Having recently rediscovered the joys of birding for the first time since I was a wee lad, this is my record of getting to grips with re-familiarising myself with the world of birds.
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Posted Monday 9th November 2009 at 15:03 by Stoggler
I finally had the opportunity to spend a day birding yesterday, wrapping up warm and going to visit the WWT centre at Barnes for the first time in over a month.
Getting there as the centre opened at 9.30, it was a chilly overcast day with a few showers although the sun did come out about 2.30 onwards which made the end of the day better.
The usual array of resident ducks (mallard, tufties), swans and geese as well as wintering ducks such as teal, shoveler, wigeon. ...
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Learning my hirundinidae from my apodidae
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Posted Monday 2nd November 2009 at 16:31 by Stoggler
Updated Monday 2nd November 2009 at 17:24 by Stoggler
October was a bit of an odd month birding-wise. In total I saw 62 species, just three fewer than the previous month, but what was odd was that I saw all those birds by the 17th of the month, with no new species after that date. This was down to not being able to get out and go birding at all after that date. As I'm discovering, trying to fit in time to go birding between a full working week and commitments with friends and family is not easy. To illustrate the point, counting up the number of...
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Learning my hirundinidae from my apodidae
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Posted Thursday 29th October 2009 at 13:36 by Stoggler
Updated Monday 2nd November 2009 at 16:49 by Stoggler
Unfortunately birding opportunities seem to be very few and fair between at the moment. Because I work 9-to-5 Monday-to-Friday, and because of the shorter days and clocks going back, weekends seem to be the only chance to get to do some serious birding. However, even that's been curtailed of late what with wedding planning and some naff weather.
Last Saturday was a case in point - Saturday mornings are for me usually the best chance all week to get out and see some birds, but...
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Learning my hirundinidae from my apodidae
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Posted Monday 12th October 2009 at 13:19 by Stoggler
Updated Monday 2nd November 2009 at 16:48 by Stoggler
A nice calm autumnal Saturday morning found me walking in the West Beach/Climping Gap area near Littlehampton, and it was a wonderful morning's birding for me.
What was immediately evident was that there were a significant number of Swallows about, especially once I got past the golf course to the sand dunes: a few dozen Swallows were flying around catching their last bland British meals before hopping of to France and further south for I'm sure some heat and better cuisine (and who...
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Learning my hirundinidae from my apodidae
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Posted Monday 5th October 2009 at 11:38 by Stoggler
Updated Monday 2nd November 2009 at 16:49 by Stoggler
Spotted Crake. That's what I saw on Saturday afternoon at the Wetland Centre in Barnes, along with a number of other birders all eagerly training their bins and scopes on the same spot. I think that was the first time I've been in a hide with a number of birders all hoping to get a view of something rare, and there was something comical about the excitement levels going up exponentially from getting just a fleeting look of a small bird from a long distance away.
I had been at...
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Learning my hirundinidae from my apodidae
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