Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
11.11.16ff 2016
Bits and Pieces
Originally a song by the Dave Clark Five, it seems the different [and dreadful] song by Artemisia and others is much better known... it may be my age...
1: The Light that Failed
Takes me back too - a book I had to read at school by Rudyard Kipling but it's a decent title for the first segment of this blog. Friday 11th November I decided to visit the Nunburnholme red kite roost. I set off from York in sunshine but clouds darkened the wooded hillside as the birds came in low. Photography against this back ground was tricky and any birds that came in high were silhouetted. Interesting afternoon however.
What on earth is this?
I saw a white pheasant.
I've avoided using the word albino as I saw 6 white pheasants including three at once.
Buzzard and red kite.
The moon rose behind me. It seemed unusually big...
2: Sunny Burniston
Reports of lapland buntings and a short-toed lark drew me to a Sunday afternoon visit [13/11] to the stubble fields north of the observatory. I could only positively id skylarks: those trampling the field may have flushed other birds but in flight [and into the sun a lot of the time] I couldn't tell. It was very reminiscent of a previous visit. A curlew called and I swung the camera and pointed. The 5D and 500mm lens seem to be suiting me well enough.
3: Supermoon
From the back garden a couple of hours apart - I had to grab my chances in between periods of cloud cover - on Monday 14th November. Hand-held 500mm lens; 800 ISO
Later...
4: Egrets, I have a few...
Tuesday 15th November: off to Lincolnshire, starting at Skidbrooke for a couple of cattle egrets. First time I'd ever seen more than one cattle egret at once.
Local birders sent us to Horseshoe Point for the pallid harrier. Waste of time! Immediately reported at Donna Nook! Chiffchaff at Horseshoe Point.
Quite a few little egrets out on the marsh.
I drove off to Donna Nook. Although it was a weekday, the car park was overflowing. I had to go to the overflow car park, pay my £2 and walk all the way along the seal colony. It was very busy with school parties and the elderly who all wanted to go 'Arrrr' at the seal pups. I can't imagine why...
I plodded on towards the realignment where everybody had been watching the rough-legged buzzard. I never saw it although I walked right out to the north end of the realignment where I did watch the pallid harrier cruising distantly along the shoreline - which was a long way away across the saltmarsh.
I headed back. The RAF got very busy and the noise was deafening. The jets came quite low and it has often surprised me that it's much easier to 'kill' the movement of a fast moving jet than it is to 'kill' bird flight...
Not rotated by the way.
This stonechat stood its ground in spite of the racket overhead...
...and 'Am I bothered!' said this egret.
The teal were more easily spooked.
Spot the wigeon in the first photo!
07-08.11.16
The Hawthorn Connection
Sheila found this on the windowsill on November 7th. It's a hawthorn shield bug - about half the size of my little finger nail. Macro lens really shows up the detail.
I set off early on the 8th November for South Landing to look for little auks. None present on the very calm flat sea but one soon zipped past me about 100m offshore. Also seen were a few red-throated divers, lots of scoter and rafts of wigeon too. Selection of waders included sanderling, turnstone, curlew, redshank, oystercatcher plus rock pipits.
From there I headed south to find out if any of the recent quality birds of prey were still about. I approached Spurn via Holmpton just to browse the country lanes [red-legged partridge the only birds of note]. As I passed a farm where I knew little owls could sometimes be seen I slowed down. I had done this many times without luck. Amazingly a little owl was sitting in a barn window in the sun.
Apparently the pallid and rough-leg had disappeared south so I decided to just linger in the area and see what I could find. Canal Scrape was quiet. A fieldfare dropped in...
It came closer.
...and a robin was feeding on crumbs near my car.
Driving between the Blue Bell and the Crown and Anchor a couple in a stationary car pointed into a bush as I drew near. I stopped a bit further on and grabbed my bins to have a look. Waxwings - shots quite distant.
The birds flew off and I prepared to drive on. The other car stopped again so I decided to turn round and see if I could get some shots from the car. This is where the blog title comes in. Hawthorn fest!
Things don't always go right! Damn, I dropped it!
Later I popped up to Tophill Low and watched a distant grey phalarope on D reservoir - miles away on the far side it looked pretty tiny even with the scope fully zoomed up.
271 UK 2016
3rd November ff 2016
It isn't all over yet!
Lightning strikes twice!
Hartlepool Headland announced another eastern black redstart on November 3rd whilst the Skinningrove bird was still present teens of miles away. Sheila and I packed a lunch and headed north. Bird was 'missing' when we arrived but I was pleased to be the one who relocated it by the Heugh Pier play area. Here it is!
