Kendons 2007 UK year list (1 Viewer)

[Darren Pearce]

4 days away in the Highlands allowed me to rack up a good list. We were unable to catch up with any eagles as the weather was poor on Sunday when we went eagle hunting, but that just means we will have to go back

161 Slavonian Grebe
162 Long Tailed Duck
163 Osprey
164 Eider
165 Kittiwake
166 Black Guillemot
167 Siskin
168 Capercaillie
169 Black Throated Diver
170 Red Grouse
171 Grey Partridge
172 Black Grouse
173 Common Tern
174 Arctic Skua
175 Redstart
176 Hooded Crow

 

[Darren Pearce]

Another day in the Forest of Dean produced the following

177 Pied Flycatcher
178 Wood Warbler
179 Tree Pipit

 

[Darren Pearce]

2 more from the wet bank holiday

180 Reed Warbler

and from Slimbridge this afternoon a very mobile

181 Great White Egret

 

[Darren Pearce]

Yesterday I took a trip to Suffolk/Norfolk to Lakenheath and Weeting Heath.I arrived at Lakenheath at around 05:30am A four hour wait was rewarded with a cracking prolonged through the scope of a male Golden Oriole. Then I moved onto Weeting Heath where the Stone Curlews didn't let me down

182 Bearded Tit
183 Marsh Harrier
184 Golden Oriole
185 Spotted Flycatcher
186 Stone Curlew
187 Little Owl

I took a slight detour of off the M4 on the way home looking for Red Kite's. I headed towards Henley-On-Thames and after only a mile there were 7 soaring over a field that was being mown.

188 Red Kite

 

[Darren Pearce]

Local birding over the weekend produced 2 more

From Chew Valley Lake yesterday

189 Ferruginous Duck

And from Slimbridge today

190 Yellow Legged Gull

 

[Darren Pearce]

Another family weekend at Weymouth/Portland and an early morning visit to the Bill added

191 Balearic Shearwater
192 Manx Shearwater
193 European Storm Petrel

Quick stops at Ferrybridge and Lodmoor gave me 2 tern species

194 Little Tern
195 Sandwich Tern

 

[Darren Pearce]

One more today from Newport Wetlands/Goldcliff

196 Avocet

 

[Darren Pearce]

Spent another weekend away with the family in Dorset. I went out early on Saturday morning and picked up my target bird

197 Dartford Warbler

On Saturday evening I went to Arne in search of Nightjar which was a lifer. I arrived at around 9:30pm and waited. After 15mins of being eaten alive by insects I heard my first bird churring in the distance. I started to panic at around 10pm when I could hear a few birds but had not seen any. Eventually with the light almost gone a bird flew right over my head churring away and landed in a tree. I saw it a few times after that.

198 Nightjar

 

[Darren Pearce]

Well it's been a quiet fortnight and I am stuck on 199. It's not that I haven't tried for number 200. I went for a Curlew Sandpiper at Slimbridge but it was flushed by a Sea King helicopter 5 mins before I got there. Traffic on the M5 prevented me ticking Black Terns at Chew Valley Lake. I stood waiting for the Quail to call at a local hotspot. My all time bogey bird Yellow Wagtail still evades me.

Anyway I have two weeks in Norfolk starting from Saturday so I have a feeling that number 200 might just come along.

199 Greenshank

 

[Darren Pearce]

Bogey bird despatched. I went looking for a Hobby that I saw yesterday lunchtime, it wasn't there but in it's place was a juvenile Yellow Wagtail. I couldn't of realistically asked for a better number 200. I even got a piccy

200 Yellow Wagtail

 

[Darren Pearce]

Two weeks in Norfolk can never harm the year list even in mid summer. I managed quite a lot of birding mostly early morning but as always the family put up with me "just popping in" here and there or "as we are passing anyway". From North Norfolk I saw

201 Egyptian Goose
202 Water Rail
203 Common Scoter
204 Curlew Sandpiper

From Stubb Mill

205 Common Crane
206 Barn Owl

And at Breydon Water

207 White Rumped Sandpiper

 

[Darren Pearce]

Last night I finally upgraded Tawny Owl from "heard only" to full tick. We were travelling home from Weston Super Mare and called in at a local spot which is good for owls. We heard some Tawny calls and then one drifted right over our heads.

