Tony Hovell's Wildlife

Started the month as all recent months have started and finished, failing to get the sightings I went after, but something else usually turns up.

Generally a pretty grey month grey and cold, an no good birds to look at locally, util a Richards Pipit turned up towards the end of the month.

After a very cold and dull period we finally got out to see this long staying Asian migrant, it took two tries to see it but eventually it showed quite well, for a YBW

In the early days of the month there is not much about, but on a personal level we have had a colourful event in the garden.

A very photogenic Lapland Bunting turned up on the causeway of Staines Reservoir on the 4th, we went to see it on the 8th and were not disappointed.

On the 8th we went to see a Mega in Norfolk but it had gone, but Norfolk bring what it is we still managed to connect with two other good birds.

Not a lot going on except hedgehogs in the garden, then we went to Cornwall for a short holiday and caught up with the long staying Juvenile red backed shrike and a rat eating herring gull.

Not seen many any good birds for ages having to make do with some seasonal insects.

Finally got moth trap out on an evening when a deer turned up 15 meters from our front door.

Still struggling to see much of interest but the garden did come up with a couple of nice sightings.

Its that time of year again when the ALS Lure comes out to bring a visit from the magical and beautiful Emperor Moth.

It was the middle of the month before I saw anything worth while but the Mega at Greylake RSPB was well worth waiting for, and it came with a nice supporting cast.

After a couple of operations I've missed out on a few good birds over the last couple of months, now I hope it's time to make up for that.The Northern Water Thrush at Maldon in Essex is a good start.

Started off with an unco-operative common scoter, hoping for things to get better

The month started with a heat wave, some of the bet weather of the summer.

Getting a bit bored with local dragons and damsels, looking forward to a good bird twitch, health has limited my ability to travel this summer but there is now a light at the end of the tunnel, hoping for some good birds in the autumn migration.

The month has started very hot, with temperatures in the high 20's most days, good for dragonflies, but a bit hot for trying to find them.

After a good month for birds in April, May has been a bit of a failure.

Not getting out to see much so far this year but managed a few nice birds at the end of the month.

Nice to be back doing a bit of ordinary birding again, started off on the Wendover arm of our local canal.

The trip was prompted by my wanting to see Carmine Bee-eaters since the days of Brooke Bonds "Tropical Birds" tea cards, from 1961, and we saw a few thousand, plus an amazing array of other creatures from a lethal scorpion to herds of massive elephants, with some stunning birds thrown in.

These photos were all taken on a 20 day tailor made trip to Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe from the 1st of September,booked through the South African Company Lawsons and guided by the incredible Leon Marais, the whole trip was 3,400 Kilometers starting in Windhoek and finishing at Victoria Falls

The trip took in much of Namibia and just touched into Botswana and Zambia, the early days spent in the ultra dry Namib desert and ending up and the massive deluge of Victoria Falls, an incredible trip with some incredible sightings mostly thanks to Leon.

Yet another Mega, new for us, making 3 in 3 months turned up quite close to home so we went to see it on the 9th, made even better by being a first for Britain.

A frustrating start to the month with a trip to Fermyn Woods in Northants, saw a few Purple Emperors but none where I could take their photo.Then,on the 11th two mega's in one trip to Bempton Cliffs a rare shrike and the albatross for the second year running

What a good start to the month,a mega falcon a couple of hours from home on a nice sunny day. The month continued with some more great sightings, bee-eaters,hoopoe,turtle dove,great reed warbler and even swallowtail butterfly, it would be easy to think we were in Spain, or is it just global warming.

Started the month with a trip to Thursley to see Colin, will this be his last trip?

The fist birding trip of the month on the 5th was to Marlow and Farmoor for a UK tick, the blue winged teal a great northern diver and a pair of gargany, not bad for one day. The month got even better with a trip to Roach Bridge for this, the fourth for England, Belted Kingfisher from the USA.

On returning from Scotland I have not got out of the habit of constantly looking out of the window for cresties or pine martens, this is not quite so good, but not bad for Aylesbury.

