Tis a good good week!!!

Spring or Autumn, then Portland is the place to be.
Christmas is a very different story.. you need to be here.. Newbury / Hungerford.

We had a Glossy Ibis deciding to become 'tame' and pose for pictures..
Then http://www.berksbirds.co.uk/ mentions a Great White Egret in Great Shefford.. and then... then a bloody Dipper in Welford!!!
This is West Berkshire... not the West Country!!
If this week carries on - it will be a Dodo or Phoenix next??

So I turned up at Welford, expecting a blank, cos that is usually how it goes..
Got chatting to a guy with a camera lens as long my arm.. he was aiming it at a house by the River Lambourn.. wondered if I should chat to him.. He could be a 'pap'?..
But he is on the Dipper.. it isnt on the river and has popped over a fence and is in someones garden!
I look, I dont see.. this is my motto for the year?? Then someone opens a window in the house and it pops up on a fence.. If you didnt know better, you'd say 'Blackbird!

That was a 10 minute look. Apart from when Im with Tim or Joe, I never see the target so quickly.. so with the shots taken and light fading, I headed to Great Shefford and the GW Egret..

No Birders, Twitchers or even cars in the site it was reported at.. Not good..

Now a life lesson.. when its cold.. take gloves!!!

Stood on the roadside, scanning a field that is white with snow, looking for a bird that is white as snow.. I was beginning to guess that result..

Then.. hey presto.. or hey dodo... or whaever the saying is..

I finally spot what I'm looking for.. Stood way off in the distance, I walked along the road to try and take a picture of a white bird against a background that wasnt white as snow..

Whilst in Great Shefford, I was lucky enough to meet a Birdwatcher.. one of those people who can actually identify what they see.. This chap told me that there was a Jack Snipe on the bend of the river.. a quick look through the 'bins' and yep.. a Yeartick and no. 144....

Target was 100 at the start.. 2 new ones in a week and the boy went away happy.

On a roll, and needing beer, I decided to go through Hungerford and look for Waxwing..

Got very excited in what turned out to be a Redwing.. oh well..

A local MEGA!!

Two Hundred and Twenty Years..

Apparently its been that long since a Glossy Ibis has frequented these parts.. An African bird that was feeding in a snowy river!

Couldnt be much further from home, could it...

This one has been in around the Freemans Marsh area of Hungerford for around 10 days..

Tried to see it before, but in true Chris style, always seem to arrive just after theyve flown off..

Not today :o)

Its beginning to look a lot like . . . . . . . .

Embarrassed to say that Ive only just got around to putting any bird food out in my new place..

Within 5 minutes - the first visitor appeared..

Not the best of shots due to dirty windows, but haven't uploaded anything for a while, so thought i would..

WAXWING! Just one... but... finally!!

I have to say a big thank you to Tim, as it was his spot, and he drove,

but we finally got us some Waxwing action..

Only one, in the trees next to the road in Turners Drive, Thatcham - but its a much needed Yeartick and really.. its a pride thing too.. as every other fecker seems to have them in their gardens etc.

Happy Days... except that I didnt take my big lens,

so these are cropped, resulting in a loss of quality.

Hey ho.. we still got us a Waxwing :o)