29th April
Chasing the vulture around the Fakenham area to no avail, so headed up to the Monty's site, several Montagu's harriers were presnet on arrival and showed well. The black kite was eventually located although a little distant. With not much doing we headed back via Ely where lots of Muscovy ducks were present.

27th April
An obliging hare on the outskirts of the village was of note.

23rd April
Leaving work early for a prior engagement, and that deal with I headed to Colney where in the dark and drizzle the Iberian chiffchaff was waiting. It sang and showed well but photos were difficult in the gloom. It was supported by a blackcap and a firecrest before my departure.

22nd April
Returning from Wales we headed to Frampton on Seven where the Marbled Duck was easily located on the flashes. We then headed a little further down the canal where 17 glossy ibis have been. We picked up a lovely male pied flycatcher on the way. But could only find 4 glossy ibis and pretty distant at that.

21st April
South wales for the weekend, but a social visit, but I still managed to pop out to a local red kite feeding station www.redkiteswales.co.uk. Sixty red kites and two buzzards attended in the glorious weather.

16th April
My morning drives to work are most uneventful but this morning a red kite was soaring over the M11 just south of Newport, brightened up a monday morning.

15th April
Over to my parents for a family do in the Chilterns , where lots of red kites were showing well, a couple of buzzards were also showing.

14th April
A bust domestic day but several butterflies put in an appearance, large and small white, brimstone and peacock, displaying lapwing over the back garden was a nice sight. The yellowhammer numbers continue to dwindle with the improving weather, with only 4 coming to feed regularly in my garden, lots were seen on the edge of the village back on their territories.

9th April
The long journey home, the Tarbet - Uig crossing was very quiet, several dozen puffin a few razorbills and 4 manx shearwaters the highlights. The weather on Skye was bad and no eagles could be found in the northern hills and no divers in the lochs so we headed south with lunch and shopping stops to Callander where after 30 mins in a traffic jam on the outskirts (I thought everone had seen the bird) we got to Loch Venacher where the Barrow's goldeneye was quickly found displaying to 3 goldeneye females, a grey wagtail was also present. We headed for home.

8th April
A more leisurley day, heading off to the Skua colony, being early in the season only a few great skuas were present, displaying to each other in the strong winds. Not much else so we headed to the north side of Loch Stiapabhat, here the weather had worstened with torrential rain in addition to the strong winds. We had a juv iceland gull flew over the car. We searched round for a bit before finding the adult Kumleins gull in a sheep field. On to the Butt of Lewis, where fulmars, andkittiwake were present sheltering from the weather. A great northern diver was present but no white billed to be seen, a bridled guilemot was also on the sea. Back to Loch Stiapabhat, this time on the south side where the hide was used to shelter from the weather. A group of 14 Greenland whitefronted geese amongst the greylags and some barnacles on the far side of the loch were the pick of the birds. Port Ness and Skirgersta had no white billed divers, a flock of golden plover flew past but little else. A look and Loch Barvas did not yield much either. A report of a Bonapart's gull at Coll, so we headed there but it could not be found during an extensive search of the area or at Gress where quite a number of gulls were roosting, the weather was still shocking. With time getting on it was back to Stornoway, where the rain had eased a little allowing for a few pics, of one of the two juv iceland gulls present and the american herring gull although it was not as close at the previous evening.

7th April
We caught the first ferry to North Uist, with hundreds of shags, eiders, long tailed ducks and large numbers of great northern divers on the crossing. The Snowy owl had long gone from the Loch Phaibeil area but a glaucous gull was on the loch. With little else around we headed to Balranald where a large flock of twite entertained and a peregrine tormented the redshanks, snipe, lapwings and corn buntings present. We scoured the island for otters without luck so headed to Benbecula and quickly found the scaup and lesser scaup on coot loch amongst the tufted duck, shoveler and gadwall. Still no otters on the return journey despite lots of stops. A stop at Greintote we added ringed plovers but little else. We headed back to Harris on the ferry again with lots of long tailed ducks, eider, great northern divers and an otter on a small island. We headed to Stornoway for some food via the harbour, where a trawler was coming in, this attracted 3 seals in addition to a large numbher of gulls, we picked out the american herring gull and 5 iceland gulls inc one adult. (why did I leave my camera behind) A bag of chips was taken to Loch Branahuie where several long tailed ducks were present but not much else.

