Arizona - January 2026 - Day 1 - Tuscon, Madera Canyon and Patagonia

Even though I had arrived very late the previous evening, barely managing to stay awake between Phoenix and Tuscon (where this day begins), I woke up early. Why? Because I was very excited by the thought of a very unexciting bird. Bronzed Cowbird. This was the first target in my carefully prepared birding to-do list, painstakingly put together using eBird over the previous few weeks. I needed to see it, see it quickly, and head south. So after breakfast in the dark at a local Denny's I headed to Danny Lopez Park on the west side of town.

Various daily checklists from a local birder suggested I needed to point my telescope at one of two large pylons that shortly after sunrise would be festooned with Grackles and Cowbirds. Sure enough birds started to come in, but try as I might I couldn't get anything other than Grackles. For a while I was looking at starting my trip with a big dip - not unknown for Bronzed Cowbird, I remember missing it everywhere on a prior trip. The local birder frequently reported that the birds spent mere minutes on the pylons before dispersing into the neighbourhood so things were not looking good. Fortunately I found a small mixed flock up towards the main parking area, dropping down from the trees and parking shades to feed on the ground. At least four Bronzed Cowbird were in amongst the Grackles along with a few Brown-headed Cowbirds, the beady red eye the dead giveaway. Phew. Other birds here included a Snow Goose looking highly dodgy on the pond, a Snowy Egret and Green Heron working the edges, and two Cooper’s Hawks. I spent a bit of time in the scrub behind the pond, near the cycle path, finding Vermillion Flycatcher, House Finch, Hermit Thrush, and a coooperative White-breasted Nuthatch, and eventualy ended up recording 36 species, a decent start, but at the cost of an hour and half rather than the ten minutes I had budgeted for. And this of course meant an hour and 20 minutes less in the mountains to the south. I had some time to make up.

Bronzed Cowbird

White-breasted Nuthatch

Vermillion Flycatcher

It was a 45 minute drive south into Madera Canyon, a site I had visited almost exactly a decade ago and when my list was half the size it now was. Back then were the glory days of 20 ticks in a morning, but I was confident of a fair few today. The first bird seen on the drive up was a Northern Harrier just before Proctor Road. The hope here — and it was a big one — was Coppery‑tailed Trogon, a bird that had been reported recently and which would be a proper ABA goodie. I had dipped this species back in 2016, back when it was still Elegant Trogon. It had been in the canyon for a few days, or at least I think so as I'd only noticed it late on in my final planning, and had been crossing everything that it stayed. Remarkably it did, and was mere minutes from where I left the car rather than requiring chasing it up and down the canyon as some observers had experienced. In fact it barely moved the whole time I was there and the views were excellent, albeit not great for photography due to all the twigs. Can't beat a Trogon, a superb bird and not one I’d really expected to get. Plenty of Ruby-crowned Kinglet here as well, along with Hutton's Vireo, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Coppery-tailed Trogon

Santa Rita Lodge was next, not far up the Canyon. The limited parking was full so I had to leave the car a bit further away and walk up. This is a popular spot and for good reason, tons of feeders and feeders means birds, including some of my target lifers. First up was Rivoli’s Hummingbird, male and female, the latter allowing a record shot. A Painted Redstart was seen briefly flitting through the oaks at the back and was another long‑awaited tick, but I couldn't get anyone else on it. Anyone else in this instance meant a ton of the normal type of American birder - sedentary, very relaxed, not really sure what they're seeing. It continues to amaze me that I can live thousands of miles away and know more about the birds than 90% of the birders here. The first Mexican Jays of the trip were seen here, at least a dozen visiting the feeders and drips, as well as a pair of Hepatic Tanagers, a Broad‑billed Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpeckers, Arizona Woodpeckers and a single Gila Woodpecker. It was 10.30am and I'd already added four new species for the USA. I love it when a plan comes together. A bunch of Wild Turkeys were loafing opposite the buildings. 

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Rivoli's Hummingbird

Rivoli's Hummingbird

Arizona Woodpecker

Mexican Jay

Mexican Jay

A little further up the canyon at the area known as the Amphitheater I started looking for other birds on my target list. Chiefly Red-naped Sapsucker, one of only two remaining ABA Woodpeckers. The Amphitheater itself was pretty dead but something made me cross the road and head up the side of the hill. Could I hear a Woodpecker? I could! It wasn't the one I wanted, but it was a pretty damn good one that I'd only ever seen once before in Washington State - Williamson’s Sapsucker. Amazing, I hadn't even known it was here. There were also Acorn Woodpecker and Arizona Woodpecker up this track, along with more Mexican Jays.

