Weedon's World of Nature

khijadiya wildlife

2012-02-16T16:01:00.011Z

Nilgai and waterbirds

Spoonbills, Black-necked Ibises etc

Boar

Black-necked Stork

Dalmatian Pelican, Indian Cormorant and Grey Heron

Black-shouldered Kite

Jackals

Paddyfield Warbler

Painted Storks

Dalmatian Pelican

Indian Darter

Grey Francolins
khijadiya is a fantastic, extensive wetland area, brimming with birds and mammals. Sadly, we couldn't spend more than an afternoon there, but it would have been woderful to explore further. These photos are a mere taster of the delights on offer.

Crested Serpent Eagle (digiscoped), Khijadiya

2012-02-15T17:00:00.001Z

Pallas's Gull

2012-02-15T16:08:00.003Z

Composite of one bird flying by at Khijadiya, Jamnagar

Video: Lesser Flamingos

2012-02-15T00:21:00.001Z

Lesser Flamingos at Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-14T15:18:00.006Z

Through freezing fog

2012-02-14T08:38:00.004Z

Whooper Swans and Bewick's Swans on the ice and small patches of water on the cut of the River Welland (Deeping High Bank) north-east of Crowland, Lincolnshire. My car said it was -11.5°C on Saturday morning when I took these.

Garden Sparrowhawk eating Starling

2012-02-13T14:17:00.004Z

Desiccation polygons

2012-02-10T13:19:00.002Z

Backlit Peahen

2012-02-10T13:05:00.001Z

Evening and night safari, Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-10T12:42:00.008Z

Macqueen's Bustard

Black-winged Kite

Southern Grey Shrike

Montagu's Harrier

Stone-curlew (perhaps the Indian subspecies, I am not certain)

Indian Nightjar

Sykes's Nightjars (in the last photo, the bird was trying to puke out an overlage locust, which it failed to swallow)

Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-10T12:34:00.004Z

Jungle Babbler

Work

Pallid Scops Owl

Lesser Goldenback

Shikra

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
We headed from Balsarovar to the north-west of Gujarat, not far from the Pakistan border, at Little Rann of Kutch. We stayed at the excellent Desert Coursers, where we stayed in superb, characterful huts (into which a jungle's worth of wildlife seemed to be trying to burrow each night), and went on a few jeep safaris with the brilliant team, there.
Around the compound were Grey=headed Canary Flycatchers, White-bellied Drongos, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Lesser Goldenback and plentiful squirrels and endless swarms of Jungle Babblers. Here are a few things from the area.

Video: Desert Wheatear

2012-02-09T23:41:00.001Z

Isabelline Shrike, Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-09T16:46:00.003Z

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-09T16:30:00.000Z

Desert Wheatear, Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-09T16:19:00.003Z

Indian Wild Ass or Khur, Little Rann of Kutch

2012-02-09T14:58:00.005Z

Male

Females and foals

Red-rumped Swallow

2012-02-09T11:47:00.002Z

Sarus Crane family

2012-02-09T11:46:00.000Z

Long-tailed Shrike

2012-02-09T11:45:00.000Z

Nalsarovar punting

2012-02-08T17:44:00.006Z

Nalsarovar punts

Baillon's Crake

Asian Openbill

Purple Heron

Black-winged Stilt

Purple Swamphens (Gallinules)

Isabelline Shrike

Pheasant-tailed Jacana
We haggled (or rather our driver Mahendra haggled) for a boat trip around the shallow stonewort filled water ways of Nalsarovar and eventually had a nice punt around. The highlight for me was seeing White-tailed Plover. There were a few other things out there, too.

Kingfisher

2012-02-08T16:27:00.002Z

Rosy Pastor sauce

2012-02-07T17:30:00.001Z

Video: Demoiselle Cranes at Nalsarovar

2012-02-07T08:35:00.002Z

One more Demoiselle Crane

2012-02-06T19:10:00.002Z

Demoiselle Cranes

2012-02-06T15:25:00.008Z

Demoiselle Cranes Nalsarovar, Gujarat, India by Weedons World
Perhaps the greatest spectacle we witnessed in Gujarat was the wonderful gathering of 5,000-10,000 Demoiselle Cranes at Nalsarovar. Later I will post one or two videos. In the mean time, enjoy the photos and the racket (I couldn't shut the people up!)...

