Wildlife of Sharm el-Sheikh - Apr '14

***21/04/14 - I'd just like to make a correction: below I mention Brown-necked Ravens but it's kindly been pointed out to me that, they were in fact, (Indian) House Crows***



We've been back a couple of days, from a holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. It was a family holiday (with friends), so although the wildlife was not the reason for going, naturally I had my eyes open for anything and everything that crawls, flies, jumps or swims.

To add to that, I should say that everything I saw was purely from within the resort/beach.
This view right here pretty much sums up my birding for the 10 days:

One of the best wildlife memories I will ever have happened on our first day. We were in the sea and between us and the shore were a big school of fish. Out of nowhere appeared a Caspian Tern drifting up and down the beach, it later became apparent that this was its feeding routine.
Completely undeterred by us or anyone, it started dive bombing into the sea for these fish and flying off over our heads with its catch - all about 15ft away from us, I will never have a better view of a Caspian Tern again. Superb!

Here's a few shots of that beautiful Tern, that I grabbed over a few days:

The next two birds I saw, each had their own posts or poles that they rested on each and every day. When they did finally decide to get up and do something, I managed to enjoy great views and get a few photos.
Firstly, a White-eyed Gull:

As 'common' as they were, it was quite gratifying for me to watch these, knowing that they are pretty much, strictly Red Sea residents.

Made a nice change from looking at Black-headed Gulls though. A couple more shots here:

The next Gull, not as vibrant but elegant in its own way, was this Slender-billed Gull:

This next bird, also a Slender-billed Gull, was moulting or in between plummages:

The next bird to appear on the bouys and pontoon walkway, was this Striated Heron that we only saw on two different days so quiet lucky:

A Western Reef Egret was not bothered in the slightest by tourists, often making people actually walk around it instead of moving itself. We only ever saw the one, UNTIL our drive back to the airport, when we counted 25+ feeding along the roadside!

It was quiet funny because as the holiday went on, our friends (who are not birders!!) began to take an interest and start pointing out birds to me. Along with Mrs K, who always looks out for me, I now had another 2 pairs of eyes on the lookout.
We got on with a retired couple from Belgium, the guy was also into his birds and so he was also giving me the heads up of what he's seen on the resort - it was a FAMILY holiday remember :)

House Sparrows were EVERYWHERE, nesting in the gazebos above our heads, running around our feet and everything. Bit of a long shot, but I did check as many as possible incase a stray Spanish Sparrow was hiding amongst them, but that was not to be.

Just like our Jackdaws or Carrion Crows back home, the local noisy, bully boy corvids of Sharm were Brown-necked Ravens. They mobbed anything that had food, Terns, Gulls, Ospreys, anything! It was hard to show the brown necks of them with photos, but this was the best I could do:

A week into the holiday and a couple of Hooded Crows showed up. They liked to use one of the fountains as a dinner table, I often watched them pulling lizards apart for a light snack.

Plenty of Laughing Doves around too. Pretty little things really:

The Belgian man rushed down one morning to tell me about a bird he'd seen on one of the lawns. His English was good but not perfect and he only knew the Flemish name for what he'd seen, which was a "Hop". All I had to go was a bird with a sticky up bit on its head and this word "Hop"...a HOOPOE!
We went back to where he'd seen it but it had already gone. I was a bit gutted as I've not actually seen a Hoopoe before but out of the hedge popped a consolation prize, by way of a smart, little Bluethroat:

I sat quietly and enjoyed watching it pick worms out, eventually feeding about 10ft from me. Well chuffed! It was also a first for Arsene, our new Belgian friend, so a nice little touch.

Back to the beach and not long after our lovely little Bluethroat, did an Osprey drop in for a spot of fishing. It was bold and not phased one iota, usually sitting on a boat while the passengers where sitting beneath it. I was over the moon to get such close views of this beautiful Bird of Prey:

I'm particularly fond of this shot I got, as the sun was going down and it dropped down for one last feed. What a bird:

As fate (not that I particularly believe in all that) would have it, I had to go back to our room to grab something I'd forgotten earlier. As I looked up, I saw this outline against the bright sky:

You won't need 3 guesses at that; a Hoopoe - or Hop! I had good enough views where it was but it dropped down in front of me to feed and I couldn't have asked for any more really:

As well as the birds in the photos, I also saw:

• African Rock Martins
• Swallows
• Feral Pigeons
• Rock Doves
• Kestrels (I also had 2 that looked a good shout for LESSER Kestrels, but can't be certain)
• A single, big Swift sp. also flew over but didn't hang around long enough for a better look. As someone suggested, it could also, possibly have been a Sooty Falcon? I'll never know.
• Another one that got away was a single, brief look at what looked like a female of a Shrike species. Red-backed/Woodchat kind of looking - again, I'll never know. 

