It's Attenborough Gravel Pits for Warblers........ Again

Oh, that’s sad!!    Sunday 17.05 and I’ve just seen a Magpie burst out of our clematis bush, drop on the lawn, and start eating an egg. Shortly after a Blackbird (male) lands nearby and starts scolding the Magpie.  Undeterred, the Magpie shouts back, and then goes back into the bush and reappears shortly with another egg, which it sits in the pear tree and digests.

And such is bird life.. the survival of the fittest.  Sad but necessary.

Let’s change the subject – quickly. 

28^th April 1789 (230 years ago to-day) the day of THE Mutiny on the Bounty, with Captain Bligh getting his comeuppance.  And how many of you at one time or another has done your pirate act of walking around with one eye closed, one hand on your wallet and muttered the immortal words “Argh, Jim lad!”

I don’t know where this week has gone… (Ed: Do you want a reminder??)  On reflection, there was a solicitor meeting and quite a lot of legal stuff, and I did do a volunteering shift at Allestree library.     

In fact, now I think about it, the Gastroscopy did involve most of Wednesday. But it was reassuring to hear that I have no matters of concern in my oesophagus. I must say it is not one of my favourite experiences.  After the 30-minute recovery it was reminiscent of Hancock and the Blood donor -    “Eh up nurse, you’ve had me blood,  where’s my tea and biscuits?”

To-day, Sunday April 28^th, I decided to spend the morning at Attenborough, which is always my top spot for migrants in the Spring.

There had been regular reports of Savi’s Warbler in the reed bed by the Tower hide, and the number of scope toters indicated it was being well searched for. Word was that the bird was singing until about 8.00am and then was quiet until c5.30pm, so my arrival at 10.15am was not the right time.

I sat in the Tower hide for an hour, and a fellow birder said he could hear the bird calling (a quite distinctive reeling call, I gather), but my hearing was not up to it. I did think I saw a movement in the reeds near where he was pointing, but I could not say that I recognised my bird as a Savi. In fact, Reed Warblers were very prevalent, and Reed Buntings very visible lending to my confusion.

So that was one for another day  but whilst in the hide I ticked off a singing Sedge Warbler, and further along the path, finally spotted a Reed Warbler that decided to emerge from hiding.

I bumped into a couple of birding colleagues, Mike Walsh and Anne, 2 of the DWT volunteers who are experts in Osprey nest building and make-overs. They have done a number of these tasks at Carsington and make an excellent job of it too. They have recently done refabs on 2 Carsington nests ready for 2019. I was telling them about my experiences last week on the Poole Harbour birding trip, and the commentator telling us all about the Poole harbour Osprey project.

Walking back alongside the Wheatear Field, a pair of Little Egrets were visible, and the Greylags appeared to have started there families early.  Broods of 3,10,4 and 3 were being defended by the Greylags from aggression from various enemies, other Greylags, Crows etc.

Back on the path to the car park, a dedicated photographer was still looking for Common Whitethroat and both of us saw one dive into the bushes.

So that nicely rolls me on to a YTD of 136, and next week I have 72 hours in Lincs and Norfolk, so I should have something to write about next Sunday.

Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I have often referred to Brian Woods, a fellow Carsington volunteer. Brian retired at Xmas 2017 at which time we had both done 20 years’ service, and I used to remind him that I had 4 months longer than him due to my earlier start date.

It was very sad to hear that he died on Easter Monday, and I know all the volunteers send sincere condolences to his widow Elaine.  I know he thought the world of her, and they did  so much together. A sad loss, and I will be at his funeral in early May.

I thought you would like the following Attenborough selfie (with one of the horses in Wheatear field).  Feel free to add a comment on my blog by way of a caption for the picture!!)

Happy Birding

One good Tern deserves another !!

…………………… and I HAVE kept my word. This week I have been able to make this blog what it is really meant to be…Bird news. Really? Yes, really.    10 ticks this week and garnered some 200 miles apart.

Tuesday 16^th April  9.30am, and I meet  Chris with her good friends Marion and Paul at the entrance to Willington Gravel Pits. It’s a bush and tree enclosed narrow lane, with periodic outlooks over disused pits, so it’s good for warblers along the pathway.  Being early Chris and I had accidentally bumped into each other at the Willington service station, me for a Cino, and Chris for a Tea. Except that the Costa machines didn’t do tea.

