#indoorstoomuch

For those that need the translation of the title its "Spain Malaga" 🤦‍♂️ and this is where i found myself for the first few days in May and all because of beer . Yep beer, it has a lot to answer for on birders drinks however on this occasion it turned out fine. No, better than fine, absolutely amazing as my first official birding trip took shape. The plan........  Visit Spain for 3 full days birding covering various habitats. Flying from Southend using East Jet - £45pp for return flights, staying in the Hotel Campanile within the commercial area of Malaga £172pp, a room each. Now with prices this cheap it meant that two of the three didn't have to listen to the third snoring all night. You nose who you are.......🤣. The hotel was chosen as it meant an easy walk to our first destination, it also allowed our guide to pick us up with ease for day 2 & 3. Day 1: Parque De Guadlehorce Day 2: Osuna Day 3: El Torcal de Antequera & Hoz De Marin As alrea...

A week spent on the Isle Of Wight; i was pleased with these:

The first weekend in February saw most of the Valley Birders bashing the patch for a few hours; some early morning pre the dog walkers and others like myself early after noon. There was a light drizzle of rain in the air all times. I met up with Monkey just after 12 and we both headed to the viewing area to tick off the Shelduck that had been there all morning. Straight back to the cafe for a brief lunch and we headed out properly for a few hours birding. It became a bit of a tick fest for us both with Monkey ticking 6 and myself 5. I added Bullfinch, Shelduck, Lesser Redpoll, Peregrin,   and the most fantastic pair of Collard Dove. After the conversation down the pub Friday we both wanted to ensure it was a fair tick. We were in the car technically outside the recording area. We pulled over got out, walked across the road and stood in the required zone - high 5 (yes a proper one Jono) and a lot of childish giggling saw us back in the car with another under our belts. ...

Little Bunting kick starts the 2018 lifer list. Today saw me heading out in the gloom, rain, cold over to Walthamstow Wetlands. A place i have only been to once before to see a dying Gannet not to very far from where i stood today. Its changed a lot, its accessible and has a nice cafe. I'm beginning to like visiting places where you get charged over the top prices for coffee. £2.80 for a Latte, smaller than Costa's small and more than the cost of a medium., mmmmm. It was OK but didn't warrant the price tag. And in my effort to ruin the planet like everyone else, i got it to take out. However this was on the way home so i've jumped ahead. Luckily i got stuck in traffic on the A406 or my wait in the rain would have been longer, i don't enjoy travelling to London birds, it took me forever last year to get to Wanstead for a Slav Grebe and i didnt even get to see it. Today took just over and hour which considering it took me 20-25 minutes to get home is a pain....

......for now. With yet another little jaunt over to the Ingrebourne i have managed another couple of additions keeping me behind the others as expected, but at a healthy distance. Adding House Sparrow and Red-Legged Partridge  this morning takes me to 68. So as far as i can tell, Hawky is on 73, Mo 71, Shaunboy 71. Mr McG has so far kept his cards close to his chest but is probably already on 80 :) The new addition, Monkey, has smashed his way to 34 in about 10 minutes yesterday. He was going out jogging over there today and has probably added a few more. Its hotting up 🔥🔥 and looking to be quite an expensive year at this rate. The coffee is amazing and the sausage sandwich wasn't bad either