Just a catch up

 Well it's been a while since I last posted anything - but that doesn't mean I've not been out and about - although probably not as much as i would have liked!...... 

Going back to when lockdown ended on March 29th 2021, John Hague, Dave Gray and I decided to go down to Exmouth in Devon to have a look at the Northern Mockingbird which had been frequenting people's gardens for quite some time. As soon as we got there, other birders directed us to where the bird was perched in what was apparently it's favourite tree, so it was quite an easy twitch to start us off!

                 

Northern Mockingbird images

After we had had our fill of the Mockingbird, we continued on to Dawlish Countryside Park, as we'd been told Cirl Bunting was quite easy to see - and the information was correct! We had really great views of a handful of the birds

Cirl Bunting

We continued on again - this time to Aylesbeare Common RSPB Reserve, which is good for Dartford Warbler; after an hour or so, we found our quarry - but sadly, no images.

9th April was my next bird of note, when an adult Kittiwake was found at Groby Pool - about 3 miles from where I live.  It wasn't hard to find, as it was the only gull on the pool! - but a really good find, and nice bird to see.

Kittiwake Images

Still in April, (20th) and once again Dave, John and I decided to do another outing - but this time for a mammal in the shape of an Arctic Walrus, which, after visiting Ireland, had taken up residence on the slipway of the RNLI Lifeboat Station at Tenby in Wales. All I can say is what a magnificent animal! Since we've seen it, it has ventured as far south as France and Spain, but, as I write this blog, it has travelled back north again via the Scilly Isles, and is currently back in Ireland. Hopefully, the walrus - which has been nicknamed 'Wally'  - is heading in the right direction and will soon be back in the Arctic where he belongs.   Good luck, Wally!!!

Images of 'Wally' the Walrus

It was good to also see Purple Sandpiper and Turnstone on the slipway with 'Wally'; we also noted five Whimbrel flying over, a few Manx Shearwater and three Sandwich Tern along with one or two Guillemot and a couple of Rock Pipits.

We finished our day out at Seven Sister Falls for Dipper (again, no images)

Rock Pipit images

June was a fantastic month for me as I managed to get three new British ticks!

It all started on 6th June, when John Waters and I travelled to Ham Wall RSPB Reserve where a long-staying River Warbler had taken up residence. Once again, we had superb views of this bird - which never stopped singing - but sadly,  all of my images of it are on my phone -  and since I'm something of a technophobe, I haven't got a clue how to get them onto my laptop!!

The following afternoon, again, with John Waters and also Chris Hubbard, we travelled north to Blyth for a Red-necked Stint; it was distant, as it was feeding on the other side of the estuary - but we were advised by a local birder to bide our time, as it would fly to our side of the estuary as the tide came in. Thank goodness for local knowledge, as eventually, we had brilliant views but once again, the images are on my phone.......

My third tick on 30th June came in the shape of a Black-browed Albatross which was visiting the Gannet colony at Bempton Cliffs RSPB Reserve. 

I left in the morning at 'stupid o'clock', arriving at an almost-full car park around 4.30ish, after a 2.5 hour drive. I bumped into my mate Chris Hubbard at the viewing area, and together we waited for a couple of hours, before someone shouted those immortal words....'there it is!!!'  We had decent views, but it was always a long way off, and my images certainly don't do it justice. Some observers have been lucky to see the bird at a really close range..... Although  I've been lucky enough to see hundreds of these birds in and around The Beagle Channel, off the coast of Argentina,  it's still a thrill to see one flying around our coastline here in Britain.

Not very good images of Black-browed Albatross (but I hope you get the gist...)

Gannet image (especially for my wife, as it's one of her favourites)

And so to July.....  My good mate John Hague had yet to see Elegant Tern, as he missed the Pagham Harbour bird which I got to see, so 11th July I accompanied him to Cemlyn Bay, on the north-west coast of Anglesey, where one of these birds had taken up residence in amongst some Sandwich Terns.

It was probably a good hour before we finally had sight of the Elegant Tern, but there were so many other birds to enjoy that the time soon passed.  In the bay we saw a handful of Black Guillemot, Arctic, Common and Sandwich Tern going back and forth to the colony as they brought in food for their young; we also had a Peregrine disrupt the Tern colony and it had a go at two of the birds -  but left empty-taloned.  All in all, a great day out!