Williamson's Sapsucker

I worked my way up to Kubo B&B, another eBird pin. Another female Rivoli’s Hummingbird was visiting the feeders here, as well Acorn Woodpecker, three Bridled Titmice, two White‑breasted Nuthatch and a Spotted Towhee. Although there were more eBird pins further up the canyon this was as far up as I went as I was on a strict schedule, and so returning to the car I descended to the Whitehouse Picnic Area which is close to the bottom. This also meant I could get some phone signal and hopefully pick up the latest eBird gen.

The latest eBird gen was exactly what I wanted to hear. Someone had seen Red-naped Sapsucker earlier in the day at..... the Whitehouse Picnic Area! How convenient! It didn't say exactly where - lists with some commentary are so much more helpful -  so I followed the path down the canyon as that seemed the logical thing to do. Bingo! I actually found the birds - there were two - by chasing down a Painted Redstart, and in looking for this I stumbled on a Woodpecker. Like an idiot I had left my camera in the car so dashed back for it once I had confirmed the ID - I wanted a photograph! When I returned the Painted Redstart had gone but there were now two Sapsuckers. Tick #5 and it was only about half past one! Rarely have I had days that go as well as this. But it wasn't over yet.

Red-naped Sapsucker

Heading back to the car I dropped out of the canyon and into the grasslands between Proctor Road and Florida Wash. The target here was Brewer’s Sparrow, and whilst on the face of it birdless scrub all that was needed was some pishing for all sorts of things to pop up. A Loggerhead Shrike came and sat on the fence in response, five Black‑throated Sparrows popped up in some low bushes along the roadside, White-crowned Sparrow appeared in the verge, and two Brewer's Sparrows showed briefly a bit futher back. Tricky things New World Sparrows, they probably represent the biggest set of targets on my USA list but I am gradually filling in the blanks.

I headed west, back towards the main road south. The next stop on the master plan was Canoa Ranch, a roughly 20 minute drive away, and where people had been reliably seeing Lawrence’s Goldfinch over the last few days. It was apparently a good year for them; they are somewhat of an irruptive species and had been turning up all over the place. I had missed one by only a few minutes in Phoenix the previous year, and in 2022 I had driven to a site in San Diego only to discover it was inside a Naval Base and I couldn't get in! Beyond the site I had no info, but a guy near the car park gave me some gen simply about a 'quite birdy spot' at the north end of the pond by the bridge. Sure enough there were some encouraging switters coming from the trees, and after a short wait flock of about a dozen Lawrence's Goldfinch materialised by the edge of the water, coming down to drink from some rocks. A momentous occasion, this was my 600th USA species. A long time coming, lots of trips, lots of planning! I enjoyed a quiet moment of satisfaction and then treated myself to a full tour of the pond having reached this milestone by 3pm on my first day - I felt I had the time now. Three American Wigeon, 11 American Coot and a single Pied‑billed Grebe were on the water, a Great Blue Heron was on the bank and a very bright male Vermilion Flycatcher had some photographic admirers. Not me though, I had places to be.

Lawrence's Goldfinch

A screenshot I took at the time, knowing the family would be interested

American Wigeon

After having done so well all day it seemed entirely proper that I should be rewarded with a big dip. This was a Western Screech‑Owl at a nearby site called Santa Gertrudis lane. The eBird checklist had a photo of a bird in a hole, so I had assumed I could just bowl up, find said hole and the bird would be there. No such luck. I walked up and down looking at likely trees but couldn't find it. Possibly it was further down the lane, but a there was a ford here that I didn't fancy attempting. Deep enough for there to be Mallards on the water.... 

At exactly 5pm I rolled into the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia. The light was already fading and I was the only visitor. I seem to remember doing this before, arriving right at the end of the day and seeing virtually nothing. It was quiet for sure, but my main target was  still active - Violet‑crowned Hummingbird, a simply beautiful bird. It appeared briefly at the  rear feeders marking the end of a simply amazing day. I made a promise to nonetheless come back on a future morning and properly clean up.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

After that it was a 45‑minute run east to a motel in Sierra Vista to be in place for the following day where I planned to start at Ramsey Canyon. It had been an epic first day, somewhat reminiscent of a day in December 2021 where I had birded the hell out of Sax Zim bog in Minnesota and got six new birds in the space of a few hours. Put simply, my planning had paid off. I had the first of many lovely tacos for dinner with a well deserved cold beverage, and went to bed pretty early as I was absolutely knackered!

