Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
10th-11th March 2018
An ambition fulfilled!
But which one? Not anything on March 10th!
Saturday March 10th
Snowy owl confirmed as still present Thornham Point, Norfolk. Within half an hour I had an overnight booking in Hunstanton, everything packed [thanks to Sheila], lunch and flasks etc included and I was on my way. Instructions were to go to Titchwell and walk. I decided to go to Thornham harbour to get a feel of what was happening. Lots of scopes trained on the distant shoreline. Thanks to Brett Richards [of Flamborough seawatch team] I soon had scope views of the snowy owl. I eventually saw it fly about 60m to the left!
Cuckoo shot coming up. [Regular readers know that a 'cuckoo shot' is a very distant view of a bird, not even qualifying to be as good as a record shot!] Well, this is the ultimate cuckoo shot!
The snowy owl is on the shoreline left of the two posts. Looks like a dark blob!
Let's zoom in a bit.
She's turned her head to look at us! Lifer 435 anyway. Scope views were much better.
I headed to Titchwell. Watched a woodcock in someone else's scope; yellow-legged gull reported and seen out on the Freshwater Marsh. Red-crested pochard on Patsy's Reedbed.
Sunday 11th March
Next morning I had a late breakfast and waited till 9am to see if the owl was reported. Sadly it was reported late morning when people had much closer views. I was long gone at Frampton Marsh by then. It was a lovely day: ruffs, newly arrived avocets, lots of skylarks...
[Note the leg colour on these birds - from yellow to salmon pink to grey]
...a few barnacle geese and lapwings.
I headed north. Decided to have another break at Broomhill near Old Moor. Just a young woman in the car park. We chatted. She'd been standing there since 11am. It was ten to two. Turned out she was from Lostock Hall near Preston where I used to go train-spotting many years ago. We shared memories of places we both had frequented decades apart. I told her 2 o'clock was a good time for the hawfinch. She asked me to keep watch while she slipped across to look at the pig pond. I said I'd scream 'Preston' loudly if it turned up.
Ambition fulfilled coming up.
I spotted a lump in the depths of one of the trees. Raised my bins and shouted 'Preston' very loudly. Eventually the young woman heard and came back. I'd taken my eye off the bird but it was still there. Two o'clock precisely. She got her lifer in heavy shade but she was happy.
Ambition fulfilled not because it was a year tick - I'd seen quite a few - but I wanted a decent, well-lit photo and all my efforts so far had been dull, grey shaded, overcast or distant efforts. This time was better.
First attempt trying to penetrate the framework of the tree.
I moved round to a different angle. The sun tried to come out at just the right moment. The only British bird with a stainless steel bill!
Went to Wombwell afterwards; saw a chiffchaff and met up with Robin and Kirsty from my last Scotland trip. They'd dropped in to see the yellow-browed warbler. I was happy with the chiffchaff and set off home.
Great weekend!
160 UK 2018
6th-7th March 2018
Spring still on hold?
March 8th
Sitting in my warm study to write this, the ploughed field across from our house is striated with black and white lines - snow in the furrows and soil visible on the ridges. The view is punctuated with large black dots which are a selection of the local crow species, jackdaws, rooks and crows.
Looking back over the last few days...
March 6th
Return to Wombwell. I hoped to see the firecrest this time. I did after much searching - had it briefly in the brambles on the 'wrong' side of the river. Too quick to grab a photo unfortunately. Had another go with the yellow-browed warbler.
From there I drove across country to Hornsea Mere where I looked for some bean geese but no sign. A pair of common scoter were seen along with my third long-tailed duck of the year. [Previous two were at East Chevington and Holme Pierrepont] The Hornsea bird although very distant was looking quite smart.