We have been visiting the area around Loch Garten for about 18 years, sadly the last couple of visits have been a disappointment, we had a lot of reliable sites for local specialities, but they have in recent times mostly failed due to either too much interest from visitors or changes in management, the saviour for us this time was our lodgings at Loch Garten Lodges.

It was the 9th of the month before I saw anything good, but it was well worth waiting for, a Mega American Robin in Eastbourne.

January can bring bad weather and make cassual birding unpleasant, but it can also bring some good birds, particularly waterfowl.

The fist day of the month was not quite as good as last months lifer, but a nice start with a few good local sightings.

Started the month with a Mega, the long staying White Tailed Lapwing at Blactoft Sands RSPB, the best start to a month for a long time.

Not getting out to see much at the moment but the hedgehogs in the garden are performing incredibly, have seen up to 4 feeding together and estimate at least 10 different animals are visiting

For the last few months I have had trouble downloading stuff onto this web site, at the moment it seems to be working a bit so I will have a go at putting up something for October

Went to Oban on 25th of June for a couple of days then on to Grantown on Spey for a week including some guiding by Iolo Williams who is even nicer in real life than he is on the tele. The hotel we stayed in Oban, was awful, but the Grant Arms in Grantown was great.

Since we have got back from holiday there has been a bit of a heatwave, we have not had a chance to get out to see anything but the garden is comming up trumps.

Went to South Devon for a short break at the beginning of the month did not see very much, but did catch up with a few goof things.

With the easing of Covid restrictions we finally got over to Tenby to see the walrus, with the bonus of two very obliging otters and a supporting cast of sea birds.

Twitching is still difficult and not really done, but the long staying Exmouth Mockingbird nearly made my day when it moved to Pulborough, then disappeared before we could get to see it.

Lots of good birds in the UK at the moment, some megas along with the more usual winter visitors. Started with a couple of commoner winter birds and then a pair of rare buntings on the same site including one lifer for me all in the first week.

The lock down still stops movement and limits photo opportunities, but a couple of local birds have shown nicely, and with the help of someone else's photos I have compared the surrey rustic bunting from December to now.

A new lock down is looming and likely to end this recent purple patch, but a couple of nice local birds is a good start to the month.

The month has started with a lot of good sightings of stuff we have already seen, but still nice to see.Wilsons and Grey Phalaropes on the same day in the same place was pretty special. Progressing to the bush robin and a pallas's in one trip it's turned out to be the best month for ages.

Still not really getting the time to get out and about, and good birds in reasonable traveling distance have been in short supply, but autumn migration will soon be in full swing.

Finally a month that starts well, Red Backed Shrike and Bearded Vulture plus supporting cast of redstart, ring ouzel, mistle thrush, red grouse and spot fly.

It's a bit sad when the best wildlife I am able to photograph is moths, but some of them are quite dramatic.

With lock down still making travel unacceptable, we are all having to rely on local patches, mine seems to be very well supplied with dog walkers. The changes to the rules in the middle of the month does make a twitch look possible, just bring on the birds.

With lock down we can't travel to see things, so we must rely on what comes to us,my first good sighting of the month was seen with the help of a lure.

Almost the middle of the month then a great bird turns up less than 20 miles away in a public park.

Started the month with a few trips to Farmoor Reservoir to try to see the day flying barn owl, it was much more difficult than I had hoped.

First good bird of the year for me was a local Ring Ouzel on Pitstone Hill

Still struggling to get some free time to go birding, but couldn't resist a a twitch to Whipsnade Zoo.

Hoping for some different local sightings now that we have moved out to Aylesbury in Bucks.

Still not getting much time to get out and about, still hoping that a Birdguides bird will turn up in Aylesbury and November can be a good month

This will be the last month in our Ruislip home of 30 years, no time to get out and about so have to rely the garden to come up with something.

Maybe an early bird vagrant will turn up in reasonable twitching distance, getting a bit tired of butterflies and dragons.

