Raptors a plenty.... and some alive!

After the birding fiesta in Nice (Joke), it seems appropriate to have a bit of R & R, and recharge the batteries, and ponder the prospects. (All very philosophical!).

I’m pleased that Mary is getting to know a few more birds in the garden.  She recognises what I always think sounds like a bird with a sore throat, a calling Greenfinch. They come to our bird bath infrequently, and Mary gets the dark green feathers plus the bold yellow flash as the birds fly off.  She is also getting to know the Tinkling song of a Goldfinch, and only this week we watched a pair standing side by side drinking from the fresh clean water I had put in the cleaned-out bird bath.

She won’t admit it, but she does know more than she lets on, although I think a 200 target would be a figment of her (and my) imagination!

Not exactly a bucket list experience, but I did try something in Nice that I had not done before, I had an Oyster. Straight down, didn’t touch the sides.. and no ill effects.. but I don’t think I will do it again!!! Here's the evidence.

                      

Right, what other news?  Subject to a last minute change below, I’ve checked on the latest scores for those aspiring to a 200 species award for 2017.

You will know that Amanda really does well with the species she picks up during her weekly volunteering duties at Old Moor. She admits that it is frustrating with her dedication to Old Moor, to be told what was there on the days she was not on duty. But her perseverance is usually rewarded. Amanda is currently on 212, and I could get her trophy now, except that I need the final total for 2017, and a Chough at Anglesey is in her sites!

Chris has also topped the 200, currently on 202, and keeps picking up the odd addition during bird walks with New Horizons, Old Horizons (that’s me!) and other organised walks. Like Amanda, she is happy having topped her previous 200, especially as 2017 includes a few new lifers.

I’m next in line on 197. Highly confident that the RSPB Shearwater Cruise on the Bridlington Belle next Saturday will take me through the 200 barrier.

There may be other contenders on my BWB walks that I’ve not got tabs on, but I do know about Mike McDonald. Mike is a Severn Trent Volunteer in the wildlife centre and comes on some of my walks when we are shorthanded. You may recall I keep bumping into him in the field (Attenborough; Padley etc), but he is quietly ticking new sightings off his list. He is currently on 171, and has a bit of work to do.  He plans to go to Frampton in the next couple of weeks, so that should really help.

Tuesday 22^nd August, sadly I did not get out birding. I had a lot to do after our long weekend in France, and I could not find much to mobilise me on the Bird Guides or any other web site, at least within a driving distance of Derby.

Sunday 27^th August, David Lindo an expert ornithologist always says it, and I tell BWB birders “Keep looking up”.   4.15 pm having a cuppa tea on the terrace with my esteemed, we both look up to see a Hobby flying due West, straight over the house. EUREKA……………..No 198.

Thought I show you a couple of photos taken at the Carsington Wildlife centre, both sad.  The Sparrowhawk had hit the window too hard, but it was educational for people to see this female bird and its markings up close.

The other is a Pipistrelle found on the floor. OK for the photo but sadly did not survive.

Just a reminder while I think of it.   Sunday September the 3^rd will be the next Carsington walk, and Keith and Gary will be leading the walk.  As I am on the Shearwater Cruise and as we do not get back from the Wash until c8.30pm, I’ve decided to stay overnight in a B & B in Bridlington. But I know you will be well looked after. 

I will be back (after 14 days in Majorca) for the walk on Sunday October 1^st, and I have prepared my species talk already… and not the one some of you may have expected.

Majorca also means that I am missing the Bird walk at Markeaton on Sunday 17^th at 10.30, but you will be in the capable hands of Dawn. (Not sure how the walk went while I was in Nice, but Dawn will update me.)

Happy Birding

Turtle Dove? 4th time lucky!!!

Late, whose late?    

Yep, only came back late yesterday from 3 nights in Nice for 6 of us, including Sarah our daughter and her husband Julian, and Michael our son with his partner Sharon. A new resort for us, and best described as a tad on the pricey side.  

We had a cracking 3 bed apartment, some brilliant food, a trip to Monaco, including the city tour, following the route of the Formula 1 circuit, plus a visit to the Casino (Lost in case you wanted to know!!)

Now, where was I?  Well actually in the Juan Fangio bronze memorial statue!

To the subject in hand……

Following on an earlier post on my blog, I’m pleased to see that the Scottish Osprey chicks have arrived at Poole Harbour as part of the new translocation project.

The project started in mid-July and the overall plan is scheduled for 5 years.  The chicks are currently in enclosed pens in the Poole harbour area, and the plan is to let them out when the project team are happy that they are strong enough to fly. At that point, they will get to know the local area as part of the bonding process, so that when they return from Senegal, which will not be until 2019, they will recognise what they think is their natal birthplace.

PS: Since coming home I see in the weekend papers that some of the chicks are already on the wing.  A brilliant omen for another great birding project.

Tuesday 15^th August   

noun

plural noun: twitchers

1.      1.

a person or thing that twitches.

2.      2.

BRITISH informal

a birdwatcher whose main aim is to collect sightings of rare birds.

