Non-Stop Birding
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This blog is about the birds and wildlife that I encounter day to day and also covers wildlife trips through the year and conservation issues that we face. Follow to keep up with the latest updates.
Non-Stop Birding
7h ago
Here's a few sounds from Estonia using my recently purchased Zoom H5. More sounds on the trip report HERE ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
3d ago
Spent the last couple of days on Saaremaa island exploring the icy Baltic bays, harbours and coastline. The highlight of the trip were the famous Steller's Eiders that winter here but the supporting cast of thousands of seaducks and waterfowl were equally impressive with thousands of Long-tailed Ducks (the largest winter concentration on the planet), hundreds of Goosanders and Goldeneyes, Red-breasted Mergs and tens of Smews, Eiders, Common and Velvet Scoters and we also picked up the odd Slavonian Grebe, Black-throated Diver and Razorbill.
On the way to our next destination we twitched a firs ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
6d ago
We started the day off at 5 am and did a pre-dawn night drive along some local forest tracks. The highlight was a glimpse of a Eurasian Lynx crossing the track. A lifer but barely tickable views unfortunately. We also had Roe Deer, Brown Hare and Arctic Hare. We then spent the first part of the day looking for woodpeckers- we had Middle, Lesser, Great Spotted and Black Woodpecker, Nutcrackers, Common Redpolls and the stunning white headed caudatus Long-tailed Tits.
After breakfast and a short break we spent the afternoon checking out some areas of coastline and clocked up some more ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
6d ago
As we can't do a Bulgaria spring trip this year I thought I'd take the opportunity to visit another area of the Western Palearctic so after a potential trip to Mauretania fell through this week I did a last minute to Estonia . There's a few mammal and bird ticks for me and I was always interested in visiting the Estonia/Gulf of Finland migration flyway. This time of year the waterfowl flocks that have wintered in western Europe start heading back to Siberia and concentrate in Estonia. Common Cranes are beginning to arrive too. So while Wheatears, LRPs and Sand Martins mark the beginning ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
1w ago
The floods are receding again at Lower Cuttlebrook which has created some good habitat for Egrets with 15 Little Egrets and 2 Great Egrets feeding on one field yesterday evening. Also had Common Snipe on the field near the rental and Peregrine go over.
Over 40 moths of 16 species last night at the garden light trap including a couple of new ones, now on 30 species.
Great Egrets (right) and Little Egrets
Red Chestnut
Brindled Beauty
Early Thorn
Had two Early Oak Gall moths at the MOL lure during the day yesterday ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
1w ago
I put out the new MOL lure yesterday in the warm afternoon conditions and within a few minutes got the target species this time of year, Early Oak Gall Moth. My first moth lifer of the year in the UK.
The new rental moth list is now on 28 with a few more early Spring additions.
Early Oak Gall Moth Pammene giganteana
Tawny Pinion (above) and March moth (below)- typical early spring additions to the new garden moth list. We are only here until early June so it will be interesting to see what we can get in that time.
Pale Pinion
Herald- this was a bit of a surprise
Na ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
1w ago
We are having a bit of trouble at the moment with the main Beddington Farmlands website so need a landing page for all the recent Beddington Farmlands Reports, below:
(PDF) Beddington Farmlands Bird and Wildlife Report 2012 (researchgate.net)
(PDF) Beddington Farmlands Bird and Wildlife Report 2013 (researchgate.net)
(PDF) BEDDINGTON FARMLANDS BIRD AND WILDLIFE REPORT 2014 (researchgate.net)
(PDF) The Beddington Farmlands Bird and Wildlife Report 2015 (researchgate.net)
(PDF) BEDDINGTON FARMLANDS BIRD AND WILDLIFE REPORT 2016 (researchgate.net)
(PDF) BEDDINGTON FARMLANDS BIRD AND WILDLI ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
2w ago
It's hard not to get a bit excited about spring migration even if it is just the slow start at the moment. I did a couple of hours at Otmoor this afternoon, the only hint of migration was good numbers of Chiffchaffs including a group of six together. Ebird checklist HERE . The highlight was two booming Bitterns, 3-4 Marsh Harriers , 20 Dunlin, 1 Black-tailed Godwit and looks like breeding waders are in with up to 10 Curlews singing, a few Redshanks and 3 Oystercatchers.
The leucistic Pochard was out from the first screen amongst 32 Common Pochards which were very vocal ..read more
Non-Stop Birding
2w ago
Did a few hours at Beddington yesterday after work, 50 species was not a bad haul in a couple of hours, Checklist HERE
Highlight was a first-summer Caspian Gull, a species which is no longer regular at the farmlands following the closure of the landfill site. Once the premier site in Surrey and a top site in London to see them yesterday's bird was only the second bird this year and the last one was on 8th January. The historical high count Ebird data HERE compared to last year's six bird days HERE shows the scale of the decline.
Super-sharp Zach recognised the bi ..read more