Arizona - January 2026 - Logistics and Itinerary

Southern Arizona, 15th - 19th January 2026

When I do a search of the full ABA list versus my own ABA list two areas tend to stand out, Alaska and Arizona. The former will hopefully be a 2027 adventure and requires a ton of planning. The latter however is much more straightforward. Looking at what I was missing there were two distinct periods I needed to go in - winter and early spring. This is the winter trip, planned in 2025 for my annual dose of leaving the UK weather behind. Once preliminary research had pointed me to Arizona I used eBird's target functionality to look for where in the State they had been seen historically in the winter period, and based my likely itinerary on that, grouping sites into days as per the below. 

I had a lot of fun, as I always do when executing on a planned trip, and of the 24 possible ticks a I managed to get 15 which I didn't feel was a bad return at all. This was a solo trip with a bit of family stuff at the end, so largely I was free to do whatever I felt like. And that being the case, as ever I tried to do too much. I'd initially planned two mornings at Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, a place I've wanted to visit just about forever, but in the end common sense prevailed. Not enough common sense to prevent me from crossing to New Mexico, a new State, but in the end it was only for a few hours and I concentrated my time in Arizona which is what allowed me to connect with so many of the birds on the list. The ones in green are the ones I saw, and where. The ones in red are the ones I didn't, and where I dipped them which in the event was pretty much everywhere that I had planned to try for them.... Hey ho, I will just have to go back.

Logistics

• A five day solo trip in mid January.

• Flights: Direct flight from London Heathrow to Phoenix Sky Harbor with British Airways. Straightforward, good timings, and no connections to worry about. Very unlike me!

• Car Hire: Rented a medium SUV from Avis. Most classes of hire car in America cost the same, so if I am expecting to go to slightly more challenging terrain I always get a 4x4. And it came in really really useful...
• Driving: Driving was generally very easy, with good roads and light traffic other than in Phoenix at rush hour. The only really difficult driving were the icy canyon roads in the Chiricahua mountains which don't even appear on Google maps as driveable!
• Weather: Chilly in the morning and at altitude, freezing in New Mexico. But beautiful weather throughout, blue skies and sunshine. An amazing climate. Why do I live in London?
• Accommodation: Cheap motels everywhere, other than for one night booked in advance on Booking.com which is simplicity itself. And really crap for the most part. I save my cash for nice hotels when travelling with Mrs L and generally slum it when travelling solo.
• Food: Mexican, mexican, mexican. It's cheap and it's genuinely good. One place had a flock of pet cockroaches, a fact I only found out after ordering. I just added extra hot sauce and all was well.
• Optics: I took my scope as well as a camera, as this was necessary for Whitewater Draw and some of the other sites.

• Literature: eBird! Merlin is great in the US but I didn't really need it as the habitat is such that you get good views of everything.

Day 1 – Started in Tucson at Danny Lopez Park before heading south into Madera Canyon (Proctor Road up to Whitehouse). Crossed the grasslands near Florida Wash, then continued down the Santa Cruz Valley to Canoa Ranch. Patagonia for the final few hours and finally east to Sierra Vista for the evening.

Day 2 – Started in the Huachuca foothills at Ramsey Canyon, before dropping down to the San Pedro River. Then south to Ash Canyon and the Mexican border at Naco before ending the day at Whitewater Draw which was spectacular. Overnight in New Mexico for the tick.

Day 3 – Poked around Lordsburg for a while before heading south west to into Arizona via Granite Gap and Portal. Worked my way up Cave Creek Canyon before wasting most of the afternoon in the Chiricahuas looking for non-existent Mexican Chickadees. Overnight in Nogales, all the way back west as it was the only place with hotels close to where I wanted to be in the morning.

Day 4 – Returned to Patagonia, birding the Paton Center, Harshaw Creek and Patagonia Lake. The a long northbound drive up to Phoenix where I hooked up with relatives and had a lovely family evening.

Day 5 – Spent the day moving between various birding and non-birding sites in the Phoenix area. A random golf course for Greater Pewee, and then Gilbert Water Ranch, Vista Canyon Park, Rio Vista Park, and the Glendale Recharge Ponds. Also lots of thrift stores armed with shopping lists from children.... Evening flight back to London, exhausted!

Wars and News

The world is a scary place right now, every day sees what feels like a new low from the angry toddler in the White House. Meanwhile the guy in the Kremlin continues meddling in world affairs and killing Ukranians for no tangible result, pleased no doubt that the spotlight is elsewhere, and supplies of anti-drone hardware are heading elsewhere. There are probably other bad things happening in other places but the news feeds don't deem them worthy of mainstream dissemination. I really need to get hold of a new pan-opinion source of current affairs that is much broader than the diet I am currently fed. My phone trys to give me a mix of sources, but it only takes one Telegraph article that is at best a thinly disguised opinion piece from a right wing sycophant, or a GB News piece brimming with outrage about giving needy people handouts before I just switch off, and that's before I've even got to the Daily Mail. The Guardian and the Independent are less inherently unkind, but they too are eminently predictable. What is happening in Africa? South America? I suppose my entire day could be spent devouring content, I should be careful what I wish for. 

