AA Birdpix, Birds, Travel and More

  Garden Birdwatch I've never taken part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, a personal view because I don't think the results are scientifically valid, but it does encourage an interest in wildlife, which is far more important. If only government ministers were forced to take part. However, I do keep a garden list for interest. We moved in to a new property in 2007, and overlook farmland, which at that time was used for daffodils. The first week we had a Little Owl on the fence, and Curlews always used to winter in the fields. Obviously such sights are long gone, as are Grey Partridges which have wandered off the fields and down the tarmac in front of the bungalow!   Nothing much has changed in terms of our small cul-de-sac or the surrounding fields, but wildlife has been much affected by other developments in the area which have resulted in much more disturbance, traffic and light pollution, like almost everywhere else in the country. We have always put out feeders, and h...

Our Geese are cooked Traveling around North Norfolk recently the picture has changed-instead of large numbers of Pinkfeet and White-fronted Geese we seem to have mainly Greylags. The two are probably not connected, since numbers of geese vary according to weather and food availability, but the fact is that we are seemingly being overrun with feral geese, which must affect food supply and habitat for genuinely wild birds. Canada Geese have always been with us, and do not seem to have increased greatly, but there is quite a large population of Barnacle Geese in Suffolk, Egyptian Geese are far commoner than they were ten years ago, there is a tiny population of Red-breasted Geese in East Anglia, and Snow Geese in Oxfordshire, a population in Argyll being down to single figures now. But it is mainly Greylags that are annoying, being noisy, messy and worst of all habituated to humans. Every reserve with any water has them. Unfortunately they cannot be culled, supposedly because they are a B...

  Artificial Birding? Very little divides communities like AI. I have nothing against AI, but unfortunately much of it is poorly programmed to keep costs down. A perfect example is its use by customer service departments- "Hi I'm Gorgonzola, How can I help today?" "I have a complaint" "Sorry I do not understand. Can you put that another way?" "Complaint" "Thank you for reaching out to me, but I need to know what your complaint is about" "Poor customer service"  "Sorry I do not understand". "I need to speak to a human" "Hi I'm Gorgonzola, How can I help today?" "I want to speak to a human being"   (I perhaps should have put agent) "Sorry, I do not understand, can you put it another way please?" "Human (Homo sapiens)" " That's not a very nice thing to say " Whilst most of that is made up, although entirely typical, the last two lines are not. So, s...

  Happy New Year I'm writing this on New year's day, and my year list currently stands at about five. Happily the first bird on my list was Greenfinch (it's usually Wood Pigeon or Black-headed Gull seen in flight), followed by Blue Tit, Robin and Great Tit. Things are quiet in the garden, but the birds are around, just not using the feeders much. There could be a number of reasons, the local Sparrowhawks, a cat which I haven't yet been able to dissuade from entering our garden (poor shot with the half-brick)* or the likely reason being there are still insects around. Despite the cold nights I have been seeing bees (or hover-flies?) recently on the winter honeysuckle outside my window. The inside of the shrubs behind the feeder must be warmer and still providing food, why would birds come to the feeders?  I rarely do a New Year's Day list, for various reasons, but good luck to those who are, especially if connected to charity. To me it's a bit like playing footba...

That time of year  In common with many birders December is not really our favourite month. Whilst we're not active Scrooges, we get fed up with constant bombardment of Xmas adverts, and having to do things we don't really want to because of "tradition". Nuff said, there have been some memorable Christmases. We once had Xmas dinner in an Australian hotel, which was great. There is a much more laid-back attitude there, whether it's because it's summer I don't know, but shops have small displays and there isn't so much light pollution. The only blow-up Santa we saw was the one below. And the Robins are more stunning. This is a Flame Robin, there's even a pink one! A record of Siberian Thrush has always intrigued me, being on Christmas Day in Great Yarmouth, in 1977, and during research for my website I found the original report in British Birds. Only the second accepted record, the finder was birding in Great Yarmouth cemetary (a luxury few of us are ...

Best Year Ever ? As  I'm compiling photos of Category A birds I'm obviously going over old records and photographs, and have begun to wonder "what was the best year ever for twitching in the UK?" Obviously not this year, but it's very much in the eye of the beholder. I would contend that the best year was one in the best era for twitching which was undoubtedely the last two decades of the 20th century. There were far fewer birders then and most twitchers knew each other, but there were birds that haven't occured again, and it was a lot more fun. Obviously a personal opinion, but I think anyone who was birding then would agree. To an extent, the best year will always be the one when you saw the best birds, but hardcore twitchers in those days tended to see everything unless there was a good reason (such as hospitalisation, or possibly your wedding day, although that is open to debate). Work commitments didn't count, as most twitchers were in a position to p...

