Total Number of Species Recorded in 2011

2010 saw a total of 196 species recorded in Bedfordshire. Of this total, LGRE recorded 183, closely followed by Jim Gurney and Steve Blain on 181, Lol Carman on 180, Martin Palmer on 179 and Bob Chalkley on 177.

In 2011, a total of 452 species was recorded in Britain and Ireland of which I recorded just 69% (312); Bedfordshire recorded 204 species (of which I saw 94% at 191), Hertfordshire 192 (of which I saw 88.5% at 170) and Buckinghamshire 192 (of which I recorded just 86% at 165)

In 2012, I came fourth (on 168), following Steve Blain (177), Jim Gurney (174) and Martin Plamer (171).



Friday 25 July 2014

The Danish Camp Collection










The Gadsey Brook Gravel Pit - certainly a location worth regularly checking

Willington Blue-winged Teal's a duffer unfortunately

Jim Gurney, Lol Carman, Bob Chalkley and I were very kindly invited in by the owners of the Danish camp collection and I did an inventory of what he has in there (and photographed as many as I could). He had purchased the two Blue-winged Teals off of Zwetsloots just recently - the female being pinioned but the juvenile drake only partly - and as such is commuting back and forth. Fortunately, all of the collection birds were ringed (but mainly metal-ringed which is a bit frustrating).
 
In addition to the menagerie of South American wildfowl, I recorded the following (relevant species in our context in bold italics) ;-
 
12 Fulvous Whistling Duck, 9 White-faced Whistling Duck, 2 Pacific-type White-fronted Geese, numerous Hawaiian Geese, 5 Red-breasted Geese, 6 Australian Black Swans, 25 Cape Shelduck, 14 Australian Shelduck, 8 Paradise Shelduck, 5 Radjah Shelduck, 40 Mandarin Duck (some free-flying), 20 Wood Duck, 2 Eurasian Wigeon, 8 Chestnut Teal, 16 Garganey, 20 Speckled Teal, 10 White-cheeked Pintail, 4 Northern Pintail, 8 Yellow-billed Pintail, 2 Cape Teal, 4 Cape Shoveler, 2 Ringed Teal, 15 Red-crested Pochard (some seemingly free-flying), 4 Northern Pochard, 11 Ferruginous Duck, 2 Greater Scaup, 4 Common Eider, 8 Bufflehead, 4 Common Goldeneye, 8 Smew and 4 Ruddy Duck.
 
He also confirmed that a few Garganey had escaped over the 25 years he has had the collection and that he had purchased and lost 3 Pied Avocets (obtained locally).
 

Not entirely a wasted journey, as I had 3 separate purring male EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVES in the Willington complex but despite RB recording it 5 minutes before I arrived, I could not locate the Garganey on Derek White's