Another great time in the Gambia, the weather was perfect, the Bakotu Hotel was ideal and the *birding* was fantastic. Some 205 species were seen including half a dozen new ones for me. I did take quite a few pictures and some of them you can see HERE. Super hotel the Bakotu, the location is good for birding locally, the rooms are very comfortable and the staff are brilliant, always smiling and very helpful…….. apart from *Steady Eddy* the breakfast waiter, he is a tad miserable and I found it very easy to combat his unfriendly attitude by being a constant pain in the neck to him. Once again thank you very much for contributing your unwanted clothes & School equipment and taking the trouble to bring them into me, they were very much appreciated by the locals where I stayed and some nearby village schools.

Fennella and I took a trip up river for three days, this gave me the opportunity to see some species not normally seen on the coast and gave us the chance to spend two nights in what I would think was the nearest to a P.O.W. camp that you could get. When we first arrived we were shown some rooms and I thought “poor old Modou having to spend two nights in this dump” and to my surprise it was our room. Apart from that it was a super trip, a bit of boating, a bit of walking, a lot of birding and a great deal of fun.

Birthday Boys

I was thinking of having a little competition…

Both Joe and I are celebrating milestone birthdays this year, one of us is 21 and the other 65, You have to guess which is which, I know this may seem a difficult task but please do have a go.

Spring is in the air

Keep an eye peeled for all the summer visitors coming to our shores over the next few weeks, there is a lot of canoodling going on, this Grey Wagtail (one of a pair) seemed up and ready to hopefully once again breed down by the bridge over the Rother.

Bird Ringing Day at Feathers

On Saturday 16th April we are having a ringing day here at Feathers, a fantastic opportunity for you to see some of our nature area visitors in the hand. Click HERE for more information.

We look forward to seeing you then

Allan

Birds of a Feather

This month saw another two birds added to our list. On the day Allan arrived back, Andrew popped up in the Land Rover and whisked him off to find a potential Corn Bunting that he had seen earlier in the week. Unfortunately there was no sign of the bird but Allan did manage to spot a couple of Reed Buntings and, one we would have expected sooner, a Coot. The total is now 76, which, considering we've been open just under 10 months, seems pretty impressive.

Last weeks 'Watch With Feathers' was very successful. Allan took the sessions during the week and had most of the regulars through with the Bramblings still showing. I led the group on Saturday morning, 15 odd Siskins started us off nicely, with brief appearances from the male Sparrowhawk, Wren and Brambling. Shortly before the hour, I noticed a bird out of the ordinary so grabbed a pair of bins from the shelf to confirm my initial thought, a female Reed Bunting (bottom right)! A week to the day since Allan saw them on the farm and one popped up to see what all the fuss at feathers was about. The group all managed to view the bird and whilst she was flitting about on the logs a female Yellowhammer (top left) also came in! Both are brand new birds to the Nature Area, I like to think they waited for me to lead a group before showing, it goes without saying that Allan was over the moon for me...

As you will have read from Allans piece, Dave and his team will be ringing here again on Saturday 16th April. As bird ringing is so weather dependant, he'd normally wait til the morning of the day to decide whether it was suitable or not but as we need time to advertise an open ringing day like this we can only hope for the best on the day. Although he was booked in for April, with the weather we've had this week he decided to make the most of it and start just before 6am yesterday morning! During the first net round at approximately 7am they trapped a male Yellowhammer, both Allan and I were chuffed to know this species in decline may perhaps start utilizing the area more often. At 9am we were joined by Andrea, Allan's daughter, who brought along a small group of children and parents from her Preschool. Bearing in mind Dave came on a whim it was a nice coincidence and gave the children a fantastic opportunity to see a wide range of birds so close. Again we had plenty more new Blue Tits ringed with only a handful of retraps, other birds ringed include Great Tit, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Dunnock and finally a Siskin (pictured).

Joe