The end of a Serbian adventure

 Milan Ruzic - our brilliant and lovable Serbian guide

 More of those fantastic Long-eared Owls

 Corn Bunting

Sparrowhawk

I'm fresh back from an amazing tour of Serbia. As you may recall from yesterday's entry, we saw loads of Long-eared Owls. Indeed, we probably ended our long weekend with upwards of 1,000 birds seen. To put that into prospective that's quite possibly nearly half the entire UK population seen in a handful of towns in the Pannonian Plain. The whole region receives around 30,000 wintering LEO's. That's exceptional!

My co-guide was the inimitable Milan Ruzic, a Serb ornithologist who has put his heart and soul into studying and preserving all of Serbia wildlife and especially the country's owls and other birds of prey. Without him we would not have found a third of the owls as he had an uncanny knack for seeking them out.

All the participants of the tour seemed to be completely bowled over by the sight of so many owls. The dull and freezing conditions did little to dampen spirits. Nothing could beat the those owls. We did see other birds including an obliging Great Grey Shrike, skiens of White-fronted Geese, a couple flocks of Common Crane, several White-tailed Eagles, a Hen Harrier, several Marsh Harriers, lots of Common Buzzards and Kestrel. Waterbirds were well represented with many Pygmy and Great Cormorants, Great Egrets, Grey Heron, Pintail, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler and Shelduck.

You must come and see the owls here in Serbia though. If you are interested in coming on my spring tour in May next year when we will be watching many breeding LEO's then let me know.

Serbian Owl Bonanza!!

 You lookin' at me?

 Who are you?

 Where do you think you're going?

 Not you again!

 A tiny portion of the Long-eared Owls that I saw today in Serbia

TUB being interviewed by the Serbian media about the owl phenomenon in Kikinda

I never though that I would live to see the day when 600 Long-eared Owls would enter my life. Yes, 600 you read it right. All of them were perched in their daytime roosts in the three towns that I visited with the tour group that I am leading in Serbia.

The best town was my favourite, Kikinda - 16km from the Romanian border in northern Serbia. We saw half our total in the town's square alone! I heard the great news that the square will be made into a nature reserve from next year making it the only one of its kind in the world. How amazingly cool is that!?!?

Why are there so many owls?

Well, seeing as the farming methods are relatively simple in the countryside surrounding the urban roosts it has encouraged a huge number of rodents to proliferate providing abundant food not only for the LEO's but Barn and Short-eared Owls but for a number of raptors too.

You have to come out here to witness this incredible phenomenon for yourselves!

North West Bird Watching Fair at WWT Martin Mere

 TUB with the fabled Ruth Miller & Alan Davies of The Biggest Twitch fame

The queue for my talk

I woke up Sunday morning in a hotel room around six miles from WWT Martin Mere in Lancashire. For the second year running they had asked me to come and give a talk at their Birding Festival.

I really enjoy the atmosphere at the fair plus it's nice to meet some of my mates up there too. The talk was well attended and the audience seemed to appreciate the gags I attempted.

I'll be back in 2013 - if I'm invited that is!

Back at the ranch

Winter male Stonechat

It seemed almost strange to once again patrol the urban expanses of Wormwood Scrubs after swanning around on so much foreign soil over the last couple of weeks. But I was definitely home though because thr wind was howling and the rain was pouring the night before.

I met up with a couple of the Scrubbers and we collectively strolled around to see what we could. Aside from around 30 Fieldfares all told passing overhead, a couple of Redwing and a Stonechat duo, all was quiet.

At 9am I had a meeting on site with several members of the council (Hammersmith & Fulham), the grounds maintainance contractors and the conservation officer from Groundwork to discuss the wildlife management plan. I was pleased to see that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. That really was a comforting thought.

One for the listers

A female Baglafecht Weaver

It's been a long time coming but I've finally managed to compile the list of birds that I managed to remember seeing in Nairobi. It's such an amazing city for urban birding. With over 600 on its official list you can easily see over 200 species in a couple of days.

I managed nearly 300 in 5 days. Nairobi is well worth a gander.

Common Ostrich

Pink-backed Pelican

Great Cormorant

Long-tailed Cormorant

African Darter

Black-crowned Night Heron

Cattle Egret

Squacco Heron

Madagascar Squacco Heron

Little Egret

Yellow-billed Egret

Great Egret

Goliath Heron

Grey Heron

Black-headed Heron

Hammerkop

Yellow-billed Stork

Black Stork

Saddle-billed Stork

Marabou

Sacred Ibis

Hadada Ibis

Glossy Ibis

African Spoonbill

Egyptian Goose

White-faced Whistling Duck

Maccoa Duck

Red-billed Teal

Hottentot Teal

White-backed Duck

Yellow-billed Duck

African Black Duck

Southern Pochard

Black Kite

Black-shouldered Kite

Secretary Bird

African Fish Eagle

African White-backed Vulture

Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture

Brown Snake Eagle

Montagu’s Harrier

Pallid Harrier

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

Gabar Goshawk

Little Sparrowhawk

Great Sparrowhawk

African Harrier Hawk

Augar Buzzard

Common Buzzard (and Steppe Buzzard)