News of a war that may not have made it to you is that the Skylark fence on Wanstead Flats has been reinstalled for the breeding season and that vandalisim is full swing. Before the Easter weekend somebody stole almost all of the metal fixings from virtually the entire circumference and a good portion of the actual rope for good measure. The CoL team replaced and repaired, but at the weekend various sections got cut anew. Yesterday it happened yet again, was repaired quickly, but this morning the best part of the top section is in ruins once more with a load of the rope missing again. I just don't understand the mentality, it is completely baffling. It makes me very cross. So do many things at the moment. Maybe I am in fact the ideal Daily Telegraph reader?

My last post on here took so long to actually complete that by the time I eventually hit publish a whole load of other things had happened. I thought about carrying on, but it had shades of a never-ending stream of consciousness so I quit while I was able to. But I can offer a condensed version here, which is that this past weekend I barely left the house and did a lot more gardening and a lot more birding. The gardening was excellent, albeit that it makes about as good blogging as international travel. The birding was largely rubbish until Monday, with Saturday in particular being utterly dire for early April, but a couple days later something changed. I can't honestly say that the floodgates have openedm but there have been Swallows, a Yellow Wagtail, Willow Warblers, an uptick in Red Kites, and in the past couple of days the first Whitethroats have arrived on territory. Bob has had a Sedge Warbler, Marco a Tree Pipit, and the signs are generally all positive. Which therefore makes me feel quite positive despite the state of the world. I am easily pleased perhaps - all I need is a tidy greenhouse, a bit of sunshine, a smattering of migrants, and a good supply of Rosé. 

Quarterly update

Hello! Note the title - at this rate of blogging updates will indeed be quarterly... not what I had intended at all, I was nearly (but clearly not quite) on a roll but it turned out the leader of the free world had other ideas, and being the massive asshole that he is he has once again turned my job from being merely 'trying' to 'virtually impossible'. Thank You Donald for all you do for us. To call the current US President a moronic cretin would be severely undercooking it. Words quite often fail me when thinking on the one hand about Donald Trump, and on the other what the office of the President of the United States ought to mean. He is disgracing it. I'm hesitant to even call what is happening now a new low, there are innumberable instances of unpresidential, childish and often immoral behaviour each and every day. And in respect of the current drama playing out, quite frankly Iran has his number. You and I know it, they know it, and most importantly he knows it. Hence the tantrums, for that is what they are. He's basically ruined 2026 at this point, the repurcussions, some of which have yet to even start, will reverberate around the world for the rest of year even if this all stopped tomorrow. 

Moving on, spring in Wanstead has been slow to start. The annual Wheatear competition has been and gone. I did not win. That prize went to James who picked the 24th, and to Louis who for the second year running found the first bird. My dates were the 16th and the 27th. The 16th is a top top date, with something like 75% of the last few years being on this date, but this year things were late and in truth we have yet to get going. That first Wheatear remains almost the only Wheatear at this point, and we wondered for a while whether we might have to roll the competition to the autumn. There have been a few single Sand Martins, but that is vitually it. I say virtually as there has been one other migrant, found by yours truly a few days ago and actually knocking Wheatears very much into a cocked hat.

Osprey! 

I can count on one hand the number of Ospreys I've ever seen on the patch. This was the fourth, and the second I've found, the first being donkey's years ago in the autumn. I'd just been chatting to Simon about how shit it was and was headed home. Shortly after we headed out separate ways he had had a Red Kite, and it was in scanning for this once I'd seen his message that I picked up the Osprey. It came in from the east, seemingly carrying something in one talon. It circled the church for a while, gaining height, and then gradually drifted north, having dropped whatever it was carrying. If anyone finds a fish in their back garden this is why. My year list remains shockingly low, with no other migrants and whole pile of missing winter visitors as once again I was a little lacklustre at the start of the year. Plus ca change.

