I've been hit by the winter lurgy twice this month, so barely been out and about. Today, with the glorious blue skies, I was determined to go out, but after spending most of the night awake coughing I decided to stay indoors in the warm and instead concentrate on my end of year blog.
None of my photos below are perfect but each one is a memory for me. I've had some great experiences in 2014. My first ever sighting of a Bullfinch was one of them, along with holding a juvenile Hobby though I wish I hadn't found myself in that position. No wild animal or bird should be held in human hands, but in this case it was necessary just to confiscate the bird from an ill informed member of the public. Luckily the Hobby is now in the care of St Tiggywinkles and it's hopeful the bird can be released back to the wild next Spring. Other 2014 experiences include finding a Grass Snake in Mum's garden, being just feet away from a Common Snipe at Pulborough and my first ever Brown Argus butterfly at Cranford Park.
A lot of my photos are from Cranford Park. It's a park that is very dear to me, and when the Information Centre got burnt down in September, it upset me more than I thought it would.
However it was great to watch Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers nesting this year, watch a Wren build but then abandon his nest, see juvenile Little Owls in the Oaks, watch young Kestrels learning how to hunt, have great views of the resident Kingfishers and of course, watch recently fledged Hobbys taking food from their parents.
My Mum was diagnosed with Cancer earlier in the year, and I stopped going out and instead stayed at Mum's house whilst she had her treatment. Her garden and the birds that visit it, became the new subjects of my blog during that time. I put up a small hide at the bottom of the garden, and whenever Mum was resting I would be in the hide. Through my time in the hide I established we had not one, not two but seven visiting Great Spotted Woodpeckers including a male with a deformed beak who we called Bill. If it hadn't have been for the hide we would have never seen the Grass Snake that visited one afternoon, or known that a Muntjac Deer often feeds in the horse field at the bottom of the garden.
So those are just a few of my favourite moments from 2014, and here are a few photos to go with them.......
January 2014
Nuthatch and Tawny Owl from Kensington Gardens.....
Grey Phalarope and Red-breasted Mergansers from Hove.....
February 2014
Sanderling, Turnstone and Curlew from Rhyl....
Redpoll from Warnham NR.....
Skylark from Lake Farm.....
male Great Spotted Woodpecker from Cranford Park...
March 2014
Egyptian Gosling and mating Kestrels from Regents Park....
Wren nest building and male Blackcap from Cranford Park....
Bullfinch and close up Common Snipe from RSPB Pulborough.....
April 2014
Long-tailed Tits, Common Whitethroat and Bee-fly from Cranford Park....
Redshank, Little Grebe and displaying Lapwing at London Wetlands Centre...
May 2014
Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and male Kingfisher from RSPB Rainham...
my hide, Bill the Woody and a House Sparrow from Mum's garden
Will the Peregrine eyas being ringed at Charing Cross Hospital (photo by Nathalie Mahieu)....
June 2014
Juvenile Blackbird, juvenile Robin and female Grass Snake from Mum's Garden....
Little Owl and juvenile Kestrel from Cranford Park....
July 2014
Juvenile Kestrels and another Little Owl from Cranford Park....
Spike the Hedgehog from Mum's garden.....
August 2014
Juvenile Hobby, Spotted Flycatcher and Brown Argus butterfly from Cranford Park....
September 2014
Whinchat, Stonechat and the Information Centre, from Cranford Park......
Common Lizard and Migrant Hawker from the London Wetland Centre.....
October 2014
Sandwich Terns, Rock Pipit and female Stonechat from Rhyl....
Red Deer at Richmond Park.....
Tom the Peregrine at the London Wetland Centre.....
November 2014
Carrion crow and Buzzard from Harefield....
Yellow Stagshorn fungus from Cranford Park.....
Short Eared Owl at London Wetland Centre....
December 2014
Little Egret and female Kingfisher from Cranford Park......
So it's been quite a good year. I'm not a twitcher, nor do I keep lists on what birds I have seen, but I do enjoy going out, taking photos and wondering what would look good on my blog post for that day.
Here's to 2015 and all it may be bring....
Happy New Year to all of you
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