Elegant Tern

Elegant Tern

Arctic Tern feeding juvenile

Common Tern

Roseate Tern

Arctic Tern

Hopefully we can all still continue to enjoy the outdoors whilst staying safe as we move forward into this new 'normal' 

Stay safe please everyone, and as always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the post

Lockdown local Birding

Lockdown has been a pain to say the least!  January 2nd was the last time I went birding on my patch at Brascote GP,  so it's been birding in the garden and around the village - the latter not being very productive. January 15th ,a female Blackcap turned up - which for our small garden is a really good bird; the last time we saw her was on the 3rd of March but she had been in and out of the garden for 47 days altogether.

Also regular in the garden is Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Robin; the local blackbirds and Dunnocks are always squabbling, and the Wood Pigeons never seem to stop feeding!

Blue Tit in the snow

We also get regular visits from Great Tit, Blue Tit and Coal Tit - with the occasional visit from Long-tailed Tits.

In early February, we had two or three inches of snow here which highlighted a few of our garden birds nicely.

Coal Tit 

Dunnock

Blackbird

Wood Pigeon

It's now mid-March, and the Blue Tits and Great Tits have been prospecting the nesting boxes, so hopefully, they will breed - and it's also nice to see all of the garden birds in their breeding plumage!

Female Blackcap

Cole Tit

The above image of a Redwing was a first for our garden, although I have seen plenty flying through

Wren

Our weekly grocery shop puts us in very close proximity to Leicester's 'Abbey Park' - a place I hadn't visited since I was a teenager, so, a few months ago, we decided to go to the park early doors for our daily exercise before doing our shop. The park has lots of Canada Geese and hybrid geese, along with lots of Mallard, as the public 'feed the ducks' with their children - but occasional other duck species do turn up as well - so the last few months, we've enjoyed our weekly walk around the park whilst seeing the bird life.

The images below are from Abbey Park 

Cormorant

Gadwall

Female Red-crested Pochard

Drake Red-crested Pochard

Drake Shoveler

This is just a snapshot of some of my images over the last few months. Hopefully, in the next few weeks we will all be able to get out and about a bit more! In the meantime, stay safe, and thanks for visiting........

Something Local

 Going back to last year in early October, I was out on my local patch at Brascote where I picked up a small wader in my binoculars; I set up my scope and there was a first for the patch in the shape of a Knot. When Carl Baggot and Adey Baker turned up to view the Knot, Carl also found a patch tick - a female Red-breasted Merganser but sadly, no images as the bird was no sooner there than it was gone again!

Knot

Later on in October, another patch tick was found by Carl - a Yellow-browed warbler, but again, sadly no images. It was found again a week or so later by Nick Sharpe; whether it was the same bird or not, who knows?

Carl was wandering on the west side of the patch one day in early November when he found a new friend - a Reeve's Pheasant. He posted a video on social media showing the bird around his feet, being rather sociable considering it was in a cover crop for game birds. Later in the month, Carl and I arranged to meet on site to have a look for it again, but with no luck - although we did find yet another patch tick - a Brambling mixed in with a flock of Chaffinch. Over the following couple of months, Carl and Adey saw in excess of twenty Brambling but it wasn't until late November that I finally saw the beautiful Reeve's Pheasant. I know it's not a tick, but it's still one very stunning bird!

Images of the stunning Reeve's Pheasant

 In early December, Andy Smith found a Russian White-fronted Goose at Thornton Reservoir, so, having not seen one in the county for a very long while, I decided to go and have a look when Andy gave me the heads-up that the Greylag Goose flock it had been associating with came back onto the dam; Twenty minutes later, I was watching said bird.

Russian White-fronted Goose

Russian White-fronted Goose

Another treat from Brascote was the Starling murmuration that had been happening every evening before the flock came in to roost in the sallows. Stunning to watch between 8,000 - 10,000 birds flying above our heads; the sight and sound as they settle down is amazing!

Starling Murmuration

Early January, my good mate Dave Gray found an Iceland Gull at Watermead Country Park South. Once again, it's been a long time since I saw one, so I headed off to the Park to see it. Another good friend, Mark Skevington had found what was first thought to be a juvenile Glaucous Gullbut having sent some images to some very experienced county birders, it was declared as a Herring Gull/Glaucous Gull hybrid - sometimes known as a Viking Gull; a really educational bird!

Iceland Gull

Herring/Glaucous Gull (Viking Gull)

As always, I hope you enjoy reading about my exploits and seeing a few images. I also hope that you and your families are all keeping safe.....

Thanks for stopping by.

Oh! What a year!!

What a year this has been. As I write this blog, we are facing another major lockdown across the country but we all have to do what we can to keep ourselves and everyone else as safe as possible until the vaccine gets rolled out properly. 

