Christmas Robin
Just like to say thanks to the folk who have visited and commented on my blog and to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a great 2015!!!!!!
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Sunday, 21 December 2014
Merry Christmas
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Cape Verde 2
Brown-necked Raven |
Cattle Egret and a friend |
Male Iago Sparrow |
Stilts on the settling pools |
Hoopoe Lark |
Spectacled Warble
Hope you have enjoyed your visit!!
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Friday, 5 December 2014
Cape Verde
Last week the Duchess (wife) and myself were off to Cape Verde to celebrate a friends 60th birthday; it was going to be a relaxing 7 days in the sun, but having never been to Cape Verde before, and after a bit of research, I found that there were a couple of birds there I had not seen - Iago Sparrow (Cape Verde sparrow) - which is an endemic, and the other was Black-crowned Sparrow Lark, so, on the 26th of November, and after a 6 hour non eventful flight, we found ourselves on Boa Vista - one of the islands in this archipelago 350 miles off the West coast of Senagal Africa. Our hotel - the Riu Touareg (which I can certainly recommend) is on the SE coast of the island. On our 30 minute transfer to the hotel, it was noticeable just how sparse the vegetation was - the first image (below) was taken from outside the hotel - and this what it was like as far as the eye could see - with just a few bushes scattered here and there.
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Twice in a week
October the 25th saw the last remnants of hurricane Gonzalo pass over the UK - but what had it brought with it on the bird front? Well, on Friday 26th, all was revealed - a Forster's Tern flew by Cape Cornwall; a yellow-billed cuckoo was found in Porthgwarra, Cornwall, closely followed by a Black-billed Cuckoo on North Ronaldsay; also a Hermit Thrush and a Chimney Swift in the Outer Hebrides - both a bit to far, but Porthgwarra in Cornwall (though 320 miles away) is quite 'doable', so, at 11.45pm Friday evening, Dave Gray, Ben Croxall and myself travelled over to our other birding buddy - Neil Hagley - for an overnight drive to Cornwall. We were there for first light and so, with a lot of other hopeful birders, made the 15 minute walk towards the said dried up pond where the bird had been frequenting the previous day. As the light got better and better every one was hopeful the bird would show, but sadly, after about 3 hours, despondent birders started to walk back to their cars, and we shortly followed. It was going to be a long drive home - but not before taking the opportunity to see some of the other avifauna that was also in the area, so we headed for Penzance as there had been a Juvenile Rose-coloured Starling being reported there for a few days. We parked on Sainsburys' car park and it wasn't long before it was seen feeding on a bush on the other side of the road. (Apologies for the image it's a record shot and heavily cropped)
Juvenile Rose-coloured Starling
Next stop was Copperhouse Creek in Hayle for a Lesser Yellowlegs. Once again we parked up - this time on the libary car park and there was the bird right in front of us! but too far away for any images, so I made due with this Bar-tailed Godwit.
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Monday, 6 October 2014
Shetland 2014
On Wednesday the 24th of September I made my annual pilgrimage to the Shetland Isles (an archipelago about 100 miles off the NE coast of Scotland), so at 4.30 am, the taxi arrived, and, with my birding buddies Steve James, Dave Gray and John Waters, we headed for Birmingham Airport. After two uneventful flights, we picked up the hire car - a Kia Picanto - which had not got enough power to pull the skin off a rice pudding! We headed for our home for the next 10 days, the Beach House at Hoswick, and after dropping off our luggage, we started to check out the local avifauna. We found Chiffchaff in our garden, and lots of Blackbird were about, along with Hooded Crow and a fly-over Bonxie (Great Skua). I won't bore you with a day-by-day list of birds, these are just a few highlights of our trip.....
Thursday, whilst out trying to see more migrants, a report of a Red-Eyed Vireo came in at The Sumburgh Hotel gardens, so off we went! Sadly, by the time we arrived, the bird had disappeared but we did note Snipe, Gold Crest, and at Sumburgh Head, Fulmar, Gannet and Raven were noted. We headed for Hestingott, to try and find the Red-Backed Shrike that had been there for a few days - and were successful following a good 'spot' by Steve. Other birds of note were Redstart, Wheatear, Merlin and Pied Flycatcher.
