FEBRUARY 2006.
Great spotted woodpecker.

FEBRUARY 2006.
During february my feeder station took a change with me purchasing a hide, this enabled me to get closer to the birds to photo. I was lucky enough to tempt down a Great spotted woodpecker to a stump i had placed infront of the hide. But due to the dull skies my time here was limited. I also had started to help out with surveying the quarry area at sandy for the RSPB. This is an area of mixed habitat that hopefully will bring in some interesting birds and wildlife. The most notable so far is seeing 4 little owls hiding amongst the sand stones.

JANUARY 2006
At the end of december i put up a couple of feeding tables and some cut down stumps in a copse area just behind where i live. The purpose of this was to photograph whatever bird species came to the feeders with the aid of some cammo clothing and cut down branches to make a rough hide.Now well into january the birds are quite used to everything and i have been able to get some good shots.Every now and again a new species for my feeder list turns up which hopefully will grow throughout the summer. The male pheasants are now being fed around my feet and the blue tits and robin perch literally next to my shoulder.

11th December 2005. After a 12hr nightshift i picked up my dad and headed off to Rainham marshes to connect with the 1w SOCIABLE PLOVER . After a short wait for the reserve to open, we made our way to where the plover was showing well,albeit at a distance, with lapwings.The sun was breaking through but mist obscured the bird at times. It was very distinguishable with its broad white supercillium, long legs, three coloured upperparts, at rest the black wing tips were prominently edged with the white secondaries then the dusky upperparts. When in flight this patterning was stunning to see especially against the accompanying lapwings. It stayed on view for some time but never ventured any closer and eventually flew across the train lines and was lost to view, i could go home now and get some sleep with another new tick on my list.

GREY CHEEKED THRUSH

NOVEMBER 2005. GREY CHEEKED THRUSH.Northaw great wood,herts.
This small american thrush turned up well inland and caused a very large twitch during its stay.I was able to visit the site a few times to see this lovely little bird, and with sarah on one occassion.I was surprised by the size of the bird compared to our thrush's,the upperparts were brown with darker edges to the wing feathers,the upper tail and rump were a more richer colour and the undertail white,the underparts were a grey white on the breast and belly and a more solid grey down the flanks,it had distinctive spots on the breast with larger and darker spots under the throat and very distinct dark malar stripes,the cheeks were grey tinged and a buffish eyering was noted as well as a pale base to the lower mandible.The bird blended in very well amongst the leaf litter and it moved extremely fast when it ran from place to place, a lovely bird to see and obtain some nice pics aswell.

November '05.
GREY CHEEKED THRUSH.

November'05.
Just outside my home village in bedfordshire a large flock of golden plover were found. Myself and sarah had noticed a birder scanning the fields and on pulling over a flock of about 400 plover feeding were seen.I went home to get my camera gear and returned to obtain a couple of record shots.I scanned the group as best possible seeing if anything differant was mixed in with them, but nothing was noted.

October 2005. A 1w white rumped sandpiper turned up at grafham water and stayed long enough for me and sarah to twitch this lovely little wader. I visited the site a couple of times and was lucky enough to get some good views and photos.