Generally a month for insects as good birds are not generally on the move.

After a long period of seeing nothing much but dragons, damsels and butterflies I finally caught up with a really special bird on the 5th.

We started and ended in San Jose, and had three days each in Savegre, Carara, Arenal Volcano and Sarapiqui, A great itinerary and Lenin was an excellent guide finding and calling birds everywhere we went,just over 300 in two weeks, as well as great mammals, reptiles and insects.

Finally got back doing a bit of birding after a holiday and 3 weeks photoshopping, first outing was to RSPB Otmoor for some great incoming migrants.

We spent the last two weeks of March in Costa Rica on a Tailor made trip booked through Naturetrek and organised by the local company Cotinga Tours. Our guide was the excellent Lenin Duarte who as well as being a birdguide was a chart topping reggae artist in Costa Rica.

Half way through the month and we have not seen anything worthwhile yet, things can only get better. Finally on the 27th we got a good one, in fact a very good one, a large tortoiseshell on Portland, a lifer for us.

Got three good birds in one visit to Weymouth on the 8th to kick the month off, one, the ring necked duck a new one for my UK list.

Started the month with a trip to Slimbridge to see the Water Rails that had been showing well from the Willow Hide under some seed feeders.

Started the month with a 3 day trip to Norfolk based in Wells Next The Sea, got three life ticks in the 3 days and a pretty good supporting cast. The month gets better, by the middle of the month the possible Stejnegers Stonechat had been confirmed by DNA testing of it's poo.

Generally a quiet month, but the Grey Catbird in Cornwall made the month, a fantastic bird.

This month starts as last month with insects, hopefully we should soon start to see some good autumn migrant birds.

This has been a pretty dull autumn so far, I just hope it picks up soon.

Out of action for the first week or so of the month, but a visit to Holmfield Wood on the 9th produced some good butterflies.

Started the moth on Portland looking at the rosy starling very early on a foggy morning.

An early month visit to the garden of the incredibly kind MP, Simon Hart and his wife to see the Green Heron and then on to Skomer whilst in the area, has made a very promising start.

Finally got out on a short birding trip to North Wales and got close to two iconic birds.

At last managed to get out and see a good American bird at the begining of the month.

Still unable to twitch, just hoping something good turns up in the garden with the snowy weather.

An 11 night holiday from the 17th November, in South Africa, booked with Naturetrek, a tailor made holiday, brilliantly guided by Leon Marais of Lawsons and Matt Prophit of Fangs and Feathers, both South African companies. Both guides were excellent both as bird finders and at looking after us. A wildlife holiday second to none.

We saw 330 bird species,44 mammals and 12 reptiles, a great list, and we still had time for some photos. The route was Dullstroom. Blyde River Canyon,4 nights in the Kruger, then a couple of days around Cape Town for the penguins.

I am sure that this month's sightings in the UK will not come close to October, but we are off to the Kruger National Park on the 17th so maybe the month will turn out all right.

Hope this month turns out to be as good as September,an early Buff Breasted Sandpiper suggests it might,then Wilsons Phalarope and Long billed Dowitcher it's looking like another good month.A Mega warbler on the isle of Purbeck really confirms another great month.

I was hoping September will bring some birds,in August almost all my photos were insects, though some of them were pretty special. A Wryneck,Hoopoe and Great Egret were a good start, pity the hoopoe did not allow any photos. Then came the Buff Breasted Sandpiper

August is often a bit barren, and this one is starting as expected, so butterflies and insects are having to fill the void.

Finaly made the trip to Shrewsbury to see the Night Heron it showed very well for a while then disappeared for two hours. The month continues with some excellent insects, particularly Butterflies and Moths and ended with a hard won water vole.

Started the monthe with a couple of days in the Lake District looking for butterflies, but ticks were more common.

Hopefully a good month for butterflies, but not if the clouds do not clear.

These are the result of two weeks spent in Scotland from the 15th April, a very successful week based at loch Garten and a disappointing week spent on the Isle of Mull where the weather was not good and the wildlife hard to find.