Reflections of India

2012-02-06T09:22:00.002Z

Citrine Wagtail in the ditch...

[as ever, click the photo for larger version]

Jungle Cat

2012-02-05T17:33:00.004Z

Probably my favourite wildlife encounter in my time in India was with this Jungle Cat at Nalsarovar. This was my first ever wild feline!

Sneaky...

2012-02-05T09:16:00.004Z

Where do you think you are sneaking to my stripy, tufted-eared, feline friend?

Marsh Harrier portrait

2012-02-04T16:09:00.002Z

Gujarat, India, Day 3, Part 2, Velavadar

2012-02-04T12:30:00.003Z

Rufous-tailed Lark (revisited)

greater Spotted Eagle

White-eyed Buzzard

Gujarat, India, Day 3, Part 1, Velavadar

2012-02-04T11:08:00.010Z

Rufous-tailed Lark

A school group returning from a camp at Blackbuck National Park

River Tern

Watching the wetlands (spot The Biggest Twitch...)

Nilgai or Blue Bull

Bluethroat

Indian Robin coming to feed on ants

Blackbuck
On our second day in the field, we headed to Velavadar and Blackbuck National Park. The area is renowned for its massive harrier roost, though we didn't stay long enough to witness this (we did see plenty of single Montagu's and Pallid Harriers, as well as both spotted eagles and a single Lesser Kestrel). There was a bit of confusion concerning our permit to enter the park, which led to a delay of entry, and a bit more time at the nearby wetland, the highlights from which were Long-billed Pipit and White-eyed Buzzard.
The Bluethroat appeared alongside me at a little ditch where I was eating my lunch and starting to ache all over as the first wave of illness overtook me (the low point of the trip for me).

Gujarat, India, Day 2, Part 3: road to Bhavnagar

2012-02-03T21:21:00.002Z

Great Thick-kneee

The little dots by the island are River Terns

Sunset with sunspots

Sunset with Great Cormorants
We ended the evening at a lake which is part of the Bhavnagar coastal wetlands system. There were abundant wildfowl on the water and waders at the edges, but like bulls in china shops, our coach loads of crowd steamed in and soon saw them off. The highlights for me were the elegant River Terns, Great Thick-knee and a flock of about 30 Small Pratincoles which were destined to be flushed before we got anything like very good views.

Gujarat, India, Day 2, Part 2: road to Bhavnagar

2012-02-03T18:58:00.003Z

Buffaloes at the sewage farm

Painted Storks

Black Kite

Bearers of buffalo dung

Crane

Crested Lark

Marsh Harrier

The sewage farm

Bank Mynas

Sewage farm scenic

Painted Stork roundabout

Our first scheduled stop was a sewage settlemet area with an amazing amount of birdlife. There were abundant Ruddy Shelducks, Comb Ducks, loads of dabbking ducks including massive Spot-billed Ducks, lots of waders including Little and Temminck's Stints and plentiful Wood and Marsh Sandpipers. The were ibises galore and SPoonbills and in the distance several thousand flamingos took to the air. It was a great place at which we could have done with more time, but ho hum...
We spent an inordinate amount of time at a roundabout which had breeding Painted Storks. I am not sure who was most bemused by the invasion, the locals or the storks.

Gujarat, India, Day 2, Part 1: road to Bhavnagar

2012-02-03T15:18:00.007Z

House Crows at the side of the road

Rosy Pastors

A roundabout

Bank Myna

Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark
Our trip out Bhavnagar was prolonged a bit by confusion over directions. We consequently spent an hour (or two) at a concrete car-park/rest stop, which like everywhere in India was furnished with abundant birds, including the above.

Me... and my shadow

2012-02-03T13:30:00.003Z

Gujarat India, Day 2, Comedy preamble

2012-02-03T08:52:00.006Z

The middle two days of the 2nd Global... comprised field excursions to some excellent sites in the state. I was on Trip 2, which took in sites around Bhavnagar and beyond. We were assigned big coaches and bundled in in the early morning for the long drive. There were inevitable teething problems, mainly with a lack of understanding of the precise route and coordinating the various coaches, but nothing over drastic occurred and we saw plenty of superb birds and mammals.

