Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Nicky and I are currently attempting to get from Bristol to New Caledonia without (or with as little as possible) flying. Hopefully we'll get far enough for there to be some lifers involved, maybe even Kagu.
We left Bristol at dawn on Nov 1 in a mate's lorry who was delivering to Brighton. Redwing was first bird of the trip, calling overhead as we hit the streets of central Bristol with our backpacks. We'd been up all night (and most of the week) so little was seen on the road to Brighton as I was largely throwing up in a saucepan. After a few days in the Brighton area we caught a train to London where we have been for a week sorting out Mongolia and Vietnam visas. So little "active" birding so far, but areas birded were : area around cousins caravan in rural Sussex, Brighton Pier, Hyde Park, Walthamstow Reservoirs, and the amazing RSPB reserve at Rainham Marsh in East London with my oldest birding mate Paul White.
Few "good" birds as Brits would see it, highlights being a prolonged light northwesterly movement of Yellowhammer in Sussex, the huge swirling Starling roost on Brighton Pier, single adult Mediterranean Gulls at Hyde Park and Rainham, a Peregrineat central London's Tower Bridge,6 Green Sandpiper at Walthamstow and a 1st cal Yellow-legged Gull and Water Pipit at Rainham. Trip list so far is below, in order of seeing them as I thought it would be interesting to see how it changes as we head (hopefully) further from Bristol. Apologies for archaic anglocentric nomenclature if it confuses anyone. Just add Northern/ Eurasian/ European/Common or in one case Great to the birds with one word names.
1 Redwing
2 Carrion Crow
3 Black-headed Gull
4 Woodpigeon
5 Magpie
6 Collared Dove
7 Starling
8 Herring Gull
9 Blackbird
10 Lesser Black-backed Gull
11 Rook
12 Moorhen
13 Common Buzzard
14 Jackdaw
15 Cormorant
16 Wren
17 Nuthatch
18 Robin
19 Jay
20 Chaffinch
21 Blue Tit
22 Grey Wagtail
23 Pied Wagtail
24 Dunnock
25 Meadow Pipit
26 Coal Tit
27 Yellowhammer
28 Goldcrest
29 Great Spotted Woodpecker
30 Goldfinch
31 Linnet
32 Great Tit
33 Kestrel
34 House Sparrow
35 Treecreeper
36 Mistle Thrush
37 Greenfinch
38 Bullfinch
39 Green Woodpecker
40 Mute Swan
41 Common Gull
42 Tufted Duck
43 Coot
44 Mediterranean Gull
45 Mallard
46 Shoveler
47 Grey Heron
48 Great Crested Grebe
49 Pochard
50 Kingfisher
51 Long-tailed Tit
52 Great Black-backed Gull
53 Peregrine
54 Goldeneye
55 Little Egret
56 Green Sandpiper
57 Sparrowhawk
58 Little Grebe
59 Gadwall
60 Reed Bunting
61 Wigeon
62 Song Thrush
63 Stonechat
64 Lapwing
65 Redshank
66 Pintail
67 Black-tailed Godwit
68 Golden Plover
69 Shelduck
70 Snipe
71 Dunlin
72 Yellow-legged Gull
73 Skylark
74 Water Pipit
75 Rock Pipit
So next we're going on the train to Amsterdam, via the Harwich Ferry. Hopefully there'll be some stuff on the crossing, surely Little Auk's on the cards. London is as far as we're taking a scope (might regret this at times, but be glad of the lack of the bulk for most of the trip). Paul gets to "borrow" it for however long the trip takes.
The only other journeys we have prebooked are the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Beijing on Dec 4, and a boat from Singapore to Brisbane on May 24. I'll try and post how we've been getting on.
We left Bristol at dawn on Nov 1 in a mate's lorry who was delivering to Brighton. Redwing was first bird of the trip, calling overhead as we hit the streets of central Bristol with our backpacks. We'd been up all night (and most of the week) so little was seen on the road to Brighton as I was largely throwing up in a saucepan. After a few days in the Brighton area we caught a train to London where we have been for a week sorting out Mongolia and Vietnam visas. So little "active" birding so far, but areas birded were : area around cousins caravan in rural Sussex, Brighton Pier, Hyde Park, Walthamstow Reservoirs, and the amazing RSPB reserve at Rainham Marsh in East London with my oldest birding mate Paul White.
Few "good" birds as Brits would see it, highlights being a prolonged light northwesterly movement of Yellowhammer in Sussex, the huge swirling Starling roost on Brighton Pier, single adult Mediterranean Gulls at Hyde Park and Rainham, a Peregrineat central London's Tower Bridge,6 Green Sandpiper at Walthamstow and a 1st cal Yellow-legged Gull and Water Pipit at Rainham. Trip list so far is below, in order of seeing them as I thought it would be interesting to see how it changes as we head (hopefully) further from Bristol. Apologies for archaic anglocentric nomenclature if it confuses anyone. Just add Northern/ Eurasian/ European/Common or in one case Great to the birds with one word names.
1 Redwing
2 Carrion Crow
3 Black-headed Gull
4 Woodpigeon
5 Magpie
6 Collared Dove
7 Starling
8 Herring Gull
9 Blackbird
10 Lesser Black-backed Gull
11 Rook
12 Moorhen
13 Common Buzzard
14 Jackdaw
15 Cormorant
16 Wren
17 Nuthatch
18 Robin
19 Jay
20 Chaffinch
21 Blue Tit
22 Grey Wagtail
23 Pied Wagtail
24 Dunnock
25 Meadow Pipit
26 Coal Tit
27 Yellowhammer
28 Goldcrest
29 Great Spotted Woodpecker
30 Goldfinch
31 Linnet
32 Great Tit
33 Kestrel
34 House Sparrow
35 Treecreeper
36 Mistle Thrush
37 Greenfinch
38 Bullfinch
39 Green Woodpecker
40 Mute Swan
41 Common Gull
42 Tufted Duck
43 Coot
44 Mediterranean Gull
45 Mallard
46 Shoveler
47 Grey Heron
48 Great Crested Grebe
49 Pochard
50 Kingfisher
51 Long-tailed Tit
52 Great Black-backed Gull
53 Peregrine
54 Goldeneye
55 Little Egret
56 Green Sandpiper
57 Sparrowhawk
58 Little Grebe
59 Gadwall
60 Reed Bunting
61 Wigeon
62 Song Thrush
63 Stonechat
64 Lapwing
65 Redshank
66 Pintail
67 Black-tailed Godwit
68 Golden Plover
69 Shelduck
70 Snipe
71 Dunlin
72 Yellow-legged Gull
73 Skylark
74 Water Pipit
75 Rock Pipit
So next we're going on the train to Amsterdam, via the Harwich Ferry. Hopefully there'll be some stuff on the crossing, surely Little Auk's on the cards. London is as far as we're taking a scope (might regret this at times, but be glad of the lack of the bulk for most of the trip). Paul gets to "borrow" it for however long the trip takes.
The only other journeys we have prebooked are the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Beijing on Dec 4, and a boat from Singapore to Brisbane on May 24. I'll try and post how we've been getting on.