The Big Twitch

Well todays the day we go on the biggest twitch of our lives - yes in one hours time were heading off for Manchester airport to catch a flight to Thailand to see(hopefully or my life won't be worth living!) Spoon-billed Sandpiper.  As there are probably only a few hundred pairs left in the world we thought we ought to go and see them(2!) in their wintering ground before they are no more.  So three weeks in Thailand hopefully should do it but we plan to travel round a fair bit and catch up with another critically endangered bird although they have just found a few thousand in Myanmar and that is Gurney's Pitta.  As usual our luggage allowance is taken up with optical equipment so should have plenty of photos to post on our return hopefully there will be a stunning shot of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper.  If we get wi-fi any where I'll try to keep the blog updated so watch this space.

Firecrest

Big excitement this morning - a new garden bird tick in the form of a lovely little Firecrest - its hard to photograph though as it doesn't keep still for a second!

Alkborough Flats - a spectacular morning

We arrived down on the flats this morning at about 8.00 am and the light was superb - the weather was  cold but sunny and the birds were everywhere.  A very very rough guess put the numbers of birds at about 8000 - 5000 of these being Golden Plover, 2000 Lapwing and the rest Black Tailed Godwits, Teal, Dunlin and other duck.  The Plovers were so skittish they never landed for more than a minute a time and each time they got up the noise and patterns they made were quite spectacular - intermittently the "show" was interrupted with 4 Whooper Swans, 2 Kingfishers, 2 very obliging Snipe and a couple of Marsh Harriers.  After an hour the sun went, the wind picked up and the rain came down - you can see the change in light on the following photos - I think the Nikon may have been a good choice! 

A little test - Canon 100-400mm or Nikon P6000?

The photos below were all taken at Alkborough Flats this morning - they are 2 male Stonechats, a group of Lapwing(can you spot the Ruff), a female Stonechat, Grey Wagtail(taken through a wire fence) and a Bullfinch. Double click on images for a better view and I would really be interested to know which kit you think took these pics. 

Autumn leaves still falling in Normanby Park

Finally got out this morning having spent days in with a cold ridden husband! the leaves are stilling falling although our own flowering cherry tree hasn't even begun to change colour so a while to go yet.  The only notable bird activity has been a wonderful Woodcock who flew through the garden on Saturday morning - we think it was probably flushed by the shooters up at Little Normanby - it headed straight for the park.

Digishots

More camera experimental shots taken through the scope - the Jackdaw is an interesting one as he has lots of white spotting down his front.

Eastern Crowned Warbler - South Shields

Great excitement in the UK over the last two days - a first record of an Eastern Crowned Warbler so it was  north we went this morning to be there for first light.  A couple of hundred were already there in position, all nervously wondering if it was still there and then a warbler flitted into view and yes ..... a Yellow Browed Warbler oh dear but all was not lost within seconds out came the star of the show.  As you can see from the shot of the crowd below we were a fair distance from the bird so the shots below of the bird were the best we could do - they are with the Nikon through the scope at 2000 iso! and yes there is a bird there just look in the centre of each pic.  This little bird has had great media coverage appearing in the national press, radio and even the BBC news this evening - I have to say that based on purely looks alone for me it wasn't as smart as the Yellow Browed but for sheer excitement and anticipation  it won hands down.

A few fungi and a lack of Harlequin Ladybirds

This autumn does not seem a good year for fungi, probably due to the near drought conditions we have experienced over the last couple of months however took these few shots in the park this morning - no idea what they are.  The trees are slowly turning some ahead of others - the Lime Trees are turning an acid yellow, the Sycamores are mostly brown due to the lack of rain but the Beech trees and a number of the ornamentals are turning a nice orangey tone. Lots of bird activity particularly migrant thrushes with plenty of Redwings in, a  first Fieldfare, 10+ Mistle Thrush and double the numbers of our usual Song Thrushes and Blackbirds.  Talking of migration I'm told that today the UK has been inundated with Harlequin Ladybirds. The harlequin ladybird is an Asiatic species that was introduced to Europe as a biological control agent.  It was also introduced to North America in 1988, where it is now the most widespread ladybird species on the continent. It has already invaded much of northwestern Europe, and arrived in Britain in summer 2004. A voracious predator it devours greenfly and even our native Ladybird - I have covered all the park this morning and searched our garden but haven't managed to find one - thank goodness! 

Rain at last

Today it has rained most of the day - something we haven't really seen since July so at last the pond and water butts have had a top up!  The rain cleared this evening giving a lovely sunset at the back of the garden and a rainbow to the front so an opportunity to test the new cameras programmed sunset scene - this camera has been criticised for excessive noise at low light levels but doesn't seem too bad (unless you zoom in and then you wish you hadn't bothered).

Normanby Park's Autumn Havest

A cold easterly wind this morning bringing down even more leaves  and a bumper crop of Sweet Chestnuts - the Jays and Squirrels were frantically collecting and burying as many as possible.  Also in the wood this morning a group of ten Crossbills moving around the Larch tops but never settling in to view.

Barred Warbler at Wroot

Here's a dilemma this Barred Warbler is right on the Lincs/S Yorks border so do we count it as a Lincolnshire tick or not? Which ever county,  it is still an exceptional inland record for this rarity.

Normanby Park Autumn Macro shots

Took a few macro shots with the new camera this morning and I have to say I just kept longing for my old Canon at first but after a while seemed to get to grips with the Nikon.  The colours seemed to be much colder than the Canon and try as I might I just couldn't find how to alter the ISO setting.  I have my usual gripe these days and that is the lack of a paper manual - a disc is just no good when you are out in the field!

