Road Runners on the A52

Well, the best laid plans etc etc. I was all enthused up about having a stroll around Shipley park on Thursday with 200-Chris and I go and get the sort of cold that is best kept under the duvet – which is exactly what I did. Pity really, because Shipley has a good mixed environment, with 3 different size and sort of lakes, housing, woodlands and fields. 

In an RSPB guided walk many years ago, before I got to know a bit about birding, I was pointed out a Grey Heron in the trees at Mapperley reservoir which turned out to be a plastic bag. It was also the first bird site that I ever went to for a dawn chorus walk.  

My only compensation this week was that on Tuesday on the way back from Carsington after a Volunteer Ranger meeting, a Barn Owl flew over near the Cock Inn at Mugginton, so that dragged me on to 179 year to date.

Good news from the meeting. Plans are starting to be formulated for the celebration on 22nd May. 2017, of the 25^th Anniversary of the opening of Carsington Water by The Queen in 1992.  22^nd May will be a Monday, so most of the activities and celebrations will be in the previous week. It will also include the official opening of the new bird hide on Stones Island, thanks mainly to the generous bequest by the late Janet Ede. I have written about Janet before, and this will be a fitting tribute to her memory.

A quick look at Birdguides shows that there have been 37 reports TO-DAY (Thursday 24^th November) of Waxwing sightings mainly way up in the North East, including one report of 600 in Nairn on the Moray Firth. A few have drifted further south, with 15 in Somerset near Weston-Super-Mare, but closer to home some have been sighted in Bamford and Glossop. A group appears to be well settled at The Spa PH in Scarborough, and a few have been seen in Norfolk.   I don’t think there is much doubt – the irruption is happening.  

Ed: A nice cock pheasant had Kamikaze intentions on the road to Ashbourne. Missed!

Hello………………. Quick flurry of Whatsapp messages as a result of Supergran adding a Scaup at Carsington this morning, to hit 198!!

Just received my copy of the DOS Bird Report for 2015. Superb publication with an incredible 226 pages, 4 more than last year. It has a huge amount of information on sightings, specialists, rarities, ringing, trip reports, just masses of good useful information. Many people contribute to the publication, compiling sections on groups of species to build up the jigsaw of the 143-page systematic list of the 2015 sightings.

I particularly like the ringing section. If you have been (lucky enough-) to see my Osprey presentation, you will know how I enthuse amount how much we found out about the 3 Carsington Osprey visitors just based on the leg ring. 

In the Report, as examples, there is a Blackbird seen in Clowne, then 3 years later dead in Sweden, or the Chiffchaff ringed in Derbyshire and caught by a ringer 2 years later in Norway.   Fascinating stuff.

Sunday 27^th November.

Encountered a group of birders from Grimsby RSPB who had come for a days’ birding at Carsington. No reports yet of the GN Diver, but at the Wildlife Centre, a Stonechat was very visible for everyone, on Horseshoe Island, and a Brambling popped in briefly on the willow bush in front of the windows. 

Guess who didn’t hear the call!!

Sunday 4^th December.  Just a reminder that next Sunday will be the last Beginners walk for 2016.

BFN

A new British bird…. From Waitrose!

When Mary and I visit antique fairs, we frequently pick up a trade paper in which the editor has a monthly column, “Tittle Tattle and Tantrums”.  This may be appropriate heading for some of my news items!

My latest “tantrum” happened at the end of October and concerned the “photographer” in Leicestershire who was feeding sardines to a Glossy Ibis to try and get the bird close enough for the ultimate photo.  Surprisingly, I saw on Birdguides last week that the Ibis did return to the site – I hope the photographer hasn’t.

I have no problem with photographers wanting competition standard photographs, but bird watchers have a code of conduct which includes not disturbing or distressing wild birds, and I don’t see why photographers should not be included in this code.

I recall the Squacco Heron which was seen by many birders at Attenborough Gravel Pits in Notts in November 2011, and the conflict between photographers and other parties, which led to deflated car tyres, fishing trolleys thrown in the pits etc., mainly due to the photographers who were crawling down the bank towards the water to get the closest possible view of the Squacco catching a fish! 

I also recall going into the main hide at Marshside, Southport, to find 6 windows blocked by 3 photographers each of whom had commandeered a second window for their camera.

Whereas, Old Moor encourages photographers with a below ground level hide with views of a food strewn log just 8 feet away. Now that gets the ultimate photo!

Ed: Will you stop whingeing and take your medication.

Tuesday 16^th November. I did my Osprey presentation again, this time in the north of the county at Grindleford, to the Hope Valley Birdwatchers Club. Nice friendly group and clearly well organised. May have led to solving a birding problem of mine, but I’ll tell you more IF it is resolved.