We also had a Little Owl fly over our dinner table shortly after dusk one day. It caused a little confusion at first as it looked like fine in shape/size and its call fit the bill too, but it was just so pale, that it was making me doubt myself.
It was only when I saw this in the Collins guide that it made sense. A Middle East race of Little Owl, by the name of 'Lilith'

For the other wildlife, we saw plenty of Plain Tiger Butterflies:

I've not looked into this next one thoroughly but, I believe it's a Little Tiger Blue Butterfly:

Lastly for the butterflies, this looks like a Brimstone species but when you compare the wing shape to our UK Brimstones, it's not the same but I've not got around to pin-pointing it just yet:

and one of our UK Brimstones for comparison:

This ladybird landed on the beach bag one day. It has 7 spots but clearly not a 7-spot as we know them:

Many thanks to Helen Baker, Helen Roy and Dr Richard Comont for ID'ing it for me. It is Hippodamia variegata.

Other than a few hundred Ants, we had a few of these Lizards let themselves into our room. Quite cute though:

Sorry it's gone on a bit, hopefully not too boring! Thanks for reading...

Things are livening up

A nice day on Staines and Stanwell moor(s) today, one of those days where I forgot that I had to be back for a certain time and had a few mild panic attacks when it dawned on me to actually check the time - I could've lost myself there all day today.

Straight away, from Hithermoor road, the airwaves were alive with birdsong. Chiffchaffs were busy chiff-chaffing away, two male Blackcaps were competing too, a single Cetti's Warbler was bellowing its unmistakable song a little further down the path, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Robins and even the usually peaceful Collared Doves were having a good crack at it!
The Blackcaps for me, had already made my day. Any sign what-so-ever that Spring is in full swing, makes for a happy Keith.

At the gate through to Stanwell moor was another male Blackcap, not particularly bothered by my presence and also busy singing, just above my head in the brambles. A lone Song Thrush was also perched and keeping an eye out:

From the boardwalk, I noticed 2 white blobs over on the Eastern side - these were to be Shelducks, and a pleasant suprise to see them busy feeding instead a quick fly over glimpse.
Excuse the shoddy photo, they were quite a way away:

A small flock of Meadow Pipits were darting around in the grass along the Colne, chasing each other about and calling. This one was kind enough to pose for a photo:

The Kingfisher; one of my favourite British birds has eluded me on the moor this year, until today! It zipped along the water from the boardwalk to perch for a few minutes on the metal rails of the concrete bridge - an absolute pleasure to watch.
A Buzzard drifted over from the South side but stayed at a nose bleed height before drifting off into distance, soon after. A male Peregrine offered much more generous views - as I was sat on the mound by Butts pond, it came tearing past at my eye level from the South, a great view but sadly too fast for a photo, sorry.

For a brief moment I got rather excited at a certain corvid, with an obvious broader bill, for it to be one of the Carrion Crows with a gob full of nest material!

It was a great day for butterflies today, I saw 2 Small Tortoiseshells, 4 Orange-tips and 6 Peacocks - all of which were absolutely immaculate.

I also noticed a lot of (what appear to be) the same species of Caddisfly, smaller than I've seen before but out in abundance and until I 'pot' one for ID, it will remain nameless!
2 Bee Flies (Bombylius major) were a nice suprise, as were a couple of 'Moth flies' dotting around in the NE corner, by the water. Again, I couldn't tell you what species but even with a specimen, that Psychodidae family is massive and hard to pinpoint.

A Red Kite drifted over the NE corner but was soon ushered off by a couple of very assertive Lapwings:

Nothing MEGA but there were quite few Stock Doves about today, a first for me on the patch, I counted 8 in total.

I'd thought most of the Winter thrushes had moved on but was soon put right when a flock of 34 Fieldfare made themselves known as I made my way back through Stanwell moor.

All in all a lovely day out on the patch, I wont list every little thing as this was supposed to be a 'quick' write up - sorry!

Place your bets - first Wheatear on Staines Moor??

The other evening, for a bit of fun (and some light-hearted competition) I asked people to guess when the first Wheatears of 2014 would drop in on Staines Moor.


