Sunday, January 15, 2012

Bittern at Woodwalton Fen NNR


Digiscoped in the reeds of the far side of Gordon's Mere on 15.1.12.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tundra Bean Geese, Langtoft, Lincs





Yesterday, Josh Jones found a flock of four Tundra Beans in the private pits of his local patch, the Baston and Langtoft complex. They were almost certainly the same four that he found late in 2011 in the area. On my way to twitch them there this lunchtime, I popped into Langtoft West End pits to see if they had relocated there, and almost immediately refound them along with the Greylags and an adult and juvenile European White-fronted Goose.
These are the four Beans. Note that one appears to have a damaged (whitish) right eye; this should at least make identifying the flock reasonably straightforward if they wander (whither it may be...).
Already in 2012, in the Peterborough area, I have seen Brent, White-fronted, Bean and Egyptian Geese, which is a good little haul of geese for January around these parts.

Friday, January 06, 2012

2011 One per month: WINNERS

Thanks to everyone who voted for my favourite photos for the past 12 months. To my great surprise, 9 out of the 12 received a vote for the top photo. Only one (September's phalarope) received no votes at all!. Four photos dominated proceedings, and though the winner was just about a clear favourite, the other three were almost inseperable. These are the top four of my photos as voted by you, my dear readers (as ever, click them to see more detail):

FIRST: November, Crested Tit


JOINT SECOND: July, Chalkhill Blue and bee


JOINT SECOND: June, Wood Mouse


FOURTH: January, Waxwings

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

House Sparrow mass roost, Faro, Algarve

House Sparrow chorus by Weedons World
Perhaps, once upon a time, it would have been possible to hear a racket like this in the UK, even in London. It is at least encouraging that sparrow populations are still quite high somewhere in western Europe. This recording was made in September 2011. There were thousands upon thousands of birds in the roost in trees next to the bar we were drinking at and I recorded this by wandering around under them with my camera on 'voice memo'.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

2011 One per month

Please leave a comment to vote for your top three favourite photos of the year, from this bunch. Results will be announced shortly...


January: Waxwings, Werrington, Peterborough

February: Marsh Tit, Castor Hanglands, Cambridgeshire

March: Little Gull, Ferry Meadows CP, Peterborough

April: Ptarmigans, Cairngorm

May: Brown Bear, near Kuhmo, Finland

June: Wood Mouse, our garden, Peterborough

July: Chalkhill Blue and bee, Barnack Hills and Holes, Cambridgeshire

August: Pied Flycatcher, Murrow, Cambridgeshire

September: Grey Phalarope, Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire

October: Turnstone, The Algarve, Portugal

November: Crested Tit, Loch Garten RSPB

December: male, Sparrowhawk, our garden, Peterborough