208 Tawny Owl

 

[Darren Pearce]

Another year tick at lunchtime today. Whilst walking around my local patch a Whinchat flicked up onto the top of a bush and then across to a wire fence where it remained until I left to go back to work.

209 Whinchat

 

[Darren Pearce]

After sweating on it over the weekend I was finally able to go to Glos to see the Spotted Crake. One thing or another meant that I couldn't go at all over the weekend.

I went straight from work and about 5 mins after sitting down in the hide the Crake was seen working left and right along a gap in the reeds.

I was there for about 90 mins and it showed on and off for all the time I was there.

210 Spotted Crake

 

[Darren Pearce]

A cracking mornings birding in Somerset. Firstly we went to Oath to try and see the Purple Heron that has been there for a few days. We were lucky as there were some birders already there. I don't think we would have had a chance otherwise. We walked about a mile and got onto the bird for about 20 seconds before it flew up and landed at what seemed to be exactly the spot where we had started. So we walked back again and it was out of view in a ditch. While we were waiting we saw 4 Yellow Wagtails on top of some bushes. Eventually it flew up and landed on the bank giving good views to everyone there.

Afterwards we went onto Shapwick Heath NR to see the Osprey, which very kindly sat in a dead tree for all the time we were there. Also there was a Hobby.

We also saw an Otter which was a lifer for me.

211 Purple Heron

 

[Darren Pearce]

We got up this morning and made a spur of the moment decision to go to Weymouth for the day. I popped into Ferrybridge and caught up with Sanderling, which probably should have come earlier in the year, but it dosen't matter now

212 Sanderling

 

[Darren Pearce]

A dash after work on Friday with all of the other Friday afternoon traffic saw me at Uskmouth NR in Newport for the Aquatic Warbler. When I got there the bird was showing well on and off for seconds at at time. I eventually got a prolonged view, well 5 seconds anyway.

213 Aquatic Warbler

I was in London for the weekend and couldn't really miss the Ring Necked Parakeets around Kensington Gardens due to the racket they make

214 Ring Necked Parakeet

 

[Darren Pearce]

Another better late than never bird at Frampton Sailing Lake yesterday

215 Arctic Tern

Today me and the kids went up to Oxford for a few hours. We started at Farmoor Reservoir looking for the Grey Phalarope. It wasn't a problem and even my kids couldn't have managed to flush this one. It fed along the edge of the causeway ignoring everybody around giving views down to 5 metres.

Then we went to Port Meadow to look for the Pec Sands that had been reported. It took a little while but some other birders put me on to them. The best part of the day was when some idiots dog flushed all of the geese from the meadow towards the kids, I've never seen them run so fast.

216 Grey Phalarope
217 Pectoral Sandpiper

 

[Darren Pearce]

A doctors appointment before lunch o on Friday gave me 2 hours to go for the Cattle Egret at Chew Valley Lake. It takes around 40 minutes to get from work to Chew. Luckily someome was on hand to tell me exactly which field it had just landed in

218 Cattle Egret

Today the kids and I had a day in the Forest of Dean. My target was Lesser Redpoll. Their target was the playground. We went along to Worgreens Lake and quickly found a large flock of Siskins. They eventually came down on a tree right in front of us and I was able to pick out 2 Lesser Redpolls amongst them.

219 Lesser Redpoll

 

[Darren Pearce]

I went over the bridge again on Sunday. This time to the Lisvane Reservoir in Cardiff for the Spotted Sandpiper. It took a little while to get there with my Sat Nav wanting to take me in the opposite direction. When I eventually got there the bird was showing well on the banks of the reservoir.

220 Spotted Sandpiper