Kensington Gardens

I went to Kensington Gardens with my eldest son today hoping to see the Tawny Owl again but sadly it was hidden in it's hole. Didn't matter as we had a great day and my son fully enjoyed feeding birds from his hands and getting such good views of ring necked parakeets. Only 2 new birds for my list but a couple of other pics I quite liked too.
60. Carrion Crow

61. Starling

Have already counted Ring necked Parakeets and Blue Tits but I was pleased with these pics:

And finally a picture I forgot to post last time:

62. Reed Bunting

A day at Dungeness

Spent Tuesday at Dungeness with my sons. A slightly disappointing day on the photography front as a lot of the birds we saw were too far away for photos. Did manage a few new species however.
57. Wood Pigeon

58. Tree Sparrow

59. Kestrel

I stated at the start that blurry, distant record shots would not count. Therefore unfortunately I cannot count this Great White Egret seen:

Over a third of the way there!

Managed to squeeze in a days photography in between watching the winter olympics and football. Fortunately the weather was good and I managed to see quite a few birds and get a few half decent pictures.

I started the day at Paghem North Wall where there was a low but rising tide. There was a nice curlew on the mud flats that provided me with my first photo op. I then walked along the river a bit to see many ducks and geese - sadly many of these were a little too distant to photograph but I did get some shots.

48. Curlew

49. Wigeon

50. Brent Goose

Saw pintail, teal and various waders too but sadly all  alittle too far away.

I then headed to Pagham Lagoon where I was particularly pleased to see a Slavonian Grebe quite close to the edge allowing some photo ops.

51: 

52. Goldeneye

53. Mediterranean Gulls

I then headed from Pagham to Widewater lagoon. I was hoping for sanderlings on the beach but due to the good weather there were too many walkers around for waders to be present. I did get a couple of new species for my list though.

54. House Sparrow

55. Goosander

My final stop for the day was Beeding Brooks where I had hoped to see an owl or two. I wasn't disappointed and managed to see both short eared owls and a barn owl. I didn't manage a barn owl picture but did get a couple of the short eared owl

56. Short Eared Owl

A morning at Arundel.

With the forecast being good for Sunday I wanted to get out somewhere but couldn't decide where. With the Albion playing Sunday afternoon I wanted to get back to listen to it on the radio (wish I hadn't bothered!) so I only had the morning free. I opted for a morning at Arundel. First of all I went to the WWT centre and got some nice close up views of various ducks including:
44: Gadwall

45. Pochard

46. Shellduck

After a little while at Arundel I decided to head up to the Burgh to look for Red Kites. Sadly I didn't see any but did manage a (slightly dodgy!) picture of a yellowhammer:

47. Yellowhammer

A lazy morning at Warnham

A very lazy morning of Birdwatching involved sitting in one hide at Warnham watching the birds come and go. Highlight was a Mealy Redpoll which appeared briefly before disappearing. Lots of lesser redpolls about as well as a few other bits and pieces. Sadly not much on the lake (although it was about twice as large as it usually is!!). Managed a few decent pictures and some new species for my challenge :)
37. Mealy Redpoll

38. Dunnock

39. Blackbird

40. Nuthatch

41. Blue Tit

42. Great Spotted Woodpecker

43. Chaffinch

and one I've photographed before but because I like them here's another Long Tailed tit!:

A great day in London

When someone offered to show me where I could see a Tawny Owl in London I jumped at the chance. I met Wendy and Sue at Kensington Gardens and they very kindly spent the day giving me a tour of the birds of London.
As well as the Tawny Owl we saw a mumber of other lovely birds at Kensington Gardens and Wendy even fed some from her hand they were that tame!
My pics from Kensington Gardens:
25:Tawny Owl

26:Jay

27: Mallard

28:Lesser Black Backed Gull

Ok not a bird but this little chap is worthy of having his picture taken!

After Kensington Gardens we headed off to the WWT centre at Barnes. By now the weather had brightened up (slightly!). I was still trying to get used to the Ring-necked parakeets that were so common in London and yet I've never seen them anywhere else. Unable to get a photo as it was rather distant but it was lovely to see a Bittern. My pics from Barnes are below:

29. Ring Necked Parakeet

30. Tufted Duck

31. Egyptian Goose

32. Grey Heron

33. Little Grebe

34. Moorhen

35. Mute Swan

After the WWT centre we then headed off to Charring cross hospital where we saw 2 lovely peregrines. Unfortunately the light was fading badly at this point and I didn't manage any good pictures. I did see a Redwing that stayed still long enough to get a semi decent picture.

36. Redwing

All in all a fantastic day and 12 new bird species photographed. Many thanks once again to Wendy and Sue for showing me around and for their great company.

Drive home was interesting due to a sudden very intense storm but I did get to listen to Brighton progressing to the next round of the FA cup on the radio so all was good :)

A Morning at Feathers

I spent the morning over at Feathers Wild Bird Care yesterday and managed to add a few birds to the total. The light wasn't great for a lot of the morning although the sun did come out toward the end. Also really need to get a camera that doen't keep thinking I'm trying to take photos of branches and focussing on them perfectly while leaving the bird out of focus!
Anyway I managed 8 more species and was particularly pleased that the lesser redpoll turned up as it is not a common visitor there.
17. Buzzard (if a bit distant!)

18. Goldfinch

19. Great Tit

20. Greenfinch

21. Long Tailed Tit

22.Lesser Redpoll

23. Robin

24. Collared Dove

24 down - 126 to go!