Anyone who has been on guided bird trips will have encountered inevitable bad apples. A few of these revealed themselves very early on on our bus, mainly concentrated near the front. These included a lady from Serbia who had an extreme rage at the young man carrying her suitcase and shouted at him: "I will kill you!!" before she had even got on the bus. Then there was the multinational, multilingual delegate with toy bins from Mexico who declared to the whole bus that she had had "No booze, no sex, no drugs, no rock n roll!!".

Or take the US-based photographer Bhaskar Krishnamurthy, whom we were later told was our rep from FICCI but who strenuously denied he had any official role on the trip, in order to deflect from any criticism. He booked himself two seats on the crowded bus by laying out his sizable cameras/lenses (which he was never seen using), then had a hissy fit at an elderly American woman who dared to rest her breakfast box on one of his seats. He rarely even sat in one of the seats, preferring to stand or sit with the driver. Curiously, he was later to show a photo at the conference purportedly taken in "England" but apparently showing diving Cape or Australian Gannets...

Perhaps chief purveyor of comedy, though, was travel writer Tim Hedgley from Northern Ireland. He showed no interest in birds and rarely even left the bus. I have no idea why he was there. He was overheard using his phone to extremely rudely ball out the organisers of the trip he should never have been on. The overinflated opinion of this chap was later to reach the national press, disgracing his nation with his complaining about the rudeness and poor organisation he encountered. Here are some choice snippets from the bus from this character:
On birds: "The best cranes are those in Belfast which built the Titanic"
On politics: "Your president Andrew Jackson was born a few streets from me in Belfast"
[a reply in a gentle American voice]: "But all US presidents have to be born in US territory"
"That didn't apply back in the sixteen hundreds, when he was president"
On Indian food: "I like all your spices: garam masala, saffron, curry powder mix."

Gujarat, India, Day 1, Part 2: Kensville CC

2012-02-02T18:55:00.003Z

Booted Eagle

Indian Palm Squirrel

Southern Coucal

Purple-rumped Sunbird (the only one I saw, so please forgive the photo)

Orthopteran sp

White-throated Kingfisher

Indian Flying Fox

The eagle was one of only a few of the species we saw in a couple of weeks. We also saw our first Black Kites, Oriental Honey Buzzard and Pallid Harrier. Easily the most abundant raptor, though, is Black-winged Kite, which are everywhere. The kingfisher pictured here was over some rough ground being raked over and moved and which was already occupied by Common Mynas and Cattle Egrets in some numbers. This is the most terrestrial of the three kingfisher species we saw (the others are Pied and Common).
The little squirrel was easily the commonest wild mammal we saw. They seem to be at every birding site. Their call is very bird like and quite distracting!
There were plenty of other birds which were really common around the golf course which I didn't photograph, including Syke's and Greenish Warblers, lots of different Yellow Wagtails, various Stonechat types and Tawny Pipits.
After nightfall (and after speeches, several dances and a huge buffet), we went out for a bit of owl spotting, but instead stumbled upon furit bats. There were two sizes: flying fox size and something about half that size that didn't hang around. But (as you can see below), I got better fruit bat photos later in the trip... Hoever, this noght one shows a good amount of pollen on his nose!

Gujarat, India, Day 1, Part 1: Kensville CC

2012-02-02T16:32:00.006Z

Red-wattled Lapwing

Green Bee-eater

Black Drongo

Large Grey Babbler

Red-naped (or Black) Ibis

Citrine Wagtail

I have just got back from a couple of weeks in Gujarat, India. Initially I was invited to the 2nd Global Birdwatchers' Conference 2012. But, along with fellow delegates Mark Newell and Hywel Maggs, we had a further week or so after the conference visiting some of the state's top birding and wildlife localities.
Our first destination was the site for the conference, the immaculate golf course of Kensville Country Club. We arrived after a stupid amount of time without sleep at 7am on 19 January and immediately set to, birding the golf course surrounds. Most of the birdlife was typical of what we were to encounter across the region, but there were a few species we saw there but nowhere else.
At daw, vast numers of birds passed over, leaving their roost sites in flocks. These included big flocks of Bimaculated Larks and Short-toed Larks plus thousands of Rose-coloured Starlings. Painted Storks, and Comb Ducks also passed overhead. Asian Koels and Shikras called adn Purple Sunbirds were everywhere. This is a selection of some of the birds which I manaaged to get a few photos of.

