Well we were due our annual evening visit  to Cannock Chase to see if we could find the Nightjar. We have had mixed success over the years sometimes we only here it churring but other times we have had them flying round our heads, I don't think anything flies quite like a Nightjar it's unmistakable.

We generally go around 9:00 pm and stay till it gets dark, the Nightjar doesn't start to chur until the sun has completely disappeared and the moths are flying. It was the same again tonight we heard one at 10:10 and had a brief glimpse of one, on our way back to the car. The picture below is of a Nightjar taken in 2006 you can just about make out its outline.

Nightjar 14/6/2006

We have 2 other target birds which we have seen previously on our Nightjar jaunts these being Woodcock and Long Eared Owl but we didn't see either tonight.

We did see deer though 4 does crossed our path then we saw 2 Bucks on top of one of the hills looking down at us.

It had been a pleasant evening walk on the Chase. Home about 11:00 just in time for a night cap and then Bed.

Well with not much to shout about on the West Midland Bird Club Birdline, we decided to go to Kingsbury Water Park (KWP) and walk along the Canal to Fishers Mill bridge and then on to Drayton Bassett pits, these are all good birding locations and you never know we might turn something good up.

I thought I'd take a couple of "Dude" Photographs on the way round Canal Pool at KWP, if they sit and pose then I'll take a photo.

Mute Swans with young

Grey Heron

We  heard Willow Warbler, Chiff Chaff, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler on the walk down to Drayton Bassett Pits, we were hoping for Turtle Dove at Fishers Mill but still no luck this'll be 2 years on the trot that we havn't seen or heard one.

There were 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Ringed Plovers, 1 Dunlin & 1 Redshank at Drayton Bassett Pits there was also 100s of Lesser Black Backed Gulls one or two Herring gulls with them, there had been reports of Yellow Legged Gulls being here but we didn't see any mainly because we couldn't keep the Telescope still in the wind.

Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

We didn't have a bad morning, theres always plenty to see here we even ended up with a year tick. we were in the hide overlooking Cliff pool at KWP and a Hobby flew past eating something in its talons as it did so. Great!! we don't see many of them.

Well being as it was a sunny (ish) day we thought we'd try and find the Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary Butterfly on Cannock Chase, There's been a colony in the Sherbrook Valley as long as I can remember.

We know the exact location of the colony but we couldn't find any, it is the right time of year, the Photo below was taken on the 18th June 2006. It's a bit worrying though as we didn't see any last year either. I hope we havn't lost this colony.

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 18/6/2006

We did have a great sighting though on walking to the Stepping Stones from the Punch Bowl just around the first bend what should be sitting on the top of one of the conifers on the left hand side, a female Crossbill Great! a year tick. There appears to be quite an influx of Crossbills at present they are being seen all over the country.

Female Crossbill between the Punch Bowl & the Stepping Stones.

Still had no luck with Wood Warbler though. I don't know if its me but the Chase birds have been hard work this year.

Tree Pipit close to the Steppimg Stones

Didn't stay out too long this morning though being as its Fathers Day, I'd had my orders to be home early.

There had been a Pectoral Sandpiper reported from Belvide so off we went to try our luck.

What a great way to start the day we saw this Reed Warbler singing in front of the first hide at Belvide.

Reed Warbler

This was soon followed by great views of a Kingfisher, sorry I couldn't get a picture though it flew before I could get my scope up.

I finally caught up with the Little Owl though, Great a year tick.

Little Owl

After a long search we finally found the Pectoral Sandpiper (after being shown where to look) its on the shore between the swans in the picture. if you've gat a magnifying glass you might just see it. Yet another year tick.

Pectoral Sandpiper

We found these Red eyed Damselflies thanks to Steve Nuttall who told us where they were.

Redeyed Damselfly

Redeyed Damselfly

What a lovely sunny morning, Belvide never disappoints. 

We had a Cuckoo day today I heard about 3 and had great views of one of them. ( This is always a good sighting being as I'm a little bit Cuckoo myself )

I always think if I was to be reincarnated it would be great to come back as a male Cuckoo, all you have to do is have it off with the nearest female, she will dump the egg in another birds nest and theres no family ties, what a life.

Well we finally caught up with a couple of Chase birds today, Tree Pipit & Redstart. but still no sign of Wood Warbler & Pied Flycatcher.