New camera

I have been looking for a new camera for a while now and having narrowed down my choice to 3 I finally plumped for the Nikon P6000 .  So today had its first outing and I know it's early days but I think I made the right choice as it seems to be customed made to compliment our Kowa scope.  As you can see from the two digiscoped images below, there is no vignetting and these are hand held at 1/60th of a second and the camera only weighs 250g!  I loved my old Canon Ixus 800 but the screen has virtually worn away and the view finder is full of dust so I must try to take more care of this one but so far the Nikon has won the digiscope test handsdown however the next test will be landscapes and macros, which I'm expecting the canon to win but we'll see!

Here's the man!

Autumn Watch at Normanby Park

Well not the BBC team but me - had some great autumn visitors in the park this morning including; 2  Crossbills, 6 Siskins, 30 Pink Footed Geese flying over, up to 8 Jays collecting acorns, 10 Mistle Thrush plus the regulars; Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, large mixed tit flock, Nuthatch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch.  But the spectacle of the moment has to be the rutting Red Deer - there is the most fabulous stag strutting his stuff around the females and he is making the most fabulous noises, I hope to get some photos of him later this week.

Afternoon update - whilst stood in the front garden looking at the mindless vandalism of my car (which took place at the weekend) a further 80 Pink Feet flew over and a Grey Wagtail 20 secs later.

Hornet in North Lincolnshire

Two weeks ago I "bumped into" a Hornet at the bottom of the garden catching Hover flies feeding on the ivy.  As we only have very rare sightings of Hornets up here in North Lincs I rushed back to the house to get my camera but as usual in these cases by the time I returned it had flown off!  However as luck would have it my brother down in Kent has just posted some fabulous shots on his blog of a Queen Hornet mating in his garden so I have "borrowed" one of his shots but to see the really good ones click on the link below - As I understand we are at the very edge of its northerly limit. 

.http://theshadoxhurstgarden.blogspot.com/2009/09/garden-nuptial-hornets.html

The Cape to the Kalahari - Part two the birds

Southern Boubou

European Bee-eater

Cape Suger Bird at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Cape Gannet at Lamberts Bay possibly the smelliest place on the planet!

Secretary Bird

Southern White faced Scops Owl

Lappet Face Vulture
Bataleur
Cape Rock Jumper outside of Cape Town

African Penguin at Boulders Beach

Blue Crane
Cape Bulbul
Black Oystercatcher

Spurn Point - a memorable day

Had a wonderful day at Spurn Point yesterday, we had been watching the weather all week and felt Saturday should be good for migrants and we certainly weren't disappointed, the order of viewing went as follows; Snow Bunting, Woodchat Shrike, Icterine Warbler, Short Toed Lark, Redbacked Shrike, Red Breasted Flycatcher and Barred Warbler interspersed with plenty of Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts and Whinchats - if only we had taken a camera!

The Cape to the Kalahari - Part 1 The Mammals

There's not a lot to photograph in Normanby at the moment and even if there was we have had such strong southerly winds it has been difficult to stand upright - roll on winter!  So its time to delve in the archives again with a trip to South Africa which we made in 2007.  The trip fell into roughly 3 areas; the Cape including a pelagic trip, the Karoo and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park - it was  fabulous and once again as is usually the case in Africa the mammals knocked the birds into second place.  So lets start with the cats - in 3 days we had 53 Lions and videoed 3 kills which were definitely very gruesome and not the quick kill I thought they would be.  In each case Kudus or Eland were brought down by female adult Lions but then handed over to usually 5-6 youngsters who were not adept in killing and in one case played with their victim for half an hour before feeding.

A young male Lion

A female handing over an Eland to a youngster

Youngsters awaiting their turn to feed
The mother
Adult male

Black backed Jackals scavenging

The Kalagadi is the best place I have ever been for Lions - far better than Etosha or Kruger and it also gave us our best views of Leopard 

Without these Jackals we would never have seen the Leopard - they were howling and acting very agitated in the middle of the road, we stopped and watched knowing that something was about to happen when the Leopard strolled out in front of our car.

Wildebeests

Brown Hyena -  the evilest  looking creatureGemsbokEland

In the garden this summer

Considering the miserable summer weather we have had it has been a great year for butterflies.  Our Buddleia has been coated in Painted Ladies, Small White, Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Meadow Browns, Gate Keepers, Peacocks, Commas and  one very welcome Grayling.  The caterpillar below is a Elephant Hawk Moth which I nearly stood on outside my back door!

 Bird wise the season has been quiet in the garden however we did have a Peregrine shoot across yesterday just above our roof and caused havoc amongst our resident Jackdaws.  We also have at the moment one very ill looking male Bullfinch which visits daily to feed on the honey suckle berries - although his feathers look very worn he appears to have a disease rather than summer moulting as he also seems to have very sticky eyes - I fear the end is near for him.

August WeBs count - record counts

For the last 20 or so years Wayne has undertaken monthly WeBs counts http://www.bto.org/webs/about/core/(wetland bird surveys) on the Humber Estuary for the BTO -  the area he covers is from Winteringham to South Ferriby on the south bank.   Today was the designated August count day and the usual post breeding flock of Avocet along with Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Ringed Plover and Shelduck were found around Reads Island.  Interestingly there were record numbers of Avocet and Shelduck present with 1089 of the former and 1551 of the latter.  Hidden in amongst the vast numbers of Shelduck were 2 Ruddy Shelduck.

Collared Pratincole in Lincolnshire

Just got back from Frampton Marsh where luckilly yesterdays Collared Pratincole reappeared.  We had great views of it both flying and on the ground.  Here are some trully awful digiscoped photos.