  Warblers-Marmite birds? I am always working on my website, my current project is to illustrate every bird on Category A of the British List. I am quite a long way in, and have come to "old world" warblers.  Like gulls, warblers, particularly  Phyllosopus, seem to either provide great interest and a challenge, or are something to be ticked and then forgotten. I used to be somewhat in the latter group, but researching for my website has thrown up many interesting facts about vagrants to Britain.  Many firsts for Britain in the 21st century have been warblers, including Eastern Crowned,  Pale Legged Leaf and Olive-tree. Several have been as a result of splits, and older records were rarely assigned to the relevant subspecies. This is rarely important since few records exist, and they can be re-examined, however in the case of Subalpine Warblers it really isn't possible. Adult male birds aren't too bad, but females and immatures can be impossible to assign to one...

  A long time before the next one? As I suspected, my last blog was not the end of the story. Shetland this year was somewhat different, mainly in terms of numbers of birds, but also birders. Having left the queue for the Unst ferry to retrace my journey and continue to Mainland for the Siberian Thrush, I wasn't about to leave Yell again without a good reason. However, I always spend a couple of days on Mainland before taking the ferry home, and, as the thrush was now showing regularly in the garden, I went back and finally managed to get a photo, just like I had returning to a White's Thrush a few years ago. Back home, I have been compiling a new web page attempting to illustrate every British species, and got to Brunnich's Guillemot. For those that have been around a while, this was another of those birds that was always just out of reach for various reasons, and has probably reverted to the same status now. Its similarity to Common Guillemot means that many birds must be...

Two Musings for the price of one I am currently on Shetland, and as I feel I'm entitled at my age to stay indoors when it's wet and windy, I'm working on my website at times. My latest "project" is to show a photo of every Category A species on the British List. Of course, many of these will have been taken abroad, some will have eluded me thus far so it gives me an incentive to continue birding (I will even twitch  something if it's a world tick!)                              One of the species I have a love-hate relationship with is Siberian Thrush. When I started birding the old Shell guide was "the" field guide;  it had a separate section at the back for rarities, and therein was a bird I was immediately attracted to, with three records at the time of publication. One of these has subsequently become "not proven", but of the other two, one was on the Isle of May in 1954, and the other, in Great Yarm...

Brinkmanship   Anyone who has done a reasonable amount of twitching will recognise this, but many people never experience it because they give up, not too easily, but too soon. This is often unavoidable because birders may have other commitments such as work. (To some that is an alien concept, others will have families to return to, or wives). However, to most hardcore twitchers it will happen quite frequently, but staying to the bitter end can often have rewards.    There are two issues here, the obvious one is that if everyone else has gone, and you see the bird, you run the risk of being labelled a stringer. In (g)olden days birders lived by their reputations, or judgement by Lee, usually it wasn't a problem unless you really were a stringer.  I had a great advantage as I was usually with Ann, but it always helps to have backup evidence such as a photo, or another birder. We waited most of the day in a hide at Dawlish Warren, hoping to catch up with a wandering El...

  What Goes Around Comes Around Or does it? There have recently been several articles in birding magazines and posts reminding birders of what they have missed by being born too late. The number of species on your British List is largely dependent on money and how far you're prepared to travel, but the quality of species is dependent on when you started twitching (if indeed you do). I started birding in 1980, a late starter compared to some, but didn't start twitching until late 1984. I was very lucky to have seen the Little Curlew (nee Whimbrel) at Blakeney the following year. The "Big Picture" in Birdwatch magazine invokes similar memories for the writer and myself, in that neither of us quite knew what exactly we were looking at, it didn't appear in any field guides of European species at the time. I had been to see it on the strength of a phone call to Nancy's (more nostalgia), whereas Simon had been on a family holiday in Norfolk (thankfully his parents ...

AA Birdpix the website My blog is for interest but also to promote my website. The website started in 2004-ish as a means to sell rarity photos, but now there is little commercial aspect to it I have expanded it to a collection of galleries with photos from all over the world, mainly for interest. I have found the maintenance of it therapeutic and relaxing, since I write my own code. Whilst this does cause occasional errors, it means no annoying pop-ups, adverts or notifications. There are a number of links to other sites, and I will update them occasionally and add links if I am asked. There are also pages covering moths and butterflies, and recently  cetaceans. Another retirement hobby of mine is painting owls, and prints are available to purchase, although it's not a big commercial thing, I just enjoy it. Older sections of the site (badly in need of updating) hark back to selling rarity photos, which I will still do if asked, although I will often supply them free to individuals...