Common Scoter & Swallow - Stewartby Lake

 A record shot of the male Common Scoter found by Pete Smith.

A Swallow trying to hold on to it's perch in the gusty conditions earlier in the afternoon. Photos by Martin Green.

Long-tailed Tit fledglings

The first egg must have been laid around 23 March, which seems a little early. These youngsters were being tended by three adults.

Info on BTO BirdFacts

Grey Plover & Kittiwake - MVCP 28th April 2012

A video-grab of the Grey Plover that was on the MVCP Pillinge early this morning. A long-awaited MVCP Tick for me.

A couple of record shots of the Kittiwake that was found by Dave Ball on Stewartby Lake this afternoon. Photos by Martin Green.

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern at Broom GP, 25th April 2012

Brambling

Brambling at The Lodge, 22nd April 2012 by Geoff Harries. Only the third 2012 record in Bedfordshire so far!

A different view of Thurleigh

News from Willington

Thanks to the MVCP and Darren Woodward, we now have a new Tern Raft and Viewing Screen on the main lake at Willington.  You have to believe me that moments before, there were three Common Terns inspecting the raft which was installed only on Wednesday.  Thanks to all those who have been involved with this work.

Slavonian Grebe on Stewartby Lake (again...)

To add to the other photos here is my attempt at photographing the Slavonian Grebe on Stewartby Lake today. As it was close in, and I'm lazy, I went for the DSLR approach rather than digiscoping it. I'm glad I decided to come back and photograph it as think it is fair to say that the above image is EVEN better than my previous photo of a Slavonian Grebe taken on Stewartby Lake in December 2009... (See below) Both photos by Martin Green.

Slavonian Grebe

I had the same idea as Andy and tried my luck again this afternoon.  It will look amazing in a few weeks time. Slavonian Grebe, Stewartby Lake, 14th April 2012

Stewartby Slav Sat 14th April

The Slavonian Grebe was present relatively close to the shore near the eastern corner of Stewartby Lake for its third day. With some decent light and the sun behind, it seemed a shame not to try a little digiscoping.

SB or not SB...

In May 1998, in the days when petrol was somewhat cheaper than it is now, I spent most of my birthday standing around looking at an empty field in Northumberland. A pretty pointless thing to do on the face of it, when I could have been at home eating jelly and ice cream, but in common with several hundred other people I had made the long journey to Druridge Bay hoping to see a Slender-billed Curlew. The bird had in fact been there for several days, but we had previously resisted going on the grounds that it was considered to be ‘bollocks’ by several eminent birders. But on the 7th, this changed to ‘[insert name of eminent birder – I can’t actually remember who it was] says it is one’, so early on the 8th we were there.

I have two recollections of that day, other than the disappointment of not seeing one of the rarest birds in the world. One is of myself, Jeff Higgott and several other birders from Suffolk entertaining ourselves by doing bird impressions (both vocal and physical) for the others to guess, whilst the rest of the crowd gradually edged further and further away from us. The other is of Jeff saying to LGRE, after it had become apparent that the bird had gone, “So, Lee, what now?”, to which he replied, looking as if he meant it, “Dunno. Kill ourselves?”.

But of course he didn’t, he just convinced himself that it wasn’t one. And now it looks like he’s going to have the last laugh. Accepted in 2002 by the BBRC and BOURC as the first for Britain, it now looks certain to be rejected (sorry, considered ‘not proven’) after ten years of rumbling discontent with the record and a long review process. The cat was let at least partially out of the bag yesterday when the latest BBRC ‘work in progress’ file listed the record as ‘NP’ (not proven). This was quickly pronounced to be a ‘genuine error’ after it was pounced on by eagle-eyed BirdForum members, but what exactly was the error? Somehow typing the letters NP into the relevant cell on the spreadsheet instead of IC (in circulation)? Or the timing and method of release of such important news?

At the time of writing it is still listed as NP on the WIP file on the BBRC website (saying ‘last updated 14-Apr-12’). But I don’t think there’s any doubt now that it will be chucked out, and I for one have removed it with great ceremony from my dip list, on the grounds that if it wasn’t one, then I didn’t dip on it (I haven’t really. I don’t even keep a dip list).

Further reading, if you’re really bored:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Druridge_Bay_curlew

One Down, Ten To Go

It seems I only had to ask – after my last post listing 11 species I’d like to see in the county this spring, one has turned up already – a splendid Black-winged Stilt at Rutland Water this afternoon! To begin with it looked like we were going to be firmly in ‘World’s Worst Rarity Photo’ territory...

 

...but fortunately it soon came closer to Dunlin hide and provided some reasonable photo opportunities:

Right, what’s next?

Stewartby Slav Grebe

Ruff

One of two male Ruff at Derek Whites Eggs pit, 8th-9th April, 2012

Great White Egret

Some great shots from Martin Palmer

Dream come true!

Well it had to happen and following Neil Wright's brief visitor to Brogborough, we finally got one of these we could all enjoy...at the mighty Radwell Lakes. Nick Cook's immortal words "That's white!" still ring in my ears. This shot taken on the edge of the Ouse by the Viaduct.

RBM

Quite a surprise when this came waddling to life at Broom this morning, first site record.