I suppose that March can always be a little slow, April is where it is at. What makes it more disappointing - Ospreys not withstanding - is that I actually made an effort. I was spurred to do so by a 'steps' competition at work during the month of March - 10,000 steps a day and a load of money raised for charity. Not wishing to let my team down I signed up, but unless I go birding on Wanstead Flats before work there is absolutely no way I can do that many steps a day. At most my commute equates to about 5,000. Walking around the office and a certain amount of walking around the house before and after work might net another 2,000 but I'd always be falling short. Hence I had to go out. And what did I see that was noteworthy? One Wheatear and one Osprey  360,000 steps for one expected bird and one good bird. I don't like those ratios, but at least I cleared the 310,000 steps hurdle and didn't let the side down. Some of my colleagues failed miserably, others went absolutely nuts - one lady was on course to get over a million steps the last time I looked at the leaderboard. Incredible.

March, or at least late March, also means my first forays out into the garden and greenhouse to see what damage winter has inflicted on my precious plants. Boy what a mess. Initially I couldn't face it, I didn't even want to look in the greenhouse, but I am over that hump now. I started indoors and spent an entire weekend cleaning the conservatory. One plant at a time, corner by corner, sill by sill - 18 hours of toil. The following weekend I started on the outside. The Yuccas and Palms got tidied up first, then the lawn (or what used to be a lawn anyway), then the areas underneath the larger trees. The hoses are back out, the timer is connected, bedding plants have been purchased, an unruly shrub has gone and the big fern near the greenhouse that was in the way has been transplanted to a shady and out of the way spot.

Late on day three I finally made it into the greenhouse, I couldn't avoid it any longer. Wow. Not a disaster by any means with most plants still very much alive, but what a mess. Pests everywhere, scale insect and mealy bug mostly. Spiders, snails, evidence of mice, grime everywhere. The worst part was the fungus. The various sap-sucking insect pests don't in truth do a whole lot of damage to my plants, which are generally hard leaved and tough to penetrate. But they deposit sugary insect-poo underneath where they feed, which is often other leaves of the same plant, or indeed other plants. In damp and humid conditions this deposit allows for the growth of a dark fungus which hardens on the surface of the leaf and prevents photosynthesis, thus weakening the plant. This in turn may allow the original pests to feed more easily, and breed. And let me tell you, mealy bugs and scale insects make rabbits look celibate. Over the course of the winter months they can fully cover the leaves of a plant and the toothless insecticides of 2026 can do virtually nothing to stop them. Fortunately there is another solution, a very basic but very time-consuming solution. It involves armoured gloves (as my plants are extremely unforgiving), a brush, water, and washing up liquid. Fairy to be precise.

So over the course of two full days over consecutive weekends I carried each and every plant out into the garden and brushed the insects off by hand. Mealy bugs sit mostly on the underside where leaflets meet the rachis. Scales insects can be anywhere. So each stem, each leaf, had to be held steady with one hand, and then brushed with the other on both sides. Mealy bugs come off immediately and are often simply crushed by the stiff bristles. Scale insects can take a number of passes - they are like a little barnacle. The fungus on the other hand requires repeated brushing to remove, and only really works when the leaves are dry. Stubborn patches have to be removed by scraping with a harder tool. Pick up plant from the benching, walk outside, sit or stand whilst brushing every stem, every leaf, every surface. Once clear of bugs, spray with a 10:1 mixture of water to Fairy Liquid in every crevice, connection, spine and petiole. Replace in the greenhouse and start on the next plant. You can see why this has taken days and days, but it is now done and the season can start. There remains of course some reorganisation still to do, but it's incidental to the main event.

Can you imagine cleaning all of these leaves by hand? I can.

Anyhow, most of this is now behind me and I can start doing smaller jobs and enjoying it. More importantly with the bulk of the intense work done I can get out on the patch each morning without feeling guilty that the garden is in a state. The Easter weekend is nearly upon us (Ed. It has passed, the feckless author of this blog spent about a week writing this post and is now behind again) and I am looking forward to it a great deal!

Piedmont

OK, so back to 2025. I am determined - just for myself and my sanity - to finish with 2025. There was one last trip in December, the third in a run of consecutive weekends. The one that I think I mentioned that I did not want to go on. The one that was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do at that particular time. The one that I went on anyway and in fact really enjoyed and looking back don't regret for an instant.

I flew to Turin on Friday evening and drove about an hour south to the small town of Carmagnola. Turin is north-west Italy, in Piedmont, where for me the big attractions are the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco. This would be another of those trips combining birding and wine exploration. Carmagnola was chosen for the former, and for being half way towards the latter. 

I'd arrived pretty late so I had a pretty leisurely start, with binoculars deployed only at around 10am. The first location was really as a prelude to the second, which did not open until a little later for some reason. This was the Bosco del Gerbasso, chosen simply because in that area it was the eBird hotspot with the most potential. This is standard practice and it tends to work out. 

