A SELECTION

It’s been a while since my last post so I’m guessing that it’s about time I did another one?


Here’s a selection of images taken on my recent wanderings.



Female BLACKBIRD not black at all but, in the right light, showing subtle shades of brown.


A GREY HERON not looking too happy on a frosty cold morning.


Greylag Geese on final approach.


Immature Herring Gull  As I still find the ageing of gulls beyond me I’ve labelled this one as immature!

 
A COOT no doubt on it’s way to a fight somewhere?


The JAY, with it’s stunning markings and colourful plumage, is one of my favourite birds to see.


And another.


A female KESTREL with the sun on her back.


Not an ugly duckling but an already elegant and graceful juvenile MUTE SWAN.


A STARLING captured in my garden in the late afternoon light showing off it’s beautiful plumage.


A WIGEON flyover.


And finally……


What am I…..

A CANALAG or maybe a LAGCANA?



And….


Barry the BLACK-HEADED GULL who’s regretting listening to all his pals when they assured him that doing a barrel roll was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Checking out Keith’s birds

Earlier this week I had occasion to visit Milton Keynes and, as Keith is away sunning(?) himself half way up a Welsh mountain at the moment, I decided to have a quick look to see how ‘his birds’ around Caldecotte Lake were fairing during his absence!
I only had a short time so was only able to have a look at the ‘arm behind the pub’. The lake is now back to it’s normal level after the recent flooding but surprisingly there wasn’t many birds around…perhaps Keith has taken them all away with him?…a few Wigeon and Tufted Ducks, a few Coot and a couple of Mute Swans and in the distance three Grey Herons were having a bit of a set too, with quite a bit of squawking and chasing around going on, watching through the bino’s it appeared to be an adult bird giving grief to a couple of juveniles…time for them to be on their way, I guess?
A pair of Great Crested Grebe appeared not too far away doing some ‘head wagging’ unfortunately they didn’t get into the full ‘weed dance’ routine and seemed to lose interest after a while and drifted away.


I then spotted, close into the far bank, a male and two female Goosanders. I slowly moved down to the waters edge and tried to hide behind a small group of bushes in the hope that they would swim out into more open water. Eventually one of the females ventured a little closer.



I don’t know what spooked them, perhaps they spotted me?…but all of a sudden they were up and away.



There were lots of Black-Headed Gulls, some just cruising around….



…and others just loafing on the water.



A good many of them have started to acquire their brown head covering now.

In amongst the Black-Headed Gulls I spotted a couple of 1st. winter Common Gulls and as they flew around I noticed that they both had leg rings, I spent quite a few minutes attempting to get some images of them, I eventually, after almost melting the shutter on the camera!!, got some images where I could read the numbers on the rings. This one has a white ring on it’s right leg with 17EB on it, it also has a metal ring on it’s left leg.



This one has a green ring on it’s right leg with JO59 on it, it also has a metal ring on it’s other leg.



The same bird…resting!



The next day I sent off the ring details to the Euring ring recovery service, the following morning I received an email from a Mr. Morten Helberg in Norway telling me that ‘JO59’ had been rung, presumably as a chick, at Tveitevannet Lake in Bergen Norway on 19th. August 2013 which is 1001Km (622 miles) from Caldecotte Lake although, apart from a few sightings as it travelled south through Norway, we don’t know where it’s been or how far it’s travelled in the interim.
It’s always interesting to get information on how far, and where, a particular bird has traveled from and to and also to know that, now my sighting has been logged, I’ll always be a small part of that bird’s history.
I’m still waiting on any info/news of the travels of  ‘17EB’…I’ll keep you informed if I hear anything.



  

'ERR 99'....

Yesterday was not a good day!...it was sunny and warm, reaching a high of 14°C...in fact it was  a proper spring day...but it was not a good day!

I went to Verulamium Park and Lake in St. Albans, the main reason for going was to take pictures of the Grey Herons that nest on the small island in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately  as I got to the perfect position for taking photographs my camera decided that it didn't want to play anymore and, after massively over exposing a few shots,  it decided to cry enough and popped up an ERR 99 message on the LCD screen!...So that was it...Game Over!!

A few images taken before the camera died...