Tree Pipit

We also several Stonechats

Stonechat

I had great views of a male Redstart I'd just got him perfectly in focus on my telescope, just putting my camera to the lens and a cyclist came past and flushed him, just my luck, hence I have no picture.

The Sherbrook valley was like the M1 this morning cyclists everywhere.

I did manage to get a picture of this Kestrel though near the Punch Bowl car park.

Kestrel

We were of on our travels again this week to the Norfolk Broads for 4 days it was Great! Birds everywhere.

We hadn't been on the boat 10 minutes and we'd seen 3 Kingfishers. This was soon followed by great views of Marsh Harriers we saw 3 or 4 of these everyday.

We moored at a different place every night. Thurne Staithe, Ranworth Broad, Salhouse Broad and Sutton Staithe.

Our Boat

Ranworth Broad

Geese were every where mainly Greylags and Egyptian. They kept coming up to the boat looking for food.

Greylag Goose

Egyptian Goose

Warblers were everywhere as well Cettis, Reed, Willow, Blackcap and Chiff-Chaff.

I heard the Bittern Booming and both Barn and Tawny Owls during the night.

Reed Buntings were prolific they kept flying across the river in front of the boat.

We even saw an Osprey being mobbed by a Marsh Harrier, It was definitely an Osprey and not a female Marsh Harrier, It even tried to catch a fish.

But I kept the best till last a life tick. I wanted to call at Horsey Mere but we couldn't get under Potter Hiegham bridge as the water levels were too high. When we'd packed up to go home we called there and to my delight I found what I was looking for wild Common Cranes 3 flew across in front of us. Fabulous!!!

Horsey Mere Windmill.

What a great 4 days 6mph max speed limit on the boat what a GREAT GREAT!!! way to live.

One Life tick, Common Crane

5 year Ticks Cettis Warbler, Common Tern, Common Sandpiper, Osprey, Marsh Harrier,

68  species in total.

We have tended to neglect Kingsbury Water Park lately so we thought it about time we went, there had been reports of Turtle Dove by Fishers Mill in the last couple of weeks so this was the target bird for the morning. You guessed it we didn't see it. In fact it was a damp morning heard plenty birds singing including seven types of Warbler, Sedge, Reed, Willow, Garden, Blackcap, Whitetroat & Chiff Chaff. With all the leaves on the trees we only saw one of them a Sedge Warbler briefly.

I still needed Common Tern as a year tick, I thought I'd be absolutely certain to see them here as a colony had nested on the islands of Canal Pool for at least the last 24 years to my knowledge. I didn't see one where have they all gone? Have the Black Headed Gulls which are nesting on the Islands finally chased them off or was it because they got flooded out last summer with all the rain?

There wasn't too much to shout about so these next 2 photos are about the best I can do a Shelduck and a late pair of Wigeon (Are they going to nest?).

Shelduck, KWP 25/5/2008

Wigeon, KWP, 15/5/2008

Well I'm of on the Norfolk Broads for 4 days tomorrow, I think its forecast rain so I'll be wet on top as well as underneath and if I'm anywhere near a pub I'll be wet inside as well.

There had been reports of a Roseate Tern at Doxey Marshes so off we went to investigate, when looking for a way in we found a Lesser Whitethroat singing at the back of Lidl great a year tick. We eventually found our way from Sainsburys Car Park.

After consultation with local birders we found that the Roseate Tern sighting was perhaps a little dubious. Trust our luck!

All was not lost though we did see this Garganey which was another year tick.

Garganey, Doxey Marshes 18/5/2008

We called at Seven Springs on the way back but again we had no luck with the Chase birds.

Well following my adventures in Cyprus & Egypt I thought I'd better try to catch up on my British Bird year list. We went off to Brocton Coppice & Seven Springs on Cannock Chase in search of Tree Pipit, Redstart, Pied Flycatcher & Wood Warbler. Didn't see any off them. I did have 2 year ticks though, I heard a Cuckoo and saw this Whitethroat.

Whitethroat Brocton Coppice 14/5/2008

CAIRO AND THE PYRAMIDS

We were picked up at 6:15am outside our Hotel and taken to Paphos airport where we caught the 8:00 am Egypt Air flight to Cairo. The flight took off about 10 minutes early and it took about an hour. We had a snack on the plane, a small roll and a croissant with apricot jam, and rice pudding Yes! rice pudding for breakfast.

