RSPB British Birds of Prey by Marianne Taylor & Stig Frode Olsen : 8 August 2011 This book was recommended to me particularly for the photographs by Stig Frode Olsen and it has to be said that it is hard to imagine better photography than this. Each species has eight to ten accompanying photographs each…
Mixed Flock in Garden : 7th August 2011 A very unusual sight in the garden. I looked casually at the back garden feeders as I must do a million times a day and was somewhat amazed to see half a dozen Long-tailed Tits all over the feeders. On top of this there were nine Blue…
Day Out To WWT Martin Mere : 4th August 2011 We drove up to Martin Mere to collect the new scope I had ordered but while we were there we had a look around the hides as well. The weather wasn’t brilliant and it had been raining heavily so the scrapes were under water and…
Day Out To Tatton Park : 3rd August 2011 We drove out to Tatton Park, parking in the usual place at the south side of Tatton Mere. We walked through the woods which were pretty quiet although we did see a Nuthatch and a Song Thrush as well as the more familiar suspects. On the…
Summary of July 2011 Weather Very hot at the start of the month getting wetter towards the end of the first week. By the middle of the month it had gotten very wet. We were away between the 14th – 18th and on return we got the impression that there had been heavy rain throughout…
Day Out To Upper Derwent Valley : 28th July 2011 The Upper Derwent Valley is an area of the Peak District National Park and within it are various sites including Ladybower Reservoir, Derwent Reservoir and Howden Reservoir and their associated dams. From the visitor centre (on weekdays only) you can drive all the way up…
Day Out To WWT Martin Mere : 26th July 2011 We went up to Martin Mere mainly because I wanted to get a part exchange price on my 4 year old Opticron scope from the “In Focus” store there. I spoke to Andy Bunting who works in the shop there and who we have talked…
“The Running Sky: A Birdwatching Life” by Tim Dee : 20 July 2011 “The Running Sky” is one of those bird books that belongs to the “emotional” or “aesthetic” tradition of natural history writings. In twelve chapters, one for each month of the year starting in June, Dee relates stories from a lifetime of birding….
Visit To Musselburgh Links : 17 Jul 2011 On the last day of our visit to Musselburgh we decided to try a site that we had tried to get at before but which was then fenced off. I discovered a map of this site in “Where to Watch Birds in Britain” (entry no 364) so…
Boat Trip To Isle of May and Bass Rock : 16 Jul 2011 We went up to Scotland in the middle of July to visit relatives but I was also aware that there was only another week or so to go before the Puffins would leave the islands in the Firth of Forth off the…