Tawny Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle

Booted Eagle

Bateleur

Long-crested Eagle

Martial Eagle

Eurasian Hobby

Eleonora’s Falcon

Helmeted Guineafowl

Crested Guineafowl

Yellow-necked Spurfowl

Harlequin Quail

Black Crake

Purple Swamphen

Red-knobbed Coot

Common Moorhen

African Jacana

Grey Crowned Crane

Kori Bustard

White-bellied Bustard

Black-bellied Bustard

Black-winged Stilt

Spotted Thick-knee

Blacksmith Lapwing

Spur-winged Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing

Kittlitz’s Plover

Three-banded Plover

Ruff

Common Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Greenshank

Marsh Sandpiper

Little Stint

Grey-headed Gull

Gull-billed Tern

Whiskered Tern

Speckled Pigeon

Emerald-spotted Wood Dove

Namaqua Dove

Ring-necked Dove

Red-eyed Dove

African Mourning Dove

Laughing Dove

Dusky Turtle Dove

Brown Parrot

Purple-crested Turaco

Hartlaub’s Turaco

Jacobin Cuckoo

Red-chested Cuckoo

Diederik Cuckoo

Klaas’ Cuckoo

White-browed Coucal

Little Swift

White-rumped Swift

Mottled Swift

Nyanza Swift

African Palm Swift

Speckled Mousebird

Blue-naped Mousebird

Narina Trogan

Pied Kingfisher

Striped Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher

Malachite Kingfisher

Little Bee-eater

Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater

European Bee-eater

White-fronted Bee-eater

Von der Decken’s Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

Spot-flanked Barbet

Black-throated Barbet

White-headed Barbet

d’Arnaud’s Barbet

Red-and-yellow Barbet

Wahlberg’s Honeybird

Red-throated Wryneck

Cardinal Woodpecker

Grey Woodpecker

Rufous-naped Lark

Fawn-coloured Lark

Red-capped Lark

Fischer’s Sparrow Lark

Rock Martin

Plain Martin

Banded Martin

Red-rumped Swallow

Lesser Striped Swallow

Barn Swallow

Wire-tailed Swallow

Black Saw-wing

African Pied Wagtail

Mountain Wagtail

Cape Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Sharpe’s Longclaw

Rosy-breasted Longclaw

Grassland Pipit

Black Cuckoo-shrike

Common Bulbul

Yellow-whiskered Bulbul

Cabanis’ Greenbul

White-starred Robin

Cape Robin Chat

White-browed Robin Chat

Ruppell’s Robin Chat

Olive Thrush

Common Rock Thrush

Northern Anteater Chat

Common Stonechat

Whinchat

Northern Wheatear

Isabelline Wheatear

Nightingale

White-browed Scrub-Robin

Spotted Morning Thrush

Dark-capped Yellow Warbler

Garden Warbler

Blackcap

Buff-bellied Warbler

Willow Warbler

Red-faced Crombec

Brown Parisoma

African Moustached Warbler

Zitting Cisticola

Desert Cisticola

Tiny Cisticola

Stout Cisticola

Rattling Cisticola

Winding Cisticola

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Singing Cisticola

Red-faced Cisticola

Hunter’s Cisticola

Whistling Cisticola

Siffling Cisticola

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Grey-backed Camaroptera

Grey Wren Warbler

Yellow-breasted Apalis

White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher

African Grey Flycatcher

Pale Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

African Paradise Flycatcher

Northern Pied Babbler

White-bellied Tit

Red-throated Tit

Abyssinian White-eye

Bronze Sunbird

Tacazze Sunbird 

Eastern Double-collared Sunbird 

Amethyst Sunbird

Scarlet-chested Sunbird

Beautiful Sunbird

Variable Sunbird

Collared Sunbird

Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird

Common Fiscal

Long-tailed Fiscal

Grey-backed Fiscal

Isabelline Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Tropical Boubou

Slate-coloured Boubou

Brubru

Black-backed Puffback

Rosy-patched Bush-shrike

Northern White-crowned Shrike

Fork-tailed Drongo

Pied Crow

Cape Rook

African Black-headed Oriole

Yellow-billed Oxpecker

Red-billed Oxpecker

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Superb Starling

Hildebrandt’s Starling

Wattled Starling

Rufous Sparrow

House Sparrow

Chestnut Sparrow

Grey-headed Sparrow

Yellow-spotted Petronia

Speckle-fronted Weaver

White-browed Sparrow Weaver

Grey-capped Social Weaver

Black-headed Weaver

Vitelline Masked Weaver

Spectacled Weaver

Speke’s Weaver

Baglafecht Weaver

Grosbeak Weaver

Holub’s Golden Weaver

Red-billed Quelea

Jackson’s Widowbird

Red-collared Widowbird

Yellow Bishop

White-winged Widowbird

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu

Purple Grenadier

Red-billed Firefinch

Yellow-bellied Waxbill

Common Waxbill

Bronze Mannikin

Black-and-white Mannikin

Pin-tailed Whydah

Brimstone Canary

White-bellied Canary

Yellow-crowned Canary

African Citril

Yellow-rumped Seedeater

Streaky Seedeater

Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting

Somali Golden-breasted Bunting

268 species

103 lifers

Jerusalem

 The view outside the city wall

 Hoopoe

 Hooded Crow

 A controlled Song Thrush at The Jerusalem Bird Observatory

 Syrian Woodpecker in the Obs garden

 Juvenile Masked Shrike in the Rose Garden

 Common Bulbul in the hand

 A controlled female Hawfinch

 An endangered Mountain Gazelle

 Female Blue Rock Thrush

 Long-billed Pipit

A male Fincsh's Wheatear

 A pair of Sand Partridge

 Blackstart

 Tristram's Starling

Mourning Wheatear

Hula Whoop Whoop!

 Jungle Cat

A female 'Eastern' Stonechat

 Pygmy Cormorant

 Southern Grey Shrike

 Laughing Dove

 Crested Lark

 A pair of White-tailed Eagles

Common Kestrel

Some more images from the Hula Valley. The Jungle Cat was particularly exciting as we were not expecting to have got such a great view of one.

More shots to follow..