Rich Ford's Birding Diary

Twenty nine Canada Geese flew directly over my house this morning while I was in the shower. It could have been twenty eight, but I wasn't really in full birding mode. I heard them coming from miles off and just about had enough time to stick my head around the shower curtain to see them flying in the direction of the estuary.
Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for the car drivers coming up the road behind our house, we don't have frosted glass in our bathroom.

Yes I am still alive. It has been over three months since I last hung my bins around my neck. In that time I have been very busy working, and raising funds for my upcoming trip to Nepal in November. I have now raised over £3600 so I'm definitely going.

I managed to escape to Slimbridge WWT yesterday for a few hours. I wanted to pick up a couple of bird books to help me out on my Nepal trek. I'm not going to be able to spend much time birding, but I hope to see a few goodies along the trail.

I had a quick wander around the hides and saw a reasonable selection of birds, including several Ruff and Spotted Redshanks along with the more usual waders and wildfowl.

Hopefully I'll be able to get out a few more times before I go.

In the trap last night - 53 moths in total comprising of varying numbers of the following.

Poplar Hawk Moth, Elephant Hawk Moth, Dark Arches, Fan Foot, Snout, Scalloped Oak, Large Yellow Underwing, Heart and Dart, Drinker, Common Footman, Green Carpet, Mottled Beauty, Riband Wave, Phoenix, Swallowtail, Bright Line Brown Eye, Buff Ermine, Small Blood Vein, Small Emerald, Flame Shoulder, and Single Dotted Wave.

A more unwelcome visitor to our garden in the night was a Fox. For the first time ever I forgot to shut three of my hens away in their ark. I was greeted by the sight that every poultry keeper dreads this morning. Feathers everywhere and no sign of the birds. I'm feeling a bit bad about it now. Fortunately it didn't get the bantams.

In the trap last night were 88 moths, which is my best result so far.

The following species were present in varying numbers- Small Magpie, Poplar Hawk Moth, Cinnabar, Mottled Beauty, Heart and Dart, Buff Ermine, Riband Wave, Swallowtail, Snout, Flame, Dark Arches, Fan Foot, Small Quaker, Barred Straw, Large Yellow Underwing, Bee Moth, Green Pug, Spectacle, Peppered Moth, Bright Line Brown Eye and a couple of Minor sp.

A migrant Silver Y moth was flying around the bushes outside my front door as I left for work this morning.

A Little Bittern on the Somerset levels on a rare day off for me, was too much to resist this morning. I didn't arrive until 11 am and stayed until 1.30 pm, but despite pager and birdguides reports to the contrary the bird was not seen in this period. I couldn't stay any longer due to other commitments. I'm sure the bird will be seen later on in the day.

The large crowd did have cracking flight views of at least three Bitterns, and several Hobbies were also putting on a fine display. I also heard a Cuckoo.

I ran the moth trap last night for the first time in a month. Two Muslin moths and two Esperia Sulphurella were all I could manage! I'm going to have another go tonight.

Severnside regulars will know that I have an uncanny knack of arriving five minutes after any Pomarine Skuas have vacated the area.

This evening I had just put my slippers on and lit my pipe, when my mobile phone burst into life. The name on the screen coinciding with a high tide at Severnside in May could only mean one thing: Poms on Severnside! Blinkin' 'eck........ I'll be there in 10 minutes, tell them not to move.

Luckily for me they were still there when I arrived. There were eleven of them, along with one Arctic Skua sat on the water in front of the sea wall. Fantastic! The one bird that I wanted more than any other on my local patch, and there were eleven of the buggars bobbing around in front of me. It was good to have the Arctic for comparison, as it looked so much smaller than the poms, and for a long time was keeping a respectful distance from them.

A flock of Kittiwakes was knocking around in the background, but I have absolutely no idea how many of them there were. I barely gave them a second glance.