Birding Braunie

Mud, glorious mud. Sometimes I find myself choosing a site to watch birds that makes it really difficult to watch birds.  The Northaw Great Wood in Herts was a bit like that today. On the plus side; the woodland birds think it’s nearly spring and have begun to be very active; the trees are still leafless and this makes it easy to see anything that moves. Finally, with a lot of fog about, a trip around a wood seemed a good idea. On the down side; the heavy rain recently had turned the trails into mud baths – think sticky baths that checked your every stride; people. People with dogs and or small children. For some reason, dogs and children get carried away by wet slippery mud. Oh and dogs, a special notice to myself. I must stop befriending them in wet and muddy conditions. They leap up to me and leave muddy pawprints all over my trousers. The wood was filled with cacophonic cries and yelps that would have sent all the wildlife running for the hills...if there were any. Northa...

My 2011 ended without having seen on of the most enigmatic birds of the British winter. The small and seemingly delicate Smew visits these shores in wintertime and can be found in a number of southeastern locations usually with uncanny regularity. One such place is Amwell NR, a reclaimed set of gravel pits that sit at the northern end of the Lee Valley, not far from Ware. Nut-freezingly cold Amwell It was a beautiful, crisp morning but the low sun made it difficult to get good views of the wildfowl on Great Hardmead Lake. After a quick scan I went up to Tumbling Bay Lake; not only easier to view birds but also, a better name for a lake if you ask me. Pochard All the usual ducks could be seen here. Pochard, gadwall, mallard and tufted duck mixed with mute swans, coots and moorhens. But it is here that a pair of smew had been reported over the past few days. The drake is easy to see as his brilliant white plumage with fine black lines is like no other bird I know. He was di...