Knepp Estate - 27th May 2024

 Today, Jayne and I went to the Knepp Estate, which is a large rewilding scheme, here in Sussex. We went to see the reintroduced White Storks (172), which now breed on the estate, as well as a couple of other key species: Turtle Dove (171) and Nightingale (173).

We walked around the 10km red route, and managed to see the three target birds. The first birds seen were the Turtle Doves. We managed to spot two birds, possibly a pair, sitting in a tree by the first treetop viewpoint, and I got a couple of half decent photos.

Turtle Doves (nearly!)

A bit better!

Shortly after these views, we saw our first White Storks, a distant view of a pair on a nest. We also saw another pair, with two young, and managed to get some photos (taken from a very safe distant and heavily cropped).

White Storks

The third species, Nightingale, wasn't so cooperative, but we did manage to hear at least 2 singing - a fantastic sound.

Whilst walking around the site, we also recorded many other species, including: Whitethroat, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Song Thrush, Wren, Jackdaws, Crows, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Blue and Great Tit, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Buzzard, Red Kite, Fallow and Red Deer, Grey Squirrel, a vole species, a grasshopper sp, 2 Small Heath butterflies, 2 Mother Shipton moths and a male Beautiful Demoiselle!!

Beautiful Demoiselle

Cuber Reservoir

My last post about the birds of Mallorca concerns the Cuber Reservoir.

Cuber Reservoir

Jayne and I visited it to see Griffon and Black Vulture, both of which were seen flying over the reservoir. In total we saw 4 Griffon and 2 Black Vultures. Whilst walking around the site, we also heard Nightingale singing, and saw 1 Tawny Pipit, a group of 11 Ravens flying over and a hunting Osprey that landed on the water's edge. Another Black Vulture was, surprisingly, seen later in the holiday flying about 30m above the main motorway whilst travelling towards Palma!

Black Vulture

Griffon Vulture

Year List update:

182 – Black Vulture

183 – Griffon Vulture
184 – Tawny Pipit

185 - Nightingale

Year List Update and a new Dragonfly

This week is half term, which means I've had a bit of time to get out and about to do some birdwatching and increase my "year list". I've also added a new species of dragonfly to my "life list" with a Scarce Chaser seen.

The first new bird that I found was the Long-eared Owl. I saw this bird hunting over the moorland in the Peak District. I won't give the exact site, as it is a site where the bird has been known to breed.

The next birds, numbers 132- 138 (except House Martin, which I saw a few weeks ago, but forgot to add on), were all seen on a recent trip the RSPB Ouse Washes reserve in Cambridgeshire. I'm particularly pleased with the Short-eared Owl, Bittern (heard booming), and the Common Cranes, which are never easy to find. Whilst on site, we also saw and heard at least 2 Cuckoos, saw a Great-spotted Woodpecker feeding chicks, a fly-over Green Woodpecker, Swallows and caught up with my first dragon and damselflies of 2015, namely Blue-tailed Damselflies, Emerald Damselflies and this beautiful Scarce Chaser, which is a new species for me!!. I'm pretty sure its a young male, and, as its name suggests, its pretty scarce in the UK. See here for more details about this species.

Scarce Chaser

The final new bird is a Nightingale, which is now imposssible to see in Derbyshire. For this bird we, Jayne and I, travelled a little further south to Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. We were very lucky and managed to hear and actually see at least 2 male birds singing around the Kingfisher Hide. If you've never heard  the song of the Nightingale, listen to it here, as its an amazing sound. Whilst there, we also heard more Cuckoos, and saw a couple of males flying around the site. 

Year List update:
 131 – Long-eared Owl

132 – Common Tern

133- Common Crane

134 - Little Egret

135 – Short-eared Owl

136 – Bittern

137 – House Martin

138 – Reed Warbler

139 - Nightingale

Minsmere Magic!

Just been down to Suffolk for a week's family holiday. I managed to get quite a lot of birding done, including 3 visits to RSPB Minsmere and a drive over to RSPB Lakenheath.  Over the course of the week I managed a respectable total of 101 species, including 15 "year ticks".

We stayed in a small village called Sweffling, which was about 20 minutes from Minsmere. I went across to this superb reserve on 3 ocassions, incluidng 2 early morning visits. Bitterns were heard booming on all visits and Jayne and I watched one feeding from the aptly named Bittern Hide for over 30 minutes one evening.

Bittern

Over the three visits we recorded a total of 69 species including Cuckoo, Bearded Tits, Nightingale, Marsh Harrier and Hobby, as well as a Great White Egret. This really is an amazing place, well worth a visit at any time of the year.

Hobby

Year List update:

126 – Hobby

127 – Cuckoo
128 – Nightingale
129 – Marsh Harrier
130 – Common Tern
131 – Cettis Warbler
132- Reed Warbler
133 – Bearded Tit
134 – Red-backed Shrike
135 – Dartford Warbler
136 – Woodlark
137 – Grasshopper Warbler
138 – Dunlin
139 – Great White Egret
140 – Barn Owl

More details of some of the above birds to follow.

Lesvos - 21st April 2011

Way back in April I travelled to the Greek island of Lesvos with my wife and daughter to celebrate my 40th birthday. I wrote up a report about the trip, but, not being  very technically minded I've never actually managed to upload it to "the web". I thought, therefore, that I'd put a series of posts on the blog highlighting the most exciting parts of the trip. Here goes....

Day 1 - We arrived in Lesvos in the afternoon and drove across the island to our resort of Skalla Kalloni. We'd chosen to stay here as it is located quite centrally for many of the birding sites and, as we found out on the way across, it is also very popular with English birders.

Our hotel

As soon as we arrived I went out onto the balcony where I had my first lifer of the trip, a Thrush Nightingale singing in the garden! This was followed quickly by the second lifer, when a Black Stork flew over the hotel. Also here were the first of many Crested Larks, House Sparrows and a Hooded Crow.

Walking into town for a spot of tea, we stopped off at the Kalloni Pool just outside the hotel where we met up with a lot of birders. The air was filled with Swallows, House Martins and Swifts, whilst Yellow Wagtails of the Blue headed and Black headed races were feeding with 2 adult male Red throated Pipits.

Red throated Pipit

In the nearby fields there were dozens more Yellow Wagtails and another "trip tick", a Nightingale. This bird sat out in the open singing away, very unlike british birds which are usually very difficult to see.

Nightingale

Walking along the beach on the Gulf of Kalloni into town we spotted a beautiful adult Mediterranean Gull, several Whiskered Terns and the Greek race of Jay which, unlike the british race, has a lovely black crown.

We ended our first night in a lovely taverna - very nice!