Spurn Point - Long-toed Stint?

We decided to visit a new RSPB reserve down in the wash today, Frampton Marsh but wouldn't you know it the bird pager went off just as we were setting off - a possible Long-toed Stint had been seen last night and again first thing this morning at Patrington Haven so off we went.  By the time we reached Patrington we had missed high tide so we carried on to Spurn Point  with plans to go back to Patrington at the next high tide at about 7.30.  So we decided to look for the juvenile Marsh Warbler down Beacon Lane which had been seen yesterday - after about an hour of looking we finally found the bird, surprisingly this was a lifer for me so I was happy.  To cut a long story short we saw the stint or a stint which turned out to be a Little Stint not a Long-toed Stint and to add insult to injury for Wayne at the same time it came through on the pager that a Collared Pratincole was at Frampton Marsh a new Lincolnshire 'tick' for us.  We had a lovely day at Spurn though with thousands of waders and dozens of terns and 3 Emperor Dragonflies - I wonder though where we will be tomorrow.

Alkborough Flats - Peregrines and Egrets

This is one of the young Peregrines we have been watching down on the flats for a while now - we have seen 2 maybe 3 juveniles one being fed by an adult.  I would like to say that I took these photos(2nd photo Little Egret, 3rd photo snipe) but I didn't I have never managed to get any thing like these image sizes with my little canon  ixus but my brother (Shadoxhurst Nick) managed these on a quick visit on Sunday morning, Nick uses a SonyA700 with a Tamron 200-500 lens - thankfully he's now back in Kent!  

Evening at Alkborough

Had the most wonderful evening at Alkborough yesterday - the weather during the day had been wet and very breezy but the evening was still, so as the author of The Shadoxhurst Garden (aka as Nick my brother) is visiting we decided on a late visit.  The light was fading as we  arrived at 7.30 but it seemed to make the sites and sounds even more special.

From the hide we had two fly bys from a Barn Owl, a Spoonbill, 23 Ruff, 1 Hobby, 1 Greenshank, 2 Greensand Pipers, 1 Snipe, 40+ Black-tailed Godwits and 10 roosting Little Egrets.

Snipe

Barn Owl

Wayne

The Yorkshire Dales

I have travelled around the world a fair bit but for me no where equals the outstanding natural beauty of the Yorkshire Dales.  The limestone hills and pastoral valleys are sandwiched between the Lake District to the west and the North York Moors to the east.  We have just spent a couple of days in my favourite of all the dales Swaledale but also ventured in to Wensleydale and the beautiful Mallerstang valley.Wensleydale is probably best known these days for its cheese and in particular for its connection with Wallace and Gromit - it is the largest and most serene of the dales whilst Swaledale to me is more dramatic and more remote with picturesque little villages linked by footpaths all the way down the valley to Reeth.

Mallerstang

Catrake Force

The Butter Tubs - deeply eroded natural wells
Swaledale with its profusion of field barns for which the dale is renowned



Hardraw Force - the highest above ground waterfall in England

Gayle

Gulls - Ancholme Valley

Went to see Graham's gulls today (aka Peewit) - we dipped on the Caspian Gull but had 2 Yellow Legged Gulls and 6 Meditteranean Gulls.  Whilst there we also had 13 Crossbills fly over.

Pectoral Sandpiper at Alkborough

A good birding day today, with 2 Ruddy Shelduck on Read's Island and a nice adult Pectoral Sandpiper down on the flats.  No shots of the Shelducks as they were miles away!

 

Local Round-up

Well, Wimbledon has ended for another year and yet another year without a Brit in sight of a final but at least we can get out again and here's what we saw;

5th July - Sunday

Burton Gravel Pits - at last a singing Turtle Dove, what a disaster this species is having in our area - the only one we know of but at least that's one better than Spotted Flycatcher!

Alkborough Flats - 2 Spoonbill, 2 Little Egret, 7 Greenshank, 3 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Barn Owl, 219 Black Tailed Godwits

Messingham Sand Quarries - 240 fledged Black Headed Gulls, 2 adult and 2 juvenile Marsh Harrier, Kingfishers taking in fish to nest site, Avocet with juveniles

Laughton Forest - 1 Tree Pipit, 2 Woodcock and up to 6 singing Nightjars on one stretch of track

Normanby Park - 3 male Black Tailed Skimmers and dozens of Common Blue Damselflies

Bee Boxes and Wood Peckers

I have been slightly inactive for the past week mainly due to Wimbledon and Glastonbury however when schedules allowed I have been in the garden enjoying some very close encounters courtesy of the destructive behavior of a young Great Spotted Woodpecker.

It all started when I caught this young pecker systematically taking every grub out of the bee box which  had been diligently laid and sealed up over the past month by either mining bees or leaf cutter bees (I'm not sure which).  Every chamber had been used but in the space of minutes each one had been broken into and the grub taken so in an attempt to divert the bird away from the box and give the bees a second chance I filled up all the peanut feeders.  The feeders are only about six foot away from my garden bench and have been quickly found by a family of nine Great Tits and the young Wood Pecker.  They don't seem to mind me sitting so close and I have had the most marvellous views with the young Great Tits even joining me on the bench.  A near disaster though this evening when one of the young Great Tits flew into the patio window, we picked it up stunned and it took it a good ten minutes to come round and fly off.

You can see just one chamber complete but a bee is back sealing up second from the right top row!