Some of the local birders have given their predictions:-

• MYSELF (@akkwildlife)         - 13th March.
• Adrian (@SpelthorneB)         - 17th March.
• Richard (@RichardWoolley2) - 18th March.
• Rachelle (UrbanWildThing)    - 13th March.
• Mark (@Mark_Elsoffer)          - 30th March.
• David (@WildBritain77)         - 17th March.
• Dominic (@ReservoirDom)     - 10th March.
• Lee (@LeeDingain)                - 11th March.
• Stevie (@steviem69)             - 20th March.
• Sean (@SeanFoote1)             - 15th March.
• Sacha (@sachab71)               - 10th March.
• Kevin (@bbsbirder)               - 19th March.
• Gordon (@GordonKape)        - 12th March.
• Mick (@KerrMick)                  - 14th March.

17/03/14:
With predictions covering the next 3 days, this could make for an interesting week! If no luck this week, it looks like Mark Elsoffer may have it...


18/03/14:
well, well, well, it seems we have a winner! As per the London Bird Club Wiki, a single Wheatear has been reported on our beloved moor, near to the old rifle butts. 

I'd say that puts David Hicks, Adrian Luscombe and Kevin Duncan as joint runners up, to the Champ, in 1st place with his prediction of today, the 18th March.........RICHARD WOOLLEY! 

Well done Richard, if ever I find a suitable prize at some point in the future - it's yours. Scouts honour.

Thanks for joining in everyone, been a good laugh and maybe got some of us out on the moor on a day that we might not have bothered otherwise. Maybe another round for some of our winter visitors...

February patch stats:

Despite the relentless Atlantic weather systems that continued to hammer us during February with storm after storm, I actually got some quality time in on my patch - Staines Moor, or; #themoor.
I managed 5 visits this month, only 1 more than in January but spent almost double the amount of time there - 16hrs this month compared with only 8hrs 15mins in January.

It's hard to compare each month thoroughly as I visit at different times of the day and spend varying amounts of time there each month, but during Feb I saw: 1,952 birds (738 in Jan) of which there were 45 different species - 7 more than Januarys' 38.

The new 'faces' seen this month were Canada Geese, not often seen on the moor but seemed to be enjoying the floods. Cetti's Warbler, Long-tailed Tits, Pheasant and a Moorhen also new to my records this year, all being absent from my outings in January. Singing Chiffchaffs were a welcome addition too, most definitely 2 individuals noted on the 26th with a third on Stanwell moor that same day.
At first light, my favourite time of day, on the 25th, the early start was already worth it as I stepped off the boardwalk to find a m+f Goosander on the Colne. A bird I know frequents the moor but one I've not had the pleasure of observing there myself. These notoriously shy birds didn't have to look at me for too long before deciding to take flight, heading off NE. A few steps further on and I noticed a THIRD Goosander, a lone male still feeding by the concrete bridge. This bird was a little bolder and opted to swim up stream for a bit before also taking flight to the NE.

You'll have to take my word for it, when I tell you that this blurry blob in the dawn light is that very male Goosander:

Not something that will set pagers off across the country I know, but Mallards were also new to the year for me on the patch, as was a single Herring Gull that stopped by the floods briefly to give the Black-headed Gulls some grief, before swiftly heading off W.
A Red Kite is not an uncommon sight drifting over the moor but I had to wait until the 26th Feb to see one this year. It gave quite a show and even landed for a while, local moor birder @steviem69 managed to grab this shot through his scope:

I was desperate to catch up with the Short-eared Owl and was lucky enough to enjoy great views at dusk, of it hunting along the Eastern side, on the 19th.  
Lapwings have also graced the moor with their presence again, almost being full time residents in the past, they are now very much a welcome sight! The biggest change I've noticed, are the numbers of Reed Buntings now darting around between grasses, on mainly the Southern half of the moor. They seem such delicate birds and I never tire of hearing their soft 'peeping'  type call as I wander around the moor - I quite often sit myself down amongst them and just watch them going about their business:

Absent from my February sightings though, which I saw in January were: Water Pipits (no doubt there were/are still some about, but they eluded me when I was looking), a lone Mistle Thrush on 27th Jan was the last I've seen of those, no Grey Wagtails for me in Feb either, nor did I see another Chaffinch or Sparrowhawk this month. The last bird missing from my Feb records was the female Bullfinch, which seems to prefere the denser line of trees and bushes along the railway line - 27th Jan was my one and only sighting of this bird, moor regular @LeeDingain also spotted what is presumably the same female earlier this year.