A nice leisurely stroll down the lane led to a slight diversion off the beaten track, for me to hear and then see my first Willow Warbler of 2019. Blackcaps could be heard all along the track, and Cetti Warbler, and I did actually eyeball a Cetti for the year list.

But it was on the second viewing platform that we were to find (for me the BOD) a Wheatear on the grass straight in front of us. Not in the most active of modes but when you think he/she has flown from Central Africa, that’s not surprising. The Wheatear is a species that I can recall where I have seen most of them in prior years. One at Lodmoor, near Weymouth… not moving a muscle; one on a bush at Attenborough GP, in Wheatear field (where else?)..steady as a rock.  And this lovely little fellow at Willington was not in a hurry.

Wednesday 17^th April and Mary and I are off for 4 nights to the Haven Hotel at Sandbanks in Dorset, overlooking the mouth of Poole harbour. 

The Haven Hotel, Sandbanks, Poole Harbour.

If you know Sandbanks (a place where property is the most expensive in the world for the price per foot.), you will know that the location is in the middle of a good birding area. For example, Ospreys, that were translocated from Scotland a couple of years ago are already back from their Xmas vacation in Senegal. The harbour also sports a good population of winter Divers, and Brownsea Island has apart from the lovely Red Squirrels, a good lagoon with breeding Avocets, Godwits and resident Spoonbills to name but a few.

Nearby is Arne, a good RSPB reserve with Sika deer, a café and Dartford Warblers; Hengitsbury Head,  with Christchurch harbour, catches many passing migrants

That’s the PR exercise for Dorset!! The Haven hotel is selling its valuable site for properties, so there is no need to forewarn you about their exorbitant alcohol costs, because you won’t be staying there!!

Wednesday, leaving Derby at 10.00am, 4 hours and 200 miles later, we have ticked the Red Kite en route (only 1 sadly)

Thursday, waiting for the open top bus to take us to Swanage, I’m rewarded with Common Terns (VERY recently arrived, I’m told) fishing by the ferry crossing.  I love the coast at Swanage, so we walk out to Peveril Point, hoping to tick a Rock Pipit—failed. But… scanning the foreshore what do I find…..a Wheatear… another one.   Good enough reason to stop for a Crab sandwich at the outdoor bar by the pier, enjoy the view and to  share a nice bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio!!

Friday, our plan to visit Weymouth and Portland has to be aborted due to hundreds of motorists deciding to do the same thing. With my local knowledge, we can drop out of the rat race and pop over to Arne. Cruising up and down Engineers Road and hoping for a Stonechat we are rewarded by a pair of Linnets dropping down on the verge whilst I map read. So that’s good.

And that just leaves my new adventure on Saturday. I am joining the “Early-Bird trip round Poole Harbour” organised by  Birds of Poole Harbour, starting at 8.00am. As the hotel does not do breakfast until 8 am at weekends, and I need to leave the hotel at 7.15, that’s goodbye to a full English AND the included Black Pudding.  It’s OK, Mary was having a lie-in and I told her she could have a double-bubble share with my black pud!!

Paul is the leader for our group of 50 birders on the chartered harbour ferry, and we spend the next 3.1/2  hours birding round the harbour, then up the long tapering channel through the reeds to Wareham. Poole harbour is, apart from the ferry channels, a very shallow harbour, and when the boat turns at Wareham, we are really churning things up.

Despite the cold at 8.00am, the wind abated, and my early tick was a pair of Sandwich Terns (another Tern!!) on a mooring buoy.  Mediterranean Gulls were added to the list, but the rich pickings for most of us was cruising to and fro near the Brownsea lagoon. 

If you have not been to Brownsea, you would not know that non-National Trust members pay for a ferry to the Island, an NT landing fee, and a fee to enter the Dorset Wildlife Trust lagoon site. So, it’s quite satisfying to peep over the wall from the boat – for free!!     And our rewards?  For  me a single Spoonbill, but for others, Grey Plover, Avocets, Dunlin, Black T Godwits.

That’s my new adventure. My 6^th different birding-boating experience.  Well recommended, and I will do it again. Paul talked the whole time, but he had a lot of good interesting knowledge, especially about “their” Ospreys.