More from the Alps

We have been back nearly a week now and I'm still thinking about the flowers, the scenery and the bakers!  Three more shots below of Mont Blanc all taken under different light conditions, the image changed throughout the day.  The rodents are Marmots which played hide and seek in their burrow system and whistled to each other and I couldn't resist another Elder Flower Orchid shot.  You may have noticed that I haven't posted any bird photos and to be honest that's because we didn't take many!   The main group of birds seen were raptors namely Common Buzzards, Honey Buzzards, Black Kites, Hobby, Peregrine and the Lammergeiers all fairly distant so no photos.  In the chalet garden were a family of Black Redstarts, White Wagtails, brief visits of Serin and Common Redstart all of which were impossible to get near so no photos but one bird which was only too happy to be pictured sharing our picnics were A....... C....... wait and see if you can guess!

 Alpine Choughs - did you guess right? NB the bottom one is colour ringed  

The French Alps - Haute Savoie

Well were back from a lovely relaxing week in the Haute Savoie area of France where we stayed in a glorious chalet in Combloux with the most magnificent views of Mont Blanc.  The alpine flowers stole the show with raptors coming a close second particularly the Lammergeiers at Col de Columbiere.  I have tried to identify and label the flowers but  please any experts out there let me know where I have gone wrong!  More photos to follow.

Views from the chalet

One-flowered wintergreen - my favourite little flower only about 3cms tall and only found one very small group
Spring Gentian?
Creeping BellFlower?
Solomans Seal


Mountain Sainfoin

Purple Gentian - the only one we found

Pale Pasque Flower
Orchid sp.
Bilberry

Mountain Pansy
Mont Blanc
We couldn't believe our luck with  this hire car - it was a brand new Mercedes model which had only been launched two weeks ago in Switzerland, it had every gadget known to mankind however the sat nav made some very dodgy decisions!
Meadow Cranesbill
Ecological swimming pool in Combloux

May Lilly
Orchid sp.
Marsh Gentian?

Lammergeier site
Kidney Vetch
French MeadowRue
Herb Paris
Heart-leaved globe daisy
Broad bordered Bee Hawkmoth
Spiked Rampion
Globe Flower
Mer de Glace - Chamoniz

Fritillary Sp?
False Helleborine
Elder Flower Orchid
Alpine Columbine
Chequered Skipper
The Chalet
Bugle and Bettony
Bistort
Birdseye Primrose
A typical meadow
Cows which need liberating from their neck bells!

Off to France

No posts for a week as we are going to the French Alps tomorrow for seven days - not really a birding holiday but something completely unusual for us 'a chilling out holiday' however I'm sure there will be the odd bird, flower, mammal, butterfly etc to look at and no-doubt a few photos to take - watch this space.

Normanby Park - Time for a cull?

Spent time in the park this morning looking for Spotted Flycatchers but failed to see or hear any - what struck me this morning was a lack of young birds compared to our garden and its' boundary.  In total I saw 1 young Song Thrush, 1 young Nuthatch and heard 2 familiy parties of either Blue or Great Tits.  However there are several pairs of Carrion Crows and Jackdaws with young and numerous (6 at the bird feeding station!) Grey Squirrels could this be the reason - are these predators becoming too successful and is it time for a cull particularly of the squirrels?

On a positive note the gardens were looking great and the Lime and Copper Beech trees just stunning.

The avenue of Lime Trees.

Copper Beech and Lubernum.

The rose above smells absolutely gorgeous and lines a whole pathway, so as you walk along the scent goes with you.

Spoonbills at Alkborough

Yes 2 immature Spoonbills at Alkborough this afternoon (first of the year) - too distant for any decent photos!

Garden Nest Boxes

I thought all was well with our boxes - Box 1 has fledged Tree Sparrows, Box 3 has Great Tits still sitting, Box 5 has had Blue Tits feeding chicks that is until Sunday. On Sunday morning we noticed that the adults seemed to have disappeared and the chicks were very vocal and trying to clamber out the box, we went out for a couple of hours and on our return we could hear that the chicks had left the box and were up in a nearby Yew Tree or so we thought. On walking down the garden we found 5 chicks all on the ground unable to fly and with no parents in sight.  We waited over an hour but no happy ending I'm afraid - we tried to find caterpillars to attempt to feed them but it was a lost cause.  The adults never appeared and the box is completely empty with no sign of any chicks.  

We have had a Sparrowhawk hunting through the garden and I'm sure he had one of our Blackbird chicks but could he have taken both our Blue Tits in such a short space of time?  On a happier note we now have a Pied Wagtail nest in the front garden so fingers crossed....

A good day for a Hobby or two

Had two good views of Hobby today; one at Alkborough gliding across the hillside and one hawking for dragonflys over the main lake at Messingham. Also at Messingham two Black Swans, plenty of dragons including Four-Spotted Chaser and Hairys and lots of Large Red Damsels. On the butterfly front only had two Brimstones but my brother today had 200ish Painted Ladies on one track at his local wood in Shadoxhurst, Kent - we have had one or two during the week so maybe we will also have large numbers by the weekend as these migrants move further north.

Leopard (Kruger Park)

This was one of those magical moments where you can't quite believe what you're seeing, we were alerted to its presence by the jackals barking .  Remarkably it was the only big cat sighting we had in Kruger.

and as quickly as it appeared it disappeared

South Africa 2005

In February 2005 we visited South Africa - we did a circuit starting in Joburg down to Wakkerstrom then Sani Pass(Lesotho) across to the coast to Saint Lucia on to Mkhuzi NP and then through Swaziland to Kruger NP. The photos are pre digital SLR and were taken on a compact Panasonic and the occasional digiscoping so in other words not that good!  