The area was one of woods and lakes, with a large (and active) quarry slap bang in the middle of it. There were various paths and trails that generally did loops around the quarry and through the woodland, as well as along the riverbank - in this case the Po, Italy's longest river, which runs nearly all the way across the country to Venice. It was a cool morning but clear, the flat countryside in stark juxtaposition to the backdrop of the Alps, a line of snowy peaks that stretched across the entire horizon. I found the spot without too much difficulty and dropped the car on a stretch of gravel that seemed to function as a small car park. I didn't know exactly where I was going but picked a track that seemed to lead into the reserve, if indeed that is what it was. 

I had an enjoyable walk, a big loop of about three miles, and a lot of good birds seen. I got off to a good start immediately by flushing a Woodcock, and Marsh Tits made themselves apparent nearly from the very start, sneezing in the bushes. I wasn't initially sure what I was hearing, this is a not a species I encounter often, but the marvels of modern technology meant I worked it out quite quickly. Better was yet to come with a Goshawk being pursued by a calling Raven, and happily a Sparrowhawk seen just a few moments later with Collared Dove as if to really reinforce the point. A few Great White Egrets were dotted around, and being a very wooded area lots of small birds too so my list was added to regularly. I have not spent a lot of time in Italy, preferring France as I can speak French, and this means that it is somewhat virgin eBird territory with many common birds being new, which for me as regular readers know is more exciting than for most people. That is changing though, with I think five trips in the last two years. None of them have been dedicated birding excursions, but I always try and make a little time to see what I can add. 

I couldn't get directly back to the car due to a farm being in the way, so ended up on the outskirts of the last village I had driven through and had to walk back along the road, but this added a large group of White Wagtail in a sheep field and a couple of Yellow-legged Gull. My next stop was the real reason I had stayed in this location, the Centro Cicogne di Racconigi. As the name suggests, a Stork haven. In truth half of it was a big aviary, but surrounding this and as I had suspected from the aerial views were a series of pools and hides, and so I had a nice wander around these picking up Green Sandpiper, Common Snipe and Water Rail.  Ducks were less diverse than my online research had suggested, maybe I missed a pool, but I found the line Goldeneye and a pair of Gadwall. Mostly however it was Teal and Mallard. And camotwats, which are apparently a phenomenon in Italy just as they are here. Old and middle-aged white men (mind you, I am probably describing my won age group these days), camo head to toe, all with enormous lenses of varying quality. Every single hide had one in, which meant I mostly couldn't get in as they were almost all little two seater ones, which of course meant one seat for the togger and the other for his immense bag and pile of gear. Some of the larger hides had a whole row of photographers. And big or small all the same nonsense was going on, photographing into the sun, birds miles away, twigs and crap everywhere. I hadn't brought a camera and was glad I had not. Common Crane were heard but not seen somewhere out beyond the boundary, and of course there were good number of White Stork that seemed to be roaming free.

One final stop before Barolo, the Stagni di San Sebastiano, and this was much more satisfying other than the guy in camo hunting with dogs. I made sure he saw me, and to be fair he did seem to be keeping to the edges of the area rather than the large lakes stuffed with ducks. These did not even flinch when his shotgun went off from somewhere in the woods so I presume nobody ever enages them directly. The ducks here were a lot more interesting, with Shoveler, Pochard, Red-crested Pochard and Tufted Duck. On the lower lake, perhaps across the river, was a lone Egyptian Goose which the eBird police subsequently queried so I assume it was quite rare here. It was calling and flying around so not really in doubt - I just said that they bred where I live and were a common sight. A Black Redstart flitted around a ruined house, a Peregrine bombed over, and it was altogether really rather pleasant. And this time I actually got to see some of the Cranes I had been hearing when a group appeared over a distant treeline before dropping down. 

A famous address...

So that concludes the birding for Saturday. Now onto the wine. I was staying in the town of La Morra in the north west of the Barolo region. I popped into the fabulous More e Macine to make a booking for the evening - amazingly they could accomodate me, albeit quite an early table, but that suited me fine as I am not that much into late dining which means you go to bed stuffed. I had a very pleasant wander around the town - more of a village I suppose, buying a few goodies to smuggle home, and popped into a wine bar for a bit of a pick me up. I chose a glass of Verduno Pelaverga. Pelaverga is a grape unique to this region which is only sparsely planted by a few domaines, and is quite distinctive and a far cry from Nebbiolo albeit that is can share some of the same tannic brutality. It was all I wanted it to be - light, peppery and really quite lifted, and not at all a punch in the face. I followed this with a Langhe Nebbiolo from Roccalini which was rather unrefined and coarse. I know, woe is me right?