The first impression of Cairo was the sheer size of it, from the plane we could see it built up as far as the eye could see and all the buildings seemed to be a dusty dirty yellow. We were shepherded to our coach, there were 2 coaches in our party we were in coach No 2. We had an Egyptian Lady for our tour guide she was great, I don't think she stopped talking all day.

Cairo Airport Terminal

Cairo was covered in a smoogy sort of haze in the morning, this did lift a little as the sun got higher in the sky.

We were taken right accross Cairo from the north to the south crossing the river Nile and entering into Giza. This journey was a real eye opener, there is no lane discipline in Cairo when your driving in a one way street you have to make your own lane and the use of the horn is obligatory. There were heards of goats along the sides of the main roads, donkey carts full of Melons etc. The streets were filthy with litter there was squalor everywhere you looked. We saw families living under trees, we even saw a dead horse  which was being eaten by a dog. This was by an irrigation canal which was full of litter. There were very few birds to see Just a few Cattle Egrets some of these were filthy dirty.

Cattle Egret out of the coach window

There were a few House Sparrows, Swallows, Swifts & Feral Pigeons that about sums up all the birds I saw in Egypt. I did see one Duck? later flying over the Nile. I found out later that the Swallows I had been seeing in Egypt were a Sub Species (Savignii) They had dark red bellies.

Back to the trip to Giza, poverty was aparant everywhere, we were told that there were 20 million people living in Cairo. They had 2 shifts in the schools mornings and afternoons.

Egypt is an Islamic country this was evident everywhere. We went through the old Islamic part of the city the poverty could be seen everywhere. Families had built tombs to bury their dead, they keep them on the bottom floor, and they lived above them on the next floor these tombs went on as far as the eye could see. There were part built houses and high rise flats everywhere you looked. There were also Mosques and Mineretts everywhere.

 Mohamed Ali Mosque Cairo

Islamic Tombs Cairo

On arrival in Giza we started to see the Pyramids they are awesome. The coach pulled up at first between the 2 biggest ones, it was possible to go down inside the second one but we decided against it. There were peddlers everywhere trying to flog us stuff. There were police on camels, security was everywhere, we even had our own armed security guard on our coach.

Evidence I was there.

We then went on to the Sphinx for a photo stop. To see the Pyramids and the Sphinx was unbelievable.

The Sphinx with the Pyramids in the background.

We were then taken to a jewelry centre where you could get a gold pendant with your name in hieroglyphics called a Cartoush. I asked the price it was 1730 Egyptian Lira about £173 pounds, I said forget it. I bumped into the manager on the way out, he said "you like our Jewelry" I said " I like, no money" pulling my pockets out.

We then went next door to the Papyrus Museum. We were shown how the ancient Egyptians made paper out of the stems of the Papyrus plants. The stems are triangular in shape, they cut the outer green skin from each face and use this for basket weaving (Remember Moses was found floating in a papyrus basket). The Pulp inside the stems is then cut into strips, soaked stretched and pressed together to make the paper. They had paintings of old Egyptian scenes which were not overly expensive, we didn't buy one though as we were thinking of how we were going to get it home.

We were now taken for lunch to the 5 star Giza Meridian Hotel. The doorman was resplendent in his Tommy Cooper Fez. There was everything you could wish for to eat, we didn't over indulge though. I did have an Egyptian Beer (Stella) it was OK. Following lunch we were taken to the Cairo National Museum in central Cairo. The trip was very much the same as the trip to Giza in the morning, poverty everywhere another dead horse, in the canal this time. Central Cairo was a little better, there seems to be a big gulf between the rich and poor and nothing in the middle.

Volkswagon Taxis in Cairo complete with air conditioning (side doors open) 

At the museum it was bedlam trying to get in but we eventually made it. We had a couple of hours here, our tour guide took us round the Tutan-Kha-Mun exhibition, the death mask is unbelievable. We sore loads of things here but the things that stick in mind that were found in his tomb were a throne chair covered with gold leaf which folded up like a film directors chair and also a fold up bed. Remember this was from 1300 BC incredible!

We had paid another 20 euros each to see the mummies of the Rameses Pharoes and their families, I don't know what I expected but they were all laid out in temperature controlled glass cases. You could see every detail what stuck in mind was the teeth of some of them being pure white.

