This is my attempt at some solo birdwatching, which is to say, going out on a cold, windy day, take a lot of photographs, and hope that I can make them out when I'm back somewhere warm. A couple of short movies I took on the day didn't make the cut - I took them more to get the sounds of the Redshank warning calls, but all I got was the sound of the wind.

To cut to the chase, there's a lot of Redshank here, along with Dunlin, Oystercatcher, and Grey Plover. Oh, and the usual Mute Swan, gulls etc.

The Nottingham RSPB post-Christmas walk. A good day for Treecreepers, Nuthatches and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers; however, of the dozen or so shots I took of Treecreepers there was only one really good one. Better than none at all though!

A trip to Norfolk, looking for King Eider at Titchwell, Rough-legged Buzzard, and Lesser Yellowlegs at Stiffkey. We got the latter, but the light was so bad that hardly anything came out from that leg of the trip - which is a shame, as we got some great views of Redshank on the banks of some of the channels.

Titchwell was pretty good for Robins - they came extremely close - and some waders, but the light was variable and so action shots were right out.

Taken before the visitor's centre was opened - the door's still boarded up.

The reason there are twitchers in some of the photographs was due to the appearance of a Sora Rail, the photographs of which are elsewhere.

At the end of December a rare Sora Rail arrived in Nottinghamshire, a long way from its usual stomping grounds in America (perhaps migrating when it got pushed off course by one of the many hurricanes this year?). There have only been around a dozen ever seen in the UK, so it attracted quite a bit of attention. Some week or so after it first appeared I got a chance to see it in person, and after only a few minutes of waiting it not only appeared, but almost walked right up to the waiting crowd.

The photographs below show quite clearly what distinguishes this bird from other rails - the beak colour, the white on the tail, even the white dot near the eye.

These shots are from the Notts RSPB "Tinsel Walk" pre-Christmas trip to Colwick. There's some debate as to whether the Red Crested Pochards are countable - they seem to be in every other county, as they're now a self-sustaining population, but some people in Nottingham don't seem to agree.

The weather wasn't great, so the usual Winter problem of dark, blurry photos reared its head again.

Miscellaneous wildlife pics; mostly taken at work!

The Robin Hood Festival in 2004

Pictures of blackbirds