astafjevs

Our first stop on arriving in Norfolk on a very warm October lunchtime was Weeting Heath to look and see if there were any lingering stone curlews; there were not, only lapwing. We moved on to nearby Grimes Graves where the main interest is archaeological but we also saw our first wheatear of the trip and lots of meadow pipits.

From here, we headed back across the border to Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk. Unfortunately, the cranes weren’t at home although the person manning the visitor...

This is a long one!

Our journey up North was uneventful apart from a closure of the M5 which sent us on a round the houses trip around Worcestershire. Undaunted, we arrived at Mere Sands Wood near Rufford at lunchtime in the hope of seeing some tree sparrows as they’re rare where we’re from and were missing from my year list. We asked in the visitor centre where the best spot might be and I think the warden was a bit amused to be asked about sparrows! He suggested the feeders at the...

We joined an 'organised' nightingale walk at RSPB Highnam Woods tonight. I say 'organised' but a better word would probably be 'haphazard' or possibly 'shambolic'!

We arrived late but fortunately the group was still in the car park. A man collected £4 from us and I assumed him to be in charge. It was a large group, and without a word of introduction, it marched off. It started to rain.

The group stopped a short while later beside a musical bush. Despite no explanation,...

(readers beware, this is a long one!! )

Having made the trip up from Bristol the night before, we left our hotel at 4.40am yesterday to make the short trip to Coed Llandegla Forest for our Black Grouse Walk with the RSPB. We got off to a great start, as we flushed a tawny owl from a tree as we were driving to the venue, and got great views as it flew in front of us.

Arriving just as day was starting to break, we met our guide and waited for everyone else to arrive....

After an early start, we boarded the 8.00am ‘fast’ ferry in Ballycastle for the 25-minute journey across to the island. I half hoped for shearwaters on the way over but the boat was too fast to spot anything much! As we neared the island, little whizzing black birds were either guillemots, razorbills or even puffins but I wasted no time in trying to identify them as I was confident we’d see them later! When the boat slowed down, we entered the harbour and discovered it to be full of eiders (a lifer...