Waxwings!

A real treat today - as I was writing an e-mail I spotted a starling-sized bird with a crest in the sycamore tree. I instantly knew it was a waxwing. It swooped down out of view and I later realised there's a shrub full of rose-hips where it must have been feeding! What an awesome garden tick! Combined with a male brambling yesterday and all five species of winter thrush this week I'm not doing too badly!

While at the recycling place at Avonmouth there were hundreds of black-headed gulls, herring gulls and the odd lesser black-backed gull flocking around the waste warehouses! No doubt cashing in on good grub being delivered throughout the day. Along the road pied wagtails and dunnocks were feeding in the slush - no doubt goodies coming off the rubbish trucks' tyres!

On my way home I spotted some starling-like birds and could see they were waxwings too - just a few, but waxwings nonetheless! And once at home some black-headed gulls and herring gulls were flying low over the neighbourhood on their way to roost.

Everywhere you look there really is something to see - I'm going to miss it all while I'm a away for a few days for Christmas! Have a trusty neighbour to feed the garden birds for me though!

Waxwings, common gulls and winter wonderland

After a morning resting fighting off a cold I set off for work - it still hadn't risen above minus 4.5 degrees Celsius.

The garden had been busy this morning - I threw out the leftovers of a chicken carcass and attracted a dozen black-headed gulls, a few herring gulls and....a rarity in Bristol, a common gull. Despite being common in urban areas in the south-east they stick to the hills in the west.

I went to work via Avonmouth hoping to spot some waxwings that had been seen yesterday. I wasn't disappointed - 7 were resting and feeding on some snow covered berries and I got some lovely views. A few fieldfares were having their share too. The odd lapwing flew overhead.

The trees everywhere were covered in harsh frost and even snow around Avonmouth. The Downs in Bristol looked stunning.

To help get us all in the Christmas spirit we had a carol service in the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building at lunch time - wonderful. And then battling in a freezing cold office I left a little early to continue getting over my cold and reminisce on the waxwings!

The Big Freeze

Wow! Seems a long time since I last made a post. It's been a busy three months with the Bristol Dinosaur Project, leading bird identification courses and various appearances on tv and local radio!
Despite the big freeze across the UK we seemed to have come off pretty lightly in Bristol receiving only a light dusting. It's still incredibly cold outside though, not rising much above freezing. I've been putting some apples out in the garden which have been welcomed by the blackbirds. I spotted a male blackcap today too, a visitor from Germany while a mistle thrush was cocking its tail and getting a good view of the neighbourhood on top of the sycamore tree outside my flat. Yesterday I spotted 30 lapwings flying south across Henbury, no doubt escaping the snow further north. Be interesting to see how the next few days pan out - it should be getting a little warmer.

The Centennial Egg - a piece I did for Miles Barton, producer for the BBC Natural History Unit

Filming for the One Show

I've just been filming with presenter Miranda Kestovnikoff for the One Show talking about about eagle owls and in particular Oscar the eagle owl, who became a star in this part of Bristol. Oscar was living in the wild around Biological Sciences and while we can't rule out him coming from captivity, it is possible he was a truly wild bird.

Reporting on cirl buntings for Radio 4's Saving Species

Yesterday I was reporting on cirl buntings for Radio 4's Saving Species, interviewing the RSPB about their current translocation programme where they are moving young birds from Devon to Cornwall. The show is repeated this Thursday at 9pm and can be heard on bbc iPlayer at this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1xt1

Seabirds, swallows and sunshine

Wow! Where does three weeks go!
Had an amazing holiday with the dive club down in Skomer - perfect weather, calm sea, wonderful people and great wildlife. I got to do five dives, see my first wreck, some lovely fishes and ring storm petrels and manx shearwater overnight on Skomer - something I've always wanted to do.

On return I ringed some baby swallows at a stable and took part in the annual Canada goose ringing at Chew Valley Lake. I also reported on the translocation of young cirl buntings by the RSPB from Devon to Cornwall - soon to appear on the BBC Radio 4's Savings Species.

Meanwhile, my work with the Bristol Dinosaur Project is going well - I've successfully visited two schools now trying out some ideas and have been getting to grips with the website and HTML coding today. I just can't do the coding so have resorted to using Dreamweaver - I'm too much of a visual learner to do without it!

Have been enjoying watching parties of swifts screaming over Clifton in the past few days. On the weekend  while ringing on the Severn Estuary I saw streams of swifts moving through south - no doubt birds all ready on the move. It only seems like yesterday they were arriving.


Me with an manx shearwater (left) and a baby swallow (right)