The background comes from an old brick wall behind the bird.
Although Sheila is only an occasional birder, her lifers list for 2016 is quite impressive: penduline tit; spotted crake; western purple swamphen; red-flanked bluetail; red-breasted flycatcher and eastern black redstart!
28-30th October 2016
Spin the bottle!
Sometimes the bottle points to the Scillies or to Devon and Cornwall; at others it's Norfolk's turn for the rarity bonanza. Just recently the bottle came to rest pointing to the North-east. So, 3 days in October - here we go!
28th October: I set off early as is my wont and by 7.15a.m. I was sitting on a lump of concrete overlooking the north side of Skinningrove jetty. The light was still poor: the sun had not yet risen above its North Sea horizon. The eastern black redstart showed immediately as did ferocious robins and a few rock pipits. In the semi-darkness..
The light slowly improved. The bird continued to show well although it did occasionally disappear down among the rock armour.
Sometimes it went down onto the beach...
...or lapsed into concentration mode.
Lovely bird!
Before heading home I called at Saltholme for bird seed. In Phil Stead hide I saw some of the usual suspects... blackwits...and teal...
...a few goldfinch came down to drink.
On the off-chance of something of interest I called at Greatham Creek thinking a few seal close-ups might be nice. I was surprised by more action than expected.
North Gare road was quiet. A few curlew kept an eye on me...
...and at Newburn Bridge I soon spotted the med. gull in his normal spot!
October 29th and a daurian shrike was reported at South Shields along The Leas. At first things looked a little quiet although I could see one or two birders near the big mound. As I approached and crested a rise in the ground I realised this was quite a twitch! The must have been 40 or so scopes and big lenses sitting on their tripods. Of the bird there was at first no sign but eventually we all had brilliant views.
This first, distant view sets the scene nicely.
30th October: back to Redcar for a pied wheatear - only my second, having seen my first at Reighton Sands amongst some caravans in November 2008. The Redcar bird was a much more handsomely marked bird - a real cinema star! [It was hanging around the cinema on the beach in Redcar]
It's been a great October and the North of England just keeps on delivering the goodies!
269 UK 2016
21st-24th October
Four days in October...
It's been a good month. Friday 21st October Sheila and I headed north for South Gare and Skinningrove. Things were very quiet. Stonechat pair showed nicely at Skinningrove.
South Gare little to report but photographed this flower as it was everywhere and I didn't know what it was.
I'm still not sure what it is - it may be a mustard such as hoary or black mustard. I'll keep looking.
Saturday 22nd October, bright and early [7am] saw me walking from Easington to the boatyard area to look for siberian stonechat and isabelline wheatear. Eventually seen in ''not really daylight'' conditions I walked back to Tiggy and got the camera. Someone shouted ''That'll be no good. It's too close for that lens!'' So here it is - the isabelline first.
The siberian stonechat appeared. People seemed to be over keen to get close so I contented myself with approaching using the 'crop' method at home!
Kilnsea Wetlands: the highlight here was a merlin over Beacon Ponds and along the far bank of the wetlands in front of the hide. Mesmerising to watch. I snapped a greenshank and an egret that came quite close.
I headed for Easington as a waxwing was reported on Vicar's Lane.
A couple of chiffchaffs were on the lane too. Here's one of them.
Coffee break at Canal Scrape. Quiet. Kestrel in far bushes didn't stir at all during the half hour I spent there.
Down to Sammy's. Song thrush hiding in a hawthorn...
...and ring ouzels in the first horse paddock. Not as close as last time but still very nice!
Finally on the coast at Sandy Beaches caravan park I watched a very tame snow bunting.
Sunday 23rd October took me to Filey hoping for a lapland bunting. No luck but did see a snow bunting on Carr Naze. Pager sent me to Flamborough, Thornwick Pool to see a warbler with a variety of names! Variously described as Hume's warbler or Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's yellow-browed warbler, it showed among young willows but was very tricky to photograph. My camera settings were all wrong and the results, alas, were rubbish! Still, a good year tick.
On Monday 24th Barry and I had a trip to Hartlepool and other favourite haunts in the area. Highlights were a black-necked grebe at Saltholme, good numbers of purple sandpipers, a med gull [of course] and lots of screaming parakeets. A day's general birding with no obvious rarities in our chosen direction, we had an excellent day with over 60 species seen. Here's a couple of parakeets to finish.
