Profile
I've been a London Birder since 1984. My local patch is Brent Reservoir and I’m fortunate enough to live adjacent to it. My best finds at Brent include: Great White Egret (a joint find and a first for London), Lesser Scaup (2nd for London but also seen elsewhere), Blue-winged Teal (3rd for London), Ring-billed Gull (10th), White-winged Black Tern (28th), two Yellow-browed Warblers and a Spoonbill (seen from my flat). I also co-found a Black Stork at Cheshunt on a bird race which was a modern-day first for London (this proves how luck plays its part in finding rarities as we wouldn't even have been there if we didn't still need Lesser Whitethroat!).
I’m also the London Bird Recorder and was Editor of the London Bird Report for the years 1998-2006. When I’m not at Brent Res I’m probably birding overseas. I have visited every continent and have seen 4671 species (Clements) .
The best bird I've ever seen is Pel's Fishing Owl in Botswana. Not far behind are Great Grey Owl - a female on a nest with three well grown young and a male nearby on lookout, adult male Pied Harrier in Nepal and Yellow-headed-Picathartes in Ghana.
Apart from birds I'm also interested in butterflies (UK List 48 including Large Tortoiseshell & Monarch), moths (I run a trap) and mammals (Total 355; I saw 11 Tigers in 2005 and Mountain Gorilla, Wolf, Black Bear & Puma in 2006). And rock music (in the last few years I've been to see UFO (3 times), Rush, Magnum, Def Leppard & Whitesnake).
Andrew Self, May, 2010.
Patchlist Competition 2010
| Species | Brent Res | Westminster |
|---|---|---|
| Little Grebe | 1 | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 1 | 1 |
| Black-necked Grebe | ||
| Cormorant | 1 | 1 |
| Little Egret | 1 | |
| Grey Heron | 1 | 1 |
| Bittern | 1 | |
| Mute Swan | 1 | 1 |
| Greylag Goose | 1 | 1 |
| Canada Goose | 1 | 1 |
| Egyptian Goose | 1 | 1 |
| Shelduck | 1 | |
| Mandarin | 1 | |
| Wigeon | 1 | |
| Gadwall | 1 | 1 |
| Teal | 1 | |
| Mallard | 1 | 1 |
| Pintail | 1 | |
| Garganey | 1 | |
| Shoveler | 1 | 1 |
| Red-crested Pochard | ||
| Pochard | 1 | 1 |
| Tufted Duck | 1 | 1 |
| Scaup | 1 | |
| Common Scoter | ||
| Goldeneye | 1 | |
| Goosander | 1 | |
| Ruddy Duck | 1 | 1 |
| Red-legged Partridge | 1 | |
| Osprey | ||
| Sparrowhawk | 1 | 1 |
| Goshawk | 1 | |
| Marsh Harrier | ||
| Common Buzzard | 1 | |
| Red Kite | 1 | |
| Merlin | ||
| Kestrel | 1 | |
| Hobby | 1 | |
| Peregrine | 1 | 1 |
| Pheasant | ||
| Water Rail | 1 | |
| Moorhen | 1 | 1 |
| Coot | 1 | 1 |
| Avocet | ||
| Oystercatcher | 1 | |
| Lapwing | 1 | |
| Ringed Plover | 1 | |
| Little Ringed Plover | 1 | |
| Dunlin | 1 | |
| Sanderling | ||
| Ruff | 1 | |
| Jack Snipe | ||
| Snipe | 1 | |
| Woodcock | 1 | |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 1 | |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 1 | |
| Whimbrel | 1 | |
| Curlew | ||
| Redshank | 1 | |
| Greenshank | 1 | |
| Wood Sandpiper | 1 | |
| Green Sandpiper | 1 | |
| Common Sandpiper | 1 | |
| Mediterranean Gull | 1 | 1 |
| Little Gull | 1 | |
| Black-headed Gull | 1 | 1 |
| Common Gull | 1 | 1 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 | 1 |
| Yellow-legged Gull | 1 | |
| Caspian Gull | ||
| Herring Gull | 1 | 1 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 1 | |
| Kittiwake | ||
| Little Tern | ||
| Common Tern | 1 | |
| Arctic Tern | 1 | |
| Black Tern | ||
| Feral Dove | 1 | 1 |
| Stock Dove | 1 | |
| Woodpigeon | 1 | 1 |
| Collared Dove | 1 | |
| Turtle Dove | 1 | |
| Ring-necked Parakeet | 1 | 1 |
| Cuckoo | ||
| Tawny Owl | 1 | |
| Little Owl | ||
| Long-eared Owl | ||
| Short-eared Owl | 1 | 1 |
| Swift | 1 | |
| Kingfisher | 1 | |
| Green Woodpecker | 1 | |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 | 1 |
| Lesser Spotted Woodpecker | 1 | |
| Skylark | 1 | |
| Sand Martin | 1 | |
| Swallow | 1 | |
| House Martin | 1 | |
| Tree Pipit | 1 | |
| Meadow Pipit | 1 | |
| Rock Pipit | ||
| Water Pipit | ||
| Yellow Wagtail | 1 | |
| Grey Wagtail | 1 | |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 | |
| Waxwing | 1 | |
| Wren | 1 | |
| Dunnock | 1 | |
| Robin | 1 | 1 |
| Nightingale | ||
| Redstart | 1 | |
| Black Redstart | ||
| Whinchat | 1 | |
| Stonechat | ||
| Wheatear | 1 | |
| Ring Ouzel | 1 | |
| Blackbird | 1 | 1 |
| Fieldfare | 1 | 1 |
| Song Thrush | 1 | |
| Redwing | 1 | 1 |
| Mistle Thrush | 1 | 1 |
| Cetti's Warbler | 1 | |
| Grasshopper Warbler | ||
| Sedge Warbler | 1 | |
| Reed Warbler | 1 | |
| Lesser Whitethroat | 1 | |
| Common Whitethroat | 1 | |
| Garden Warbler | 1 | |
| Blackcap | 1 | |
| Chiffchaff | 1 | 1 |
| Willow Warbler | 1 | |
| Goldcrest | 1 | 1 |
| Firecrest | 1 | |
| Spotted Flycatcher | 1 | |
| Pied Flycatcher | ||
| Long-tailed Tit | 1 | 1 |
| Coal Tit | 1 | 1 |
| Blue Tit | 1 | 1 |
| Great Tit | 1 | 1 |
| Nuthatch | 1 | |
| Treecreeper | 1 | 1 |
| Jay | 1 | 1 |
| Magpie | 1 | 1 |
| Jackdaw | 1 | |
| Rook | ||
| Carrion Crow | 1 | 1 |
| Starling | 1 | 1 |
| House Sparrow | 1 | |
| Chaffinch | 1 | 1 |
| Brambling | 1 | |
| Greenfinch | 1 | 1 |
| Goldfinch | 1 | |
| Siskin | 1 | |
| Linnet | 1 | |
| Lesser Redpoll | 1 | |
| Crossbill | ||
| Bullfinch | 1 | |
| Yellowhammer | ||
| Ortolan Bunting | 1 | |
| Reed Bunting | 1 | |
| TOTALS: | 131 | 46 |