This Black-Headed Gull looked like it was trying to make a noise but when it opened it's mouth nothing came out!

What Ice?

A Coot - not fighting for a change!

A Grey Heron delivering nest material.

Tomorrow  I'm taking the camera to the 'fix it man' to see what the prognosis is, hopefully he'll say a couple of quid should fix it!! (I can hope can't I?)

The good news is that Keith, (he's a wonderful chap) while he's away in Wales, has offered to lend me his spare camera until mine is sorted. Thanks Mate..[;o))

A MEGA DAY OUT - PART TWO...AGAIN!

 

Part Two of a day out with Keith where we visited RSPB Framton Marsh in Lincolnshire and RSPB Titchwell in Norfolk.

After an excellent three hours or so at Frampton, and the obligatory cup of coffee, it was time to move on to our next destination...the magnificent  RSPB reserve at  Titchwell.

Thanks to excellent chauffeuring by Keith,  53 miles and 1 3/4 hours later we arrived in the rather busy (it usually is!) Titchwell car park.

A short walk to the visitor centre shop to check the sightings board to see what was about and  as is normal when you're in a crowded area I kept hearing snippets of conversations and the two words that kept being mentioned were Barn Owl!  Anyway, on through the shop and back outside to check to see what birds were coming to the feeding station (not many as it happens!) and there it was again!... someone mentioned Barn Owl  "just there,  sitting on a fence post"  No! it couldn't be, it's one o'clock in the afternoon Barn Owls don't come out at this time of day?... Oh yes they do!...a quick walk, of the twenty or so yards, in the direction of the pointing fingers and we were just in time to see a beautiful Barn Owl lift off from the fence post and give us a short fly by before disappearing behind the trees and out of sight!...a truly wonderful few minutes, and just to add to the moment, a guy standing close by then called out Stonechat! and, sure enough, we were all soon watching a (distant) pair of Stonechats as they kept flitting from the ground up into some bramble bushes...and in the far distance a Hen Harrier was hunting over the reed beds.... the day just got a whole lot better!

Barn Owl

We decided to forgo visiting the hides for the time being and instead to make our way along the main path that leads to the beach.

As always, the path was rather busy.

There were lots of other birds and waterfowl around and we were soon able to see, amongst the usual candidates Shelduck, Avocet, Shoveler,  a single  Greenshank and lots of Curlew and Redshank.

Curlew

The next big surprise was seeing the large flock of Golden Plover (circa 4000 according to the sightings board!) resting on the islands in front of the main hide and what a beautiful sight as they intermittently took to the air and sparkled and glittered in the sunlight just like golden confetti.

Just a small fraction of the Golden Plover in front of the Parrinder Hide

On past the hide and onto the next lagoon where a group of Teal were busy dabling on the shallow water.

Teal (male)

And further along, another big surprise.. a beautiful pair of Pintail were 'showing' right up close to the path seemingly unconcerned by the amount of people passing by just a few feet away!

A stunning male Pintail

And a Black Headed Gull saying "I may not be as beautiful as a Pintail but look, I can jump on water"

Out onto the beach now and for once the wind wasn't blowing a gale, and we weren't getting sandblasted, as is normally the case here!

The clubhouse for the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club across the water at Brancaster

Here we saw Oystercatcher, Turnstone and Sanderling 'working' the strand line looking for  something nice to eat.

Oystercatcher

Turnstone

This 'friendly' Black Headed Gull followed us along the beach and was never more than a couple of yards away.

On the way back to the hides we had a fleeting glimpse of a Water Rail as it quickly disapeared back into the undergrowth  and eagle eyed Keith did it again and spotted a couple of Snipe on the edge of a distant island ( he's got a knack when it comes to spotting Snipe!!)

Even I could see this one as it posed right in front of the hide window!

Keith also located a flock of Twite as they flew across the water to a far bank.

We were into the late afternoon now and the sun was beginning to set and it was time to make our way back to the car for a final cup of coffee and the long journey home.

It was a very successful and enjoyable day with 41 different species seen here, making a grand total of 57 different species for the day with 25 of them being new year ticks, and one a life tick (the Twite), and also add onto that sightings of Rabbit, Brown Hare and Muntjac Deer and it was truly...A Mega Day Out.