March 7th
Briefly I thought spring had come [until I looked out of the window this morning 8/3] Wednesday was a nice day. I headed for Barton on Humber. I needed to find Pit 25. Without the excellent directions from Simon Spavin I would never have got there! Pit 25 is one of the eastern pits, east of the Sailing Club. I spent about three-quarters of an hour trying to find a slavonian grebe. The light was tricky. Although a lovely morning, from the embankment I was looking into the sun to see across the pit. I had just about given up hope when it appeared out in the middle of the pit. Where had it been hiding the last 45 minutes?
Anyway, here's Pit 25. Quite big with plenty of wildfowl including goldeneye and 3 species of grebe.
The pits were formed as various brickworks were established along the riverbank. Just the occasional sign remains like this old brickworks chimney.
As for birds, here's a swan...
...the song of reed bunting seemed to be everywhere...
...the female was a much shyer bird...
This was quite a pale bird.
Oh yes, slavonian grebe. Mega crop 'cuckoo shot' as I call them.
Rumours of a red-necked grebe near Thealby [thanks, Simon!] sent me a bit further west, near Alkborough. Bagmoor they seem to call it locally. It's not clearly there at all on OS maps but it's now quite a large stretch of water controlled by Anglian Water. Red-necked grebe was scoped a good way off [into the sun again] but that made 4 species of grebe in a morning.
I headed for a break in the hide at Alkborough. No sign of any bearded tits but lots of waders on the sand from the hide. A chap came back from out towards Trent Falls saying that after 2 double bends there was a green field with 2000 barnacle geese in it. Curious, i set off. I didn't get far before this happened.
I didn't count them.
The nicest part of the morning was spent with a confiding stonechat that was doing little display flights just ahead of me. No sign of any female to display to he decided to show off to me. I stood still and he came unbelievably close. Here he is.
I was home for lunchtime!
156 UK 2018
28th February ff
Something was bound to turn up!
28th February
Heavy snow overnight made me keen to keep an eye on the birds in the garden and in the field across. Eventually redwing and fieldfare turned up not only in the field but in the conifers in the garden and eventually on the ground under our feeders. The redwing were fleeting and nervous. Skylark also seen feeding on the ground in the field. The fieldfare posed in the back garden.
A few more common visitors today.
In the afternoon the redwing appeared in the garden as well.
Next day...
March 1st
Not as many birds about. The song thrush has a prominent brown cap - not always as obvious as this. Also, tree sparrow still with the house sparrows.
The important visitors turned up late morning...
...and so did these regulars!
24th-26th February 2018
Bits 'n Bobs
Weather imposes a bit of a hiatus in my birding quests so I'll do the very latest update. The last few days have been quite good with a couple of very nice surprises. So, here goes...
Saturday 24th February
Troutsdale. I'm thinking of having Troutsdale signs removed and all references to the dale removed from all maps. I'd like it to be kept a secret, a sort of Shangri-La...
I stopped where I thought the goshawks might fly. Apparently they did but before I came. I settled for a couple of buzzards.
I met a local birder down at Dipper Bridge who said he'd seen nothing but a few goshawks and a treecreeper. Lucky lad! I asked if there were dipper about. 'Water's still too deep,' he replied. I said that nonetheless I'd promised myself a walk along the river so I set off and he climbed into his 4x4 and left. I walked about half a mile there and back. On my way back I had a nice surprise. Dipper checking the water's depth.
It was Nigel Stewart who told me about the dippers here. I often think of him. Life can be very cruel. Make the most of it, I always think. Carpe diem und so weiter!
I headed for Bempton. Unfortunately I seem to time my visits with days when the auks have gone back out to sea as they tend to do off and on at this time of year.
Obligatory gannet shot and then I enjoyed trying to get some fulmar shots. I find photographing them quite a rewarding challenge...
I walked south hoping to track down some corn buntings. There's a fenced off field about 800m south of Staple Newk with a permissive footpath running westwards on the south side of the field. It is signed. I walked to the south-west corner of this field and waited. There were plenty of little birds about. Tree sparrows, skylark singing overhead [in spite of the freezing temperature] and yellowhammer on the fence.