Back in April I showed you my favourite ever photo Wayne has taken, well this is my favourite photo which I have taken - it's a Lilac-breasted Roller

Red Bishop                        Orange Breasted Rockjumper

Malachite Sunbird

Sani Pass

Ground Woodpecker

White-fronted Bee-eater
White-headed Vulture
Woodland Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
Zebra
Fish Eagle

Elephant
Double-banded Sandgrouse
Cape Parrot - first light digiscoped at a great distance!
BlackSmiths Plover

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - Alkborough

Its happened again - I stayed in bed and Wayne went to Alkborough and found a Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  Also an invasion of Painted Lady butterflies.

Bird Race 2009

Every year we do a Normanby Parish Bird Race where we see how many species we can see in 24 hours and this year is no different however this is the latest date in the year on which we have attempted it.  So how have we done..... well not as good as previous years infact the worst ever but it was still enjoyable if not tiring(and I didn't join Wayne until 07.00, he started at 03.00).  The total  species seen was 84, 10 less than last year's record but the banter isn't about what we saw but what we didn't ie  Spotted Flycatcher or Turtle Dove which we find very worrying, we also seem to have lost Little Owl, Water Rail and Bittern from the parish.

The weather has not been brilliant today - sunny spells with very heavy thundery showers and 15 mph westerly winds but when the sun came out we had a few nice butterflies such as the Brown Argus and Common Blue pictured below and also Wall and Small Heath.  Best bird of the day would go to Barn Owl flying past in full sun with a vole in its claws otherwise nothing particularly special but we were relieved to get Cuckoo (only 1) and Willow Tit.  Prize for bird more prolific than previous years would go to Buzzard a species we previously struggled with.

Changing the subject completely, last night we went to see the new Star Trek film which we thought was fantastic a must for any Trekkies out there - live long and prosper!

Stone Curlew at Alkborough Flats?

Well I'm just back from a stint down on the flats in search of the Stone Curlew but alas to no avail.  Alkborough is a large site and it does seem like looking for a needle in a hay stack.  When Wayne saw it last night he saw it in flight, flying over one of the fields set with broad beans, it continued passed him and appeared to land a fair distance away on the foreshore where there is no public access and he was unable to relocate it - who knows where it will be now!

Cryptic Clue - just a 'stone' throw from here a strange curlew is sighted!

Well it's the badger episode all over again - Wayne goes to Alkborough without me and has another brilliant record in the form of a Stone Curlew.  He rung to say that it was too late to come back for me as it would be dark by the time we got back so an early start for me in the morning without him as he will be at work.  So the only way I can get my own back is to get a photo - he's left his camera at home so watch this space. 

MSQ & Alkborough

Early morning start at Messingham produced the following; 

6 Black Terns, 7 Garden Warblers, 1 Peregrine, 1 Little Egret, 1 Ross's Goose (same bird at Bagmoor yesterday), 1 Pinkfoot, 1 Egyptian Goose, 2 Dunlin, 1st summer Med Gull, 200 Sand Martin, 30 House Martin

Later in the morning at Alkborough;

3 Black Terns, 2 Greenshank, 9 Arctic Terns, 1 Common Tern, 2 Knot, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Whimbrel

My spring garden

The garden is looking good at the moment with the spring flowers now in full swing below is a selection including  - Yew tree disguised as a Montana, Solomans Seal, Yellow Archangel and Woodruff with Bluebells and Saxifrage.  The garden birds are still fighting over boxes even at this late stage  but at the moment we have Blue Tit and Tree Sparrow x 2 probably sitting on eggs and Great Tits who have presumably failed at one attempt and have only started taking nest material into one box today.  A few days ago we had Blackbirds feeding 2 chicks in the garden but after hearing several battles with Magpies the chicks have vanished .

Redstart, Temminck's and Badger

Started the day at Laughton Forest in search of the adders that every man and his dog seems to have seen but not us!! however we did have a male Redstart singing his head off at the top of a very wind swept pine.
On to Messingham where an adult male Peregrine was causing havoc with the Lapwings and I had my first Garden Warblers of the season. After a couple of hours of strong winds and nothing much else we came home for shelter but Wayne soon got itchy feet and headed out again to Alkborough Flats, I was soon to discover I'd made a made regretful decision to stay home........ 2 hours later Wayne comes flying in claiming a lifer. I knew immediately it wasn't a bird but a badger - we have discussed many times how we have travelled the world and seen all the 'special' mammals but never our own badger. The nearest we have come were 3 dead ones only half a mile from our house but this evening he had one in full view in daylight running across a field - he'll gloat about this for weeks.

Wayne also had the best birding down at Alkborough for a long time seeing a Temminck's Stint, 2 Little Stints, 1 Sanderling, 165 Dunlin and 40 Ringed Plover.

Alpine Swift - Barton on Humber

This is possibly the worst shot ever taken of an Alpine Swift but at least I got a record shot with my tiny battered Canon Ixus 800, if you want to see a really good shot click on the pewit link on the right hand side. We were out for a leisurely morning today checking down Bagmoor Lane for Garden Warblers when our friend Graham Catley rang telling us of this Alpine Swift he had just found on his local patch so at great haste we shot off and thankfully it was still there - so a British tick for me and a Lincs tick for Wayne. This Alpine Swift is only the second record for the Scunthorpe recording area - the first was on the 16th June 1979.

Trip to Equador - 2003

 









  I have no idea what any of these moths are, if you know let me know!   Obviously the first pic is no moth but a tarantula sp, we nearly ran over it - it was crossing the road and  was as big as my hand.
 