The Little Egrets are pretty reliable residents to the moor, only on one occasion have I not seen any at all, and twice now I've counted 7 individuals at any one time.
This one taking a break from fishing and loose dogs:

One record that stood out for me was with the Magpies, on the 25th I counted 15 which is quite a decent number in comparison to past visits. This was trumped on the 26th by a count of 19, of which 15 were together in the NW corner. This would certainly be a minimum count but one that stood out and one that, had I not been making these records, would've passsed me by without realising.

"1 for sorrow, 2 for joy..."

Thought I'd share these next two photos too, if you have yet to visit the moor, one thing that can be underestimated is the weather and how exposed you can end up finding yourself! Believe it or not - these were taken on the same day:

The recent floods have also been a hot topic (and for good reason) and talking of Staines Moor alone, it seemed to revive the site and opened all new hopes for being a new, albeit short-term, home to Waders. At least that was the hopes of myself and many other moor regulars. Truth is, the water on the moor is receding a hell of a lot quicker than probably expected, there should still be a large amount present for Spring but the levels have dropped quite significantly.
Here are two shots I took of the same area, with a little over 2 weeks (and more rainfall) in between them:

One of the believed reasons behind the inconsistency of the Short-eared Owls' appearances on the moor, is that the floods have dramatically reduced the number of small mammals, ie: its food source. Now, I'm always willing to be proven wrong but my opinion on situations like this, is that where there will inevitably be some casualties, most small mammal etc will actually move on with the flood, and therefore actually concentrating the Owls' food source into a smaller area, and not having a negative affect at all.
Whilst out on the 25th, I noticed a small hole in the grass. As I was thinking to myself that something had made it, I was chuffed to see a mouse dart out from almost at my feet, into that very hole, no more than 10ft away from the waterline of the floods. Maybe backing up my opinions.. maybe not?..

That's it for the February run-down, I can't wait to see what next month brings on the patch - hopefully it wont be long before I'll be adding Wheatear to March's records!

An enjoyable day on the patch...

Due to my shifts, working overtime and the weather, it's been almost 3 weeks since I've had my fix of the great outdoors, let alone out birding. It will be at least another week before I get my next chance so I took the opportunity today, to get out on the patch - Staines Moor.

It is certainly a lot easier said than done!..

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF PLANNING A VISIT TO THE MOOR, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS:
I always go to the moor via the neighbouring Stanwell Moor, a great little area and decent 'warm-up' to Staines moor itself. The bottom end of Hithermoor Rd is very close to recent flooding, I actually saw residents today sorting out sandbags between themselves. I'd advise parking further up the road, just to be safe.
The path along KGVI reservoir is fine, as is the first half of the Stanwell moor path - albeit very muddy. It's from the barbwire gate that things get interesting, the entire path is under water and a lot of it! For most it, you can actually see the flow in the water and was it about an inch, at best, from the top of my wellies! The wooden boardwalk leading onto Staines moor is also submerged, with the water flowing over the top.
Other entrances to Staines moor are, as I'm aware, also compromised or impassable. Take care!
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 Back to my day; I went hoping for the Ravens, Short-eared Owl and Goosanders that have been seen there of late but to be honest, just happy to be out and about. Good job really because I saw none of the above!
It could at first, have easily been mistaken for a summers day, the wind was minimal, the sun shining (and actually warm!) and everywhere I walked I could hear Skylarks bellowing out their song, some were even showing some display flying!
The NW corner was very busy with Starlings, Fieldfare and a few Parakeets and Redwings whilst towards the flooded, southern end of the moor were good numbers of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtails and Black-headed Gulls. The Water Pipits eluded me today but I have no doubt they were there, only further into the floods, out of reach and view.

The resident pair of Stonechat kept popping up:

...and a Buzzard made a brief appearance too:

In typical Staines moor fashion, the weather took a turn for the worse, this lot started moving in:

The winds went from next-to-nothing, to a freezing cold blast in a matter of moments and the blue skies gave way to this ominous looking downpour:

I stuffed everything into my rucksack, zipped up and sat it out. To be honest, I was in my element, I had my good gear on and love all that!

This was my view for the next 20mins or so:

The dark skies soon passed and left behind that beautiful light where the sun and moody skies actually work in harmony:

Sadly, no Ravens at the bottom of these rainbows! ;)

For the first time in a long time, I was on the moor and didn't know where to look first! As if someone had pressed the fast forward button, birds were everywhere!

