A cornucopia of information!
But
first there are 2 very serious matters that I must put on record, and which
require non-birding consideration.
The first one is Who
is H? How long have I
got to wait before I find out?
Second, Monday 27th
May 2019 3pm – 4.45pm. My phone and I will be out of contact. All being
well, the celebrations will start at 4.46pm.
To avian matters, first, the good news is that the water
level at Carsington is 96.3%, but to the uninitiated Horseshoe Island does not
yet really look like it.
In my blog of 23rd March, I told you about the
early return of Maya, a Rutland osprey that we saw when we visited in late
March. News in the Daily Telegraph today is that Maya hatched a chick on Monday
13th May, and her claim to fame is that that chick is the 150th
hatching at Rutland since Osprey translocation started in 1996. Not all by her
of course, but she has reared 10 chicks with her mate “33”. Gosh it’s exciting! A short break while I have a liquid
celebration!!
Anyway, on Sunday Carsington Water had an unusual visitor, a
Bartailed Godwit, hunkered down in the flora on horseshoe island, and it needed
the Volunteers + a scope to see it. And even then the tail was not that
obvious.
Pleased to see a good number of scope toters in Belper
watching the nesting Peregrines on Strutt’s Mill.
Other news, the Long Billed Dowitcher has finally left
Frampton Marsh after 251 days. So, you had no excuse not to add it to your
sightings list (for 2018 AND 2019). Mark you, I tried, and failed, twice so
that’s down to me. One birder did point the LBD out, flying away but in all honesty
I could not include that in my 2019 count.
As I write this, 8pm
Monday May 15th, I am only just back from my third
birding cruise of 2019. Having done the River Exe and Poole Harbour cruises
earlier in the year, today was the RSPB South Lincs bird cruise from Boston,
down the Witham and up the Welland.
An excellent trip I
have been doing for years, and this year was no exception with super weather,
very clear, although on the water and in the Wash it did need a few layers. 50
people boarded the Boston Belle at 11.00am, arriving back at 4pm and in the 5
hours, the bird count was a very good c66 birds.
My count was 48 the difference
being that one spot by anyone was enough for the recorder to put it on the
list. So as for example I saw NIL passerines, you can see how there can be a
difference.
The RSPB had one very expert spotter, who spotted such
goodies as the 2 Turtle Doves, the Osprey (BOD), Red Kite and 2 Peregrines.
Me? Added two… very early on a Common Sandpiper and
then a Meadow Pipit.
Just as a
matter of interest, this is how my 2019 cruises compare cost-wise:-
February Exe Estuary 1.30 – 4.30 3 hours £12.50
Poole Harbour 8.00
– 11.30 3.5 hours £16.00
Boston Rivers & Wash 11.00
– 4.00 5 hours £21.00
In the lull before the next major moment!!, I thought I’d
continue my philosophy of trying to help learners to birding with a few id
memory tips, which I’ve picked up over time. I still use odd memory joggers,
and I have found on my many bird walks, that people like clues to help them
remember what a bird is. (You very experienced birders.. please jump 3 paragraphs!)
1.
The favourite is of course “Bald as a Coot”,
alluding to the contrasting white frontal shield.
2.
Common Tern v Arctic Tern. The beak.
ARctic Tern AR = “All Red” (…and if you like, for Common Tern = Scruffy and dirty…Black
beak Tip.)
3.
Cormorant v Shag. When fishing, Cormorants just fold into the
water; Shags jump in a small arc, up then down into the water, showing clear
day light. ( Make what you will of Shag and Jump.)
4. “The
Lesser fella has the yella” translates as the Lesser (Black Backed Gull) has
the Yellow legs. (The Great BBG has the pink/flesh coloured legs.)
And if you have any buzz phrases like these, please add them
as a comment on my blog and I will open them up in a later post.
Nothing to do with Ornithology, but I thought you may be
amused by this letter that I cut out of the paper, eons ago concerning a report
in a local paper.
Norfolk Constabulary
was apparently conducting revenue collection when a fighter from a local
airbase came over the horizon. The camera, to the joy of the Officers,
registered 300mph.. However, the camera could not be reset and stopped working,
thereby denying further revenue collection. The Chief constable was not pleased
and fired off a missive to the RAF pointing out that targets had to be met.
The RAF replied that
the radar gun had been identified by the approaching Tornado aircraft as
hostile and it sent a jamming signal
back to it. At the same time the sidewinder missile was primed for launch.
Fortunately (or unfortunately!) the pilot overrode the automatic protection
system before launch.
Oh hell, it’s only Thursday and I’m starting to get stressed
about any new sighting additions for this week.. where will I find them.
Tell you what, I’ll post this early and that will give me 10
days to find something for next weeks’ post.
Tarra.
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