When I had recovered my land-legs, we drove to Hengitsbury Head, still hoping for the Dartford Warbler. Nope, BUT we were both thrilled to pick up a pair of Stonechats atop the gorse.

And finally……..4 Red Kites on the home run, but my greatest pleasure was Mary spotting, twice, an overflying Jay on the A34.    I’ll convert her yet.

Happy Birding.

Dominos! Starbucks! I want to stay anonymous!!

Apart from my acknowledged interest in all things Avian, and my microtibialistic (Ed: Not a word in my dictionary, but he likes to be unique) tendencies, a joint interest Mary and I enjoy is people-watching (not a hobby in which I suspect we are alone) and people chatting. 

The latter sometimes can be one way, in other words we talk to people who are happy to talk about themselves, but show no interest is us. OK fair-do’s, we probably instigated the conversation.  But we do meet some people who can be interesting (and some that we regret starting the conversation with!)

An example this week was discovering that someone I had known for several years, had recently become an undertaker. We were on holiday in Cyprus a few years ago when we met an undertaker, and he had some tales to tell!

But alongside the aura of sadness, despair, tears and dark colours (usually) my friend told me that he and his fellow 3 undertakers have a lot of laughs. The mournful and respectful persona can be turned on and off as appropriate, but whilst the cadaver is in transit the accompanying 4 pall bearers carry on as normal and have the same observational opportunities that I refer to above for Mary and me.

I was told some amusing trade secrets, which I feel honour bound not to recount (a bit like the secrets of the Magic Circle), but I can reveal that certain items are not permitted in a coffin that is to be cremated.

Examples of the exclusions are, for good reasons, 1) Shoes - a definite no-no, which will be removed before the coffin is closed (the components and chemicals in shoes can cause damage to the incinerators), and 2) glass - removed due to the risks from flying glass in the intense 1400F to 1800F fire.

I was told of one family who added a jar of Bovril to the coffin “He loved Bovril” (applying rule 2 above, he won’t get it!). And acceding to a request to dress the deceased in her wedding dress, was only achieved with the astute use of a pair of scissors. (well it did fit 30 years ago!).

And another example of meeting people.   My high profile with the DSS over the last 3 years, has led to a disproportionate number of blood checks, and I have met many phlebotomists, with many and varied skills. This skill is measured by the bruising or lack thereof in the blood letting procedure.

Tuesday I was sent to the blood surgery waving a 2-page document with requests for 10 different blood tests. With the unusual situation of hardly any queues, my donations were taken by a young, enthusiastic and newish nurse, who was quite happy to talk about blood tests.

Knowing that all sample bottles have different colour corks I was intrigued to see her refer to an indexed type address book to see which colour was needed for each of my 10 tests. The conclusion was that in my case 3 colours would apply, including a red cap. She told me that each sample phial can hold enough blood for up to 10 different tests, but in some cases a whole phial is needed for just one test.

   

What I did not know was that some phials already have an ingredient (reminiscent of police and customs, who mix a sample from a questionably packet and the colour identifies the drug type.). In these cases, the blood sample starts its reaction with the ingredient already in the phial.

The red-cap is apparently the purest sample, nothing being added, and is the first one taken when a series of samples are needed. The nurse showed me her “order of draw” list as there is a strict sequence of colours to avoid any cross pollution.

You will know about my aversion to and my wish to drive out the words “so” and Like”. I am instigating another protest which in my small way I can implement.

I have long felt that it is an invasion of privacy when, in the course of making a purchase, I am asked for my name. This I have encountered (since the campaign started) in Domino Pizza, and Starbucks.

Whilst it is perhaps better to be recognised as a living person, as opposed to the MacDonald’s way of giving me what is equivalent to a raffle ticket, I have decided that if Domino wants to put a name on the pizza box, or the Starbucks Barista wants to write my name on a plastic cup. I will henceforth use a name which is unique to me, but not mine.

This I was able to put into operation yesterday when I purchased a take-away Pizza. With 10 minutes to wait and leaving for a stroll I was asked “What name was it?” Refraining from replying “The same one as now”, I answered Mr Crow. (It could have been Mr Finch, Mr Bunting, Mr Swift, and many others, which would not even give rise to a chuckle, but Mr Crow nicely tested my scheme.)

Returning in due course, and waiting with a group of patient customers, I stepped forward proudly in response to the call “Mr Crow?”.  I’ll let you know when I get to something more courageous like, Gannet, Dipper or Plover.      