It was interesting listening to the 34-people sharing their knowledge of recent sightings, particularly to hear local news of a Great White Egret, Grey Shrike and good numbers of Waxwings near Bamford … is this the start of an irruption???

Very misty on the journey home at 9.30pm, but I was kept alert hoping to see a Barn Owl – I didn’t.

Congratulations!!!!!!

In the 200-species race, it transpired that Super AP Grandma (known to her friends as Super Gran) had been wrongly handicapped, so without even leaving the stalls she added Red Throated Diver to reach 197. CS Supremo went to Loughborough today to see the Waxwings, and headed home knowing that for the first time ever she had seen 200 different UK species in a calendar year. It remains to be seen if she can add to that number before 31^st December 2016. Brilliant.

Super Gran has 45 days to get her last 3 – keep watching this space.

Despite having letters and articles published in local papers, I still aspire to one published in the Daily Telegraph. But they do have some interesting wildlife photos and articles.

Yesterday (17^th) they reported that Farmoor Reservoir, a nature reserve near Oxford, has erected an Osprey nest on a 33ft post to try and attract a breeding pair of Ospreys. The reserve warden refers to male Ospreys as “notoriously lazy”!

Good luck – we have had our posts at Carsington since 2011, and whilst we have had visitors, including “short-term lets” sadly no signs of a pair.

Are you looking forward to the forthcoming polar vortex? Maybe not because until now, like me you did not know it is the name for the bitter winds that swirl around the Arctic, and which this year are being pushed further south. This was the subject of another DT article, and which stated that we could be heading for the coldest winter for 5 years. 

The article suggested that when you see squirrels hiding food for the cold weather (caching), and Jays, experts on storing, doing the same, it’s time for us to stockpile wood for the cold times ahead.

In passing, you may have heard of Geocaching, and I have spotted one such cache in the trunk of a tree in Markeaton Park. I have not opened it, but I might one day to see how often it has been successfully found by Geocachers.

Finally, if you watch the Waitrose Xmas commercial wonder at the resilience of the Robin. But marvel at the stamina of the falcon…. which is 11,000 miles off course, because this species normally resides in New Zealand!!!, and it is not the Merlin that Waitrose wanted it to be/look like!.

Always end on a bang!

Monday 7^th November,

What a sad coincidence…I signed off my blog on Sunday 6th with the catchphrase that I often use on e-mails etc. and which  Jimmy Young used to use - TTFN, and the next day I heard he has passed on.

Tuesday 8^th November.

With the news last week that the Tower hide at Attenborough is now accessible, Chris and I decided to have a morning birding. The tower access was a bit like climbing a building site through the scaffolding, with no hard hats, but all very secure and plenty of hand rails…………….. and well worth the climb!

From the hide, we picked up a pair of Goldeneye, the male looking strange, still with some black feathers, presumably still in moult. 4 non-birders came in saying they would love to see a Water Rail. After about 5 minutes, I spotted one swimming by the reeds,  then working its way along the reed edge. It was a privilege to see how absolutely elated the visitors where.

In the space of about 2 hours, we saw 40 species, which was an excellent count. On the main path, we were buzzed by a wren, and watched a cute little Goldcrest searching for food. Aint it better when the leaves have gone!

RACING FROM TEESIDE

The Oracle has been following form over the last 2/3 weeks of the 2 runners in the 200-Species flat race.

29^th October saw CS Supremo have a good outing at Skegness, and the odds improved dramatically from 195 to 199. Super AP Grandma had a 3-day training session at Teesside last week, and came through strongly with a good boost also of 4 points, to 196. With just 48 days to go until the end of the season, the favourite has to be CS Supremo, but don’t write off Supergran she has a very good stable mate. It’s anyone’s race.

Ed; Does anyone know what he’s rambling about now? I don’t like subliminal messages.

Thursday 10^th November.  I gave the 27^th talk about the Carsington Osprey Project to 35 members of the Derby Probus Club. This the second time I’ve talked to a Probus Club, which is made up of PROfessional and BUSiness men. They meet for a good lunch then have a speaker afterwards. 

The 3 gentlemen enjoying a few after-lunch zzz’s were invited back to my talk, by my moving in their general direction and slightly raising my voice! Anyway, thank you – they did collectively donate £50 towards the Carsington Osprey watching plans.

Reverting to Tuesday and my visit to Attenborough with Chris, I must admit that as we were leaving, our conversation was reduced to an hilarious level about something nothing to do with birds.

