Woking Peregrines
The popular Peregrine Falcons of Woking town centre have been successfully breeding since 2016. They now have four eggs and you can watch the live webcam here.
Photo supplied by Craig Denford
Field trips cancelled
In view of the latest government advice over the coronavirus / COVID-19 outbreak, all the field meetings up until the end of April have been cancelled. We anticipate that it may well be necessary to cancel subsequent field meetings but we will update this website to confirm the situation by the middle of April.
Photo Yellow Wagtail by Dave Harris
March 2020
Please follow government restrictions regarding coronavirus: do not travel unless strictly necessary and always practise social distancing.
Tuesday 31st
Farncombe: Oystercatcher flew over at 22:36 (sound recorded); also Swallow flew south (E Stubbs).
Holmethorpe SP: 3 Little Ringed Plovers on Spyne’s Mere (G Hay).
Unstead SF: 2 Swallows (A Barker).
Monday 30th
Beddington Farmlands: Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Green Sandpipers and 9 Shelduck (G Jones).
Tice’s Meadow: presumably reintroduced White Stork flew over (R Horton).
Unstead SF: Swallow (eBird).
Sunday 29th
February 2020
Saturday 29th
Effingham Forest: Hawfinch (BirdGuides).
Frensham Common: first-winter Great Grey Shrike still at Vampire Flats; also 6 Goosander flew over at dusk (K Britten/F Hutchinson/E & P Hunt/R Seargent/G Simmonds/P Venables).
London Wetland Centre: Bittern, Water Pipit, Goldeneye and 4 Pintail (WWT).
Stoke Lake: Woodcock at dusk (M Kettell).
Tice’s Meadow: 2 Mediterranean Gulls (R Seargent).
Friday 28th
Frensham Common: no sign of first-winter Great Grey Shrike at Vampire Flats (BirdGuides).
London Wetland Centre: Bittern, Water Pipit, Goldeneye, 4 Pintail and 2 Shelduck (WWT).
January 2020
Friday 31st
Island Barn Reservoir (no access): 2 Great Northern Divers still; view from Molesey Heath (D Harris).
London Wetland Centre: Bittern, 2 Water Pipits, Goldeneye, 2 Pintail and 2 Shelduck (P Carr/WWT).
Thursday 30th
London Wetland Centre: 2 Bitterns, 2 Water Pipits and 2 Shelduck (WWT).
Wednesday 29th
Beddington Farmlands: 1st-winter Caspian Gull, Tree Sparrow, Raven and 3 Green Sandpiper (BFBG).
Esher: Green Sandpiper on River Ember (B West).
London Wetland Centre: adult Iceland Gull again; also Bittern, Water Pipit, Shelduck and 6 Pintail (WWT).
Pitch Hill: Woodcock early morning … Read more
December 2019
Tuesday 31st
Capel: Hawfinch (W Attridge).
Godalming: Jack Snipe flushed on Lammas Lands at Catteshall Meadow (P Osborn).
London Wetland Centre: 2 Bitterns, Water Pipit, Goldeneye, 7 Pintail and Shelduck (R Folkening/WWT).
Walton-on-Thames: adult Caspian Gull again (A Wilkes).
Monday 30th
Effingham Forest: Hawfinch still at Honeysuckle Bottom mid-afternoon (J Snell/M Waite).
London Wetland Centre: 2 Bitterns, 2 Water Pipits and Shelduck (M Honey/WWT).
Richmond Park: Red-crested Pochard (E & R Hunter).
Stave Hill: Yellow-browed Warbler still at Russia Dock Woodland by bridge early afternoon (R Page-Jones). … Read more
Changes to the website
We have made a few changes to the website. Sites and Sightings are now two separate menus. We will be adding suggested walks to the Sites Menu and we have moved the page Where to find Nightingales to that menu too. If you have bookmarked any pages, such as Recent Sightings, you might have to update that bookmark. We apologise if inconvenience is caused but the reason is to provide better content for users of this website.
Photo Nightingale by Shaun Ferguson
November 2019
Saturday 30th
Beddington Farmlands: 2 Water Pipits and 3 Green Sandpipers (P Alfrey/N Gardner).
Effingham Forest: 2 Hawfinches (1 at Dick Focks Common and 1 in mixed flock at Honeysuckle Cottage) in afternoon (D Cox/M Waite).
London Wetland Centre: Bittern, 2 Water Pipits and Goldeneye (WWT).
Lowicks Pond: 5 Goosander (4 drakes) late afternoon (R Douglas).
Richmond Park: no sign of Slavonian Grebe at Upper Pen Pond (I Rowe).
Russia Dock Woodland: Firecrest at Stave Hill (R Page-Jones).
Shackleford: juvenile male Hen Harrier still at Cross Farm and … Read more
Tice’s Meadow under threat
Thanks to the hard work of the Tice’s Meadow Bird Group (TMBG) and other local organisations, Tice’s Meadow is now one of the premier birding sites in Surrey.
All that hard work could be undone following a decision by Hansons, the gravel extraction company, to sell the site. Although Tice’s has to be maintained as a nature reserve for a fixed period, there is no stipulation about how the site should be managed. Hansons have told TMBG that they will make no test of the new owner’s suitability for managing a nature reserve, the new owner will be under no … Read more
October 2019
Thursday 31st
Birtley Green: female Black Redstart still at Bonhurst Farm in morning though no sign in afternoon (BirdGuides/P Mattos).
London Wetland Centre: ringtail Hen Harrier flew north-west over Grazing Marsh at 08:25; also 3 Bearded Tits in Sheltered Lagoon, Knot still on Main Lake, 2 Bitterns still on north shore of Main Lake, Jack Snipe and 2 Shelduck (R Dewhurst/S Fogg/D Panchaud/S Patel/WWT).
Palmers Cross: Hawfinch flew west over Tilsey Farm entrance track at 07:51 (E Stubbs).
Tugley Wood: 2 Crossbills (M Lincott).
West Clandon: probable Lapland Bunting flew … Read more