed, the passengers burst into spontaneous applause. Surely the time to applaud is when you are safely tucked up in your Polish bed clutching your teddy as that lovely, warm feeling envelopes you as sleep wafts into your soon to be unconscious mind. Now that’s the time to clap!
I’m in Krakow, in the third room that my hotel had to offer. The previous two had no internet access. My final room is a family room that I think overlooks the old town square. I met with my Polish guide, he is a lovely fella. He picked me up from the airport and we went for a drink to plan tomorrow.
The plan by the way is to leave the hotel at 6am to walk around the city and surrounds. He’s planning a 20km hike and he’s bringing sandwiches for us both!
I’d better go get some beauty sleep!

Krakow tomorrow

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I’m now getting slightly desperate in my search for Ring Ouzel and Nightingale at The Scrubs. I’ve recorded both species on passage every year for the past five. My problem is that historically the ultimate time to locate these species on their brief stopover at my patch is during the week commencing the 20th April. Tomorrow’s the 20th and I’m going to Krakow, Poland then for the week. 

I fear that The Scrubs will be barely covered during that period. Anyone out there who could pop around and watch over it for me?

This morning I heard my first Garden Warbler of the season (although there was one reported 2 days ago) and a Skylark, perhaps 2 were seen – but not from the recognised breeding area. I’m really confused. Have they deserted and the bird(s) I see are just lingering? Or are they still breeding but just ranging around?
After seeing Manchester United knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties by Everton at my mate’s house, I returned home tail firmly between legs and started packing my bag for my trip to Krakow to experience the wonders of urban birding there. I will be picked up at the airport by my guide, Przyemyslaw (or John as I’ve dubbed him because I cannot pronounce his name for love nor money!). He will then take me around for the next few days. Should be interesting.
I will hopefully be reporting back from Poland tomorrow night.

An ignorant twat

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Dawn over the Isle of Grain, North Kent

This morning was gorgeous!

I awoke to a phone call from fellow Scrubber Roy at 6.20am informing me that a probable Osprey had just flown over the Scrubs. Of course, Saturday mornings are football mornings for me, so I had to suppress my instinct to jump up and run to The Scrubs. Instead, a short while later, I was sprawling spectacularly in between the goal posts. We won 4-2.
Later this evening I attended a drinks party held by another Scrubber, David Jeffreys, who wanted to celebrate his recent clean bill of health after having gone through minor heart surgery a few months ago. As I walked into his living room a drunken twat piped up and said “He looks like Stevie Wonder! It’s Stevie Wonder!” He thought that he was hilarious. My retort was curt. In a load sarcastic voice I replied “That was really funny. That was original. How long did it take you to think that one up?”
Embarrassed, he quickly shut up and barely said a word for the remaining 30 minutes that he stayed at the gathering. After which he left, drunk, to drive home. 
I think that says it it all.

Anybody lose this?

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I’ve been feeling a bit pressurized of late. Much too much to do and all of it needing major amounts of my time. I hate having things hanging over me and although I can deal with deadlines, the worst kind of pressure comes from the things that creep up on you. Before you know it, you find yourself having to produce the goods overnight.

Take my talk last night. I knew about it some 6 months ago. I already had a talk that covered the same subject, so when I looked at it the day before the event I suddenly realised that it was sub-standard and that I had to create a new powerpoint presentation from scratch. Hours later, I produced something that was much more relevant and far more humorous. It included a slide a blow-up doll that I once found in the grassland. I introduced as one of the rarities that I found lurking in the grassland one morning!
I’m going to Krakow, Poland next week for a few days to research my next Birdwatching Magazine article. My lovely agent, Jo, sent me an email offering her linguistic skills (she speaks Polish) on the end of a phoneline, should I need it. It was a lovely gesture.

Talk

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I’ve been under the cosh with the various things that I’m up to.

Tonight, I gave a talk at Camley Street Nature Reserve in London’s Kings Cross for the London Natural History Society. My talk was entitled ‘A Year In Wormwood Scrubs’ and was a look at the birdlife of my patch over the period of a year.
It went well though I was disappointed that the audience wasn’t a large one. But the people that did show up were very appreciative.

Hurdles crossed

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European Starling – Andy Cook

I hope that those of you who celebrate Easter had a chocolate filled good time!

I spent the last few days writing the articles that I should have written over a week ago. The great thing is that the piece that I wrote for the RSPB on Top Lodge, Fineshade Wood went down very well with the editor. Which reminds me. The latest issue of ‘Birds’ should be hitting people’s doorsteps any day now. If it has hit yours, look out for my piece on Brighton’s Starlings. Let me know what you think.
Today I had a good meeting with Alicia my new web designer. So over the next few months you should see a discernible difference with my site – hopefully far sexier and functional.
On the birding front, I had two amazing site ticks for The Scrubs on Monday in the shape of a Kingfisher (miles from the nearest stretch of water) and a Red-legged Partridge that I flushed from Chats Paddock. We have been recording Northern Wheatears on a near daily basis and I had my first Common Whitethroat for the year. Finally, my Skylark seems to be still around, but is given to suddenly taking off and flying miles away.
Tonight, the rain is pelting down outside my window, though they say that tomorrow will be the warmest day yet this year. The rain will stop overnight before the dawn and the morning’s meant to be wonderfully sunny. All those factors could result in a fall of migrants.
I will be patrolling first thing.