At More e Macine a little later on I kicked off with a glass of Langhe Favorita from Alessandria which wasn't all that good, a bit rustic I thought, but their 2019 Barolo Monvigliero was a classy number despite its youth. It was outclassed however by Gian Luca Colombo's Ravera - the man is a genius, eveything he makes from the lowliest Langhe seems to turn to gold. He makes a Pelaverga too and it is sensational. However eclipising all of these wines was a broccoli flan of the utmost delicacy and deliciousness. So good I was compelled to take a photograph of it, I am not normally one for this kind of thing, I mean I don't even have an Insta... Incredible, one of the best things I had eaten all year, and something I want to try at home. So light and airy, balanced by a rich pecorino sauce, a divine combination. I still think about it some months later. Tajarin for primi and Tagliati for secondi and I was done, a lovely meal, just a shame there was nobody to share it with. I love virtually everything about travelling solo but dining alone I do not enjoy. That is changing though as Mrs L and I are very nearly empty nesters or whatever the phrase is. When I started this blog our youngest child was two years old. She is now 18 and in Vietnam, and starts university in September. The other two are already at university and so Mrs L and I have a level of freedom that we have not experienced for more than two decades. And this time around we have money. So solo travel will diminish and instead we can go places a deux. Less birding, but better for other reasons, and we have started 2026 as we mean to continue.

Of course this trip to Piedmont was in 2025 and in a few short paragraphs it will be over and I can turn the metaphorical page and start afresh. I cannot remember if I had cheese or not, I expect I did, and fairly rolled back across the street to my accomodation. The next day I did a bit more shopping, wine shop browsing and vineyard exploration before switching back to birding mode. I dipped a Shrike somewhere and then went to some lakes called the Oasi Naturalistica La Madonnina which like the Stork place was absolutely stuffed with camotwats. Amazing. I added a few birds here such as Black-crowned Night Heron and Common Kingfisher, but it was in no way as productive as I had been hoping.

One more tajarin for the road

Back in wine land I visited the village of Verduno in the north of Barolo. I found the only open restaurant in the village and had another splendid lunch, albeit smaller and with only a tiny sip of wine as I was driving. As with the place in La Morra it was entirely populated with Italian families out for a family meal. Maybe this happens in London more frequently than I think it does, but I fully support it. That said nice food in Italy costs a fraction of what it does here, my meals in Piedmont would have got me mass-market chain food back home. And so that was it. Another stroll around Verduno to look at some of the hallowed slopes and then back to Turin where I could not help but stop at a pasta factory with an attached factory shop in which to fill up any remaining crevices in my luggage.

Ciao 2025!

     

Back in Fife

I went up to Fife for the first time this year last weekend. I would normally go earlier but I've been a bit busy. As ever birding was not the primary reason for going up, but seeing as I was there. I didn't actually book it that long ago, and as I'd muted the various birding WhatsApp groups I hadn't really been particularly aware of the kind of winter they had been having. About two weeks before I went I idly scanned some recent messages and was blown away! There was an influx of White-billed Divers all around the coast, with a number seemingly now hanging around in the Forth. Wow! As far I was aware WBD has only been seen very infrequently, with a couple of records from Fife Ness and then I think a bird in Largo Bay, both when I wasn't in Fife. Would they stick?

More importantly, would they survive? As the days went on more and more reports of tideline corpses of White-billed Divers started popping up on the group. Clearly they were so battered from whatever inclement weather had pushed them down here in the first place that they were extremely weak. Reports seemed to indicate that they were able to feed, so perhaps an indication of disease, coming into contact with birds that live in colonies, the dreaded avian flu? Casualties were not restricted to White-billed Divers however, there were lots of Auks and other birds as well. But with a finite number of WBDs on offer I was selfishly (shellfishly?) worried they might, er, run out before I got there.

A couple of days before I flew yet another dead bird was found on the Eden estuary, but there seemed more positive news from the other side of the county where three birds remained in the Forth, regularly being seen off Inverkeithing. I arrived on Thursday evening and worked on Friday with no time to get out, but come Saturday I found myself at Port Laing looking at a dead flat sea. And bang in the middle of my scope was a White-billed Diver! A second was a little further out, and further still was what I strongly suspected was the third, but this one had to go down as Diver Sp. What a magnificent bird the closest one was though. I've seen just two White-billed Divers before, the first being a twitch many years ago down to Brixham in Devon, and then more recently (but still five years ago) a bird that Bradders, Howard and I lucked out on in Shetland. And so here I was looking at two birds at the same time, alive and well. Although that said at least one of the birds seemed to be shaking its head from side to side quite frequently which I am pretty sure is not a good sign. We shall see. I spent a good while admiring them, it will probably be many years before I see another.

