It was a bit of a murky afternoon but brightening. The temperature warmed from the chill of the February morning where ice had to be scraped off the vehicles. I climbed into the car and managed to avoid the traffic works by driving in the opposite direction. There was a…
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Squelching in the mud with larks, voles and others
Whilst waiting for the Forest Church participants I witnessed a buzzard which didn’t act like the typical buzzard. The markings on it were similar yet different at the same time including a grey head and a grey band around the rump. The circling that common buzzard’s tend to do was…
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Forest Church April 2023
Sunday April 16th, 3-5pm Fox Corner Community Wildlife Area Parking on Berry Lane, Fox Corner https://w3w.co/slang.apples.name Google https://goo.gl/maps/sQrZmnwamsgYd2Dr7 51.2854338, -0.6185560 Pirbright, Woking GU3 3PU Meet @ gate to reserve https://w3w.co/feels.silly.singer Google https://goo.gl/maps/NdM98EG4Hx1Lw9ya6 51.283178, -0.619592 Pirbright, Woking GU3 3PW OS Map SU963547 Bring something to sit on. There will be a…
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Caught in espionage out in the wilds
It was a drab end of winter day. I decided to go on one of my forays out into the borderlands of Surrey and Hampshire. The Basingstoke Canal called me as often it would back in my early twenties. Around that time, I also fished those waters not with great…
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New house – New garden and garden bird list!
It’s time to start a new garden bird list. I had to say goodbye to the last garden and its list which reached 36. What a good one that was! Over the next few months look out for updates on what is happening in the garden. As it’s January (time…
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Little, Reed, and Rustic Bunting on Thursley Common
Saturday morning before the clocks changed I headed off to Thursley Common. The sun was rising and a large full moon setting low over the western sky as I drove towards Elstead. The car park had three other cars in it as I arrived. The area near the moat showed…
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Fox Corner walk March 21, 2021
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Big Garden Birdwatch 2021, my bird list update and the BTO
This post will be very short! Judging by the nature of the records I obtained and the weather which probably contributed to the poor show this year’s BGB (see title) was somewhat of a washout. I spent Saturday looking out of the window thinking ‘Shall I do it now? …Or…
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Beginning of the year dawn chorus
Stuck myself out of the door this morning to get some air around 7.15 GMT. The sky was growing lighter and there was a frost on the ground. The robins were singing. There must have been at least 3. It was delightful. Here’s a short 35 sec sample:
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Ring ouzel
Back in January I wrote about the birds I’ve recorded in my garden since moving in (see Garden bird records). I would like to make a further addition to that hot off the press: Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus. Many of you may not know what this bird is. The nature…
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Garden bird records
Since moving to this house in 2014 I have been recording different species of birds and the most numbers of one species at one time. (I must add here in parenthesis in our last garden the most amazing event and striking one was the presence of 14 waxwing (Bombycilla garullus)!…
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Unexpected surprises
A couple of weeks ago I was out on my bike with my boys in Queen Elizabeth Park. We all needed fresh air and exercise and we all like going up and down the paths on our bikes even though it’s a small area even better when no one around…
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7th May 2015
Today has been a day of pleasant nature surprises. It has been one where mostly nature has come to me. This morning I heard that recognisable screaming of swifts above my head and counted around 15. Great to see them back again. In the same garden there were some very…
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Early Spring Afternoon
In my preparation for Forest Church (and because I love to get out and be with nature) I have been visiting Fox Corner Community Wildlife Area. I have also been developing a sit spot. I headed down to my waiting rustic bench, glad that I was alone. I had already…
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Fox Corner
On arriving at Fox Corner today there was a busyness about the birds and more of a presence than previous times. I had to slow myself down into the mode as I flushed a number of Redwing’s by my rapidity. They were rather nervy today anyway. The weather was mild and…
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Tanzanian Wildlife moments (Psalms 150:1-2,6)
As Team Tanzania we had an amazing trip for other reasons apart from achieving what we set out to do, meeting brothers and sisters in Christ, being blessed and being a blessing. We had the opportunity virtually every day, to drink in the sights and sounds of that beautiful country.…