Tag: Birds
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Late To The Party
Eurasian White-fronted Goose by Paul Slade Easterly winds just prior to Christmas brought an influx of scarce geese to Britain, including this neck of the woods. Both subspecies of Greater-Whitefronted Goose and Tundra Bean Geese were appearing all over the country, and often tagging along with Pinkfeet and even Greylag flocks. So naturally I wanted…
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Out Skerries – Review of the Birding Year
Pine Bunting x Yellowhammer by John Coutts This blog is unpredictable in content and gaps between posts, but one constant is my review of the Out Skerries birding year. Highlights Firecrest A Firecrest on 2nd November was only the second island record, following one in October 2017. Firecrest is a description species in Shetland and…
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Sunday Surprise
Picture by Tom Parkinson On Saturday I took part in a Cumbria Bird Club outing at Foulney. If you’ve never been I recommend it. Basically you walk out from Roa Island causeway near Barrow and get cut off by the tide. You’re then treated to great views of a couple of thousand Eider and hopefully…
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Day 3 – Five Star Wader
Today I went down to some wader habitat at the south of the island near the Riu Touraeg hotel. The area at Lacacao has a decent track record for shorebirds over the years, and is well known for a Willet turning up this spring. Willet is one of the few American waders to have been…
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The Trouble With Ebird
A Rosy Starling I found on Out Skerries in spring 2018 At the outset I should say that I think eBird is great. A system for bird record documentation created by the American Cornell Institute it’s a wonderful resource. From the same stable the Merlin birdsong ID software has broken through to be adopted by…
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Ultimate Urban Birding
Jane wanted some air and a walk this evening so we decided to go to Stanley Park, which are very fortunate to live quite close to given it’s a majestic open space. When we arrived I went to get my binoculars from the car, they were still in the house. I thought my plans to…
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Late Spring Enigmas
If I’ve dropped Jane at the college and I’m heading to my office in town there are a few options for a stop for potential spring migrants en route. Over the years my standout favourite has become Gynn Gardens just off the Promenade by the famous Airfix roundabout. It probably isn’t the most popular with…
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Flying PIGs
The situation with Greylag Geese in northern Britain is complicated, and I’m probably a bit out of touch with recent changes as well. There used to be wild populations that visited in winter from Iceland, apparently to as far south as Morecambe Bay. With the feral / naturalised population it’s increasingly unclear whether they still…
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Review – The Search For India’s Rarest Birds
I’ve written on this blog about the current shortage of good quality writing about UK birding and birders. In recent years I’ve broadened my search to other countries, starting with ‘Big Year’ accounts from the USA. I had read ‘The Living Air’ about Indian birding by Aasheesh Pittie, and through following his Facebook updates saw…
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Out Skerries – Review Of The Birding Year
Wood Warbler, September 2024 by Dave Bywater Highlights I’ve done this for a few years now and normally it begins with a list of several species recorded on Skerries a handful of times over the years. Prepare to be rather underwhelmed by this year’s version, unless one of the island residents sends me a picture…
Natural Selection 