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.



  

CLOSEUP AND PERSONAL

Hi folks, I'm back!(no pun intended!!)

I've not posted for the best part of a month due to various reasons, not least a 'back problem' that just appeared for no good reason ,which in turn aggravated an old work related shoulder injury and together they made it very painful to sit at the computer for more than a couple of minutes at a time, in fact the only comfortable place was laying flat out on the floor!!

I'm glad to say that after about ten days, of doing a good job at doing nothing, the back and shoulder slowly got  back to normal  ( or as good as they for an old wrinkly, I guess!!). the rest of the time has been taken up with catching up on all the jobs that I didn't manage to get around to whilst laying about on the floor!

So, many apologies  for not being able to leave any comments on all of your wonderful blogs, however I did manage to keep reasonably up to date with reading most of them, and as always a grand job is being done by all of you.

I did manage to get out and about on a couple of days (good back days!) and take a few 'snaps'.

So by way of easing myself back into Blogland here are a few old and new portraits.

Moorhen

Coot

Great Crested Grebe

Mandarin Duck (male)

Mandarin Duck (female)

Carrion Crow

Mallard

A WALK IN THE SUN

Thursday the 1st of March started off with a rosy pink sunrise which by 7am had turned to thick fog, which was slightly annoying as I had planned to go for a walk around Caldecotte Lake. The weather forecast did however predict  a pleasant sunny day.

After a leisurely breakfast and attending to a few little jobs that needed doing around the house, I decided that the fog was thinning a little and perhaps I should go anyway, by it was now 10.30am and half the day had already gone.

Arriving at the lake just after 11am I could see that the fog/mist was indeed rising to reveal a bright blue sky and with no wind to speak of the lake was almost flat calm (a change for Caldecotte as it's nearly always windy!!)

                            

First stop was the foot bridge by the car park (were Keith has got the birds well trained!!) and a few handfuls of seed on the handrail soon brought down Reed Buntings, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, Chaffinch, a Robin along with Blackbirds, House Sparrows and a couple of shy Greenfinch.

Female Reed Bunting

Male Reed Bunting

 

On to check out Keith's feeders, which were surprisingly quiet with only a couple of Greenfinch, a Robin and two Long Tailed Tits in attendance.

On around the South lake and the first thing that I noticed was that most of the waterfowl were taking it easy and were just 'loafing' around the edges of the lake. Around by the houses two elderly women were feeding a melee of Mallard, Canada Geese, Mute Swans and Black Headed Gulls.

 Coot

A Black Headed Gull with it's first sandwich of the day!

 

The next thing I came across was rather upsetting, a dead Great Crested Grebe upside down in the water. A length of fishing line could clearly be seen tangled around it's bill!

 Cause of death:- CARELESS BLOODY FISHERMEN!!

 

Next up a dead fish, a Pike, about 12 to18 inches long, in the shallows just past the boathouse.

 

Onwards and around past the first bird hide were I fed Keith's tame Robin and saw something I'd not seen before, a Dunnock seemed to bury itself down in the leaf litter a proceeded to 'bathe' in just the same way as it would were it having a dust bath, I guess!  I would have had some video only the 'wally effect' took over and I forgot to press the record button!!  ( It looked good in the viewfinder though, best video ever!)

By now the temperature had risen to a balmy 15*C (59*F) and time was getting on and as I still wanted to go around the South lake I made a quick walk to the road bridge stopping to take this picture across the lake showing the houses (oh to have lots of money!) With Keith's favourite place, the boathouse, in the foreground.

 And these of a Mute swan taking to the air...

And this of a cruising Herring Gull (2nd winter....I think?) 

The North lake seemed to be very sparse in regard to waterfowl and the reason soon became apparent as I could hear the noise of  chain saws and shredding machines in the distance, sure enough just around the corner the 'butchers' (landscapers) will busily hacking down all the bushes. (I won't say any more as it will just turn into a rant!!).

A brisk walk around to the dam and I spotted two Mute Swans having what looked like a fight, although I guess it was just a show of strength as they didn't appear to be inflicting to much damage to each other. The 'fight' went on for the best part of thirty minutes until another male Swan, who had swam the whole width of the lake, just quietly nudged into them whereupon they stopped 'fighting' and swam off in different directions just like two naughty schoolboys that had been told off for fighting in the playground!

 I did manage to get most of the action on video apart from the ending when again the 'wally effect' once more prevented me from pressing the record button!!

The only other sightings of note on my walk back to the car were a group of Wigeon in the bay by the houses and the 'resident' Crow with the  white wing feathers.

 

The 'Fight' video.....