 

Monty about?

Message came through this morning that a Montagues Harrier was seen at Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve so we shot off to Alkborough to see if it had drifted over the Trent to the flats but alas the only thing new was a Holly Blue butterfly.

Alkborough Flats

A foggy start soon gave way to a beautiful sunny morning down on the flats.  As soon as we opened the car door a singing Corn Bunting could be heard - a first for me at Alkborough - it was up on the top road between Alkborough and West Halton.  The view over the flats always seems most impressive when the sun is out so we stayed to scan over the flats from the hillside before going down on to the flats themselves.  Altogether we saw the following; 1 Buzzard, 112 Pink Footed Geese (on Whitton Sands which is a very late record for this species), 2 Whimbrel, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Little Egret, 1 Wheatear - on Sunday we had 3 Wheatear, 1 Ruff, 1 Little Gull and 1 Woodsandpiper.

Corn Bunting

Bolton Abbey - Pied Flys and Redstarts with a few flowers

Wood dog violet

Each year on our wedding anniversary it seems to have become tradition that we go somewhere to see Pied Flycatchers and Redstarts and so with that in mind yesterday on our 10th anniversary we went to Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire.  The birds did not disappoint (if only Wayne had taken his big lens!) the flowers were magnificent (good job I took my little lens!) and the scenery stunning (good job Wayne took his wide angle lens!).

Bird Highlights - 8 Pied Flys, 3 Redstarts, 2 Woodcock, 2 Mandarin Duck, 4 Dippers watched a pair making nest, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Raven, 3 Goosanders, Grey Wagtails, 1 Redkite (Harewood), 1 Hen Harrier (Grassington Moor)

Bluebell
Great wood-rush
Wood Anemone
Water AvensWood-sorrel
Fern sp
Wood sorrel
Primrose
Sweet Cicely
Bird no-shows - Wood Warbler!

Good day for butterflies

Speckled Wood

Wayne not at work today so we decided to do the rounds looking for migrants but first two really good finds only a stones throw from Normanby (but I shalln't say where) - breeding Marsh Harrier and breeding Grey Heron a good start to the day!  Rest of the days' highlights as follows;

Burton Brick Pits - Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Tit, Lesser Whitethroat

Alkborough Village - Male Nuthatch feeding female at nest site

Alkborough Flats - 2 Little Egret, 2 Greenshank

Twigmoor - 3 Buzzards

MSQ - nothing much! however did see Speckled Wood, Orange Tip and Brimstone butterflies.

On arriving home we had a welcoming committee in the front garden - see above photo!

Normanby Park and garden nest box update

CherryBlossom

Cuckoo Flower

Rhododendron
Camelia

Have been confined to barracks for a while with bad back and dodgy legs so with tentative steps this morning I had a stroll in the park.  It is a glorious  morning and the spring shrubs and flowers are in full bloom.  The 2 Nuthatch nests look complete but I fear our third pair may have to come to grief - a male is calling as if his life depends on it but no female is in sight.  I think it is the pair that has been in our garden most of the winter as we now only have a male visiting the feeder and he is also calling in our garden.

On the way home had a mini raptor 'thermal' above the village comprising of 3 Kestrels and 2 Sparrowhawks - it looks like a good raptor day so will keep looking up in hope of the Red Kite which has been seen in the area twice in the last 2 weeks.

So in the garden we have Tree Sparrows nesting in 3 boxes, Blue Tits in 1, Great Tits in 1 maybe 2 and Dunnocks in the ivy at the bottom of the garden.  We also have a male Smooth Newt displaying in the pond but yet to see a female.

Bee and Beetle id - help required

Whilst out at the weekend we came across two insects species which we need help to identify.  The beetle was found at Risby Warren which is sandy heathland (my guess is Violet ground beetle) and the bee was found on the slope between Whitton and Alkborough - if you know their identity it would be great if you would leave a comment.

Easter Migrants

9/4 - Decided to kick the easter weekend off with a full count at Messingham Sand Quarries to see if we could get some new spring migrants.  It was a miserable day weather wise so spent much of the time sheltering in the hide however we still managed to get a total of 81 different species including a record count for the reserve  of 10 Avocets.  Scanning the sheep field at the back of the reserve gave us our first Yellow Wagtails of the year but alas no Wheatears.

11/4 - Off to Barton this morning where we picked up quite a few new migrants including Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler, whilst on the river we found 14 Common Scotters.  On the way to Barton a quick stop  at Bagmoor gave us our first Whitethroat of the spring.  The Grasshopper Warbler was the earliest ever record for the Scunthorpe Bird recording area beating the previous record by two days.

12/4 - An hour on Risby Warren this afternoon to look for a reported Ring Ouzel and Black Redstart.  We had excellent views of the male Ring Ouzel but no sign of the Redstart however a Red Kite more than made up for it.  We also had our first Cuckoo of the spring and upto 12 Wheatears.

Alkborough Flats - Spotted Redshank

Quiet on the flats this morning but in amongst the Redshank was this Spotted Redshank.

The last of Namibia

Over the years we have taken many thousands of photos but this photo is my overall favourite - unfortunately Wayne took it not me!  it is a Southern Masked Weaver - remember to click on the photo to see it at its best.

Spotted Thick-kneeSteenbok

Sociable Weaver at nest

Secretary Bird in Etosha NP
Scopion sp found next to my foot!