Retired on the last day of March so now I hope to see a few more things. Started the month with more owls, little and short earred.

March should be a good month, but so far two weekends in I have connected with next to nothing.

Having failed to get my camera and waxwings, anywhere near home, in the same place this year I atarted the month with a trip to Bradley Stoke and ended with the delightful Bluethroat at Willow Tree Fen in Lincolnshire.

The New Year starts still on the Cornwall trip, and another lifer bird, and carries on with yet another lifer on the 7th, though this one is a bit iffy.

Though there are a few very good birds in the country I am not managing to connect with anything very exciting so far this month.Then a brilliant little bird on the last day of the year.

After a great October I've had not taken any photos at all by mid month, then a mouse dropped in.

Started with a splendid weekend in North Devon, Dalmatian Pelican, Caspian Tern and Glossy Ibis all in the same place at the same time.

Starting September on 29th of August as I never got around to seeing anything else in August since our return from Ecuador

There were some interesting animals on the trip, but most were nocturnal or at least only visible dawn or dusk or in the canopy, so photography was not good.

A 12 day trip arranged by Richard Parsons, the ownwer of Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve and his excellent staff, accompanied by the excellent guide Andrea Molina who found us great birds where ever we went and was charming company.

This month has started with some great butterflies, almost too good to be true, I just hope it carries on as it has started.

As the month starts the GS Cuckoo is still about but proving hard to anticipate or get near. If the sun comes out this can be a good time for butterflies, last month was not.

The month has started with animals rather than birds, hopefully if the sun comes out there could be butterflies around as well

Nearly middle of the month and I finally get a photo of a little bird that has been avoiding me for years. Then the month just got better.

Finally a good bird this year, we've mised a few that we have gone to try to see, but this Portisham Pallas's did not disppoint.The month continued well with close encounters with red necked grebe, dippers, divers and hawfinches, as well as a white sika stag, water voles and wild boar.

First half of the month absolutely dead, not cold enough for good winter birding, and too wet for anything else.

Grey sky and drizzle continues into the new year, the stormy weather has driven birds into the harbours, giving closer than usual views, but the light ruins photography.

The month has started with high temperatures for the time of year, but sadly they are accompanied with heavy cloud and some rain, we could do with a few cold sunny days.

Started the month with a visit to Holland Haven in Essex to see the Rough Legged Buzzard, with supporting cast of Owls

October is often a good month for birds, but this year it has started with an unusual sighting of a shrew and carried on with mammals through the month.

September is always a good month for birds on Portland, I hope this one lives up to expectation.

These photos are the result of a 2 week trip to California, 1 week in Monterey and week at Mono Lake and Yosemite NP. I total we saw 110 birds, a case of quality rather than quantity.

Where as the number of bird species may have been a bit disappointing, the mammals were excellent.

With 2 weeks out of the country this month there will not be much time for UK wildlife, but still managed a lifer butterfly and a couple of nice birds.

July is not likely to be a good month for birds, but butterflies are another story.....

Dragonflies and damsels are starting to become obvious now, giving extra colourful subjects to photograph.

The Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset was the first target of the month, and we saw it.

The month started with a visit to Cardiff for a cracking little bunting.

The month has started well finally catching up with the Darts Farm penduline tits.

We had 8 days birding in Baga, Goa,in Feb,listing 194 species with the help of 3 excellent guides, Loven from Backwoods Camp, Santosh a guide/Taxi driver and Mr Kamut and his boat on the Zuari River. We stayed at the Mourina Douarda a nice hotel but the saltpans opposite we not much good, the've not been maintained for some years.

Hopefully by the end of the month there should be a bit of migration, with more of a chance of something good turning up.

January has not been a particularly exciting month, I will remember it for the hours spent trying to see the Topsham Penduline Tits and failing.

December is often a month that is hard to find much to photograph, but then again last Xmas we had the Brunnichs and Glossy Ibis.

The month started with a good dose of man flu, so the only photos were from the garden....

