Rutland Water, 13th Dec

Hooray, a frosty, sunny day at last. Birds were extremely wary today probably not helped by 3 Sparrowhawks regularly hunting in the area.

Roosting Red Kites, 13th Dec

4o Red Kites were roosting in 3 Ash trees with a very rare sun-set behind.

Ravens, Rutland Water, 9th Dec

Another completely dull day with no hint of the sun. However, a few birds managed to brighten up the day. Highlight was a pair of Ravens which spent at least an hour sitting on tops of conifers, dwarfing nearby Carrion Crows before heading east. Other highlights were 1800 Golden Plovers (1 flock), 130 Dunlin, Little Stint, 300 Greater Black-backed Gulls and Kingfisher.

Kingfisher and Grey Heron

Golden Plovers

Red Kites, 7th Dec

The hoped for blue sky never materialised which was such a shame as several Kites came extremely close.

A few more Kites and a Sparrowhawk

Still early days with the 400mm F5.6 but it appears to be quite useful. A distant Sprawk suddenly appeared over a hedge for 2-3 seconds and both photos taken were sharp.

Fallows

I was stood watching 20 Red Kites when a few Fallow Deer started to emerge from a copse. The "few" ended up being 80. A few Wolves would do the trick unless you speak to a farmer.

Red Kites, adult and 1st winters

Bittern

North East China, Oct - Nov 2007

The motorway connecting Beijing with the coast was shut because of 'fog', (smog, pollution, crap, etc) so we had to go on a smaller road. It was a hellish 5hr journey through what appeared to be a thick blanket of cement dust. It covered everything from people to trees for as far as the eye could see. We guessed it may have had something to do with the Olympics and the fact that they are not quite ready for it next year. Despite this bad start we did have some quality migration birding although several sky- watching days were lost due to smog filled skies. Click on pictures for bigger image.

Pallas's Reed Buntings

Red-flanked Bluetail