Last Wednesday we met with friends for lunch, followed by a walk of course, leaving just a couple of hours free in the morning for exploration. With blazing sun (despite the forecast being for heavy rain) we headed over to Golden Acre park where a small wetland area near the Read more…
After our success at Blacktoft the day before we decided to head to another RSPB reserve on Tuesday. Although there were no repeat prospects of anything quite as dramatic as a Montagu’s Harrier, Fairburn Ings has in the past supplied a wide array of species and so hopes were high Read more…
This is a big one. This time last week we’d just had one of those days in the field which will always live long in my memory. It all stemmed from a chance conversation about Blacktoft Sands, an RSPB reserve on the Humber estuary which I’m ashamed to say had Read more…
After enduring a series of heavy deluges the day before (which we overcame in fantastic style if I do say so myself) we thought on Sunday that we may as well make use of all that fallen water. So it was that we found ourselves at Ingleton, home of allegedly Read more…
It’s not often that one gets to draw parallels between the world of motor racing and birding but on this occasion I might just be about to pull it off. As a little bit of background I should mention that we headed to Yorkshire last weekend for a few days Read more…
[Insert generic comment about time flies here]. Right, now that’s out of the way it’s fair to say that July has been a pretty quiet month on the patch all being told. No new species, some good breeding records and still as enjoyable a place to walk as ever. I Read more…
Friday before last found us scrutinising the wind forecasts with a little more urgency then normal. That day had seen sailings to Skomer cancelled as a result of strong northerlies and conditions didn’t look much improved for the next twenty four hours or so. Now for someone who freely admits Read more…
Way back at the beginning of July I heard that our neighbouring village had really upped the ante when it came to urban birding. Regular readers will probably recall that my own local patch often sees Dippers and Grey Wagtails but Kingfishers? Now that would be a first. After work Read more…
After all the excitement of Fairford it was back to reality on Monday with a long drive home and an afternoon spent brushing up on my presentation skills for work. Hardly the way to round off what had been an excellent few days and come early evening I was itching Read more…
I’m a big proponent for making the most of any time we have to spend with nature and the best way of doing that is to chose accommodation with as close a connection to the great outdoors as possible. Ideally that would mean that we’d be camping every weekend but Read more…