NT
1977
An evening visit to Chew Valley Lake where there were lots of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins above the lake, we also saw 2 1st summer Little Gulls, a pair of Ruddy Ducks, 5 Pochard and 4 Shoveler.
1978
An overnight drive to Stodmarsh, Kent, where in the morning we saw a Nightingale, 3 Cetti's Warblers, 2 males and a female Garganey, a male and female Blue-winged Teal, a Savi's Warbler, a Cuckoo, lots of Reed and Sedge Warblers, lots of Bearded Tits, a Yellow Wagtail, a Snipe drumming, 2 Redshank, a Lesser Whitethroat, lots of Reed Buntings, 5 Shoveler, 2 Pochard, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 6 Shelduck, c100 Swifts, 2 Garden Warblers, 3 Tree Sparrows, 3 Spotted Flycatchers, a Whitethroat, several Goldfinches and after a long wait, the bird we had come for, a Pallid Swift, a 1st British record.
Drawings of Savi's Warbler and Pallid Swift by Laurel Tucker.
Later we drove to Minsmere where there were lots of Avocets, 2 Marsh Harriers, 2 Cuckoos, a Ringed Plover, 5+ Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper and our second new bird of the day, a Broad-billed Sandpiper.
1979
A return to Chew Valley Lake to see the Marsh Warbler again, a difficult bird to see in the clump of Red Osier in which it was found and where it stayed. Most of the birds were much the same as yesterday, but now there were 3 Garden Warblers and 5 male Ruddy Ducks, and we saw a male Red-crested Pochard from Moreton Hide. There was a big increase to c10,000 Swifts and several hundred Swallows and House Martins.
1981
1982
Leading a Wingspan Bird Tour to Point Pelee in southern Ontario. 1 new bird seen today.
1983
All day in the coastal marshes of Cley and Salthouse, seeing 2 Spoonbills, lots of Reed Warblers, at least 7 Bearded Tits, a Cuckoo, various geese of unknown origin including an Egyptian Goose, several species of duck with a male Garganey at Salthouse. There were lots of waders, with the most noteworthy being 40 Avocets, 4 Grey Plovers, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, a Greenshank, a Sanderling, a Curlew Sandpiper and 2 Temminck's Stints. The only terns seen were 11 Sandwich Terns and there were 2 1st summer Little Gulls, we also heard 2 Bitterns, saw 2 Yellow Wagtails, a Wheatear, a Short-eared Owl and a Barn Owl.
1989
Staying with friends Julian and Nicola Hector in Little Downham, Cambridgeshire. On a brief drive in the Welney area saw lots of common birds, plus a Turtle Dove, 2 Tree Sparrows and heard a Nightingale.
1991
1996
On a birding holiday to Turkey. no new birds seen today.
1997
My final day recording on West Sedgemoor, returning to the Sedge Warblers and Nightingale, also seeing 8+ Lapwings, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, a Lesser Whitethroat and as I was leaving a female Montagu's Harrier.
2006
A return to Severn Beach where it was still windy, seeing 3 Fulmars, 2 Gannets, a Storm Petrel and an Arctic Skua.
2014
A visit to Slimbridge to see the 2 Common Crane chicks which hatched on the 18th, the first Crane chicks to be born in the South West of England in over 400 years. Being fed by the parents and staying close to the nest site.
Video of adults & chicks, also see here.