BB cover

everyone with an interest in birds in Britain should subscribe to British Birds -- my Purple Heron from Huttoft Pit April 2011 on the cover this month

BB cover

great to see my Great Northern Diver on the cover of this month's British Birds and includes two excellent articles on Honey Buzzards and Stegneger's Stonechats to boot -- every birder should be a BB subscriber

Radde's Warbler

really pleased to get good views of this Radde's warbler at Donna Nook on Tuesday -- in almost exactly the same spot as a bird there in October 1990 during the mega fall - feeding in a small patch of phragmites and always hard to get good images of this was a real treat -- I was inspired into rare bird searching as a teenage beginner through the acquisition of the Popular Handbook of Rarer British Birds -- leafing through that volume I came across the page on which Radde's Bush warbler was detailed -- the text described the species but more critically it detailed the only British record obtained at North Cotes Lincolnshire on October 1st 1898 --  this was my county and clearly a place where really rare birds could be found!
Excuse the image overload -- I have a soft spot for Radde's -- my first was a beautiful bird at Wells Woods in October 1975 -- after a frustrating series of flight views Dunc B and I sat under a birch tree and we had the bird feeding within 5 feet -- no bins needed just an unforgettable experience and a chance to put Ian Wallace's ID article in british Birds to the test -- those were heady days accomplished after a Friday evening hitch from Tring to Norwich, night in a UNi room and whiz on the back of Duncan's motorbike to Wells -- check those undertail coverts always a good ID pointer as a bird flies away

Sedge Warbler and Whisky

anyone who was at the Bird Fair at Rutland and visited the British Birds stand or who takes BB will have possibly seen my displaying Sedge Warbler photo that was placed 4th in the BB bird photo of the year 2012. I thought it had a decent chance of a high place but groups of judges seldom seem to come to the conclusions that the majority of people do so I was rather pleased to get an email from Roger Riddington, editor of BB and of course past Lincs birder, telling me the following;

You missed a lot of excitement at the fair, namely a public vote on the shortlisted BPY pics, to see if the general public agreed with our judges.
Unsurprisingly, the public did not. Almost 1200 people voted, and the winner was... A Sedge Warbler in flight over  a Lincs reedbed. Well done. 

As compensation a fine bottle of Malt Whisky was delivered to my door -- anyway here is the shot for anyone who has not seen it --always good to know that your fellow birders / photographers agree with what you think is a good image -- 


And the people’s winner is…

If you do not subscribe to British Birds you should --http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/