6th April
The overnight drive was more tiring than usual, a quick stop at Loch Lomond produced the first of many hooded crows of the trip. We headed north however the sat nav had other ideas and we took the worst route possible and we only just made the ferry to Harris. Large numbers of puffins, razorbills and black guilemots were seen on the crossing, along with a peregrine falcon. Even though our quarry the Snowy Owls had left the Western Isles well before our arrival they are excellent for birding, our first birds were ravens and hooded crows, the highlight was three slav grebes and a couple of wheatears including one greenland ssp was located near the whaling station.

1st April
All day was rather touristy, but a selection of gulls and ducks inc goosanders were present in town but little else. Late afternoon we took a drive back to the Rhea area but nothing but deer before our late flight home.

31st March
A rather busy week at work prevented me from any birding at all, and this weekend was booked up with a trip to Lubeck, Germany part touristy but also to find the Rheas or Nandu as they are locally know present in the area which we missed a couple of months earlier in our Europe (plastic) Trip Report. within 10 mins of leaving the airport we were in the area and we spent much of the day searching, without success. We did see several buzzards, goshaw and a red kite. A small pond held a pair of goosanders and a white wagtail. A trip to the local town produced a selection of food for lunch. A wider search produced lots of the commoner birds, a large flock of redwings and fieldfares. Some helpful locals had seen a flock of 60 or so in the past few days and showed us where but to no avail. I took a walk up a track, where I met another birdwatcher who was there for a breeding bird survey of some rare birds, he asked me not to disclose its location or the species. We walked up the track and a rhea was in a rape field. The birdwatcher continued to his destination and the rhea was watched in the field. I returned to the car for the camera, girlfirend etc. and went back to my vantage point, the rhea had gone, but continuing down the track, its head could be seen above the rape. It was easily hidded even in the foot or so high rape. Our vantagepoint was a deer stalkers platform where we had good views of the rhea and several pairs of common cranes displaying an excellent sight, as was a close passing hen harrier. After having our fill we headed to Lubeck for the evening, a bat sp was of note.

24th March
A rather dismal day with high winds kept most birders at home as Norfolk was totally deserted. Our first stop was the stone curlew which were present, 4 green woodpeckers and a couple of buzzards supported. Grimes Graves was alive with woodlark and the acrobatic great grey shrike entertained. Cley was the next stop but the weather was terrible and after a short walk down the beach we retreated to the shelter, where after a short while the adult Glacous gull dropped in. Wells would not give up its geese so we headed to Tichwell, which due to the bad weather was very quite, the green winged teal and a couple of little gulls were the pick, several very pink black headed gulls were of note. A quick look round Wolferton for the Black eared kite and golden pheasants drew a blank so we headed home.

20th March
An early morning start (yet again) this time to Minsterworth for 8am, not for any birds but for the Severn Bore, an it was quite spectacular. Afterwards we headed to New Fancy View and quickly got onto two displaying Goshawks amongst the buzzards and peregrines. After lunch we headed for home via Cropredy to see the common crane which was easily found in the field feeding with mute swans.

10th - 18th March
A trip to Morocco, check out the trip report here shortly

4th March
A drive through the night, top eclipse - to Cornwall, it only started raining as I approached the first site of the day (oh how I was wishing I went the day earlier - but being away last weekend and will next week I had to earn some brownie points) I trekked in the dark and pouring rain to the quarry, there were approx 50 other nutters there and after about an hour or so they started to drift off as the bird could not be found. The stragglers hoping the rain to stop picked up the Gyr Falcon as it flew through the quarry and over my head, it landed on a wall and good views were had but in torrential rain. Next stop was a cup of tea and to dry out, and then on to Hayle where the white billed diver was showing well and the rain eased enough to get a few pics, but not for long. The rain back with a vengance during my search for the Frankilns gull but no luck, two med gulls the only thing of note. The eastern lesser whitethroat was easily found giving good views and we studied it for a while blackcap and a couple of chiffchaffs were also present, by now my second set of waterproofs was soaked so a quick visit to the spotted sandpiper before finding some shelter. After drying our a bit I took another look at the white billed diver before heading home, not having the inclination for any more wet weather birding.

2nd March
An early Morning visit to Connaught Water in fabulous weather, only a few dog walkers to disturb the peace and quiet. The red Crested Pochard was conspicous but was not the reason for my visit. The Mandarin Ducks were and they obliged showing very well displaying in the spring sunshine. Also of note was a pair of Ringed teal. A pleasant morning.

24th - 27th February
A trip to Finland, check out the trip report here