My next stop was St Margaret's Marsh just a short distance away on the other side of the bridges. Sat between Inverkeithing and Rosyth I didn't even discover this site until relatively recently. I think I was looking for a Water Pipit but I now cannot remember - I didn't see it, instead I coincided with some Jack Snipe ringers and from a distance saw them miss loads! This morning I was once again looking for a Water Pipit, and indeed it had been reported that morning. Unfortunately it had been reported flying into Rosyth dockyard and it didn't come out again either that morning or during the remainder of my time in Fife. It's back now of course....

Regardless, of the two species I would much rather have seen the Divers and so have no regrets about having stopped off at Dalgety Bay first. I spend the rest of the morning happily birding various sites back along the Forth towards Largo Bay. I stopped at Buckhaven to see if I could find the Stejneger's Scoter or lookalike, but I couldn't reliably call it. The best bird was a really cool Velvet Scoter with a pure white head that made it look a bit like a farmyard duck. Plenty of Red-throated Divers, a single Great Northern Diver, Long-tailed Ducks and a Puffin - this is probably the earliest Puffin I have ever seen. In Largo Bay I think I counted seven Slavonian Grebes and three Red-necked Grebes, and there were loads more Velvet Scoter and other wintering species. I do so like having all this on my doorstep when I am up there.

I stayed in on Sunday morning, the weather was a bit crappy and I had various jobs to do for the aged relatives. I also caught up on writing up all my wine notes from the prior week which had been quite heavy - around 40 notes written. When I am finally incapable of writing anything I will look back at my full output and marvel at how prolific I was, and none of it for work which insists on crisp bullet points and nothing floral. I'm good at that too, but I prefer this. It must be hundreds of thousands of words, possibly millions.

My first stop was Angle Park where nothing was happening. The water levels both here and at Letham Pools are extremely high, I would be surprised if either site gets a single wader this spring. I spent the rest of the afternoon at Guardbridge chatting to Malc whilst we searched in vain for an Iceland Gull that had been there the day before. Plenty of birds around, a Black-tailed Godwit alone amongst Redshank and Dunlin, and a single Slavonian Grebe in the channel. We reminisced about the Bridled Tern day, but most of all Malc sold Lesvos to me. I've never been and want to go more than ever. 

I took a final spin up to St Andrews, clocking the Brent flock as I drove alongside the estuary, before stopping at The Scores. Lots of Fulmar and lots of people for the weather was now really rather nice. I declined to walk with the rest of humanity up the West Sands and instead went to Birnie and Gaddon and did the full circuit to try and get my step count up. Lots of Goldeneye, but I couldn't find the Great White Egret. 

Finally

I actually went birding this morning. I had planned to last night but woke up to heavy fog and changed my mind. Snooze. The next time I opened my eyes sunshine was hitting the bedroom floor. The fog was 90% gone. Gah! Yesterday it had lingered for much longer. I leapt from bed, showered, grabbed my bins and headed out. Oh, I got dressed too.

Rather than hit the Flats (despite the lure of a potential super-early Wheatear) I went to the Park. There are still a number of things that I need for the year that are far more likely here - birds like Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and Cetti's Warbler. Naturally I didn't see any of them, but my goodness what a lovely morning it was. Quite mild with blue skies and, praise be, sunshine. The sun! Had I not been away to Morocco recently I don't think I would have remembered what sunshine even was, it has been the most miserably damp and grey start to the year I can recall for a long time. Just grim. But today it was lovely. I was admiring the near pristine hoods of the Black-headed Gulls on Heronry when a strange song behind me made me turn around. Wait, I know that! A Blackcap! Almost certainly a bird that overwintered rather than an arrival, but nonetheless a welcome sight that cannot help but cheer a person up.

A little later on, a bit closer to the main Park gates, a Chiffchaff started up. Wow! I think I ended up hearing seven singing birds in total, mostly in the Old Sewage Works where I tried (and failed) for the Cetti's Warbler. It didn't matter, it was just lovely to finally be outside and birding locally. 

A Great Crested Grebe was asleep on Heronry, but Duck numbers seem well down. That is if they were ever decent in the first place. I wouldn't know as I didn't really go out. A single Pochard, a single Gadwall, a single Shoveler - seems pretty poor for early March but who knows. With a spring in my step I headed home for a day of toil. I have missed loads of birds this winter due to apathy, but this morning felt like I was back on track. Maybe I have that S.A.D. thing? Personally I think it is very sensible and rational to stay indoors, warm and dry, rather than go out and get cold and wet to find birds that I will almost certainly see without even trying later on. But I would like to see a Teal....

Just in time for returning passerines