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Bird Watching Trip to Southern Portugal
Dawn and I were in Portugal again last week this time in search of the birds that are absent in autumn. Swifts were much in evidence during the first part of the trip. Pallid Swifts were racing around...
View ArticleSouth-West Leicestershire Bird List Update
Seeing as it's a miserable afternoon I thought I should catch up with some office work. It has been a while since we updated the South-West Leicestershire Bird List. There's not much new apart from...
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Breeding Gulls in Hinckley
Over the last couple of years I have located several gull breeding colonies in Northamptonshire and elsewhere on my travels. Plus I have continued the work at the old British Shoe factory first started...
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Common Scoters at Stoney Cove
Twelve Common Scoters at Stoney Cove today.I looked out of the office window today at work and spotted some brown blobs floating on the water near the far side. I fetched my binoculars and was...
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First-Summer Caspian Gull at Shawell
Recently, for to various reasons, I haven't been over to Shawell as often as normal. May is probably the quietest month of the year, so hopefully I didn't miss that much, but yesterday I was presently...
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Orchids at Brascote Pits, Leicestershire
Orchids have been present at Brascote Pits, Leicestershire for a few years now, but this year is exceptional.Bee Orchids have been at the site for some years, but never as many as we saw today. Adey...
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Orchids at Croft Quarry
Yesterday Adey Baker and I went in search of the Pyramidal Orchids that were first seen last year at Croft Quarry. After a bit of searching we spotted them in amongst the trees on the embankment. They...
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Small Red-eyed Damselfly at Brascote Pits
I have been after a Small Red-eyed Damselfly since the first Leicestershire & Rutland records back in 2006. I refused to twitch one instead I have waited expectantly. Last Thursday evening I went...
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Juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls
July is the Yellow-legged Gull invasion month and the real prize is to find some smart looking juveniles. Already the adults and immatures are moving north. Several adults and second-calendar year...
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Gulls Can Read!
Last night I said that the first juvenile large gulls excluding ones at local breeding sites should be Yellow-legged Gulls. Obviously a young Lesser Black-backed Gull managed to read my blog and decide...
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Victory
As you know, I have been watching the breeding gulls at the old British Shoe works on the outskirts of Leicester. I was well aware that the building was ear-marked for demolition, but I had been told...
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Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at Last
Yesterday evening I was over at Shawell A5 Lagoons and the first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull was in. Last year the first ones arrived on July 4th, so they're a bit late this year. At least 18 YLGs were...
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The Proof is In the Picture
If like me you enjoy getting away from the crowds then taking images of the good birds that you find is very important. There are three reasons for capturing images of the rarer birds you find: firstly...
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The Invasion Gathers Momentum
Every July Britain gets invaded by visitors from the south. Yellow-legged Gulls (Larus michahellis) are what i'm talking about of course and 24 were at Shawell yesterday. As I've already said the real...
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Male Emperor Dragonfly
I was over at Brascote Pits on Sunday and a male Emperor Dragonfly was on patrol. It hovered occasionally, which gave me an opportunity to photograph it. At first I couldn't quite keep it in focus long...
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Colour Ringed Caspian Gull Returns
I took a ride over to Shawell last night, as its now time to start searching for juvenile Caspian Gulls. There wasn't much happening at the lagoons, so I decided to see if any gulls were viewable in...
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Marsh Harrier Over Braunstone Frith
I was over at the old British Shoe site this morning checking on my baby seagulls when all of a sudden pandemoniom struck. Gulls came rushing towards me from the recycle centre and hundreds took off...
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Juvenile Caspian Gull, Shawell A5 Lagoons
I managed to get back to having my lunch break at Shawell A5 Lagoons today and one of the first gulls I saw was a smasher.A juvenile Caspian Gull is a real prize for any British gull watcher and I had...
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Another Juvenile Caspian Gull at Shawell
I had a great session at Shawell this evening. The highlights were three Caspian Gulls: two third-summers including the German colour-ringed bird (XNDJ) that I saw in July and a new juvenile.There were...
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A Blustery Day at Shawell
On arrival this morning I noticed that something was missing - the gulls. The wind was howling and gulls love to fly when its windy. Eventually a swarm was visible above the distant tip.On Thursday...
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