Wednesday 13 October 2010

Switched to Spurn

Lapland Bunting (c) 2010 John Sparham
Jack Snipe (c) 2010 Vince Cowell
Goldcrest - after a bath!
Proving he's a male!
Redpoll
Redpoll
Brambling
Siskin
Brambling
Redwing
Chiffchaff
Yesterday's session was switched to Spurn to take advantage of the fall of migrants. The day started well with an Egyptian Goose & a Lapland Bunting from the Blue Bell car park. We travelled down the peninsula dodging Robins, Meadow Pipits, a large flock of Linnets, Song Thrushes & a single Wheatear. The am group stopped at Chalk Bank for the high tide & saw Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Turnstone, Curlew, Redshank, Knot & Dunlin. At the point there were some flighty Bramblings, but everyone was able to watch one eventually. Some Siskins looked the worst for their travels, but they were busy feeding so they may have been OK. A few Swallows were still being seen, but they were heavily outnumbered by Redwings. On the return journey we stopped off at Canal Scrape for great views of Jack Snipe, a flock of 5 Lesser Redpolls and lots of Chiffchaffs. A male Goldcrest had a bath & then decided to swab its crest on some barbed wire - it could have all ended so differently. The afternoon was pretty similar to the morning, but was 'enlivened' by the donation of a Water Rail, which had been picked up by a non-birder halfway down the point & carried all the way to the point car park. He thought it had a broken leg, but it was only dislocated. I dropped it off at Kew Villa on the return journey, where it was going to be 'nursed', fed & released on the Canal Zone on Wednesday morning. I'll post any news I receive on this bird later. I can't post a picture of this bird at this stage, as I've used up my allotted free picure web space!!!

Thursday 7 October 2010

At Last No Beardies!

Fly Agaric (c) 2010 John Sparham
Parasol (c) 2010 John Sparham
Parasol (c) 2010 John Sparham
Shaggy Parasol
Shaggy Parasol
Shaggy Parasol
Russula sp.
Sulphur Tuft
Fungi
"Death by Chocolate"
Common Ink Cap
Bolete sp.
Comma
Red Deer Stag (c) 2010 John Sparham
Reed Deer Stags & Fallow Deer [right] (c) 2010 John Sparham
Fallow Stag (c) 2010 John Sparham
Fallow Hinds (c) 2010 John Sparham
Record shot of Jay
Record shot of Nuthatch
Record shot of Green Woodpecker
Moorhen (c) 2010 John Sparham
Guelder Rose (c) 2010 John Sparham
Dogwood (c) 2010 John Sparham
Hornbeam (c) 2010 John Sparham
Peacock


Wednesday 6 October 2010

Beardies are Like Buses...

Bearded Tit [male]
Bearded Tit [male]
ditto
ditto
Bearded Tit [female]
ditto
ditto
Goldcrest
ditto
The morning was different because of the rain. We went through 11 definitions of a birdwatcher first in the lecture room at Tophill Low; whilst the warden was participating as a speaker at a local Tourism conference. We then discussed the merits of the latest bird books on the market, plus Birdguides applications, DVDs, & CD-ROMs. After a break the group kindly agreed to participate in a Top Trumps game. This involved trying to guess if it was best to choose a bird's size, UK population, number of UK family species, age etc. Everyone enjoyed themselves and learned a few things. The most surprising fact for them was that a female Cuckoo may lay up to 25 eggs, and that a Kingfisher may has lived to be 16 years old, and a female may lay 21 eggs a year.

The afternoon group went to Far Ings as planned. We had excellent views of a Goldcrest and watched a Kingfisher fishing & it even hovered for several seconds over a thin strip of water. Finally, we had amazing views of a pair of Bearded Tits which visted us as we watched from a hide! The sights ensure that today's afternoon class rated 12 out of 10, with an added bar for excellence - first time that's happened!

Twirling Moustachios

Bearded Tit
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
female
6 Beardies all in one Umbellifer
Spotted Redshank (left) with 2 bog Standard Redshank
Black-tailed Godwit
Yesterday was the final trip to RSPB Blacktoft this term, and it didn't disppoint. At Ousefleet hide there were many wildfowl, and plenty of waders - hundreds of Lapwing and a couple of Ruff, but it was the Bearded Tits which wowed the crowds. 6 gave us a wonderful display as they came within a few feet of the hide. I've only ever had distant views at this location before, so to see them this close was brilliant. The days was also a bit of a raptor-fest with several views of a female Merlin in the morning, plus a female juvenile Peregrine chasing a Lapwing, a few Kestrels, and a static Sparrowhawk. The Marsh Harriers were more showy in the afternoon - with a max of 5 seen. Waders identified included 6 Curlew Sandpipers, some fine Spotted Redshanks, a few Black-tailed Godwit, and a sprinkling of more Ruff. Apparently, a Greenshank had been on site earlier in the day, but we failed to track it down. 2 Water Rails were seen at Marshland in the morning with another at Townend in the afternoon. the wader passage is slowing down to a trickle so we were lucky to see as many was we did.