A Pheasant surprise!

A limping male Pheasant in Kensington Gardens (Collin Flapper)

It's been a couple days of nose to the grindstone with various deadlines reached and words wrenched from my tired mind. I was particularly pleased to have finished my RSPB 'Birds' piece on RSPB Groups. I found writing that especially difficult. I was beginning to worry that I had lost my mojo.

The Scrubs has been particularly uninspiring recently with only the established birds on view. It was pleasing to still see our male Reed Bunting still on territory with his partner no doubt sitting tight on some eggs nearby. I learnt yesterday about the intriguing record of a Nightjar that a couple evenings ago was flying around the open theatre at nearby Regents Park. It really goes to show that anything can turn up anywhere.

Take for example last night. I was strolling through Kensington Park with good friend and confidant, Collin Flapper, when a Pheasant ran across the path around 20 feet in front of me. It scurried past some surprisingly oblivious walkers (who probably thought that it was a pigeon) and pathetically tried to conceal itself in a daffodil bed!

How this essentially rustic bird finds itself in central London beats me!

Derby Day

Mute Swan (Jakub Puskas)

After arriving in Derby late last night to the sights and sounds of a party city, Russell Spencer and I slipped into our hotel, Cathedral Quarter Hotel, a quite sweet boutique hotel that recently played host to the Queen who apparently popped around for lunch recently. I didn't get to sleep until around 2.30am after watching a TV programme about the existence of UFO's.

In the morning, we met with our co-host Nick Brown (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust) and after a quick breakfast, we were soon walking along the River Derwent in bright sunshine hearing about the wintering Dippers and breeding Grey Wagtails. We met our other host Nick Moyes, who works at the Derby Museum (Derby City Council) outside the impressive Derby Cathedral, home to Derby's famous breeding Peregrines. He took us up the tight spiral stairs to the bell ringers room where the CCTV camera playback screen was housed. We watched amazing footage of the adults bringing in different avian food items, some live some already dead. There was incredible night footage of an adult bringing in a live Woodcock!

We then nipped up onto the roof to enjoy the Derby cityscape. We also peered over the wall to look down on the gargoyles on which the Peregrines dismember their prey. I was surprised to see the carcass of a Dabchick on one of them.

The rest of the day was spent at a couple of sites with particular emphasis on the Pride Park area within the shadow of Derby County's football stadium. But more about that in my forthcoming Bird Watching Magazine article.

Anyway, both Nicks were diamond blokes. They really showed us a good day. Derby is a cool place.

Humans

Today was the exact opposite of yesterday. I was left feeling very disappointed after two separate incidents involving two separate individuals.

It's disappointing when you offer people kindness and they mistake it for stupidity.

Birdlife International

Today was a fabulous day and I didn't even lift a pair of binoculars!

I called the PR agency who looked after the Oman Tourist Board to tell them that I couldn't take up their generous offer of a press trip to Oman later this month. My reason was that it clashed with my trip to Alderney. To my surprise, the director of the PR agency told me not to worry and that she would hook up a trip there just for me whenever I wanted to go. How incredible is that!

Last week, I bumped into Birdlife International's illustrious Dr Nigel Collar, a true giant in the conservation world - google him. Anyway, I spotted A&C Black's Nigel Redman strolling through the streets of London's Soho with another gentleman. As I was about to walk past I decided to make myself known to Nigel Redman, as I have known him for years, - since the days when we both had a lot more hair. He introduced me to Nigel Collar and I immediately dropped to my knees in worship. A 30 second introduction led to today's invitation to join Nigel Collar and some of his learned colleagues on an expedition to southern Ethiopia in search of the Ethiopian Bush Crow.

Going on an expedition is something that I have always dreamt about doing since I was a boy reading Gerald Durrell books. And here I am, on the verge of living a dream. Unfortunately, I can't go due to my current commitments. The good news is that I may have the opportunity to join him on other expeditions in order to write about them to publicise the work of Birdlife International, the country that we are visiting and of course, the bird that we are searching for.

