Birding Axarquia: Rutland Water

Monday 17 June 2013

Rutland Water

Great Bittern Botaurus stellaris

Monday 17 June 2013

Back in the UK and my first birding trip was a visit to the local Rutland Water. Not so much the Little Gull, Common Terns, warblers but the resident Ospreys, where three successful nests each contain three young, but the close sighting of a (Great) Bittern which was included in the morning's 43 species.

A full report can be found on the alternative blog site that I use for visits outside Spain: CLICK HERE.

A few samples of the Bittern taken with my (soft) 400 prime lens on a Canon D50 but without any enhancing facility at my Stamford house.

Check out the accompanying website at http://www.birdingaxarquia.weebly.com for the latest sightings, photographs and additional information.

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Birding Holidays

Birding the Odiel and Donana National Park. Now might be the time to think of taking a short break in a de-luxe apartment in Punta Umbria which gives easy access to both the Odiel Marshes and the Donana National Park. You might even take the short drive over the Portuguese border to the great birding sites around Castro Marim.

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Background Information

About Bob Wright
Occupation: Retired
Location: Mezquitilla, Axarquia (Malaga)

I retired at the end of 1998 having been a primary school headteacher for thirty years. After a couple of years undertaking some consultancy/ training work with headteachers, I moved to the Axarquia area of the Costa del Sol in Spain. After 13 years living on a mountain top near Velez Malaga overlooking Lake Vinuela to the north and the sea to the south we moved down to the coast at Mezquitilla and now have the beach within 20 metres of our rented property.

I have been a birder for over fifty years and before leaving GB I was a qualified "Ringer" for the BTO, undertaking most of my studies in Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. All three counties being well away from the coast, it is not surprising that my main field of interest were those "Little Brown Jobs" (often referred to as LBJs), with a special emphasis on roost work in the autumns and winters and early morning visits to favoured sites, such as Charwelton on the Banbury road from Daventry where, in June and July, it was possible to catch and ring well over an hundred birds and still be home by just after nine am to take the family shopping!

Always an interest in classical music, I have also sung in operettas and one appearance in a "grand opera" (Aida). Most of the former was with the Stamford Gilbert & Sullivan Players where I had the good fortune to appear, rather than star, in all save "Utopia".

Interests
Birding
photography
music
historical and nature visits