Red-Backed Shrike
Friday was extremely windy, so we went looking for more sheltered areas and found ourselves at Loch Clickimin, Lerwick. Noted water birds were Scaup, Whooper Swan, Kittiwake, Teal and large numbers of Tufted Duck with a few Wigeon. A report of an Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll had been found at Veensgarth, so off we went again! We were lucky to get good views of the bird, but sadly no images - unlike the Red-Breasted Flycatcher which we found on a small housing estate in Cunningsburgh!
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Red-Breasted Flycatcher |
Red-Breasted Flycatcher with a morsel
Saturday was again spent looking for migrants in and around Voe. Birds of note today were Twite, Brambling, White Wagtail, and, at the Loch of Voe, a possible Olive-Backed Pipit.
Sunday found us in Levenwick, where we found the Barred Warbler and a Lesser Whitethroat, which looked to be of the eastern variety. News of Swainson's Thrush at Norwick, on the Isle of Unst, was recieved. We were two ferrys and approximately 70 miles away, but it was a new BOU 'tick' for three of us, so it was a mad dash then, to Unst! We didn't have much time on Unst though, and unfortunately the bird hadn't been seen for at least two hours, and due to ferry times, we had to leave without seeing it.
Monday......Back on the first ferry available to try again for the Swainson's Thrush, and by 08.30, we were back at the same garden.....but to no avail! We did get flight views of Common Rosefinch, and also, a Wryneck - yet another good 'spot' by Steve! We decided then to go for a Temminck's Stint at Baltasound which was rather more obliging! We then moved on to Halligarth, as there had been a Rustic Bunting there for quite a while - which Steve needed for his list. Whilst viewing this bird, we also had excellent views of Barred and Garden Warblers.
A good day was had by all!
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Barred Warbler |
Garden Warbler
Whilst on our way back from Unst, news came in of a White Thrush near the Loch of Bow on the Shetland mainland. Although it was too late for us to get there that evening, we decided to target the bird the next morning, so, on Tuesday morning, we were to be found peering over a garden wall along with 60 other birders trying to get a sighting of this Siberian beauty. Though viewing was difficult, with patience, I think everybody got a view of the bird. The images below of the thrush were taken on Wednesday when we returned. The bird showed really well, and it's feeding method has to be seen to be believed - it paddles the ground, but it's head stays in exactly the same spot! ....... somebody described it as twerking, like Miley Cyrus!!
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White Thrush |
White Thrush
After leaving the White Thrush, the Myrtle Warbler (I prefer the old name of Yellow-Rumped Warbler) which had been found a few days earlier had turned up in a garden at Grutness, so we headed off to see it. As you can see from the images below, we had great views of this American warbler!
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Myrtle Warbler |
Myrtle Warbler |
Friday, as we were coming back from Scalaway and the Tingwall area, where a Pallid Harrier had been seen (Steve and John needed it for their lists), Steve, who was sitting in the back of the car suddenly blurted out those immortal words.....'Rubythroat'!!! 'Where?' we all shouted! Remember earlier in this tale I told you that the car was grossly underpowered??........well, to be fair to the Picanto, it managed to get four burly blokes to Levenwick - a distance of about five miles - in a speed you wouldn't believe! The bird was doing a circuit between a fuchsia and Hebe bush in a ladies garden, and, with patience, we all managed to see this enigmatic little jewel of a bird, along with about 60 other birders. I did manage to get one record image, but the bird was constantly moving, and as there was a restricted viewings in order to allow everybody to see it, I wasn't able to linger. Unfortunately, we were leaving the next morning, so weren't able to return for any more images.
Siberian Rubythroat |
Below are a few images of some of the other birds we saw on our visit to Shetland.
Fulmar |
Wryneck |
Wheatear |
Temminck's Stint |
Shag |
Whooper Swan |
Brambling
We had in the region of 90 species between us, and there are some bird I haven't even mentioned, like double figure counts of Yellow-browed Warbler, Kestrel - not a common bird - and neither is Carrion Crow. There were also lots of Blackcap, a few Skein of Pinkfeet with Purple Sandpiper, Sanderling and Turnstone. We traveled just over 800 miles - I just hope the car recovers!