SEVEN Little Grebes appeared, after a few attempts I managed to catch all of them in one shot:

I've not seen Reed Buntings on the moor for a little while but these were now showing themselves, this one quite happy taking in the view:

Lapwings, another bird absent from the moor this winter, took flight from the floods to relocate in the opposite corner:

One of the Skylarks took a rest from all the singing and dancing, to grab a drink:

The area below, in the summer is teeming with Small Heath and Common Blue butterflies. Right now though, it's probably better suited for gudgeon than anything else!..

In all, my complete sightings for today were:

• 2 Ring-necked Parakeet
• 4 Mute Swan
• 35 Starling (minimum count)
• 7 Magpie
• 2 Redwing
• 4 Skylark (minimum count)
• 16 Fieldfare
• 5 Long-tailed Tit
• 2 Goldfinch
• 24 Carrion Crow (minimum count)
• 5 Green Woodpecker
• 5 Wood Pigeon
• 4 Robin
• 45 Meadow Pipit (minimum count)
• 3 Blackbird
• 2 Stonechat (m+f)
• 2 Grey Heron
• 4 Canada Goose
• 150 Black-headed Gull (minimum count)
• 40 Pied Wagtail (minimum count)
• 1 Buzzard
• 7 Little Grebe
• 5 Reed Bunting (minimum count)
• 1 Little Egret
• 5 Lapwing
• 2 Cormorant
• 1 Pheasant (m)
• 5 Great Tit
• 1 Greenfinch
• 1 Song Thush

I looked hard for the Short-eared Owl after sunset, but to no avail. I left this sight behind as I left the moor for my wade back to the car:

Patch. Birds. Stats. End of.

As the clock ticked steadily into 2014, Twitter was alive with new years resolutions, year and patch lists being reset to zero, new goals being set and a fresh enthusiasm to get outdoors and start looking (and/or listing) again.
 The enthusiasm was contagious and I found myself asking what I could do with my 2014 dose of it. I don't have the time or chance to chase lifers at the drop of a hat, so setting that target is pointless. I needed something that is actually manageable and realistic so I decided to thouroughly record everything from my trips to my newly adopted patch - Staines Moor.

"CONGRATULATIONS! We've been doing that for years!" I hear you cry, but let me explain: I don't do that. I go out, enjoy watching birds, keep one list of lifetime birds and that's it. I know what I've seen but couldn't tell you at what time on what date and what colour socks I was wearing at the time.
I'm really keen to get a picture of what comes and goes throughout a year on the Moor, to see what times of the day produces more or what weather proves more productive. At times last year I would get so frustrated with 'the Moor' when I'd walk around for hours and see pretty much nothing but now, even those days are more enjoyable as I feel I'm working towards collecting a good heap of data at the end of the year.

It's never going to be a complete record, I can't move my family onto the Moor and give up work BUT I can give every spare birding minute to the place, which is what I've managed to do so far. I work shifts - 4days on, 4days off (not including overtime!) and have a family, so some months yield more spare time than others but as I'll not be back to the Moor again until February, I thought I'd share the first months worth of stats.

Hold onto your trousers, here it comes:

In January;
- I made (only) 4 visits
- totalling 8hrs 15mins
- saw 738 birds
- of 38 different species, those being:

Blackbird

Black-headed Gull

Blue Tit

Bullfinch

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Common Buzzard

Common Snipe

Cormorant

Dunnock

Fieldfare

Goldcrest

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Green Woodpecker

Greenfinch

Grey Heron

Grey Wagtail

Jay

Kestrel

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Magpie

Meadow Pipit

Mistle Thrush

Mute Swan

Pied Wagtail

Redwing

Ring-necked Parakeet

Robin

Skylark

Song Thrush

Sparrowhawk

Starling

Stonechat

Water Pipit

Wood Pigeon

Wren

It's certainly no Flamborough or Blakeney point, it never will be, but it has given me good reason to put more time into the patch, I feel like I'm doing good research as well as birding and getting to know the place a lot better. Here's to upcoming months and hopefully some interesting additions when Spring arrives!

Good 'ol Moor Kingfisher and one of my favourite British birds:

Fieldfares, had great numbers of these this winter:

Pair of Whinchat; I enjoyed watching these pop up all over the moor last year:

I do hope one of these turns up again this year, Grasshopper Warbler:

...and while we're on the wishlist - yes please to one of these!

