YEARLISTING IN 2016

Compared to most recent years, when for example I recorded 165 species in the county in 2011, 187 in 2012 and 173 in 2013, this has been a particularly poor one with just 157 species recorded by mid December - one of my worst years on record

YEARLISTING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

It's all over - 2012 has come to an end. I managed a total of 187 out of the 198 species recorded all told in Buckinghamshire - 94% of the total - probably my highest-ever annual tally.

The current record is 191 species achieved in 2006 and held jointly by both Rob Hill and Simon Nichols



Monday 19 July 2010

Little Marlow Gravel Pits - Sunday

I spent a couple of hours at LMGP either side of midday. On arrival, not much of note, an adult Oystercatcher and about 40 large gulls on the spit, including the regular ringed adult YL Gull, 624J plus another adult. At 11:30am something put everything up and I eventually got on an immature Peregrine as it circled off with a Common Buzzard and a Red Kite. After midday some more large gulls started arriving including another adult YL Gull, then a first summer bird in active primary moult followed by a third summer and then a second summer. I'm not sure how long these gulls stay here, but at 5pm yesterday there were just two YL Gulls - the usual 624J plus another adult.

Some interesting behaviour - there are obviously a lot of fresh water mussels about - the Oystercatcher was certainly feeding on them as were the crows - the first summer YL Gull kept approaching the crows to try and grab a free mussel and when I first saw the third summer bird it flew in with a mussel in its beak being closely pursued by the first summer bird.

Adam Bassett