Ruppells Korhaan

Rosy Faced LovebirdsPython sp in Mahango NP
Terrible photo  but star bird of the holiday - Pels Fishing OwlOstrich chicks

First House Martin

Woken this morning by Wayne telling me he had been woken by a new garden tick - he had peeped through the bedroom curtains to come eye to eye with a Moorhen sat on top of the hedge surveying our pond! As it was a beautiful sunny morning  we decided to check Alkborough Flats this morning (8.00am) however by 8.15 it was heavy cloud and mist and blowing a cold easterly wind!  In our brief stay we had 3 Roe deer appear from the mist cross in front of us but nothing else of any note.  So back home with a quick stop at Bagmoor Lake where we had 12 Sandmartins and our first House Martin of the spring.  Whilst warming up with a coffee noticed that we still have 12 Curlews in the paddock at the end of the garden - they have been here throughout the winter and surely will depart soon.

Messingham Sand Quarries - Egyptian Geese & Kingfishers

Had a walk around the Lincolnshire Trust Reserve at Messingham this afternoon and found two Egyptian Geese in a field adjacent to the reserve.  Also had excellent views of a pair of Kingfisher nicely posing just near the hide and had a single Brimstone butterfly.  Closer to home this morning in Normanby Park no sign of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but had 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 2 Green Woodpeckers plus the Nuthatch is still adding mud to its nest entrance.  Lastly a single Wheatear on Risby Warren.

Wind Farm - 4 up 4 to go!

Tawny Chaos!

Woken this morning with the birds going beserk - they had found a Tawny Owl sitting in the birch tree.  The tree sparrows in particular are not happy as it is sitting right next to their box - even the siskins were mobbing it!  Whilst taking the photo a sand martin flew over the garden which is a new garden fly over tick for the year.

Normanby Park - Nutters and Lesser Spots

American Skunk Cabbage

Marsh Marigolds

Had lots of good sightings in the park this morning the star attraction being a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.  Coming a close second was a Nuthatch collecting mud and sealing up a nest site(could this be our garden bird rejecting our box and ready made mud!) .

Although it now feels that spring is definitely here there are still some winter thrushes around with 74 Fieldfare feeding in the park. We have decided to do a breeding bird survey(BBS) in the park this spring to compare results with a survey we did in 2000.   

The winter aconites and snowdrops  have now given way to the spring flowers with good displays of daffodils, chionodoxa luciliae, marsh marigolds and american skunk cabbage.

First Swallow of the spring

Decided to brave the cold and windy weather dodging the hailstone showers and have a look at the local lake.  Initially it looked very quiet with most birds hidden away out of the strong northerly wind but then the sun came out and instantly a Swallow appeared hawking for insects low over the water.  What a transformation, one minute it felt we were still in the depths of winter then the next we were in spring just by the appearance of this single bird, its amazing how it lifts one's spirit.

Despite the weather there was alot of activity in the garden with at least 4 Siskins visiting the niger seed feeder and 2 Long-tailed Tits and the regular Nuthatch were on the peanut feeders.   A Blue Tit was tearing up the lawn collecting moss for its nest in one of the boxes and the Tree Sparrows were at two other boxes on the Birch Tree with a pair of Dunnocks up to no good next to their nest in the Ivy.

More of Namibia.....

Namibia 2006 - Skeleton coast, Etosha NP and the Caprivi Strip

A selection of the birds and mammals of Namibia - details available on request - more photos to follow.

Some good birds but no photos!

A glorious day today both weather wise and bird wise - highlights as follows;

Normanby Enterprise - 1 Green Sandpiper, 3 Jack Snipe, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatchers

Barton Upon Humber - 1 Sand Martin, 1 Cettis Warbler, 1 Black-necked Grebe

Alkborough Flats - 7 Avocets, 1 Merlin, 21 Ruff, 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Buzzard, 2 Roe Deer, 100+ Redshank, 1 Short-eared Owl, Nuthatch calling in village

Whooper Swans

Due to favourable weather conditions this week Whooper Swans have begun their mass movement from their wintering grounds further south such as Welney or Slimbridge to their breeding grounds in Iceland.  So with this in mind we went to our local wetland just outside of Normanby to see if any had stopped off on their journey.  As you can see from the photo 37 of these beautiful swans had in deed stopped off for a rest - note the wind turbine in the background!

And then there were two!

Well the blades are on the first turbine and the second is well under way -  I was surprised by the size of the blades and cannot imagine how 7 of these giants will fit on this piece of land - watch this space!

Commas and Brimstones

Had a walk in Normanby Park on Sunday and saw the first of the year's butterflies - 1 Comma, 1 Brimstone and 1 Peacock.  I had gone looking for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but no luck as yet however had 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming and 1 Green Woodpecker.  The photo is of a Comma.

Chip eating Turnstones and Goshawk at last!

Finally managed to catch up with the elusive Goshawk - not I hasten to add in the Normanby/Scunthorpe area.  I have longed for a decent view of a Goshawk for many a year and I finally had the most fantastic view of a female Goshawk on Thursday - it did not disappoint and was beyond my expectation.  Having succeeded in our quest we went to celebrate with fish and chips in Scarborough and managed to get terrific views of Turnstones also eating chips and a very nice Iceland Gull in the harbour - sorry no Goshawk photos.

Monstrosity or saviour of the planet!

Work has started today on the construction of the first wind turbine about a mile from Normanby. We have mixed feelings on its location and will wait to see the affect on the wildlife. 

Our garden nest boxes

As previously mentioned we have 7 nest boxes up in the garden which are fiercely fought over by the Blue Tits, Great Tits and Tree Sparrows.  However this spring has seen a new competitor namely the Nuthatch so to try and ensure what we think is possibly the first time a Nuthatch has nested in a Scunthorpe area garden we are going all out  to make sure it succeeds.

