Neil Gray's birds and other wildlife
Sutton, 28 Jun 2009 The final dedicated birding day today was a drive to RSPB Dungeness near Lydd in Kent. Dungeness lies in an area of old coastal gravel bars between which lie many natural ponds and pools. Commercial gravel extraction over the years has also created several large artificial ponds. The reserve, like Minsmere …
Sutton, 28 Jun 2009 Part of this UK trip was to go to Durham with our daughter, son-in-law and 3-week-old grand-daughter to introduce my father to his first great-grandchild. To this end we had booked a cottage for a few days in upper Weardale, but true to form I made the most of where we …
Sutton, 21 Jun 2009 My next birding excursion out of London today was a drive to RSPB Minsmere, near Saxmundham in Suffolk. Minsmere has many different landscapes with a mix of heathland, woodland, reedbeds, dunes and beach. The reserve sits in the shadow of the adjacent Sizewell nuclear power station. The list of birds seen, which …
Sutton, 19 Jun 2009 My wife and I are in the UK again visiting family, so after my very enjoyable visit there during our UK trip last year I again spent a day at the London Wetland Centre. Some of the native species seen included Great Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, European Greenfinch and Dunnock at …
Atlasville, 29 Mar 2009 I arrived at Marievale just after 07:00 this morning, my first visit there this year, to find a mist still lifting, exceptionally high water levels and impregnable reed stands 3m high, so was not expecting a great morning. However, what was lacking in quantity and variety was certainly made up …
Atlasville, 16 Mar 2009 Got back this morning after a very early departure from Ngwenya, having spent another weekend there. My current work schedule still means that anything other than weekends away is out of the question and as on our last two trips we drove down to Ngwenya late on Friday afternoon, arriving after …
Atlasville, 23 Feb 2009 Got back this afternoon from 3 nights at Ngwenya, using some of the days banked after our shortened visit in January. My work schedule at the moment means that anything other than weekends away is out of the question. As on our last trip, we drove down late on Friday afternoon …
Atlasville, 12 Jan 2009 Got back this afternoon from 3 nights at Ngwenya. After our trip to Botswana over the New Year a full week at Ngwenya for our annual timeshare would probably not quite live up to the usual expectations, so we decided to bank some of the days and just spend a weekend …
Atlasville, 03 Jan 2009 All good things must come to an end. We will be back home this evening, but not before we have had a final game-viewing drive. Our flight back to Maun only leaves at 12:35 so plenty of time to go for a drive, shower and change, and pack our bags. …
Atlasville, 03 Jan 2009 A new day and indeed a new year dawns. We were already up and looking forward to our morning game drive. On a trip like this you don’t want to miss any of the daylight hours unless you want to risk missing that potential ‘once in a lifetime sighting’. Although the …
