Avocet at Baston & Langtoft GP

© Phil Ackerman

Goldcrest at Baston & Langtoft GP

© Phil Ackerman

Lesser Redpoll at Baston & Langtoft GP

© Phil Ackerman

Brambling at Baston & Langtoft GP

© Josh Jones

Winter 2003/2004 has seen up to three Bramblings feeding around Park Farm in the company of Greenfinches and Chaffinches. Note the contrast in rump colour: white for Brambling, green for Chaffinch.

Wheatear at Welland Bank Pits

© Will Bowell

Little Ringed Plover at Baston & Langtoft GP

© Josh Jones

Little Ringed Plover is one of the earliest spring migrants to arrive in the PBC area.

Features which tell this species from the similar Ringed Plover include the yellow eye-ring (especially distinct on males like this bird), the flesh-coloured legs (orange on Ringed Plover), the smaller size, the all-dark bill (orange and black on Ringed) and the lack of white wing-bar in flight.

Brambling at Crowtree, Farcet Fen

© Steve Dudley

The buff tips on this male bird's black head feathers have nearly all worn off, revealing his smart breeding plumage.

Black-headed Gulls at Grummit's Scrape

© Phil Ackerman

Starling at Langtoft

© Phil Ackerman

Mediterranean Gull at Dogsthorpe Star Pit NR

summer-plumaged adult


first-winter
© Kevin Du Rose

Mealy Redpoll at Deeping St James

© Will Bowell
A shocking record shot- but a superb male and a surprise garden tick!

Lesser Redpoll in Bluebell Wood

© Katie Fuller

Hawfinch at Castor Hanglands NNR

© Josh Jones

This Hawfinch was found at Castor Hanglands NNR, a couple of months after Kevin Du Rose saw one at Milton Park, a few miles east. The extensive blue in the wing and smart contrast between the chestnut of the head and grey nape make it a male.

Hawfinches are notoriously shy, quiet birds, so Josh Jones did a great job to get these digiscoped photos.

He says: "An incredible bird. It allowed us to get within 20 feet, though it did stay in the middle of the hawthorns. We first saw it showing in the open, but our dog flushed it (sigh)!"

Iceland Gull at Eye tip

© Kevin Du Rose

Along with hundreds of other gulls, this pale, worn first-winter bird was attracted to the tipping activity near Eye. Taken with Nikon Coolpix 880, Kowa scope and sawn-off plastic milk bottle lid adapter!

Little Egrets at Decoy Road

Steve Dudley

Glaucous Gull at Prior's Fen

© Steve Dudley

This first-winter bird was first seen on January 2 at Eye tip. It turned up in a field containing a herd of Bewick's Swans just off Willow Hall Lane on January 30, where viewing was much easier.

Bullfinch at Southey Wood

© Brian Stone

Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls at Dogsthorpe Star Pit

© Kevin Du Rose

Star Pit has long been a Mecca for gull enthusiasts and has the lion's share of local rare gull records including the only record of Sabine's Gull. Records of the Caspian and Yellow-legged races of Herring Gull have increased greatly in recent years, due in part to increased observer awareness and a better knowledge of identification criteria.

The first bird (left) is an adult Caspian Gull displaying a slightly darker mantle, a small, clean white head, very long neck and wings, excessively long and parallel-sided
bill with little gonys, yellow/pink legs and a small, dark bullet-hole eye.

Waxwings at PC World, Peterborough

© Brian Stone

A great location for a species that so often turns up in supermarket carparks. In this case it is a retail park but much the same really. This party of 12 come hot on the heels of 3 at Crown Lakes on 1 January.

Although very tame, the dull conditions and activity of the birds made photography rather difficult, but here are a few shots including a closeup of the waxy tips.




© Amanda Ackerman




© Steve Dudley

2003 birds

List of species photographed during 2003:

Red-throated Diver, Gavia stellata, River Nene, 15.05.2003
Black-throated Diver, Gavia arctica, River Nene, 07.02.2003
Shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, Dog-in-a-Doublet, 18.12.2003
Bittern, Botaurus stellaris, Woodwalton Fen, 05.02.2003
Bittern, Botaurus stellaris, Woodwalton Fen, 18.02.2003
White Stork, Ciconia ciconia, Eldernell, 02.04.2003
Greenland White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons flavirostris, Prior's Fen, 05.01.2003
Greenland White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons flavirostris, Hampton, 08.12.2003
Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, Ferry Meadows CP, 28.03.2003
Mandarin, Aix galericulata, Ferry Meadows CP, 02.09.2003
Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, Dogsthorpe Star Pit, 26.10.2003
Red-crested Pochard, Netta rufina, Baston & Langtoft GP, 16.06.2003
Buzzard, Buteo buteo, Elton, 14.12.2003
Red-footed Falcon, Falco vespertinus, Baston Fen, 22.06.2003
Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, Woodwalton Fen, 08.02.2003
Dotterel, Charadrius morinellus, Blackbush, 17.05.2003
Curlew Sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea, Prior's Fen, 20.08.2003
Pectoral Sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, private site, 03.09.2003
Spotted Redshank, Tringa erythropus, Prior's Fen, 11.08.2003
Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa limosa, RSPB Nene Washes, 26.05.2003
Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus, Ferry Meadows CP, 01.04.2003
White-winged Black Tern, Chlidonias leucopterus, Welland Bank Pits, 12.07.2003
Turtle Dove, Streptopelia turtur, North Bank, 23.08.2003
Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dendrocopos major, 04.11.2003
Sand Martin, Riparia riparia, King's Dyke NR, 26.06.2003
Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus, Crown Lakes CP, 10.01.2003
Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus, Longthorpe, 16.03.2003
Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros, Millennium Bridge, 06.11.2003
Stonechat, Saxicola torquata, Deeping High Bank, 18.10.2003
Blackbird, Turdus merula, Langtoft, 14.10.2003
Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos, Langtoft, 15.05.2003
Lesser Whitethroat, Sylvia curruca, Ferry Meadows CP, 24.11.2003
Dartford Warbler, Sylvia undata, Stanground Wash, 10.12.2003
Spotted Flycatcher, Muscicapa striata, Bainton, 11.07.2003
Hooded Crow, Corvus cornix, Eye tip, 02.12.2003
Brambling, Fringilla montifringilla, Farcet Fen, 08.02.2003
Lesser Redpoll, Carduelis cabaret, Langtoft, 15.12.2003
Corn Bunting, Miliaria calandra, Farcet Fen, 29.05.2003