CWP afternoon

30 Jan - a cold winter's afternoon, some small water patches frozen. 33 Goosander and 2 pairs of Shoveler were on pit 30, together with a Little Egret. Pit 44 held 28 Red-crested Pochard. At Shorncote reedbed, the Barn Owl emerged to hunt, a Water Rail called,at least 110 Teal and 5 Reed Buntings were around the reserve, and 400+ Lapwings flew over in 3 flocks. Frost soon descended at dusk.

Dorset coast

29 Jan - A cold day on the Dorset coast, the highlights being 8 Spoonbills (5-8) at Holes Bay, Poole, along with close views of Avocet, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit (9-10). Wildfowl included Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon (12) and Teal (11). A distant Spotted Redshank was also present. Portland harbour remarkably produced all 5 Grebe species, including 13 Black-necked, a Slavonian (15), and a smart Red-necked off Chesil Cove. 19 Mediterranean Gulls were present in a variety of plumages (16-19), and further 8 were seen on a quick scan of the gull flock by Radipole visitor centre. Four Waxwings (13-14) were seen in Weymouth, where they have been present for several weeks. Arne reserve was very scenic (1-3) but there was no sign of the Great Grey Shrike - a female Merlin from the Coombe Heath hide was the highlight, together with large flocks of waders in Poole harbour including 250+ Avocets (4).

Dipper at Welford

28 Jan - Only 25 mins drive from work, so I decided to go to see the Dipper wintering at Welford in west Berkshire, a rarity in that county. It came in to roost by the weir at 4.50pm and fed and preened on the rocks by the wier til at least 5pm when I left. Photo, copyright Marek Walford. A flock of 5 Little Egrets flew S overhead at 4.45pm.

Hampshire in winter

23 Jan - a few hours in Hampshire and fairly productive - after a bit of searching I located 2 Purple Sandpipers (1, JM photo from Southsea) on one of the groynes at Barton-on-Sea, fairly distant but good scope views. Cut Bridge and Sturt Pond at Keyhaven gave flight views of at least 3 of the wintering Lapland Buntings, also 3 smart Mediterranean Gulls - an adult winter (7), another adult in almost complete summer plumage with a black hood, and a second-year bird. Many Snipe (5) were on Sturt Pond but no Jack Snipe were to be seen. Brent Geese (3) were flying around at high tide and waders included Turnstone (4), Redshank (6), Curlew and Dunlin. Two Little Egrets (2) were present.
A brief visit to Blashford gave really excellent views of the Bittern (9) from Ivy Lake North hide, and there were amazing numbers of Bramblings (8) under the feeder - at least 25, together with Siskins and Redpolls.

Calcot Waxwings

17 Jan - A photo (lower) of a couple of the Waxwings at Calcot, Berks, in much better light, taken by John Wood at the weekend. Above, another of my shots.

More Waxwings.....

16 Jan - A brief detour off the M4 j12 at Reading, and good views of a flock of c75 Waxwings behind the shopping centre, preening and trilling in the trees and flying around - very dull light for photos unfortunately. The first I have seen in 2011, after several sightings in Dec last year. Photos by JM.

Extremadura 10-14 Jan 2011

10-14 Jan - An excellent short break with Celtic Bird Tours, with over 110 species seen despite some foggy conditions at times. The drive from the airport to our hotel was very productive, with a stop at Almaraz reservoir giving an impressive start including Osprey, a male Little Bittern, Purple Gallinule and both Marsh and Hen Harriers. Warm midday sun and a few wild flowers emerging were very welcome in early January....White Storks were widespread and back at their nest sites in the villages (7,8), and one of the highlights at Monfrague NP (9) was a flock of 130+ moving north on migration (11). Other highlights here and at Rio Almonte were Griffon (13,14) and a few enormous Black Vultures (15), 2 Spanish Imperial Eagles (12), a Golden and a Bonelli's Eagle, to make a 3-Eagle Day!Choughs were around the Castillo (16). The steppes near Santa Marta and near Belen (4-6) held an amazing flock of 43 Great Bustards (5), together with Black-bellied Sandgrouse and thousands of larks, including Calandras. A few Little Bustards were also seen. The Sierra Brava reservoir produced vast flocks of dabbling duck, especially Shoveler (as well as the 8th record of Common Gull for Extremadura) and the rice fields around Madrigalejo (17) contained hundreds of Common Cranes (18,19), together with Black-shouldered Kites, Marsh and Hen Harriers, a couple of Bluethroats (20) in the ditches, and flocks of Spanish Sparrows (21). The mountains of eastern Extremadura gave amazing views of the Sierras (22-26), as well as a couple of flocks of wintering Alpine Accentors (25) and a few Blue Rock Thrushes (27) and Crag Martins (28). Other specialities seen or heard included Rock Bunting, Azure-winged Magpie, Southern Grey Shrikes, many Hoopoes, wintering warblers especially Blackcaps, and flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plover all over the steppes. A perfect January location.