Brünnich's Guillemot; easily overlooked?

2012-02-01T23:16:00.007Z

Brünnich's Guillemot, Burghead, 17 November 2011
It pains me somewhat to admit it, but these photos have been sitting neglected on my computer until today. I'm afraid I lack killer instinct when it comes to finding rare birds. So, when I photographed this young guille during a Heatherlea trip in November, it flashed through my mind how dark and stumpy young guilles appear, rather how I thought Brünnich's was supposed to look, but I didn't even put these vague thoughts into words. I concentrated instead on trying to relocate a King Eider for the group. Luckily, Jonny Pott, our guide, finally got round to looking at his photos recently and the penny dropped.
So, I just consulted my photo archive and pulled these out. It's embarrassing really, not least because there have been fewer than 45 accepted UK records. But, hey, at least I saw it and photographed it. So there!

Early morning camel care

2012-02-01T22:38:00.000Z

Sarus Cranes

2012-02-01T22:26:00.003Z

Fruit bats

2012-02-01T15:58:00.003Z

I believe these beauties are Indian Flying Foxes (unless anyone can correc this). All are males...

Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark

2012-02-01T15:07:00.001Z

Just back from Gujarat

2012-02-01T07:52:00.002Z

Demoiselle Cranes

Bank Mynas

Great Thick-knee

Indian Pond Heron

Indian Roller

Here is a small sample of the first photos I have looked at, having just got back from nearly two weeks birding in Gujarat, western India. Watch this space for plenty more...

Bittern at Woodwalton Fen video

2012-01-16T11:23:00.003Z

Bittern at Woodwalton Fen NNR

2012-01-15T17:59:00.003Z

Digiscoped in the reeds of the far side of Gordon's Mere on 15.1.12.

Tundra Bean Geese, Langtoft, Lincs

2012-01-10T14:36:00.004Z

Yesterday, Josh Jones found a flock of four Tundra Beans in the private pits of his local patch, the Baston and Langtoft complex. They were almost certainly the same four that he found late in 2011 in the area. On my way to twitch them there this lunchtime, I popped into Langtoft West End pits to see if they had relocated there, and almost immediately refound them along with the Greylags and an adult and juvenile European White-fronted Goose.
These are the four Beans. Note that one appears to have a damaged (whitish) right eye; this should at least make identifying the flock reasonably straightforward if they wander (whither it may be...).
Already in 2012, in the Peterborough area, I have seen Brent, White-fronted, Bean and Egyptian Geese, which is a good little haul of geese for January around these parts.

2011 One per month: WINNERS

2012-01-06T09:52:00.002Z

Thanks to everyone who voted for my favourite photos for the past 12 months. To my great surprise, 9 out of the 12 received a vote for the top photo. Only one (September's phalarope) received no votes at all!. Four photos dominated proceedings, and though the winner was just about a clear favourite, the other three were almost inseperable. These are the top four of my photos as voted by you, my dear readers (as ever, click them to see more detail):

FIRST: November, Crested Tit

JOINT SECOND: July, Chalkhill Blue and bee

JOINT SECOND: June, Wood Mouse

FOURTH: January, Waxwings

House Sparrow mass roost, Faro, Algarve

2012-01-04T11:44:00.003Z

House Sparrow chorus by Weedons World
Perhaps, once upon a time, it would have been possible to hear a racket like this in the UK, even in London. It is at least encouraging that sparrow populations are still quite high somewhere in western Europe. This recording was made in September 2011. There were thousands upon thousands of birds in the roost in trees next to the bar we were drinking at and I recorded this by wandering around under them with my camera on 'voice memo'.

2011 One per month

2012-01-03T12:06:00.017Z

Please leave a comment to vote for your top three favourite photos of the year, from this bunch. Results will be announced shortly...

