Whipsnade lifer

A bit of a celebrity bird has taken up residence in Whipsnade Zoo - a bird all the way from Thailand! After many pop ups from Twitter and Rare Bird Alert reminding me that there is a RARE bird in the neighbourhood I thought it was worth a punt and to see if I can get another lifer under my belt... its been SO long! (2 years in fact)

With the help of Alex from Whipsnade Zoo (a train commuting friend of Anna's- thank you Alex!!)  and Ian from Tring ressie birding fame (he always knows which way to look and when - I would have missed this if he hadn't been looking in the opposite direction to me) I connected with this fabulous far travelling bird. With eyes firmly on the berries by the siding on the railway at the zoo, Ian spotted cameras pointing at the pig sty. So off we went and lo and behold the little beauty popped up in the tree and smiled at its adoring fans - a lovely looking male BLACK THROATED THRUSH  lifer #307 , probably blown off course from its trip from Asia to wherever it fancied heading for the winter... 

Quite a daily crowd twitching this avian visitor , entry fee £21.30 to the zoo if you want to see it!

Male Black Throated Thrush at Whipsnade Zoo

Ring Necked Parakeets in the garden!

Just heading out to town with the family chatting to Kev the postie , I heard and then saw 4 RING NECKED PARAKEETS in Evelyn's tree at the back of the garden - first time this species has been seen in Granville garden, taking Granville Garden species to #42

A trip to the ressie with the family

A sunny day and a trip to College lake with the family. With the help of a man with a scope I saw SNIPE, GOLDENEYE but missed out on a waterail

Splashing in the puddles

Ready to bird! 

Checking out the water

Concentrating on bird ID'ing!

Fozzies at the ressie

Me and my boy with our binos 

Arty leafy shot 

View of the ressie 

The mystery trail....

Inspector Foster solved the mystery of the slug trail this morning.... security camera in place ....2am wake up by baby Daisy....

Camera in place

Monitor ready

What’s that crawling over the rug is it a monster......

No slugs died in this blog post - despatched out the garden room door!!!

More young at Granville

Further babies appearing in the garden - ROBIN and DUNNOCK 

Juvenile Robin

Juvenile Dunnock

Young feeding at Granville

Spring has certainly sprung - BLUE TIT and GREAT TIT young on the feeders today . Also ROBIN around and JACKDAW dominating the feeders

Jackdaws on the feeders

Blue tit feeding young

The garden in Spring

Bird action on the feeders

Great tit young and parent feeding

Bucks birds

Near the Beacon this morning with some nice local birds in the sun

Whitethroat calling in the bushes

Red Kite

Swallow in the fields 

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Goldfinch on the dandelion

First time I’ve seen a GOLDFINCH picking away at Dandelion stalks in the garden

 

Larger birds on the feeders at Granville

It’s not just tits and smaller birds on the feeders - put a suet feast out and it’s fair game for all species

Jackdaw looking very GoT

A hefty Carrion Crow

Magpie after the suet

Jackdaw joining in 

College Lake trip

A brief trip to a College Lake with the kids while Anna had a cuppa in the cafe

Lapwing

Black Headed Gulls  

Blue tit feeding its young

Harry peeming at the ressie

Startops and Marsworth

A stroll around the ressies with the two kids after a hefty Bluebell all day breakfast (Anna kipping in the car in recovery still) 

Greylag Goose

Black headed Gull on a tern next 

A couple of gulls across the ressies

Gliding gull

Term rafts

Gull zoomed in - far right 

Suet block Blue tits

Plenty of interest on the suet blocks - including these lovely blue tits

Blue tits on the suet 

A feast for the lovely blue tits
 

Bird boxes in place at Granville

I think being on paternity leave sparked more than nesting in our own house - as I’ve now got 4 bird boxes in place !

Robin box facing east 

Wren box facing west

General purpose box - with WiFi camera! Facing North East

General purpose box facing North