NT
1977
A visit to Chew Valley Lake where the best were 4 Little Gulls, 2 adults and 2 1st summer, 500+ Sand Martins and 5 Swallows.
1981
A weekend at Portland, when we arrived there was thick sea mist which cleared by the afternoon, but we still saw 2 Blackcaps, 6 Chiffchaffs, 9 Wheatears, a Slow Worm, 2 Firecrests, a Hoopoe, 3 Swallows, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Golden Plovers, 9 Corn Buntings, a Common Lizard, in the Obs quarry a Kestrel, and, eventually after a lot of searching,
a Black Kite, a new bird for us.
Later, on a walk around the Verne we saw lots of chiff/willows, 4 Ring Ouzels and a male Pied Flycatcher.
Photo: Female Kestrel.
1982
A drive to Hampshire, to Pennington Marsh where the best bird was a Short-eared Owl, also seen were 3 White and 1 Yellow Wagtails, a Sandwich Tern, 3 Greenshank, 3 Knot and c40 Grey Plovers.
We continued to the New Forest, near Beaulieu we saw 2 Dartford Warblers and at Beaulieu Road 3 Redpolls, 2 Woodlarks and a Siskin.
1983
Leading a Wingspan Bird Tour to Spain.
1984
Co-leading a joint Wingspan/Ibis and Bristol Ornithological Club tour to Cyprus. 3 new birds seen today.
1988
1996
An evening visit to the Avon Gorge, where I saw a female Peregrine carrying a gull carcass and feeding on it at its regular plucking spot.
2004
A visit to Portbury Wharf where the best birds were 8+ Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps, 3 Reed Buntings, 2 Wheatears, a Bullfinch and a female Merlin.
2014
A visit to Chew Valley Lake where there were lots of Chiffchaffs, several Swallows, 2 Sand Martins, a Goldeneye, a Barnacle Goose, a 2nd summer Iceland Gull and a 2nd summer Yellow-legged Gull.
Video of Yellow-legged Gull, also see here.
2016
A couple of hours at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean, the best being 5 male and 4 female Mandarin Ducks, 2 Grey Wagtails and a Marsh Tit.
2019
A visit to Slimbridge where there was a Common Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets, Redshank, lots of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and a Sedge Warbler.
Then to Frampton Lakes, which were quiet, at both lots of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, and, 2 Willow Warblers at the sailing lake. The Brent Goose was still with the Barnacle and Greylag Geese at Court lake and my first Swallow for the year flew over.
Back at Elm Lodge I watched a female Great Spotted Woodpecker in the trees from the flat.
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Brent Goose with Barnacle Geese.
2021
Two visits to Chipping Sodbury Common, late morning where I had a very good view of a stunning male Redstart, also seeing/hearing 5+ Chiffchaffs, a Raven and a Kestrel.
Later, after lunch called in again on my way home, another male Redstart seen, not as close, few other birds, the Chiffchaffs and the Raven were still there and there was a Stonechat, but guess the morning birds had moved through.
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Redstart photo by Mark Collier.