As always, I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog!
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Sunday, 21 September 2014
Patch Birding
I really should put more on my blog about my patch at Brascote Gravel Pits. Its not that i'm lazy - its just that it's only a small area of old workings that used to extract gravel, and there are only a couple of the old settling pools that still hold water; there are lots of sallow, and some old woodland, and this is all surrounded by arable farming with a few cattle, but saying that, we have had some really good birds - e.g. Bearded Tit, Black Redstart, Avocet and Wood Sandpiper to name but a few! It's just sometimes really hard work to find anything at all - but I suppose that's why we do patch birding - hoping to find something a little more unusual than the more common birds. To this end, every now and then, I'll put some of the wildlife that appears on my patch. The Redstart image below was from last weekend, found by John - a good mate of mine.
Common Redsart As always, I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog. |
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Black Tern at Cropston
Earlier this week there was a Juvenile Black Tern reported at Cropston Reservoir not to far away from where I live, so on wednesday evening with nothing else better to do I thought that it was worth a visit to see if I could get any images. On arrival there were a few Common Terns perched at the water tower, and it wasn't long before I picked up the Black Tern feeding out in the middle of the Reservoir along with hundreds of Hirundines mostly Swallow and Sand Martins.Along the dam 3 Common Sandpipers were busy chasing each other about but I did manage to get a few Images, but the Tern was always to far out to get some really good images so the record shot below though cropped is the best I got. In the couple of hours I was there 2 Raven and 6 Little Egret and 3 female Mandarins were also noted.
Juvenile Black Tern |
Common Sandpiper |
Common Sandpiper
As always hope you enjoyed your visit.
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Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Migrants on the move
On Tuesday evening, a it was nice, being quite warm and with no wind, I gave my mate Pete a call to arrange to visit our local patch at Brascote GP. On arriving and checking the front pit,we saw that the 5 juvenile Gadwall were still present, as were the 2 Little Grebe; the flock of geese seemed to have expanded, with over 200 Canada Geese and 22 Greylag in with them.We then headed for the sallows pit, but as we were walking down the path, we noticed two or three Long-tailed tits and with them was a Phylloscopus Warbler. We waited, and after a few minutes the Phylloscopus Warbler showed well, - and .....not just one Willow Warbler, but at least five were seen in with a tit flock, which had a minimum of 28 Long-tailed tits, Blue and Great Tit, and a Chiffchaff; these were just the birds that we were seeing - more must have gone through unnoticed through the willows. Carrying on to the bottom track, the only other bird of note - though being a nice one - was a Hobby a nice couple of hours birding.
Long-tailed Tit |
Scruffy looking Willow Warbler
Hope you have enjoyed your visit!!!!!
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Monday, 11 August 2014
Penzance Pelagic
I was thinking to myself a few weeks ago about how short my British list of Petrels is, with only Storm and Leach's seen... and also only Manx and Balearic Shearwaters....but the thing is, I didn't want to go down to Pendeen or Porthgwara, on the Cornish coast, and sit there for hours. I'm afraid I am not a big sea watcher, so imagine my surprise when Rare Bird Alert tweeted that a company in Penzance was running pelagic trips on every Saturday in August... so, after a few phone calls to friends, we were booked on the boat for the 9th of August! At stupid o'clock last Saturday morning, Steve James, Dave Gray, John Waters and myself headed for Penzance for our 8 hour pelagic. In the previous few days, lots of the big Shearwaters had been seen from the mainland and from pelagic trips running from the Scilly Isles.... plus the winds were in our favour, so fingers crossed, we should see a few birds! After the compulsory 'full English' in the cafe on the harbour car park,(certainly recommend it) at just after 8.00am, we were off towards Wolf Rock Lighthouse, 8 miles from of Lands End. It wasn't long before some Common Dolphins were spotted, and there were quite a few big Gulls about - Great Blacked-backed and Herring Gulls mostly.
Great Blacked-back Gull
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