Life, and by that I mean work and a bad back, largely paused birding in the latter half of the month. Whilst my tartan birding notebook records 10 dates, the second half of the month felt like a calm, sometimes birdless seawatch. Two dates relate to non-birding trips; the first a late-morning, 2.5hr walk with […]
The Sanderling: There and back again
The joy of colour ringing is that it can open the window on the enchanting journeys of individual birds. By finding and reporting a banded bird, you can aid science and (to my way of thinking) better connect with the natural world. I have to admit, reporting colour ringed birds is not something I have […]
Local Big Year: UK RBBP species
Birdwatch and BirdGuides launched #LocalBigYear at the start of 2022. They aim to encourage birders to “recalibrate and refocus their birding efforts” closer to home. For me, this initiative will include stepping up ‘a project’ that started in 2021 of trying to find and map the territories of UK Rare Breeding Bird Species within a […]
9th January 2022: A watery romance?
I have fond memories of water pipit. Whether it’s tracking them down at Stoke Water Meadows, near Guildford, to add them to my Surrey list; or trying to and then succeeding finding a passage bird at Tices Meadow on the edge of Farnham. Each time I see one, I am taken back. So I thoroughly […]
5th January 2022: Dawn photography at Grove
The early bird catches the worm. Or when bird finding, the early riser finds the birds. It’s not always the case by any means. But on some mornings the weather, scenery and atmosphere are more than enough to compensate for the rude awakening by an alarm. This morning was one of those occasions, and I […]
Dr Dave's Birding Blog 