We went up to Speyside for a week in the middle of October, staying at the Grant Arms in Grantown on Spey, a good choice for any one intereted in wildlife as it provides some excellent evening talks and runs the very helpful Bird Watching and Wildlife Club.It also put usin touch with the excellent local guide John Poyner of Highland Wildlife.

The juvenile rose coloured starling was the first good bird of the month.

The first weekend of the month has had loads of migrants all over the country, a promising start.

This month should have seen pictures from California, otters, sealions and condors but sadly we had to cancel the holiday, and not much crossed our paths in the UK.

Started the month with a great bird, a lousy photo, but a great little bird, the long staying Ross's Gull at Bowling Green Marsh near Exeter. The month took a bit of a downturn when my wife broke her foot so it will be garden wildlife for the next six weeks.

This has been a month for insects and fox cubs, we've not managed to catch up with any birds of note.

April has started as well as March ended, we went to Beer head in Devon to find the relocated Great Spotted Cuckoo on Saturday morning, the visibility was down to about 10 yards and the bird could not be found. As the month has progressed my luck has improved.

The May Day weekend started well with plenty of sunshine, birds and butterflies. There was a very distant male Subalpine warbler and a serin on Portland and a Stilt at Lodmoor in Weymouth

This month started well,catching up with the Marshfield Bluetail on the 1st, but sadly went down hill after that, getting only brief distant views of the two barred crossbill in Surrey, and missing the Portland Hoopoe by a few hours and the Wareham Heath Grey Shrike and Lesser Spotted woodpeckers.

Here area few reptiles and monkeys.

We made a return visit to the Senegambia Hotel in Gambia, the weather was brilliant and the birds fantastic, we used Modou Jarju and Tijan Gibba the hotel bird guides for trips most days.Without exerting our selves we did see 162 species in 7 days and got some good photo opportunities.

The month has started with gale force winds and heavy rain, keeping some good birds in Portland Harbour.

The Ibis remained at Weymouth getting much more approachable

A Water Pipit has been at Wiltstone Reservoir near Tring for a couple of weeks,I finally caught up with it at the beginning of December.

Started the month with a trip to see Grey Seals and then Whopper Swans and by the 3rd of the month Red Necked and Slavonian Grebes.

Didn't manage to connect with any good birds at all this month, always a bit disappointing still the deer were good.

This is a month with a lot of promise for some good birds, the Lesser Yellow Legs at Exeter was not a bad start.

I thought we would not see much in August after the trip to T & T, but a few days spent in Dorset had some good birds and butterflies.

Only a couple of mammals on this trip but the lizards were great.

We spent a week in Trinidad, at Asa Wright & Pax Lodge and a week in Tobago at Blue Waters booked as a package through Motmot Travel.The birds were great and there were some real highlites, but overall it was a little disappointing. We did not always get what we had expected, some sites and guides far exceeded our expectations but some of the more well known were not really as good as we had hoped.

A trip to the Isle of Wight, to see the Glanville Fritillary was a great success, with Red Squirrels thrown in as a bonus.

The month has started with very hot weather, it looks good for butterflies.

The month started really slowly, hardly getting any photos worth looking at, then the Spring Bank Holiday turned out to be wonderfully sunny..........

After a cold start the weather finally started to pick up min month

March has started wet and cold,migration is just beginning to get going. We have been to see the American pied billed grebe at Ham Wall in the Somerset Levels and the Spoonbills at Lodmoor in Weymouth.

As well as birds we also saw a few Butterflies, Mammals and Reptiles. The monkeys in particular were especially entertaining to photograph.

In February we visited the Gambia for 7 days, staying in the Senegambia Hotel we saw 152 species without going more than 45 minutes by car from the hotel.We went out with an excellent guide,Tijan Gibba who we booked through Modu Jarju the guide based at the Senegambia Hotel. The whole holiday was excellent with guides, birds and the hotel far exceeding our expectations.

