Wednesday 27th May 2026: Alnwick Castle

-

 We had a day off from birding today, visiting Alnwick Castle to chase dragons and take broomstick flying lessons at the place where scenes from  a Harry Potter film were made.

However, as we got out of the car, I heard a typically high pitched young tweet in the tree above me. Looking up I saw we had stumbled on a family of Nuthatches busily feeding in the trees around the car park. A very useful and unexpected  addition to our holiday birding list!

Nuthatch


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday 6th July 2025: Chapada dos Guimares, Brazil Day 8

-
Image
As always, we were up early, as dawn broke, to enjoy the birdlife when it is most active. We barely moved from our meeting point in the garden, but enjoyed a feast of birds all around us. First up, Tony M pointed out a superb Amazonian Motmot sat quietly and unobtrusively in the tree, showing a bright blue crown and long, shuttlecock tail.  In another tall tree behind the dining area, Blue-headed Parrots flew in, giving excellent scope views. A stunning Yellow-tufted Woodpecker with superb, bold colours was a real treat as it inched along a branch, then a group of Lettered Aracaris, with distinct bill patterning, landed in the secropia tree just above our heads. Next a Boat-billed Flycatcher appeared, then at a feeding trough, White-lined Tanagers mingled with doves and blackbirds. On the flowers a Black-throated Mango hovered, and a Yellow rumped Cacique landed nearby. On the ground a Creamy-bellied Thrush hopped energetically.  Back in the secropia, a pair of Blue Dacnis dar...
Read more

Sunday 27th June: Roller in Suffolk

-
Image
 After daily reminders from Jenny that a Eurasian roller was still present in Suffolk I finally made the effort to go to see it and took advantage of the trip to visit several other local sites which were of interest to me.  My first stop was at the tiny village of Ampton where I normally find my annual tick for tree sparrow and this year was no exception as I saw one within 20 seconds of getting out of my car.  After watching it for a minute or so I quickly moved on to the next venue which was Lackford Lakes, a Suffolk wildlife trust reserve which had been reporting a juvenile glossy ibis for a few days.  I was told by someone in the car park exactly where it had been seen recently but he had not seen it that day when he had walked around earlier.  When I arrived at the hide 3 other birders were there but they had not seen it and so after 10 minutes I gave up waiting for it to show and moved on to try to see the roller. I had seen a number of birders along the ...
Read more

Friday 17th January 2025: Pagham Harbour

-
Image
We enjoyed a lovely day out at Pagham yesterday with Sue. We started with a circuit from the visitor centre, but the water levels were high at Ferry Pool and there was little of note. In the channel a few Redshank and Curlew were the best we could muster. We relocated to Halsey’s Farm and walked across the field to North Wall. There were plenty of Wigeon whistling noisily as we passed, and out in the harbour swathes of waders, creating a tremendous spectacle when they all took to the skies, a murmuration of Golden Plover swirling above flocks of Lapwing, and groups of Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit dropping in to the nearby fields. Lines of Brent geese headed further west, calling softly as they passed over.   Wigeon In the area we were thrilled to find a Long-eared Owl roosting, showing surprisingly well near the front of a bush. Long-eared Owl In White’s Creek we were treated to great views of a Spotted Redshank which wandered in very close, allowing us to note its key features. ...
Read more