Back in October, when some of us were able to still move around the country, a mega in the shape of a Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin was found at Stiffkey campsite in Norfolk. On October 18th, three friends and I decided to travel to Norfolk, as this bird was a British first for all of us. On arrival, we were told that the bird had been seen in a stubble field, but had returned to the salt marsh, and all of he birders had their scopes trained on it's favouirite suaeda patch. We didn't have long to wait before it was picked up - the trouble was, now we had to wait for the tide to go out in order to get out onto the salt marsh for a closer look - but we did then get some really good views of the bird!

I know that there had been some negative feedback the previous day regarding social distancing, resulting in the police being called, but I have to say that while we were there, all of the birders behaved sensibly, respecting each others space.

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

We then decided to head west to Holkham Pines where a possible Stejneger's Stonechat had been reported. It was a fair hike through the wood, as we had to get to the very west end of the pines. The bird is yet to be confirmed:it was a pale individual which reminded me of a really small Wheatear,  so I'll leave that one for the experts.

We traveled further west to Holme where a Red-flanked Bluetail had been frequenting some bramble bushes at the east end of the golf course; it was just a short walk from the car park and once again,we didn't have to wait very long before we had our first sighting of the stunning Eastern species.

While we were there, my mate David Gray was lucky enough to meet his famous namesake, David Gray the singer, who lives locally and is also a keen birder.

Red-flanked Bluetail

Red-flanked Bluetail

This was a very enjoyable day, with 3 good mates John Hague,  David Gray and Neil Howes, when for a short time, we were able to do something 'normal' in what has been a very strange and different year.

As always, thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed looking at these images. Going forward, please  keep safe and have the best Christmas you can. Here's to a much better 2021!

 

 

More Lockdown Birding

I'm pleased to say that things have improved slightly over recent months with regards to 'lockdown', allowing more freedom of movement, which has allowed me to resume my love of bird watching in different areas of the country - albeit maintaining social distancing! Going back to 19th June, my wife, (armed with a good pack-up and flask) accompanied me for the long drive up the A1 to Northumberland, arriving in time to travel across the causeway to 'The Snook' on Holy Island (Lindisfarne) for the Asian Desert Warbler (Sylvia nana) which had been found there. This bird breeds in Central and Western Asia and the extreme East of Europe, but then winters in North-east Africa and South-western Asia, so one being on the Northumberland coast was an excellent find! As I recall, the bird was only seen very briefly the following morning then wasn't reported again.

Below are a couple of images of the bird

Asian Desert Warbler

Asian Desert Warbler

The 1st July - and Leicester is locked down again with Covid 19 - so it was back to garden bird watching for a while, until restrictions were eased once more for the area of Leicester where I live, on July 18th.

I was watching with interest of the whereabouts of a Bearded Vulture which was first sighted in June in the Kenilworth area - but seemed to have taken up residence in the Peak District of Derbyshire. The bird had been seen daily flying over Cutthroat Bridge on the A57 in Derbyshire, so I decided on 24th July to see if I could get a look at this huge vulture....... and I wasn't disappointed!  The bird showed pretty well - though distant - for about 20 minutes before disappearing over a ridge. I was lucky enough to get another sighting of this bird on 8th October, perched in a tree at Cowbit in Lincolnshire. Just a few days later, the bird was seen flying out over the English Channel - hopefully going back home again.

Feathers were found and had DNA checks carried out; this bird is a juvenile female which was hatched in 2019 in a wild nest in the French Alps

 

                                                                         Bearded Vulture

Bearded Vulture

As summer is slow for birding as a rule, I planned a day out with my wife to the south coast  - namely to Durlaston Country Park in Dorset to try and find the Lulworth Skipper - and hopefully follow up with a look around Poole or Swanage to round off our day. Once again we took our trusted flask and pack-up in order to keep away from crowds as much as possible and set off early on 30th July for what promised to be a beautiful summer's day.  We parked up at the Country Park and within an hour, we were enjoying my 56th British butterfly - the Lulworth Skipper! (only 3 more species to see now...)  It turned out to be a gloriously sunny day which in turn brought lots of people out to the park, so we decided to head back for the car and have our lunch - including a celebratory Scotch Egg! Our trip didn't go according to plan though, as, despite the Pandemic, the streets and beaches were full to capacity and so we decided it was in our best interests not to have our planned walk around the town, instead choosing to return home. All the same though - we had a brilliant day out at the park, looking out across the bay and enjoying some fresh sea air!!

Lulworth Skipper

Lulworth Skipper

As always, thanks for stopping by - another post to follow soon. In the meantime, keep safe please...