Not too many good birds around at the moment, a visit to Torbay found us these Cirl Buntings

The Black Bellied Dipper in Thetford was a good start to the month. The snowy weekend of the 19th/20th bought 31 species of bird into or over our suburban Ruislip garden as well as a day time fox.

What can often be a dull month has started bright and cold.

November can be a miserable month, but this year it's been great for birds, with slavonian grebe, bramblings and waxwings all showing very well.

This months specialities and rareities including a couple of lifers for our bird list. Some lovely birds during the autumn migration.

This months has started of well with an American monarch on Portland and an american short billed dowitcher at Lodmoor in Weymouth

A selection of birds seen on our recent trip to Southern Arizona, more to follow.... S.E. Arizona is a great area for birding and has plenty of reptiles, butterflies and mamals ( maybe too many bears), in the two and a half weeks we were there we did not see another UK birder, it really is worth a visit.

A selection of mammals, butterflies and reptiles seen on our recent trip to Southern Arizona, this is just the start more to follow..... The highways are really good for travelling from one area to another, though some of the mountain roads are a bit rough following some flood damage, and the various birders accomodations that we staid in,complete with feeding stations are a pleasure.

Latest birds,mammals and butterflies

The continuing rain makes it harder to get good specimens but the month started well with an early morning trip to Kent

Some more wildlife from around the UK

Early June saw us Bird Watching in Extremadura Spain, Based at the Casa Rural de Recuerdo near Trujillo. We stayed with Martin and Claudia Kelsey at their 200 year old traditional spanish home www.birdingextremadura.com . Here is an assortment of the birds seen during the week.

An assortment of this months wildlife pictures

An assortment of birds and other wildlife photographed during April 2012

Some new rarities, including Glossy Ibis at Radipole Lake, Weymouth and the Rose coloured starling at Hordle in the New Forest.

A few more rareities this month, the spotted sandpiper at Stanpit Marsh, wintering thrushes and a water rail scavaging for food at a frozen Radiopole Lake.

Mild Winter weather has found a few unusual birds to be found!

A new assortment of usual and unusual spotted at Slimbridge in Gloucester, Lyme Regis, Blashford Lakes in the New Forest and also in our garden.

An assortment of photographs from Otters at Blandford, Firecrests in Portland to the Great Grey Shrike at Thursley Common in SURREY

The month started off in search of the red backed shrike at Lodmoor in Dorset, some other interesting birds were also seen including the Little Owl at the obs quarry on Portland.

Migrating birds are popping up all the time now. Some new editions to my photographs.

An assortment of photos taken during August, I will update with new photos every month and these will then be moved to be included in the original folders.

Some of the day flying moths and insects I have come across whilst photographing the birds!.

Various mammals and reptiles found on my travels around the UK.

An assortment of birds found in Cape May at the end of the Autumn Migration.

On a trip to Cape May, New Jersey, a small selection of butterflies and reptiles still to be found.

An assortment of the beautiful and endemic birds seen on our trip to Alamo in Southern Texas near the Mexican Border and also to High Island and surrounding areas north of Houston Texas, Easter 2011

This is a separate section of general wildlife including butterflies, insects, reptiles and mammals all seen on holiday in Texas April 2011

This is a selection of the bird and wildlife seen on our three week trip to Queensland , Australia in July/August 2010. We visited the Atherton Tablelands, Kingfisher Lodge at Julatten and also took a trip on the Daintree River. A Fast cat trip to the Great Barrier Reef to Michaelmas Cay was a once in a lifetime trip which again produced some wonderful birds and marine life. Several of the birds seen on the trip were endemic to Australia.

An assortment of all the other wonderful wildlife we found on our trip to Australia.

This is a selection of the very special bird life whilst on out trip in October/November 2009. Two weeks of brilliant blue skies and lovely warm weather enabled me to take this wonderful array of photographs.

An assortment of all the other non birding wildlife found on our trip. An amazing mixture of wonderful images.

A small assortment of the birds and wildlife on the lovely island of Mallorca under construction

Various birds and wildlife seen on our first overseas trip. Under construction