January: Waxwings, Werrington, Peterborough

February: Marsh Tit, Castor Hanglands, Cambridgeshire

March: Little Gull, Ferry Meadows CP, Peterborough

April: Ptarmigans, Cairngorm

May: Brown Bear, near Kuhmo, Finland

June: Wood Mouse, our garden, Peterborough

July: Chalkhill Blue and bee, Barnack Hills and Holes, Cambridgeshire

August: Pied Flycatcher, Murrow, Cambridgeshire

September: Grey Phalarope, Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire

October: Turnstone, The Algarve, Portugal

November: Crested Tit, Loch Garten RSPB

December: male, Sparrowhawk, our garden, Peterborough

Young Peregrine at Woodwalton Fen

2011-12-19T14:45:00.004Z

We are blessed with a decent population of Peregrines in and around Peterborough. I have seen half a dozen or so even in the last couple of weeks at widely scattered sites. They hunt the Nene Washes, are seen in the centre of the city and are regularly seen around the 'higher' hills to the west of the A1M.
This young male, though (aged on the streaked not barred) breast, brownish, buff-fringed upperparts; sexed on relatively small size) was hunting ducks, small gulls and pigeons at Woodwalton Fen NNR yesterday early mornign (hence the glowing light). It was the second day running I had seen a Peregrine at the reserve, but the previous day's bird was a much bigger, grey bird, which I had down as an adult female.
Though I can't move for Peregrines, I still haven't seen a Merlin in the Peterborough area this year. And I crave this 'core' species, just to tickle my local year list up to 182 species. Three weeks to go...

Garden Sparrowhawk

2011-12-14T09:05:00.003Z

This exquisite male was outside our bedroom window this morning. Luckily it stayed long enough a. for the children to see it and b. for Ed to fetch my camera for a few shots...

Mars Robot

2011-12-09T15:20:00.002Z

About 40 years ago, when I was a tiddly wee lad, I made up a song called Mars Robot. I used to strum a small out of tune guitar rather randomly and sing this ditty as if I was a Glam Rock star. So, I thought I'd record a version and this is it...
Mars Robot by Weedons World

Digiscoped Kestrel

2011-12-01T13:57:00.002Z

Scaup is 180

2011-11-28T23:43:00.002Z

Josh Jones found this Scaup today among Tufties and the odd Wigeon on the cut of the River Welland known as the Deeping High Bank. I twitched it at lunchtime for my 180th PBC area tick for the year. Within half an hour I was on 181, after Josh, once more, found his first ever local tundra Bean Geese, four of them at Baston and Langtoft pits.

Red Grice in moorland

2011-11-23T10:37:00.000Z

Male

Female

Red Squirrel, Loch Garten

2011-11-22T17:19:00.001Z

Cute, innit?

Red-throated Diver, Black Isle

2011-11-22T12:56:00.004Z

A tame (tired?) winter-plumaged individual, digiscoped in fading light

European White-fronted Goose video

2011-11-20T18:28:00.001Z

European White-fronted Goose

2011-11-20T16:46:00.005Z

This bird was found with Greylags at Ferry Meadows CP earlier in the week. It is part of a widespread influx of Euro Whitefronts into the country. In fact, we found a couple in northern Scotland a few days ago in a flock of wild Greylags, plus a couple of Barnacles, six Tundra Beans and a Ross's Goose.
The Whitefront was number 179 for my 2011 PBC year list.

Crested Tits, Loch Garten

2011-11-19T18:26:00.003Z

I saw my first ever Crested Tits as a teenager, exploring the forest around Loch Garten before paying homage to the hide where you can watch the famous nesting Ospreys. More than 30 years later, I was at Loch Garten again with a group from Heatherlea (on a trip promoted by Bird Watching Magazine), photographing these delightful little birds. These are a few of the first I've processed (and probably the best of the bunch, to be fair). Enjoy!

Slavonian Grebes at Beebies pits

2011-11-11T17:26:00.002Z

These two were found at lunchtime by local bird-finder and whippet-lover, Paul Taylor. Thanks very much for the call, Paul which prompted a cylcing twitch from work. These are the third and fourth I have ever seen in the Peterborough area. PBC year list has now matched last year's 177.

