Rain and family obligations limited my birding while in England this week. However, I still managed to log 29 bird species, and a few of them were new life birds for me. This time of year produced some immature birds, making it a new experience for me seeing some of the species that I had already photographed in previous visits there.
I was not able to photograph eight of these species, either because of a very quick look or not having my camera with me at the time: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Pied Wagtail, Eurasian Wren, Jay, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, and Greylag Goose. My photos of a Starling were not very good, and are omitted from the photos shown below. One of my target birds, the Goldcrest, continued to be a difficult subject to photograph.
Goldcrest
And I only got a couple of quick looks at Green Woodpeckers, photographing the back side of one in a tree with a Blue Tit.
Green Woodpecker
By far, the most numerous birds I saw were Great, Blue, and Coal Tits.
Blue Tit
Immature Blue Tit
Immature Blue Tit
Great Tit
Immature Great Tit
Coal Tit
Immature Coal Tit
The friendliest bird I saw was a very young Eurasian Robin that came right up to me when it was not drying out its wings on the grass.
Immature Eurasian Robin
Immature Eurasian Robin
Eurasian Robin
There were plenty of finches around.
Male Chaffinch
Female Chaffinch
Immature Chaffinch
Male Greenfinch
Female Greenfinch
Immature Greenfinch
Male Eurasian Goldfinch
Female Eurasian Goldfinches
I saw many of the common species.
Woodpigeon
Magpie
Blackbird
Carrion Crow
Dunnock
Mistle Thrush
Mistle Thrush
In a small stream, I saw a couple of Grey Herons, and a Common Moorhen feeding her young chicks.
Grey Heron
Grey Heron
Common Moorhen
Common Moorhen
Common Moorhen
A few gulls and one or a pair of Swifts flew overhead each day.
Black-headed Gull
Swift
Swift
One of my target birds from my visit last October was a Sparrow Hawk, but I did not see one then. I was treated to a high flying Sparrow Hawk this trip on one of the few sunny days.
Sparrow Hawk
Sparrow Hawk
Sparrow Hawk
And I can't forget to mention the red-footed squirrel that tried to hide from me.
squirrel
This was only the first half of our trip. We sailed back to the U.S. on the Queen Mary 2, and I was able to see a number of North Atlantic pelagic birds.
Click here to read about the rest of this journey