QI fact time.         254 years ago, on 14^th April 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot in a theatre in Washington.

You will by now appreciate that my bird watching activity this week has been Zero. But I was  thrilled to be told that the Swift nest boxes that were to be erected to recognise my 21 years as a volunteer at Carsington, have been put up this week.  Ranger Mike Thompson, who is also a birding enthusiast supervised and organised the 4 double nest boxes at the visitor centre, and we look forward to later in the year when Swifts are not only heard screaming around the centre, but also breeding in or more of the boxes.

This is what the two of the double nest boxes looks like.

I’m sorry you have been deprived of virtually any birding news this week,  but knowing what I am doing in the next 7 days and how I will make up for this deficiency, please check me out on the 21^st April. I will have birded somewhere for the first time ever!!

Happy Birding

A good Turn for the Microtibialist

OK, we will start off with my QI FYI which one of my followers is forwarding round his Whatsapp chat line. (Well some good is coming from this blog that I started in 2015!!). 

Oh, I like this one.. “who was the first female ruler of England, on 7^th April 1141? 

Clue?   She was never crowned.      Apparently, her attempt to be crowned at Westminster failed as a result of bitter opposition from the London crowds.    A bit of déjà vu there!!

No?   Matilda daughter of Henry 1.

To Avian matters, Tuesday April 2^nd Christine and I decide to have a day on the East coast, specifically at Frampton Marsh. I drove in a bit of trepidation (and precipitation!) as to what we would find, as it was raining when we left Nottingham, but I clutched at the straw that it should be OK on the coast.

We had a good run, but just before we reached the RSPB reserve, an urgent call from Chris resulted in an emergency stop, reverse gear and a view of this unusual example of Tree Topography.

ATA at 10.15, we found an empty car park, and nothing (so far) on the sightings board for the day. So, it was a hot drink and a look around from the centre windows.

The rain and low clouds were driving  Sand Martins and Swallows low over the water, and we had good views from the visitor centre.

Word was that the Dowitcher was still at Frampton so we settled down and started searching from the main hide.  We did meet a couple of birders who had spotted the bird in the rain but for us this was another case of the one that got away.

We decided to dine in the dry hide, and Chris kindly volunteered to go back to my car and pick up our lunches. She returned, not completely soaked through, but with the take-aways. In view of her sterling work, I felt it was not the time to mention that I was unable to make my pack-a-soup, as I did not have a cup or a spoon.    ?? Pour the powder in the thermos and shake vigorously?  Soup cocktail?

Chris to the rescue. “I have a cup you can use, I can use my Thermos cap. Screw that piece of silver foil from round your sandwich, very tight, and use as a stirrer.”     Brilliant – all problems solved.

We settled down to seeing what we could find amidst the hundreds of Black tailed Godwits and Ruff. 

A couple of Pintails, a single Snipe and 4 Ringed Plovers were the pick of the crop.

After lunch and before we left, we had a walk drive to the second car park, which allegedly overlooked the Dowitcher area. A dedicated birder had been standing on the mound for some time without success, until we arrived when he went into that well-known twitching mode! He was tracking the Dowitcher as it took off and flew away to the other side of the West hide. Chris .. “Shall we follow it? “ Rhetorical question!

Heater on and it was homeward bound, 3 new birds for me and 2 for Chris. And the journey home?   Sunshine all the way!!!

Sunday April 7^th,  I decided to join the Carsington Water Birdwatching for Beginners walk for the first time in 2019, no longer as a leader but ably run by Amanda.  She had a good turnout of about 24 people, and with 5 leaders (not including me) for a change she decided to walk clockwise round the reservoir particularly hoping to see some of the summer arrivals.

With plenty of loitering, looking and listening, we only went as far as Shiningford North, and Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Blackcap were seen or heard, and every likelihood of a Redstart made this different route well worthwhile today.

A bit of a quiet week this week, but the migrants are coming!!

Finally, you’ll allow me a bit of self-indulgence in showing you the latest addition in my other hobby Microtibialism – leg collecting.

This is a 150 year old Victorian wooden page turner which I bought at an antique fair on Friday. It takes me to 134 legs compared with the 264 Avian legs that I have seen so far in 2019!!

Happy Birding