To use that hackneyed phrase - happy days!

I'm one totally lucky geezer!

Oman? No Man!

Birders on Tower 42 two weeks ago (Jon Osborne)

Our 5th visit to Tower 42 in as many weeks still didn't result in the perfect conditions that we have desired for so long. We didn't get a bright, sunny warm day replete with fluffy clouds and a gentle southerly breeze bringing in loads of migrant raptors. Instead, we got a slightly chilly northeasterly, largely cloudy skies with the occasional sunny break.

We managed to spy a Hobby streaking across the south London skies, 2-3 Sparrowhawks including one bird that must have been over a thousand feet up, as it was a tiny dot with the naked eye. We also had the expected Peregrines, a Common Buzzard and a high flying male Kestrel. It's incredible to think just how high these birds get. Loads must pass over our heads without us ever realising.

The Oman trip I mentioned yesterday sounds amazing with 5 nights there as part of the deal. Unfortunately, I will have to pass as I would return to Britain on the day I depart for Alderney and I would certainly miss that flight. Furthermore, I have committed myself to going to Alderney as the Wildlife Trust there have very kindly invited me to take part in their wildlife week. Plus, they have asked me to become one of their patrons.

I'm sure that I will have the chance to visit Oman again. Now, I must go - to have a good cry!

Oman! Oh boy!

Intermediate Egret (David Fettes)

Another industrious day was had trying to tread water and generally catch up. Yes, the never ending game of catch up. Aside from writing the monthly articles and whatnot are the innumerable emails from no less than 4 email accounts including one for the Tower 42 Bird Study Group that as you may imagine, is generating a life of its own.

It's been a great weekend for birding in London with my mates down on Beddington Farm discovering the first London Pacific Golden Plover in 107 years! What a great achievement lads! A Crane was seen overflying Canary Wharf this lunchtime, which may be a good omen for tomorrow's stint up on Tower 42.

Finally, I received a surprise invite to a birding press trip to Oman departing on May 25th. It sounds amazing and having not been there before, I was quick to consult the internet to learn of the goodies that I could connect with, should I choose the partake in this mission. The reason for my hesitation is that I have not been formally commissioned by any of the mags that I write for. To be honest, I'd feel a bit weird about accepting a trip on the basis of it being a jolly. I guess I don't feel that it's right.

Anyway, I will figure that conundrum out tomorrow.

May Day, May Day - I'm bloody freezing!!

Reykjavik, Iceland (Justine Watson)

What's with the weather? It's May and I should be in my summer plumage having moulted my thick jumpers. But instead, I'm donning a beanie, thick jumper and a jacket to venture out into the metropolis.

On Sunday morning, I did my bit for International Dawn Chorus Day by leading a walk around The Scrubs. The night before saw gallons of water pouring out of the sky. By 5am it had stopped raining but the sky was ominously dark. Surprisingly, 10 people were waiting for me so the walk commenced. The chorus wasn't as rich as previous years partially due to the unpleasant conditions (it peed down!) and the fact that quite large areas of undergrowth had been cleared predominately for the Common Lizard populations. We did manage to connect with our usual songsters including at least 4 Lesser Whitethroats. Unfortunately, heavy rain put paid to a prolonged walk.

Last week, I had a great meeting with the PR company that looks after the Iceland Tourist Board. The long and short of it was that I have been invited over to Iceland in June along with my photographer, Russell Spencer. I'm really excited because we will spend the first couple day in Reykjavik then we'll head out to the northeast of the island to see Ptarmigan, Barrow's Goldeneye and millions of Puffins at first hand. I can't wait!

Before that however, is a trip to Derby that I have lined up for next Sunday. My main goal will be to check on the city's breeding Peregrines as well as whatever else Derby has to offer. But first, it's a trip up that Tower on Wednesday that's floating my boat.