 We have enlarged Box 3's hole to 34mm and placed a strategically placed pile of mud close by as Nuthatches plaster mud around the hole to deter preditors but as I sit here typing I can see a Tree Sparrow has just flown into the box and is currently sat looking out!  

Box 1 has been busy this morning with a Tree Sparrow taking nest material in and a pair sat on its roof - Box 2 has a Tree Sparrow sat looking out - Box 4 is a Robin box and has no sign of activity at the moment - Box 5 has a Blue Tit visiting regularly -Box 6 will be a contest between Great Tits and Tree Sparrows and Box 7 is a Spotted Flycatcher box and as they are a summer migrant there will be no action until May/June

Almost mediterranean

Beautiful weather this morning - sun and blue skies so went for a walk not too far from Normanby where I was greeted by a singing Wood Lark which has to be the one of the best bird songs,  2 Stonechats and 2 Common Buzzards

Evening at Alkborough Flats

After leaving the Bean Goose this morning we spent the afternoon at our local patch reserve Alkborough Flats where we saw 4 Barn Owls, 3 Short-eared Owls, 2 Little Egrets and 3 Little Stint.

Not a bad day!

Bean Goose - Reads Island

We have many local reserves which we regularly visit and this morning we decided to visit one at Barton on Humber.  Its a Lincolnshire Trust reserve called Far Ings -  on the way we had a stop opposite Read's Island, we had noticed a small group of geese in the road side field and Wayne decided to check them out.  In amongst the Pink Feet and Canadas he found a Tundra Bean Goose which is a local rarity - good start to the day.

Normanby's Snowdrops and Aconites

Took a walk in Normanby Park this morning primarily to take more photos of the snowdrops which to me have been better this year than in the previous few years - whether this is due to more frosts this winter I'm not sure.  Lots of bird song also and plenty of Great Spotted Woodpecker activity but no sign of the Nuthatches although 2 were in the garden this morning

More on Peru

As previously mentioned  last October we spent some time in Peru.  There were many highlights to this trip but for me I loved our time spent in the Amazon - we stayed at Tambopata Research Centre where in 5 days we saw 211 species of bird including 13 species of parrot at the clay lick.  Wayne loved the high altitude birding of the Andes and the scenery at Colca Canyon was truly spectacular made even more special by the 6 Andean Condors cruising down the canyon.  Our vist to Paracas on the coast and trip to the Ballestas Island gave me a long awaited dream bird the Inca Tern.  On the boat to the Ballestas Islands you have magnificent views of the geoglyph Candelabra which some connect to the Nazca Lines but in truth no one knows the origin.

 On previous birding trips around the world we very rarely do any 'touristy' things but we could not go to Peru without a visit to the lost city of the Incas - Machu Pichu.  The day of our visit started with the 5.30 Peru-rail train from Ollantaytambo which takes you to Aguas Calientes.  This journey is magnificent in itself but nothing compared to the bus ride from Aquas Calientes to Machu Pichu and then your first view of the ruins is just mind blowing.

On the menu today

Had to buy another 25kg sack of peanuts - our main consumers are Nuthatch(2) Great Tit(7) Blue Tit(9) Coal Tit(3) Long Tailed Tit(14) also bought Niger seed for our Siskin(3) and Goldfinch (3) and mixed seed for Wood Pigeon(6) Pheasant(2) Dunnock(2) Robin(4) Blackbird(6) Tree Sparrow(9) Chaffinch(3) they are costing us a small fortune but the garden would be a quiet place without them

Spring Flowers

At the bottom of my garden runs a stream and on the other side of the stream lies a paddock.  This morning a Grey Heron landed in the paddock which is a first!  We see up to 4 Herons flying from Little Normanby into the park most days and hope that they will breed in a conifer plantation situated in the park - i'll keep you posted

At last our pair of Nuthatches which have been resident in the garden since last November have started to investigate one of our bird boxes.  Yes Box 3(out of 7)  seems to be the desired  home - watch this space!

Food for thought

Since last November we have "lost" some where in the region of 40kg of peanuts and seed but we have a good idea where its gone - 3 suspects above; Tree Sparrow, Blue Tit and Nuthatch

The elusive Scunthorpe Waxwings

Well  the weekend has now gone and my birding highlight had to be catching up with the waxwings!  They have been in the Scunthorpe area for a couple of weeks now but we never managed to see them until Saturday when 8 turned up just across the road from my mothers!  The light was not good for photography so I have posted one we took earlier! this fantastic bird was actually in our front garden last year. 

Our Normanby garden

We have a small south facing garden which we have turned over to nature.  We have created a wildlife pond and have 7 bird boxes strategically placed with several bird feeding stations.   Each year our bird boxes are keenly battled for by the Blue Tits, Great Tits and Tree Sparrows.  We are currently in competition with my brother Nick on who can record the most species seen in or from the garden - it is really a north/south battle as we live in the north and he lives in the south.  The competition runs until the end of the year and I feel we are currently thrashing him with a total of 42 so far - his total remains a mystery!! 

Sword-Billed Hummer, Machu Pichu & Condor

A couple of months ago Wayne and I went on a birding trip to Peru.  It met all our high expectations and we saw 430 species with Wayne hitting is 4000th species on the trip.  We spent a week in the high Andes including a trip to Machu Pichu , a week on the coast and a week in the Amazon.  It was a trip made independantly and surprisingly we had no hic-cups even though we knew very little spanish.

Normanby Park

February in the park is always beautiful as the snowdrops and aconites start to flower.  This morning there was an eruption of bird song signifying that spring is just around the corner.