…………………………………… and that’s what Google has as the 2 definitions of Twitcher. No 1 only applies to me on exceptional occasions, but I think I have to accept that just sometimes, I do qualify under 2.  It rather comes down to what is a Rare bird. 

Ed: You’re trying to find a loophole, aren’t you?

Yep, I’ll confess, but it is only because I am on such a high as the result of visiting Frampton Marsh last Tuesday (15th).

The weather forecast was good so as my birding colleagues were involved elsewhere, and Mary was i/c at the church luncheon club, I did a Billy No-mates trip with my home-made salad to Frampton Marsh.  With a couple of journey shortcuts up my sleeve and the schools now well on holiday, I nipped round Nottingham, avoided Grantham and enjoyed a good journey to Frampton. 

The busy car park was the first sign of some serious birding going on, so I duly gathered my accoutrements and headed for the 360 hide. Whilst it was busy with scopes, bins and cameras, I managed to find a small slot facing north on the left side and was just absolutely gob-smacked by the huge number of small waders. There were Ringed Plovers and Dunlin EVERYWHERE, and the early sighting of a Merlin going through caused such a panic that the air was full of waders. Just a wonderful and memorable sight. You can’t photo that (video perhaps), because you don’t know where to look…. but I’ll remember that experience for a while.

Black Tailed Godwits were also present in huge numbers plus 4 Spoonbills and 4 Turnstones, but one bird on my hit list was right in front of a window, a Wood Sandpiper. That was nice, because last time I came looking for that species, the RSPB staff started strimming, so the timid bird not surprisingly hopped it! But not today.

I fell to talking to a couple of birders who were down for the day from the Bestwood Area of Notts, and we found we had quite a lot of people in common from Carsington and Derbyshire. (I mentioned coincidences last week!) When I told them that this was the 4^th time I had been to Frampton to see the Turtle Dove, they told me exactly where to look from the main car park. “It’s along the hedge, look from the concreted parking space, up and behind the Woodpigeon on the post”. It bl***y was!

So that moves me on to 197 and with 4 ½ months to go, a piece of cake.

Sorry I said that before, but whilst I was having my lunch at Frampton a couple shared my picnic table. They told me they were on the way home to Halifax, having been cycling, birding and camping in Norfolk. Monday was their wedding anniversary, and the birthday for the lady. So they had bought a nice picnic lunch with a special anniversary item which they shared with me………………………………… a Piece of Cake!   (M&S Coffee cream… superrrrb)

As for birds in Nice? Only Woodpigeons, Collared Doves, a few Gulls, and House Sparrows and Swallows, but plenty of screaming Swifts, racing in between the many tall buildings in the narrow streets where we dined. Oh well, win some lose some.

Happy Birding.

"Another one bites the dust.....boom, boom"

A Book at Bedtime.

Tuesday 8^th August.

Book Reviews.   I thought I would start off by telling you about a couple of books I have read recently, one of which I only finished last night.

The first one “Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to British Birds” is (surprisingly) by Bill Bailey, better known as a stand-up comedian and musician, but clearly with a love for birds.

Generously illustrated with hand drawings, Bill has picked 50 different UK birds, and just writes about his experiences with each bird. His writing style his humorous and informative, and is a book I would refer back to when I want non-technical information about a species that I am going to talk about.

The second book “Deep Country” – Five years in the Welsh Hills by Neil Ansell, records Neil’s experiences of living in a cottage in mid-wales for 5 years, with very little contact with the outside world. He arrives at the remote cottage by hitch-hiking, and it has no gas, no electricity and only an emergency ring-out telephone in his final year. The nearest shop is a long walk away, and his nearest neighbour, a farmer, is only seen once a month or so.

He writes about the many different environments that he visits on his many long walks, and the wildlife, particularly birds, that he encounters.  He gets to see the fauna changes throughout the year, the nests and the juveniles, and recounts many encounters with wildlife. He writes about Red Kites, Sparrowhawks, Ravens and many other species, but the bird that seems to feature the strongest is Goshawk, as well as a good variety of 4-legged friends.

Both books are good reads. The second book I thought would not be my subject from the title, but my “half a dozen pages before I put the light out” got longer as I got more drawn into his well-written and interesting experiences.

Right, Tuesday the 8^th………Wet, wet and very wet…in fact non-stop… all day.

But still Chris and I persevered with our birding day out.    We met at Phoenix Park and Ride tram stop, at 8.45. I had allowed the usual 45 minutes from Derby to meet by 9.00am, but with schools being out, got there in 25 minutes, and exactly as I was turning left into the car park, Chris was turning right! So, we were able to quickly move her accoutrements from her car to mine without getting too wet, and we were back to the M1, M18, M180 and Blacktoft. Good run, but still raining.

Having found the largest tree to park under, to don boots, waterproofs etc, we were in the second hide and about to enjoy the coincidence of the day, something I seem to be getting a lot of these days.** 

We were discussing Redshank and Spotted Redshank with a fellow birder, who told us about his event of 2017, seeing a Red Winged Blackbird on North Ronaldsay. Ears pricked up at the mention of that location as we knew Amanda and Noel went there earlier in the year and had found themselves involved in a mega-twitch for 3 or 4 days. And sure enough, he remembered A and N. Small world? Well sometimes not so small in birding!

