An early murky morning walk provided a nice surprise when through the grey I saw a large white bird on distant grassland. At first I thought it could be a Little Egret but once I looked through my bins I saw it was clearly a Swan. Now Mute Swans are quite scarce around the Cranleigh area so I was more than ...
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Goosander (Mergus merganser) After a 900-plus mile drive north from Helsinki and through Lapland we arrived on the Norway border. Soon I was in a place I had dreamed of. I’d longed to go to Varanger Fjord and witness its rich birding treats since, 30 years earlier, I got hooked while reading a second-hand copy ...
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Slightly smaller than the Crow, the adult Rook (Corvus frugilegus) has a pointed grey bill with pale skin extending to the eye, ‘baggy trousers,’ peaked crown and a more wedge-shaped tail Litter louts! What a load of rubbish there was lying around as I passed by the playground at Cranleigh’s Snoxhall Fields the ...
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Kingfisher (Green list) Red, red and amber, green, amber, red. Traffic lights! Oh no, not again. We are inundated with them around Cranleigh. What is going on? Usually there is no apparent reason for this invasion - and no worker in sight to give an explanation. Traffic lights appear and then – hurrah – they ...
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Biggest surprise of the year: Wigeon (Anas penelope). Nice change from the Pigeon! Here’s a pair. I never saw mine – just heard them flying over calling at night With the RSPB’s big garden birdwatch swinging into action from 28-30 January many of us will be counting the birds seen for an hour in our very own ...
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Redwing (Turdus iliacus) The 25th of December seemed to be all around as the snow fell onto the twinkling lights and carols belted out from loudspeakers. But despite the festivities it felt weird because Christmas was clearly not coming any time soon. Tomorrow would be the longest day of summer. I was in ...
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Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) As the crowd in the centre of Cranleigh gathered around the war memorial on Remembrance Sunday a stray note suddenly broke the silence. It was not an accidental emission from a nervous member of the band but the sharp, high-pitched and far carrying call of another village ...
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Jay searching for food (Garrulus glandarius) I saw this outrageously dressed fella the other day and by the amount of food he was transporting away you’d think another lockdown was imminent. Mr Pink made numerous return visits to ‘the shops’ over the space of three hours and was back for the umpteenth time as ...
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Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) As the leaves fall and the changing season’s reds, oranges and gold emerge around us I am keeping my eyes peeled for some tiny busy visitors. They always pop in at this time of the year and will be stopping off in our gardens over the next few weeks to feed up before moving ...
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Ring-necked Duck - USA I’ve met folk around Cranleigh who – even before lockdown – rarely ventured beyond its boundaries. A lot of our commuters to the capital have not returned to work there for over 16 months. But that’s nothing. I once met an elderly gentleman who swore on his ‘well-whiskied’ breath – as ...
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