Surrey


Birds Photographed Here

Black Headed Gull

Black Swan

Today’s outing was to Virginia Water, and by sheer luck I managed to capture a photo of this magnificent Black Swan. A few clearly local people were also taking…

Blackcap

Further into the past we go – I’ve discovered quite a few unpublished summer photos. This Blackcap next…

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch today — the annual event when people all over the country count birds in a chosen patch of land for one hour over the…

Carrion Crow

What a day for photography today: crisp, bright, full of colour and with no need to travel far for any of it. We had a great outing to…

Chaffinch

Snapped this lovely male Chaffinch from a bit of an unusual angle — from above. The bird hide in RHS Wisley Garden sits on a hill looking down…

Chiffchaff (juvenile)

Another nice find from the outing in Morden Hall Park – this lovely juvenile Chiffchaff. It was not singing, so from a distance I thought it might be…

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch today — the annual event when people all over the country count birds in a chosen patch of land for one hour over the…

Cormorant

Canonical photo of a Cormorant: drying off in full wingspan.

Dunnock

An unusually relaxed Dunnock, snapped from less than 5 metres away — right in front of a bench with a few people sitting on it. Got very lucky…

Egyptian Goose

Feral Pigeon

Last photo from the Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve. A small scene from the everyday life of Feral Pigeons…

Goldcrest

A very tough outing today to RSPB Farnham Heath. The weather forecast was looking promising, but the amount of sun was greatly exaggerated and the amount of rain…

Goldfinch

This was a rather funny series of photos. At first one Goldfinch flew in and perched on a power line just above me. My first thought was: please stay for…

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Another case of having only a short time for a photo outing. This time it was Cannizaro Park, very close to Wimbledon Common. I have a few interesting…

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch today — the annual event when people all over the country count birds in a chosen patch of land for one hour over the…

Greater Whitethroat

Today’s visit to Nonsuch Park was a lot less fruitful than the previous one in March. I blame the scorching heat – fewer birds were around, and the…

Green Woodpecker

Today we attempted to cover the Beverley Brook Walk all the way from New Malden Station to Putney. In 3.5 hours, we only made it as far as…

Grey Heron

Apologies for the delay today. A calm and composed Grey Heron from RHS Wisley to round things off.

Greylag Goose

We visited RHS Wisley Gardens yesterday with the aim of getting some waterbird photos — and it was reasonably successful. First one out is this Greylag Goose, which…

House Sparrow

Had a good morning outing in a narrow but long strip of green in Tolworth called Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve. Managed a few interesting scenes which I’ll share…

Jay

Another good outing today, this time to Farthing Downs in Coulsdon. It is a very good spot for Skylarks, which we saw plenty of but didn’t manage to snap…

Kingfisher

Typically, to see – or rather to have a chance of seeing – a Kingfisher, we travel to WWT Arundel, which is a 1 h 40 m drive…

Linnet

RSPB Farnham was the second reserve we have visited in a short period where we have seen Linnets in abundance. These birds are actually reasonably rare – they…

Little Egret

Another photo from the Beverley Brook Walk yesterday. This Egret flew right toward us, then landed just past us in the middle of the brook and started hunting….

Magpie

A lucky photo of a Magpie with an unlucky woodlouse caught in the tree bark.

Moorhen

Nuthatch

Cannot say with 100% certainty, but most probably this Nuthatch’s lunch is a butterfly or moth cocoon.

Pheasant

Don’t think I’ve ever seen or photographed such a chilled Pheasant. RHS Wisley is not exactly a wild patch of land, and this specimen was nibbling grass not 5…

Pied Wagtail

This Pied Wagtail joined us during our lunch break and was busy looking for a lunch of its own. It started with a small worm found in the…

Red Kite

Another photo from the Bucklands Park outing: this magnificent Red Kite. Same bird from another angle:

Redpoll

A new bird for us — and for this newsletter — the Common Redpoll. I snapped a few dozen photos before realising that I didn’t recognise this bird at…

Redwing

I still have plenty of photos from Rainham Marshes, but let’s move on to another outing so as not to bore anyone. Farthing Downs is a good candidate…

Reed Bunting

Another Reed Bunting from the same walk as the previous one: in Buckland Park. This one was done from much longer distance hence including a bit more of…

Reed Warbler

Running a bit low on high-quality photos in my back catalogue, I made a mid-week evening outing. The usual go-to place is Morden Hall Park – only about…

Ring Necked Parakeet

I know we had a Ring Necked Parakeet recently, but this one was very interactive and I thought I’d share what I managed to capture. It landed on this tree…

Robin

Shoveler

An interesting outing on Saturday to a small patch called Watermeads Nature Reserve, sitting on the River Wandle not far from us. Found this Shoveler quite close to the camera….

Skylark

Skylarks are very hard to spot without hearing them — but the clue is in the name. Once you hear one, just look high up into the sky…

Song Thrush

We had another Song Thrush just two weeks ago – but I am very happy to share this photo where I managed to get so much closer to…

Speckled Wood

Not quite a bird, but still a beautiful creature — this was the first Speckled Wood butterfly I have seen this year. Definitely not the ideal angle, but…

Starling

Starlings, if photographed or seen from the right angle and in the right light, are actually stunning birds with very intricate colours. They are usually very active, though,…

Stock Dove

Swift

A few years ago, when I had just started bird photography, we visited RSPB Rainham Marshes, which has a large Swift population. With so many flying chaotically around…

Tufted Duck

Some more water birds today — this time, a Tufted Duck. A group of five males were diving for food in one of the ponds at Wisley Gardens….

Wren

This little restless Wren took a while to snap: I was running around this tree for a good 10 minutes trying to catch a decent shot…