twenty

A North bound flying CUCKOO at Purton, ( S Glos ), 14/4/22.

Adult Summer Male Yellow Wagtail, A UK summer visitor, April - September, breeding on marshy pasture, waterlogged fields and sewage farms.

A Stone Curlew at WWT Slimbridge, and a Hooded Crow at Saul,(13/4/22).

Could be Witches Broom, a tree deformity, with a dense mass of shoots in one area.

House Martins have arrived here in Gloucestershire as well,.........hope the forecast is right for the weekend, pouring down here at the moment,

Two Ring Ouzels on Cleeve Hill, (4/4/22)

England V Wales Ladies this Saturday, (9th April), at Kingsholm Gloucester RFC , KO 4.45pm, it is on BBC 2. Expect a very good crowd figure with the probability of 8- 10 players from Gloucester Hartpury ladies playing across the two teams. 11,000 tickets sold already according to GRFC website.

An Osprey heading North at Purton, (nr Berkeley), 30/3/22.

No chris, these are spring migrants, another half dozen reported yesterday (12/3/22) around Frampton sailing lake, and Frampton Court lake.

Four Sand Martins reported over Slimbridge WWT yesterday (11/3/22), heading North,........first sightings of the year ?

Four Sand Martins reported over Frampton pools/ Slimbridge WWT, yesterday (11/3/22), heading north.

Yeah the same here, towards the end, the magazine was only appearing every 2 months as David tried to keep it going, very sad, some of the features in the magazine were brilliant reading weren't they, and sent in by the readers generally.

About 2 years ago now if I recall, used to have it delivered on subscription, but as said earlier, David Harcombe, who edited the magazine, could find no one to take it on from him when he decided to `retire` from doing it, (in his eighties I believe).

Tawny owls calling every evening now...............another sure sign. Plenty of frogspawn too.

Rain has stopped here, wind increasing, high spring tide at 9.10am at Sharpness, flooding expected upstream towards Gloucester with storm swell. M48 old Severn bridge closed,M4 bridge open.

What an awful thing to happen, so sad.

As Titled, another USAF B52 flew over Gloucestershire this morning (9.20am), on its way into RAF Fairford, to join others that arrived at the end of last week. Officially part of a "long-planned" training mission, Eight B52's are expected to take part, considerably more than the base usually hosts. A visual reminder to enemies of NATO ?

Enjoyed watching that.

6 Crossbills and 3 Hawfinch at New Fancy in the Forest of Dean (10/2/22). Long-Tailed Duck (Drake), at Barrow Gurney ,Somerset (10/2/22).

It is because the Non-breeding population is in decline, that is the Icelandic and North European birds that visit the UK in winter. Sedentary UK Mallard are no cause for concern.

They are not on the current Red list, but are on the Amber list, along with Teal,Mallard,Wigeon,Gadwall,Shoveler and Garganey. Lists can be viewed online at BTO Birds of Conservation Concern 5, Latest review December 2021.

Sad news, RIP.

Nice to hear about the Lapwing you had as a lad, I had a Carrion crow, I called him Caesar, used to sit on my shoulder as I walked around our neighbourhood, never attempted to fly away, but was never stopped from doing so..........the locals always stopped for a chat when I was out with him.......happy days.

Could well be, it has been on and around WWT Slimbridge for the past two or three weeks. Greater Scaup at Cotswold water park 23/01/22.

A Merlin at WWT Slimbridge, 20/01/22.