Wheatear

Wheatears, Totternhoe Knolls, 29th April 2009 by Geoff Dawes

Cuckoo

Cuckoo, MVCP, 28th April 2009 by Steve Blain. Another shot can be found here.

Hoopoe

Hoopoe, Studham, 27th April 2009

Godwits at Broom

Just a record shot, they were too far away for quality

Broom terns

I spent an enjoyable hour at Broom today trying to get some action shots of the terns and got a reasonable shot of a common but when looking through my shots I realised I had one that was a bit different.... sadly the quality is poor,

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit, Broom GP, 24 April 2009 by Steve Blain. One of four Barwits at Broom today.

Ferruginous Duck

Drake Ferruginous Duck, Rookery South ClP, 23rd April 2009 by Steve Blain. Another great find by Steven Northwood.

Rookery Fudge

An enlarged (very distant) record shot of the Ferruginous Duck found by SN today.

Common Scoter

Common Scoter, Brogborough Lake, 19th April 2009 by Steve Blain.

Starling at Beeston

Male Starling (bluish base to bill) trapped, ringed and released at Beeston

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern, Broom GP, 17th April 2009 by Steve Blain. More can be found here.

Lost!

Presumably the Ringed Teal present at Priory last week - now at Great Barford Lake.

First instalment

Got alot of pictures to go through from Sunday but here is the first shot of the Arctic Skua. There are hopefully better to come. Stewartby Lake

Common Scoter morning in Beds

Record digiscopes of the two groups of Common Scoter in Beds on morning of April 13th.

22 birds at Brogborough and 7 at Cainhoe Pits. Both groups included only two females.

Easter Bonanza !

A great day in the Marston Vale !

Two Black-necked Grebe and a Red-breasted Merganser at Stewartby Lake.





Garganey at the Long Pool, MVCP.



One of three Arctic Tern at Chimney Corner North. No sign of Sandwich Tern; MJP picked out a Black-tailed Godwit.





On any other day, finding an Osprey would be a notable event - not this day, however !



A Willow Warbler at MVCP



Thanks to the finders !!

Arctic Terns

Two of the three Arctic Terns (and two Sandwich Terns, two Red-breasted Merganser, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, and Greenshank!) at Chimney Corner North pit today, 12th April 2009 by Steve Blain. More can be found here.

Red-breasted Merganser

One of five in the county today! This drake Red-breasted Merganser was at Stewartby Lake, 12th April 2009 by Steve Blain.

Sandwich Tern

One of two Sandwich Terns that were commuting between Stewartby Lake and Chimney Corner North for most of the day, 12th April 2009 by Steve Blain. Another shot here.

Sunday Birdy Sunday...

A few shots from the best day I can remember at Stewartby Lake / MVCP, I've minimised the duplication with other, better , photos of the birds present... Photos by Martin Green.
The dark-phase Arctic Skua that was only present for 22 minutes over/on Stewartby Lake. It flew off for about 5 minutes at one point but photos I took before and after this show pretty much identical plumage and particularly wear on the left wing so I think the same bird was involved on both visits...

Sandwich Tern and 3 Arctic Terns on buoy around 7am.
Very poor record shot of the adult Kittiwake.

A day not to be mist!

Common Scoters and Black-tailed Godwits part of the bonanza of passage birds at Broom GP on April 11th 2009

Sandwich Tern

One of the three Sandwich Terns present first-thing this morning at Broom GP. Another two passed through mid-morning, bringing the Broom total to five for the day. Another three were found at Stewartby Lake, making it an excellent day for this scarce tern in the county. 11th April 2009 by Steve Blain.

Common Scoters

Here's a shot of the other four Common Scoters at Broom, to go along with Richards shot of the five from Gypsy Lane West. 11th April 2009 by Steve Blain.

Lapwing MVCP

Lapwing at MVCP, photo by Martin Green.

Scoters!

I'm certain there will be better shots - this was in the drizzle and I'd forgotten my camera adapter. But great subjects.

Bits from Broom

Blackwits and Little Gull

Little Dots, Broom

Kumlien's Gull

Second-winter Kumlien's Gull, Stewartby Lake, 2nd April 2009. This bird was in Beds from 31st March until 4th April. A good summary of where else this bird appeared can be found here.