Grey Phalarope at Ferry Meadows CP

2011-11-09T11:25:00.004Z

A wonderful cycle-to-work find by Brian Stone this morning at 8.30am was this lickle chap (an advanced 1st-winter judging by a few retained dark tertials and coverts). It was a flighty fella and called frequently (like a soft, clipped Coot call). Unfortunately, it couldn't get settled and flew off high at 10am. These shots were the best I could muster. A very nice BIGBY tick, FM tick, year tick and only my second Grey Phalarope in the Peterborough area. One of the birds of the year, locally.

A wee ditty

2011-11-04T19:50:00.000Z

Japanproject by Weedons World
Which goes by the name of Japanproject (part of a work in progress...)

Tree Frog

2011-10-25T12:47:00.005Z

At Frank & Daniela McClintock's place in the Algarve...

Snow cold Raven

2011-10-21T15:13:00.001Z

Just a few more from Portugal...

2011-10-17T09:23:00.003Z

Mediterranean Gulls

Cory's Shearwater

Common Tern

Yellow-legged Gull

Short-toed Eagle

Dunlin (digiscoped)

2011-10-14T15:01:00.005Z

Great Shearwater

2011-10-14T15:01:00.002Z

One that got away...

Caspian Tern

2011-10-14T15:00:00.002Z

Violet Dropwing

2011-10-14T14:57:00.002Z

Please correct me, if this is the wrong species...

Ta to John Wright for the ID

More Black-winged Stilts

2011-10-14T14:54:00.002Z

Purple Gallinule

2011-10-14T14:53:00.000Z

Azure-winged Magpies

2011-10-14T14:52:00.000Z

Red-rumped Swallows

2011-10-14T14:51:00.000Z

Storm Petrels

2011-10-14T14:49:00.001Z

Whimbrel, Algarve

2011-10-14T14:39:00.003Z

An ugly spider

2011-10-09T20:12:00.003Z

Anyone know what this chap is (from SW Portugal)? I suspect it may be Argiope lobata.

Avocet reflections

2011-10-09T20:10:00.000Z

Greater Flamingos

2011-10-09T20:00:00.002Z

Tavira

Salgado

Crested Lark, Salgado (digiscoped)

2011-10-09T15:07:00.000Z

Cory's Shearwater in evening light

2011-10-09T14:59:00.002Z

European Storm-petrel off Sagres

2011-10-09T14:54:00.001Z

That is unless they have split these petrels further, and I'm missing something...

Short-toed Eagle

2011-10-09T14:50:00.003Z

Luckily, a local birder (originally from the UK) gave us permission to walk 200m over public land to photograph this eagle in south-westernmost Portugal. I'll e-mail him to ask permission to write these words, shortly...
These were the last photographs before the 300mm Canon lens literally fell apart in my hand.

Calling Whimbrel

2011-10-09T14:10:00.002Z

Spoonbills in a working habitat

2011-10-09T14:05:00.003Z

Dunlin

2011-10-09T14:03:00.002Z

Black-winged Stilts (digiscoped)

2011-10-09T13:56:00.003Z

Black-winged Stilts, Tavira, Algarve, Portugal

Humbug-striped bee, Algarve

2011-10-09T13:55:00.000Z

Anyone know the species?

Red-veined Darter

2011-10-09T13:54:00.000Z

Tavira waders, part 1

2011-10-07T07:22:00.004Z

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Turnstone eating pupae

2011-10-06T22:06:00.001Z

Greater Flamingo (digiscoped)

2011-10-04T20:47:00.002Z

Crested Lark, Salgado, Portugal

2011-10-04T20:25:00.003Z

Grey Plover (digiscoped)

2011-10-04T20:14:00.001Z

The power of digiscoping (Canon PowerShot S95)...

Sabine's Gull revisited

2011-09-21T20:07:00.000Z

Grey Phalarope again

2011-09-21T18:54:00.005Z

Grey Phalarope

2011-09-21T16:37:00.002Z

King Canute: Grey Phalarope, Grafham Water

2011-09-21T08:13:00.004Z

Sabine's Gull, Grafham Water (DSLR)

2011-09-20T23:00:00.001Z