(I photographed this individual at Cranford Park CP last year, not a million miles from the Moor. Anything's possible!)

Great day on the patch today

Have to laugh really...

In my past few trips to Staines moor, my local patch (and I always said I wouldn't "do" a patch but I've been blindsided and am now fully into the moor!)  I've had very little to show for my hours of meandering around in the cold.
Time was at a premium today and I had only a few hrs to spare but, it only takes seconds to see a decent bird so, with that in mind I headed straight for the moor.

Parked up on Hithermoor Rd and spotted the usual couple of Collared Doves before taking the path adjacent to King George VI reservoir, towards Stanwell and Staines moors. The usual flock of House Sparrows were absent today and just the single Goldcrest was busy zipping around the branches picking off insects, it was looking quiet.

Through the gate to Stanwell moor but it had nothing to offer, other than the thick mud under foot! Just as I was about to step off the boardwalk onto Staines moor, I heard the squealing of a Water Rail from the reeds to my right, and it was close! It was deep in the undergrwoth but after moving into a better position I got broken views of it picking its way through the undergrowth.
I couldn't give you the precise history on Water Rails at Staines moor but I can tell you that it's the first I've seen or heard there. Funny thing is I swore blind that I heard one calling in the distance, at the same location a couple weeks back but heard no more and let it go - guess I did hear it afterall!

A good start, I was already happy with that after so many blank visit previously, so when I walked on a little further and saw 2 pristine looking Stonechats (m+f) perched on the bullrushes, it felt like my lucky day. Before I could get my camera to grab a shot I heard what I thought was the call of a Water Pipit to my right! I scanned the opposite bank, et voilà! There it was, really going to town on the greenery, pulling and tearing it to pieces as it made its way along the bank, quite funny to watch actually - reminded me of when puppies destroy their toys!
This time I managed a few shots, although nothing that'll win any NatGeo awards.

Water Pipit:

It even flew to the fence for a better view. Sadly, that doesn't make my point-n-shoot any better of a camera:

The Stonechats had since moved on but crossing over the first bridge disturbed the Grey Wagtail I often see (presuming it's the same individual?) and some dog walkers in the distance had flushed a Little Egret, which flew by quite close after eventually settling down again:

A single Jay was being rather vocal and 5 Meadow Pipits were doing the rounds, half a dozen Green Woodpeckers were also busy rummaging on the deck. The Fieldfares are still in very good numbers on the moor, with c100 present today. They were quite unsettled today, more so than usual and seemed to move along the M25 onto Stanwell moor and back again. Last time I pulled out a single Redwing amongst the flock but I didn't have to time to check for any more today.

Fieldfares:

 

I gave the Iris channels a good going over, they usually hold a Common Snipe or two and local Staines moor birder Lee Dingain (Whose blog can be found HERE) had a great find in the shape of a Jack Snipe last week, so I was a little hopeful for that too but actually saw neither.

Not bird related I know, but I noticed this dug into the bank, is it a home for something??..

Time to make a move and a single Song Thrush made itself known as I walked along the boardwalk back onto Stanwell moor. It was again quiet and I was probably concentrating more on not landed on my ar$e through the mud than anything else...UNTIL I stopped at the paddock gate by the barbed wire, to clean the 10kg of mud from my wellies.
With boots feeling lighter I scanned the reeds - something I always do in hope of a Bittern, a bird I've never seen there before but feel that there should be one in there somewhere!
As I lifted my bins I saw a bird take flight from a fence post and watched it fly away, curving over the reeds, low into the trees behind - a Merlin! A bloody MERLIN!
It was definitely an adult male, the bluey - gun 'metally' grey was very obvious.

A little pic to explain further:

Not only is this a great spot for myself but a nice record for 'the moors', as a female Merlin was first spotted some weeks back on the causeway of Staines Reservoir by dedicated res watcher Dominic Pia (@ReservoirDom on Twitter). Not long after that, a Merlin was accidently trapped ON Stanwell moor as part of some seperate research and again, reported as a female.

I'm certainly no professional and am more than happy to be informed/corrected, but my question is:

• could it be possible for female and juvenile to be confused? 
• Do the fem/juv plummages diifer enough to tell them apart with ease?

The reason I ask is to maybe find out if the bird I saw is that of a Juvenile which has matured? Or even better, just simply a male to pair with the female which has also been in the area this winter?

What an enjoyable 3-4hrs I had today, on MY PATCH!