Farmoor again......

29 Sept - A brief visit to Farmoor this afternoon, and excellent close views of a Slavonian Grebe (4-5) on F2, in either moulting adult, or juvenile plumage. A Little Stint (1-3) also a juvenile, flew in and landed on the causeway but was rather flighty. A Rock Pipit and a Red Kite also seen briefly. Photos JM.

Crane still at Slimbridge

28 Sept - A misty morning at Slimbridge, but the wild 2nd year Common Crane still present, feeding with 3 release scheme birds on fields near the Kingfisher hide. Also seen - a Spotted Redshank, 5 Redshank and 3 Ruff from Zeiss Hide, and 56 Black-tailed Godwits and 12 Redshank on South Lake. Photos JM - the wild bird, on the left, has no red on the crown and is unringed.

White's Thrush.....

27 Sept - this is a fantastic photo of an amazing and charismatic bird, the White's Thrush on Fair Isle on 25th, by Steve Arlow.....no, I didn't see it! I have seen one in Britain, on Scilly, and several in Asia......incidentally, the 25th was my dear Grandmother's 100th birthday, and she duly received a very nice card from the queen.....

Black-necked Grebes

27 Sept - A quick visit to Farmoor reservoir on the way home from my course in Oxford, and the 2 Black-necked Grebes still present on F2 with the GC Grebe flock, with their distinctive dumpy shape, also 2 Common Sandpipers and a Dunlin.

Glossy Ibis flock!

26 Sept - I saw a slow-flying, compact flock of all dark birds with long necks, flying N towards Ashton Keynes, at 11am this morning - an hour later a flock of 15 Glossy Ibis was seen at Kent End (pit 200) in CWP, almost certainly the flock of birds I saw, without binoculars to hand, when driving...an excellent and unexpected addition to the garden list! In retrospect, having seen 500+ Glossy Ibis in Spain 2 weeks ago, I have no doubt about the identity of the flock, but I wish I'd got the bins on them......

Ptarmigan, and a Snow Bunting.....

20 Sep - A walk on the Kintail hills in rather changeable weather, enlivened by a confiding female Snow Bunting on the summit of Sgurr nan Conbhairean, then, on the descent, we flushed 2 groups of 7 then 6 Ptarmigan, presumably family groups, and saw a couple of others totalling 16 birds.

Slimbridge Crane......

14 Sep - A wild 2 yr Common Crane still with the reintroduction Cranes at Slimbridge this morning, 6 birds in total, only 1 wild!....also a Spotted Redshank and 2 Greenshanks from Zeiss hide, with 3 Redshank and 15 Ruff. A total of c110 Black- tailed Godwits around the reserve mainly on South Lake.

Bay of Biscay......

10-12 Sep - A mini cruise to Santander and back through the Bay of Biscay on the fast ferry Pont Aven, and fine weather with a NW breeze for our daylight crossing of the Bay - at least 23 Fin Whales seen, several close to, as well as 3 distant Sperm Whales and a rare Cuvier's beaked Whale. The expected pelagic birds seen - at least 14 Great Shearwaters, with their black caps and white tailbands and effortless twisting agile flight - also 6 superb adult Sabine's Gulls, as well as a single Cory's, and several Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters. Bonxies and an Arctic Skua also seen. Passerine migrants on the ship included a pair of Blackcaps and at least 5 Yellow Wagtails. Photos to follow, the top deck of the ship is 30m above the sea so even the Gannets looked small! Photos JM.

Straits of Gibraltar......

7-9 Sep - early September must mean Tarifa (1-5) and the raptor migration, and as usual an amazing migration spectacle at the Straits - fairly calm weather with little wind, and Africa (Morocco) clearly visible. In 2 days I saw over a thousand raptors cross the strait, thermalling high in flocks before heading south - a slightly early visit this year meant good numbers of Honey Buzzards (7-10), and I saw over 200 in flocks of up to 30 - very variable in plumage, but identifiable on flight pattern and profile. Among the Booted (15-19) and impressive Short-toed Eagles (11-14), a couple of rarities were picked out by the local watchers - a juvenile Bonelli's Eagle, and, best of all, an immature Spanish Imperial Eagle (20-21), which dwarfed the other birds. An amazing flock of c250 Black Kites materialised out of nowhere, and several small groups of Black Storks (25) also passed amongst the more numerous Whites (26). Several Montagu's Harriers (23-24) circled high overhead. Calling groups of Bee-Eaters (36-37), and Pallid Swifts also passed in groups (34-35), together with a couple of high speed Alpine Swifts. 2 Short sea watches , morning and evening, resulted in over 20 Cory's Shearwaters being logged, and 2 adult Audouin's Gulls (38) were on the beach at Bolonia. Tarifa beach held a few dapper Kentish Plovers (30). La Janda wetlands (6) produced an amazing count of over 500 Glossy Ibis (28-29), as well as an immature Purple Heron, Black-winged Stilts (27), 4 Snipe and Green Sandpiper. As well as the expected Marsh Harriers (22), 2 Black-shouldered Kites, rare but regular here, were seen hovering. This area is also good for large numbers of passerines, including Stonechats (m31, f32) and Crested Larks (33). Each autumn visit is different, but this year the highlight was the groups of Honey Buzzards moving through south on their epic journey. Photos JM.