We then done a bit of shopping in the Museum shops, Cameras were not allowed in the museum so we bought a post card of the Tutan-Kha-mun death mask and also a little replica ornament.

Tutan-Kha-Mun Death Mask, Solid Gold, Cairo Egyptian Museum

We rejoined the coach at 5:30 pm and we were taken a ride down beside the river Nile where we caught a big river boat. We were given dinner while we had an hour long cruise on the Nile. We were entertained by an organist & singer followed by a Belly Dancer and a Swirling Dervish who was un believable. I managed to get up top and take a few photos over the Nile, I even managed to get a sunset.

Sunset over the Nile

We were then taken back to the airport for our flight back to Cyprus, we stopped on the way back to collect our passports from the police, they had been taken off us in the morning when we arrived. When we got them back they had been stamped, this stamp was actually the exit visa which we had to show before they would let us board the plane.

The flight was scheduled to take off at 9:15 pm but again it was 10 minutes early taking off. We had food on our return journey. I was quite impressed with Egypt Airlines on both flights in under an hour they had been round with papers, drinks, food, Tea or coffee and top up tea and coffee, I've been on some 4 hour flights and not had that kind of service.

We arrived back at Paphos Airport about 10:10 pm caught the coach and were back in our hotel room at 10:50.

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE DAY

Well we had a good 2 weeks in Cyprus a great holiday really, although I don't think I'd go again, too many loud British Bars, I'm used to the Greek Islands where everything is Greek and the time stands still.

For the first 4 days in Paphos the only birds I saw were Hooded Crows, House Sparrows, Collared Doves & Swallows. 

Hooded Crow  Paphos Cyprus

Collared Dove, Nicosia, Cyprus

We then hired a car for 3 days we started at the Tomb of the kings in Paphos, we saw a male Golden Oriole in front of the car on the car park, a Fabulous sighting, things had started to look up. It wasn't long and we were seeing a pair of Collared Flycatchers another great sighting, also seen here were Crested Larks Goldfinches & Greenfinches we called here again at the end of the holiday and added Beeeater, Nightingale and Linnet to the list, We also saw this Sardinian Warbler there on our first visit. 

Sardinian Warbler, Tombs of the Kings, Paphos, Cyprus

Crested Lark, Tombs of the Kings, Paphos Cyprus.

We then went on to the Akanas Penisular, The baths of Aphrodite where there are nature walks I found Cyprus Wheatear here Great! my first life tick of the holiday. I tried to find the Cyprus Warbler but without success if fact I didn't find one all holiday.

The second day with the car we went up the Troudos Mountains in was beautiful although the driving was a bit hair raising, I don't know what I'd have done if I had met a car coming in the opposite direction in some of the mountain villages. Up the top of Troudos at the visiter centre, I met another Birder he said there were Masked Shrikes around and to my delight one landed in the tree right in front of us Great! another Lifer. I saw 3 in total.

Other birds I saw during the Holiday were , Zitting Cisticola ( Fan Tailed Warbler) I think the name Zitting suits it down to the ground as thats just what it does "Zit", "Zit", "Zit", etc I have seen them before on Crete.

I saw 9 cattle Egrets along the shore one day in Paphos and 2 Northern Wheatears.

We had a trip to Egypt to see the Pyramids on the second Tuesday, ( What a day that was), I will put this in as another entry.

We also visited Nicosia on our last full day and crossed the border into Northern Cyprus.

We heard a scream from outside the apartment next door in our Hotel one morning, I went out to investigate , the woman next door had been getting the bathing costumes in when she saw her husbands trunks she said what have you left in your pocket? when she put here hand in she found this Spider.

Banana Spider, Paphos Cyprus.

No wonder she screamed. It is harmless though apparantly they jump. we had a storm later on that night and we were told that it most probably had detected the storm coming and had gone looking for a place to hide, and thats how it got in the pocket of the trunks.

There were plenty of Lizards around lots of small ones with red tails. There were also a few of these around I think they all called Agama Lizards sometimes known as the Rhodes Dragon.

Agama Lizard ( Rhodes Dragon) Paphos, Cyprus

There were quite a few butterflies around the best being Southern White Admiral and this Swallow tail

Swallowtail Butterfly, Tombs of the Kings, Paphos, Cyprus.

