Busy

A deceased immature Black-headed Gull - an unusual Big Garden Birdwatch find (Russell F Spencer)

I spent Saturday in agony after injuring my left index finger whilst in the spectacular act (someone's got to big me up!) of saving a goal. The ball hit my hand at high velocity bending said digit further back that what nature had originally intended. It didn't hurt too much at the time but come the afternoon I may has well have had my hand chopped off - the pain!

Sunday morning saw me at my beloved Scrubs for only the second time this year. It was bloody freezing and the ground was frozen. Notable birds included around 5 Redpolls, 20 odd Redwing, at least 20 Fieldfare and a small roving party of Meadow Pipits in the grassland. The remainder of the day was spent watching Manchester United spank Arsenal and finishing my BBC Wildlife Magazine article on birding fieldcraft.

Today, I was asked by the British Trust for Ornithology to get involved with their 'Out of Africa' Campaign highlighting the plight of our summer migrants. I also received confirmation of my next trip abroad in pursuit of urban birding. I will be heading off for a few days to Merida and Caseres in Extremadura, Spain in early March. Before then, I will be hitting Brighton this weekend.

Finally, I attended the Hammersmith & Fulham Council Biodiversity Action Plan meeting tonight to discuss the sites within the borough to be included in the plan. I campaigned for Wormwood Scrubs' grassland area to be awarded local nature reserve status due in part to its breeding Meadow Pipits. I also learnt that there are plans afoot to construct a small lake in the naturally wet southeast corner at Martin Bell's Wood.

I was imagining seeing Water Rail creeping around the burnt out wreckage of a dumped Ford Fiesta!