A Glossy Ibis was found at Langford yesterday and was still there today. I think this is only the second to have ever been seen in Bedfordshire.
Author Archives: pnbrown13blog
** MEGA ** Brunnich’s Guillemot
A Brunnich’s Guillemot was identified in Portland Harbour, Dorset, four days ago. This was the first opportunity I have had to get down there and luckily it was still there. We set off at 5am and arrived at first light. The bird was not seen for the first hour of daylight and I was beginning to think it had departed. Fortunately it was seen and eventually I managed to get a few pictures. It spent all the time I was there diving, coming up for a few seconds and then diving again and was therefore difficult to photograph.There was also a winter plumaged Black Guillemot, 2 Great Northern Divers and lots of Red Breasted Mergansers in the harbour. We also went to Portland Bill.
Barnet 1 Luton 2
A good away trip to The Hive, Barnet’s new ground in Canons Park. This was looking to be a comfortable away victory on Boxing Day until Jonathan Smith had his leg broken. We did not have such a good second half even though Barnet were down to 10 but we still managed to hold out for a deserved victory. We went for a couple of pints in The Hive bar at the ground after the game where we spotted Edgar Davids the Barnet manager and former Dutch international. Luton had sold their full allocation of 1700 tickets for this game.
The Damned, Theatre of Hate & The Ruts
13/12/2013 Went to the Roundhouse, Camden to see The Damned, Theatre of Hate and The Ruts.
And some video footage:-
http://youtu.be/fB_EB4DRSBQ The Ruts
http://youtu.be/UK5nhr9bcSg Theatre of Hate
http://youtu.be/B29lxMy-tAk The Damned – New Rose
Baikal Teal 7/12/2013
A day up north for the Baikal Teal at Crossens Marsh near Southport. It was always rather distant so the photos are not great. We then went to Crosby to see the statues on the beach. There was a bit of damage to the seafront here after the tidal surge a couple of days before. The lifesize statues on the beach here are known as Antony Gormley’s “Other Place”. As it was high tide when we visited I think some of the statues were under water. We then went into Liverpool and finished up at Hale Head Lighthouse.
**MEGA** Orphean Warbler
An Orphean Warbler was identified in a garden in south west Wales near St Brides, originally thought to be a Lesser Whitethroat its real identity was discovered when photographs were published online on the Pembrokeshire Birds website. Access was arranged to the garden and volunteers organised the twitch, sorting out parking in a field nearby and allowing groups of about 40 into the garden to view the bird at any one time. They even put up a sign about two miles away to point the correct turn to take. Everyone appeared to be very well behaved and it went very well. We had travelled down Friday night and stayed near Swansea so we could be on site early Saturday morning. We later went to Dale airfield from where you could see Skokholm Island and we also visited Barry Island which is near Cardiff.
London 2/11/2013
A few photos from a day in London.
**MEGA** Hermit Thrush
News broke of a Hermit Thrush on 29/10/2013 at Porthgwarra. After work I drove down to Exeter where we stayed the night. We left Exeter at 5am and arrived at Porthgwarra just after 7am. After an anxious two hour plus wait it was eventually seen. I saw it several times over the next few hours and even managed to get a couple of poor photo’s. We then went to Marazion to see a White Rumped Sandpiper. By this time the weather had started to deteriorate and it was dull and raining, my excuse for some more poor photos. We also managed a trip to Lands End. We stayed the night in Penzance. The next day we went to see Godrevy Lighthouse and visited Kenidjack Valley.
Two Barred Crossbill & Dungeness
26/10/2013 – A trip to Kent to try and see the Two Barred and Parrot Crossbills at Hemsted Forest 3 miles East of Cranbrook. In dull and fairly windy conditions I managed to see the Two Barred Crossbill after a couple of hours wait. No Parrot Crossbills were seen. We then went to Dungeness which is always an interesting if slightly weird place to visit.
Semipalmated Plover
A day in Hampshire to see the Semipalmated Plover at Black Point, Hayling Island. It flew in and was on view at Black Point for a few minutes but was disturbed by a windsurfer and flew off with the other waders. It was relocated on the main beach at Hayling Island but it was raining heavily by this time. Also seen today was the Red Breasted Goose at Sturt Pond, Milford on Sea and the Long Billed Dowitcher at Butt’s Lagoon, Keyhaven Marshes.
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