Well thats about it, as I said earlier we had a great Holiday, we saw a lot of Cyprus it really is a beautiful Island, It could have been better for birds. I met other birders who'd seen 22 Collared Pratincoles a Baillons Crake, Bonnelis eagle, Red Footed Falcon and Caspian Plover all of which are mythical birds to me, no wonder I'm a dude.

Well woke up this morning and it was pissing down, this makes the choice of where to go simple we needed somewhere where there are hides for us to shelter in, so off we go again to Belvide I'm glad we did as I ended up with 5 year ticks.

The rain had died down when we arrived so it wasn't too bad weather wise just a bit cold more like February than April.

There were hundreds of Hirundines (Sand Martins and Swallows) over the water, I even managed to see a House Martin which is the first of my year ticks, I then heard a Reed Warbler from the hide, tick number 2. On walking down to the Bryant hide we started to hear Willow Warblers tick number 3.

From the Bryant hide we saw 2 Terns which I thought were Common Terns but then found out later that they were Arctic Terns tick number 4 ( this is one of the reasons I class myself as a Dude Birder as I can't tell the difference between a Common and Arctic Tern).

Finally Saw Steve Nuttall down the Lane and he pointed out 2 Sedge Warblers in the hedge tick No 5.

Saw our first fledglings of the year this morning a mallard with 7 chicks, we had been told there were 14 originally, the Pikes in the pool must be having a Bean Feast.

Mallard Chick

Well I won't be doing my Blog for the next couple of weeks as I'm off to Cyprus to see what wonderous birds I can see there. I will report back when I return after May 11th.

Well spring is in the air, we are getting some real April showers this year. We thought we'd go to Whitmoor Haye near Alrewas this morning as we have been at this time of year in previous years with good results and today was no exception. We had 5 year ticks and good ones at that. We had been several times during the winter looking for Corn Bunting without any success but we finally caught up with one this morning.

Corn Bunting Whitmoor Haye 13/4/2008

There had been reports of 10 wheatears in a field full of stones yesterday, we found the field and counted 11 there were also Meadow Pipit, Lapwing, Pied Watails and Skylarks in the same field.

 Wheatear Whitmoor Haye 13/4/2008

We then went and viewed the pools looking for Little Ringed Plover (LRP), we found Ringed Plover, 3 Yellow and 3 White Wagtails but no LRP.

White Wagtail Whitmoor Haye 13/4/2008

Yellow Wagtail Whitmoor Haye 13/4/2008

Finally we called in at Croxall and found a Little Ringed Plover on the Flashes the other side of the railway.

Another great day if this keeps up I'll be losing my status as a Dude Birder.

Well we had a rude awakening this morning 3 to 4 inches of snow. It had been forecast but it was still a shock to the system to see it.

We decided to go to Belvide again this morning calling in at Stubbers Green en route, we saw 2 Swallows here flying over the boating pool (Fabulous a year tick). At Belvide it was a little bit surreal hearing all the Chiff-chaffs singing in the wood with all this snow on the ground.

There had been Willow Warbler and Blackcaps mentioned yesterday but we didn't hear any today.

The highlight of the day were 300+ Sand Martins over the water there were also one or two swallows with them, we didn't see the House Martin though which had been seen with them.

Walking round we saw 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers displaying, flying out of the tree flying round a bit then flying back into the same tree.

Whats the difference between a Coot and a Moorhen? A Moorhen is a black & white water bird with a red and yellow beak and a coot is something you put on in winter to keep you warm when its cold.

I thought I'd put this in as I said to Steve Nutall we'd seen a Coot on a nest 2 feet above the water, on the way back I had another look and it was a Moorhen and not a Coot.

 Moorhen on nest

Reed Bunting

There were a few Reed Buntings present and a small flock of Meadow Pipits flying round. It was a lovelly morning so long as you kept in the sun, we've had better days birding at Belvide but it never disapoints we always enjoy it there.

I had a text on Wednesday from my mate Pete to say that there were 30 + Golden Plover present in the 2nd field on the left walking along the cut from Longwood bridge in Aldridge towards Park Lime Pits at Rushall. I was unable to go then but I had another text today Friday 28th March 2008 to say they were still there, he said some of them were showing signs of coming into summer plummage, so off I trundle down the cut to see if I could find them, it didn't take long to locate them they were there in the 2nd field just as he had said. They were a little distant though and they were crouching down with their backs to me so I was unable to get a good photo, below is the best I could do, occasionally one of them would move  and you could see the black bellies starting to form. The numbers had increased there were now 65 present. This is a great sighting for Aldridge its the first time I've ever seen them here.

