Happy New Starlings
Today was a good day for Starlings. In the sunshine they looked magnificent, all trim and iridescent, shining like that new gadget you received on Christmas day before your grubby hands got hold of it. Starlings are effervescent characters, undoubtedly Myers-Briggs...
Busy End of Year
It's been a pretty eventful December for Longham Lakes. Here are the most recent highlights in reverse order. 30th December Black Swan 1, Wigeon 189, Gadwall 13, Shoveler 3, Mediterranean Gull 1 (Trevor Thorpe). 1 Cetti's Warbler along the causeway (Alan...
Merry Christmas, Birders
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Bird-filled New Year
Why are Robins tame?
Wisley Gardens, 13th December 2012 People love Robins for all kinds of reasons, but the bird's unusually confiding nature has to one of its greatest delights. This also makes it unusually easy to photograph, as I found out at Wisley today, when Robins seemed to follow...
Longham in Dreamland
Sunday 2nd December 2012 What's happened to this local patch? Normally good but unspectacular, it has hosted White-rumped Sandpiper and Glossy Ibis today. The White-rumped Sand played to a reasonable gallery of birders for most of the day, while in the morning some...
American Wader Touches Down
1st December 2012 Not content with finding Longham Lakes's first Kittiwake this week, Lorne Bissell has triumped with the discovery of a much rarer bird, a White-rumped Sandpiper. This is the second American vagrant on the site after last year's Blue-winged Teal, but...
White-rumped Sandpiper at Longham Lakes
1st December 2012 Lorne Bissell has, remarkably, found a second new bird in a week for Longham Lakes. This time it's a real rarity, a White-rumped Sandpiper, from the USA. Could anyone visiting Longham Lakes today please park at the Bridge House Hotel or Haskins...
New Species for Longham
27th November 2012 It's always a red letter day when something drops in that is new to Longham. Today Lorne Bissell found this splendid adult Kittiwake in mid-morning, on Longham Reservoir South. It didn't stay around long enough for the other regulars to see, sadly....
Gull ID Made Easy – yes, honest
Radipole Lake, Dorset, 21st November 2012 Gulls in sunshine - who can resist them? Well, it turns out, a lot of people can. The girl in the Visitor Centre said "Gulls are awesome...but difficult." And that is the crux of their unpopularity, at least with birders. This...
Slow Winter Buildup
Winter is coming gradually to Longham Lakes. Here's what has been seen in the last week or two, beginning with today: 19th November George Green reports: 1 Goldeneye female, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Lesser Redpoll heard overhead. Wildfowl increasing. 18th November...