As we got back to the car park, Chris looked at her watch, and said “that’s good, I’ve done xx footsteps this morning”. She explained that John had given her a watch incorporating a Walking Step Counter with a secondary dial showing the steps. She then turned on her i-phone to show a histogram record of her steps on an hourly basis. As examples, for the previous day, one tall column was when she walked home instead of using transport, whereas in the evening virtually no bites indicated she was watching TV. I looked at later times and commented, “I see you only got up once during the night!!!!!!”, which produced the answer, “ That’s wrong…………..wait a minute - I don’t wear my watch in bed”. 

I think a counter could be good for Mary, she often asks how far is it from a to b, or how far have we walked? 

Ed: Don’t think you’re getting off that lightly for a Xmas present.

Why do some people get their kicks in such selfish ways? Skylarks, a fairly new nature reserve near Nottingham, made the regional TV recently, thanks to some idiots setting fire to and destroying a new pond dipping platform. Maybe, just maybe, one day they will appreciate that their children would have enjoyed a facility like that.

I see Slim Bridge corrected my geography last week about Lynmouth v Lynton – I stand corrected. 

Got my own back, because I found that in a string of replies, if I delete one in the middle, all the following threads go as well. So his question, and my reply, to “What is a Petard”, (it’s a small bomb) was deleted!

B F N

Goosed at Exmouth!

Thursday 27^th October.

Sorry to those of your who thought you had double vision when you read my last blog. Twixt the draft entry in Word, and arriving in the blog creation box, I had a touch of the vapours. The Editor is not exonerated either as she did not pick it up!!

Just had a look at the statistics of people reading the 43 instalments of my blog, and 27^th October was the day that I got my 3,000^th hit, not exactly viral but from little acorns…… da de da de da!!

The number of hits per item depends on the appeal or curiosity of the title, and finding a good title is key to getting the hits.  “Bald Heads” drew a crowd, as did “Back in the Room”.  Reference to Trump, and the “Exe to the Axe” drew little interest, but I can’t get too controversial…I’d like to!

I must tell you that our 10-day mini-break was absolutely bereft of birds, just 40 species, but in my defence whilst we were in some birding areas, that was not the object of the mini-tour. We visited Wales for a wedding blessing, and did pick up some Red Kites en route.

Nice accommodation -  we stayed in Pembrokeshire in a small village called Bethlehem, in a farm house called the Paddock, and from our bedroom could see the Stables….. but no kings or camels.

From Pembrokeshire to Weston on the mud (again), the M40 was closed TWICE and we enjoyed a pleasant 60 minutes looking at and commenting on the front gardens of Swansea residents (could have done some weeding the way the journey went!). Weston only contributed Rock Pipit (same place as last month – probably same bird). 

From there we drove to Exmouth, via Lynmouth in N.Devon, visiting Tony, my birding colleague who moved away from Derby earlier this year, and was mentioned in the early days of my blog.   A LONG journey, but finally arriving at one of our favourite hotels, The Imperial at Exmouth.

Sad to read about the Royal Clarence hotel in Exeter – I stayed there in 1968 in my days with the AA. (NO – not alcoholic anonymous). My memory was a Florida cocktail served complete with a fly. Ed; he is actually telling the truth, on both counts.

Wednesday 2^nd November.   Exmouth is at the widest part and the mouth of the Exe estuary, and a walk around the harbour yielded very good numbers of Brent Geese, plus the usual suspects. We took in a brief visit to RSPB Bowling Green Marsh, but it is at its best when the Exe is high, and the waders come on to the marsh area… but not on the day we visited.

Saturday 5^th November.  I’m writing this a bit in advance of Sunday which is my usual Birdwatching for Beginners Beginners walk. 18 people booked, of which 5 are people who have not joined the walk before. Always enjoy getting more people hooked on this wonderful hobby.

Sunday 6^th November.  Well you can’t win them all but the drizzle, which became rain was the best way to stop people loitering. At one stage, and remember I’m the leader, there was no one behind me! 18 of us got the obligatory 30 birds, with BOD being a very busy Willow Tit on the Ranger Base feeders, which would have been outvoted by a couple of Redpoll, but not everyone saw them.

After demisting binoculars in the heated wildlife centre, added 3 Snipe on Horseshoe Island (one actively bathing), and then the bird of the year.. well we had not seen one in 11 months, a Moorhen.

So with one walk left in 2016 (Sunday 4^th December), 2017 will start with the walk on 1^st January!! I’m not sure but I may be Billy No-Mates.

And for a bit of self-indulgence, we have had 232 bookings in 2016 (so far), the highest number in 11 years... getting popular, in-it?

For those not on the walk to-day, I will be doing the annual ½ day-away at Attenborough gravel Pits on Sunday 8^th January. Meet in the car park (NG9 6DY) for a 9.30 start PROMPT, and finish at 12.30.

Good news… just heard that the Tower hide at Attenborough is now accessible, especially good because we are coming up to Bittern time, and for 2017, and that is a very good view point.

TTFN.