Golden Plover, Longwood Bridge, Aldridge, 28/3/2008

I havn't had a bad week in the Garden I had a Blackcap yesterday and a Chiff-chaff today.

What a morning again woke up to an inch of snow, luckily it didn't last very long, when we got to Belvide it had all gone and it didn't turn out to be a bad morning after all, although it was a bit cold.

As soon as we entered the Plantation at Belvide we heard Chiff-Chaffs and it didn't take long to see one. Great!!! our first summer visitor of the year. I always love to here the Chiff-Chaff as it tells you that spring is here and you've got all summer to look forward to. (So long as it isn't the same as last year, did we see the sun? all I remember is rain.)

We soon had another summer visitor over the water there were several Sand Martins. We walked round seeing a few Redwing (a winter visitor) on the way. It's not very often you can say you,ve seen winter and summer visitors on the same day.

We saw a mixed flock of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails just before the Bryant Hide and a Red-legged Partridge in the field by the lane (this was another year tick) which makes 3 for today and 130 for the year (this is good going for me)

Below is a photo of a bird that is becoming a Belvide speciality the Tree Sparrow they frequent the feeding stations. We even saw one going in a nest box by the car park.

Tree Sparrow, Belvide 23/3/2008.

Other birds seen at the feeding stations include, Nuthatch, Willow Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch & Reed Buntings and the usual Robins Dunnocks & Pheasants, We had heard reports of Brambling but didn't see any.

There were plenty of wild fowl present, Goldeneye, Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal, Tufties, Mallard, Ruddy Duck and a male Scaup of the point.

A very enjoyable morning.

Well after torrential overnight rain I've never seen so much water. It was still raining in the morning so we cried off our normal Sunday morning Birding outing, no were not just fine weather Birders but we couldn't see the sence in going out and getting wet. It did finally stop about 9:30 so I thought I'd go a walk on the local patch accross TI (Walsall airfield) to Hayhead Wood and along the cut to Rushall and then home. TI was very boggy couldn't see any Wheatear yet we generally get them here at this time of year. In Hayhead wood (totally birdless except for a pair of Mallard) the paths were flooded so I was forced to take one which I hadn't been down before it seemed to follow a stream, I took this picture on the way, if anyone had said to me that there was a waterfall in Aldridge I wouldn't have believed them.

I continued down this pathway not seeing many birds only Robins Wrens & Dunnocks, wondering where I would finally come out, then I came to this big concrete cross which I recognised, I was in the middle of Cuckoos Nook ( the concrete cross was a base for a search light during the war). I found the public footpath back to Bar Common Road seeing a flock of Meadow Pipits in the field as I passed. There were loads of Rooks at the Aldridge Rookery at the junction of Barr Common Road and Birmingham Road some of them nest building. While talking about nest building I've been watching a pair of crows building a nest at the end of my Garden, they don't just pick up any old branch but they actually peck at the small branches on trees and break them off, I suppose this is because these will be pliable and easily weave together to make the nest.

I've had an interesting week in the Garden a Grey Wagatil and a Goldcrest were present on Wednesday. I'm still waiting to see my first summer visitor, Sand Martins, Little Ringed Plover, Wheatears have all been seen locally and Chiff Chaffs have been heard.

I had heard whispers about Crossbills being present on the Chase during the week so we thought we'd have a put to see if we could find them. Off we went to Seven Springs and walked up Strawberry Hill where we'd seen them before in previuos years. No such luck today very quiet al round, We did see a few Siskins which was a year tick 127 for the year so far.

It was a lovelly morning though plenty of Tits about Great, Blue, Coal & Long Tails also several Goldcrests a Great Spotted Woodpecker 3 Buzzards & 2 Grey Wagtails.

Called in at Stubbers Green again on the way back on the off chance at seeing the Iceland Gull, we saw the yachts were out so we didn't bother. I've been to Chasewater for the roost last Tuesday and to Stubbers Green 3 times in the week but I still haven't caught up with it. I looked at Birdguides yesterday and it was present at 2:58 I was there at 3:05 and it had gone, I don't think I'm destined to see one this year.