** I mentioned last week about 4 new people on my bird walk. Turned out that one of them, was a teacher at the same school in Derbyshire, where my daughter was the Head Teacher.

With the tip that my target bird, Bearded Tits were viewable from the XXX hide, we grabbed our lunch, and ensconced ourselves in the Marshlands hide to see what was around. This modern hide, is excellent for waders and reed bed activity, and gets better still in September. (Good place for lunch, too!)

Whilst we dined!!, our sightings included 10 – 15 Snipe, Avocet, lovely Black-Tailed Godwits (quite frisky and flying around, and thus enabling good views of the black tail), Redshank, Ruff, 4 Spoonbill, Barn Owl peeping out of the nest box, loads of Pied Wagtails hiding in the reeds and peering out at the rain, and finally…… juvenile Bearded Tits.  

So another one bites the dust - Bearded Tit = 194.

PS; On the way home., 3 Peregrines (Mum, Dad and one of the kids?) were on Jury’s Inn in Derby, facing the cathedral, on  the letters U Y and N.  (Make of that what you will!)

Bit of a warning for you. I’m a guy who gets a monthly bank statement, and my June statement received in July, included a fraudulent “hit” on the last day of June, for “Giffgaff.com online store” for £20. The fraud department of my bank dealt with this promptly, cancelled my card and issued another, and refunded the £20. On my July statement, received last week, 2 more hits of £20 each on 3^rd July, same narrative. Again, promptly sorted by RBS.

In this day and age of “charging everything to your card”, would you notice an odd £20 on your monthly statement? Be warned from my experience.

But still keep birding…………….!!

The Quietest month of the year - sadly!

Tuesday 1^st August 2017

August is notorious for being a month when bird watching is hard work. Some species, and in particular adult birds, are already starting their migration journey South, with Ospreys and Cuckoos being good examples. So with my 200 target in mind, my best plan has been to keep tabs on the web sites and see if any of my missing birds are in the area.

At the same time defending my claim that I am not a twitcher!!, I see Frampton has Curlew Sand and Wood Sand ??   Tuesday maybe??

Anyway, Gill, Chris and I decided to have last Tuesday morning at Attenborough, and getting there at 9.00am on a day in the first week of the school holidays was a good idea…. Well until Noon!.

But we had a nice walk, and starting with the Kingfisher hide we had good views of a Green Sandpiper, and a Little Ringed Plover.  Gill intended to have some lunch in the café when we got back, but at 12.15 it was buzzing, so we each dispersed to dine whence we could!

It’s been a funny old week.  Most of the Derby press has been about a jogger who was attacked by a raptor, variously suggested as a Buzzard or an escaped falcon of sorts, but whichever I guess the chap never expected to see photos of his semi-bald head with 2 parallel scratches, on the front page of the Derby Telegraph.

And of course the Bee-Eaters continue to make publicity, sadly now because of the reports that 2 out of 3 nests have failed.   What disappointing news, although they have given a lot of pleasure to a lot of birders, who, like me, now have the Bee-eater on their UK list.

I see Slim Bridge appears to be preoccupied with culinary delights, so I thought I would suggest 7 recipes that he might like to recommend to Mrs Bridges.

1                    An obvious one - Duck in orange sauce, or if his Chef is continental, Canard a l’orange.

2                    Bombay Duck

3                    Roast Teal for those with small appetites

4                    Roast Snipe comes with pseudo chopsticks.

5                    Woodcock Michigan  -

6                    Bird nest soup

7                    …………………………….. and a partridge in a pear sauce.

Any other recommended meals on my blog comments page, please.

Right, back to sanity.

Sunday 6^th August.   Drove to Carsington and nearly flattened a male Bullfinch sitting in the middle of the road…but he survived. Thought they were tree birds??

My 151^st Bird Walk at Carsington, with 18 people was a pleasant morning walk, even if it was a bit chilly, particularly by the water.  2 new people in July enjoyed it so much that they came again in August, and persuaded a couple of friends to come with them for the first time…now that I like!  Makes it worthwhile.

Because as I said above, August can be a hard month for birding. We did manage to list 35 species, but not in volume. One Willow Warbler, not in singing mood took some searching, but for some reason Pied wagtails on the beach(!!) were plentiful, and for those who loitered in the Wildlife Centre, they were accompanied by some Linnets on Horseshoe Island + as a good bonus for only a few, a Peregrine on the Pylons. 

An Osprey was spotted during the morning, seen to fish abortively, but not by us.Left going South= home.   

Our Bird of the Day was a nice flock of a dozen Dunlin which did a bit of an air-display to help the learners see more of the wings and the dark patch on the breast.

So as B O D, it is beholden on me to research and talk about this delightful wader at a future BWB, but it will have to wait until October. 

Keith will be leading the walk with Gary on the first Sunday in September because I will be recovering my sea legs in Bridlington, after the previous days trip in the Wash, looking at Skuas and Shearwaters ……I hope.  Last time I did the trip (2015), and Amanda and Noel were on that trip too, there were more technicolour yawns than sea birds.

Never mind, it will all be worth while and I love it all.

Happy Birding