In German yellowhammer is called goldammer. Generally, in German, the buntings are called something ending in -ammer. So, Yellowammer means yellow bunting. And I deliberately got rid of the letter h! No hammers involved!
You'll be relieved after all that to know that the Grauammer turned up.
Big treat coming up! Passing through Burton Fleming late afternoon on the way home something came up briefly from behind a hedge and then went down again. Immediately I thought 'owl'. I pulled onto the grass verge by the cemetery, grabbed the camera and peered over the cemetery gate. My second chance barn owl encounter this year. Worthy of any calendar I think!
Monday 26th February
In spite of the weather forecast and the odd snowflake drifting down Sheila said I should go to Wombwell and try for the Richard's pipit
Even more exciting if a little beyond belief was the report of a yellow-browed warbler at the same location. It seems every site has its glory days. The pipit looked splendid in the scope when it appeared from behind the tufts of grass and dips in the ground. Everyone saw it eventually. The yellow-browed was spectacularly easy to see. Leaf warbler in February when there's no leaves certainly helps but the bird is so quick and the hawthorns so dense that clear views are rare and then you've to get a focus lock and by then the bird has hopped left or right or just vanished! Still I did my best...
Did you know they can levitate too?
152 UK 2018
20th February ff
October flashback!
I spent a week in Scotland last October and featured the photos on my return in my blog. However, I mentioned at the time that one 32GB memory card had failed and although the photos were there they wouldn't download. Sometimes I was able to download one or two photos before the error messages began to flow. Recently I tried again. So far I've downloaded about a dozen images, concentrating on getting a couple at a time from each time I took a few shots.
Later I discovered I could download easily as long as I only downloaded 1 image at a time. Eventually it [whatever it is!] catches on and happily tells me there are no files on this card. You get back in by re-starting the computer. Removing and reinserting the memory card doesn't wash!
They date from 24th-26th October 2017.
First off: drake eider showing off on the Ythan estuary.
Next Findhorn seafront. Hooded crow trying to break a cockle by dropping it onto the shingle beach. I tried to catch the bird dropping the cockle but I never succeeded in getting bird and cockle. Here's the result.
The carrion crows don't like the hooded crows but in the end there's a broad spectrum of in-between hybrids. This shot exemplifies this.
Offshore were rafts of birds. What are these? Very distant I'm afraid. Answer at the end of the posting.
On to the Black Isle and to Udale Bay [an RSPB roadside reserve]. Here were pinkfeet...
...and as the light failed, a raft of scaup. I'd never seen scaup in this number before and the photo only shows a fraction of the birds present.
February 21st. Working in the garden I heard a clucking noise sort of above and behind me. Our pheasant had dropped in and was lecturing me from atop the fence. He eventually came down when I went indoors. He lingered quite a while and was happy to be photographed by Sheila and myself.
A cat shadowed the pheasant but didn't dare get close.
Trying to get a better view of our pheasant from the vegetable garden I spotted movement in the conifer that I instantly recognized. [Strange sentence! I don't mean I instantly recognized the conifer but I recognized the movement - I suppose you'd call it jizz...] Always a thrill to espy a goldcrest in our garden - first one this year.
February 22nd. Sheila fancied a trip to the seaside so we eventually chose Hartlepool. We began with a stop to check what was at Saltholme but decided to leave for a walk from the Zinc Works Road into the dunes and out to Seaton Snook. I was looking for snow buntings. They flew off towards North Gare and I was left with this skulking bird in the dune grass.
Assuming it's a skylark. Little else seen. A curlew was out on the mud. Shooting into the sun produced this contrast image. We headed back short-cutting across the sand.
We also walked along the Headland watching the eider ducks and drakes and had lunch at the Black Redstart site where we saw.... a blackbird!
Finally a quick walk round Ward Jackson Park: the parakeets were not seen. It was quite calm and we had a very pleasant day.
Answer: raft of drake long-tailed ducks.