Southern Spain

Spain has to be one of my most favourite countries and going through some old photos from 2002 brought back some good memories.  The week we had concentrated on Cota Donana National Park with a quick visit to the only place in the world I have ever been and not wanted to go back - Gibralter (2nd photo down).  These images were our first dabble into digital photography and digiscoping in particular - the camera was a Nikon 995.

Crossbill

Barbary Ape

Blue Rock Thrush

Black-Eared Wheatear

Black-Winged Stilt

Greater Flamingoes

Purple Galinule

Purple Heron

Woodchat Shrike

Savi's Warbler

White-Headed Ducks

El Rocio 

Nuthatch at last!

Finally this morning I found just 1 Nuthatch in Normanby Park - I concentrated on the three nest sites of last year and came up with just the one.  No sign of any migrants yet - expected a Chiffchaff but no luck - plenty of Bees in the garden though and our first Tortoiseshell butterfly, interestingly the majority of yesterdays Goldfinches appear to have gone.

No apologies for putting an old photo on - I never get tired of seeing this one!

Pollen and Goldfinches

Had a stroll in the park this afternoon which was memorable for 2 things; pollen and Goldfinches.  As soon as I entered the park I was aware of both for various reasons mainly I couldn't stop sneezing  which was putting me off looking at the finches.  The pollen was from the Yew trees - the male cones shed their pollen early and at this time of year particularly around Normanby clouds of yellow pollen can be seen.  We have a large Yew tree in our garden and the pollen clouds are triggered by the birds landing on it but today we also have a brisk southerly wind which is also dislodging the pollen.

Throughout the winter we have had daily visits to the Niger seed feeders from 5 Goldfinches and occasionally in the park I have seen the odd ones but today there were small flocks of them throughout the whole park probably totaling close to a hundred birds.

The Treecreepers seem to have survived the winter with at least 3 pairs seen and also at least 3 singing Goldcrests have also survived however I have only seen 1 Wren and there is still no sign of any Nuthatches. One of the trees used last year for nesting by the Nuthatches has been removed - it was a magnificent old Beech and it seems very sad that yet another old tree has gone from the park but the Council seem intent on removing anything showing the slightest signs of rot.

Common Crane at Alkborough Flats, 'Ringed' Gulls and Ducks

Not a good day  - Wayne got up before me and saw a Common Crane at Alkborough  - by the time he picked me up it had gone - that's life!  Other birds of the day whilst doing the Humber Webs count  included two Gulls both ringed - a Common Gull and Herring Gull, some fabulous ducks ie Wigeon and Teal and a very nice Great Crested Grebe.  We also had a stunning drake Smew which was flushed by walkers so no photos!

taken at a distance of about half a mile

Normanby Park's Snowdrops Take 3

At last I have some half decent Snowdrop images but it took my old, battered Canon SD800 to get them - it trounced the Nikon P6000 and the Canon SLR with Sigma 10-20 and unlike my attempts with them, these are all hand held without the self-timer.  Also in the park this morning were; 33 Redwings, 3 Treecreepers, 30+ Goldfinch, 1 Grey Heron, 2 G S Woodpeckers drumming, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 15 pairs of Jackdaws all at nest sites but still no sign of our Nuthatches.  At the bird feeding station were 22 Grey Squirrels but no birds!

If only this one wasn't over exposed!

More Snowdrops!

I was so frustrated earlier in the week trying to get some good macro shots of the Snowdrops and Aconites that I nearly threw the Nikon away and packed up photography altogether but the weather this morning is superb - a hard frost, blue skies and bright sun so into Normanby Park with a new approach - Wayne's Canon SLR with the Sigma 10-20 lens - if I can't get good macros then I'll go for wide angles!  All was going so well until the battery ran out - typical men half charged batteries in the camera and no spare in sight and to cap it all he has gone off with my Nikon so no back-up either.  Anyway here's the results, one measly photo - everything else out of focus.

Scarlet Elf Cup

Started the day with Laughton Forest hoping to see Lesser Spottted Woodpeckers but failed miserably however did see 2 stunning male Bramblings, 30ish Redpolls, 2 Nuthatch and at least 3 Great Spots drumming.  We then moved on to Messingham where we were shown these beautiful Scarlet Elf Caps unfortunately the photo doesn't do them justice - on the bird front we had 2 Woodcock, 1 Bittern, 12 Snipe, at least 3 Water Rails calling and Wayne picked up this female Scaup on the small pond behind the reserve.

Images of Snowdrops and Winter Aconites at Normanby Park

Perfect weather for taking images of flowers this morning - sunny and no wind so off to the park with the Nikon P6000 - should be easy I thought!  but the macro facility on this camera is so frustratingly unreliable -  it seems to me that unless you have a distinct background there's no point even trying but switch it to manual focus and you have a chance of reasonable sharp images but when the camera is at ground level and you can't see the screen its all down to luck

 

Possible Caspian Gull & Glaucous Gull

A 1st Winter Glaucous Gull showed well near our local tip over the weekend along with a 2nd winter Iceland Gull which unfortunately didn't stay put long enough to photograph.  Then amongst a large gathering of gulls in a nearby field was a possible Caspian Gull.  The bird was an adult which showed many of the features of a Caspian Gull and was seen along side Herring Gulls for comparison.  The first two images are the possible Caspian - any comments welcome.

Bewicks, Whoopers and Smew day

Had a good day today - weather dry and even a little sunny so off winter swan hunting to Worlaby Carrs where we soon picked up on 8 Bewicks, 5 Whoopers and 38 Mutes so a good start especially as we had also seen a female Smew at Bagmoor on the way to the swans.  Whilst at Worlaby we had a call from a friend who was watching an Iceland Gull at Bagmoor so we returned just to see it flying off having been flushed by a Hen Harrier!  Later in the day we decided on a spot of wader watching at New Holland where we dropped in on a small roost of 220 Redshank, 2 Knot, 2 Black-Tailed Godwits and around 300 Turnstones - also on the Humber 11 Goosander and 50+ Mute Swans.

Mute Swans on the Humber

Smew at Bagmoor

Bewick Swans

Whooper Swans

Redshank and single Dunlin

Redshank spot the metal ring and Black Tailed Godwit

You sleep I'll keep an eye out!

More Redshank

Who woke me up?

Knot spot the metal ring!

A distinct lack of posts!

The weather here in Lincolnshire has been grey, cold and miserable for seemingly ages now and I just can't drum up any enthusiasm to go out and indeed why should I when the garden is full of birds giving an enthralling display.  We also have had today two new visitors to the garden pond - Redpolls, hopefully they will make regular visits so we can get some photos.  Other regulars fighting for the feeders are; 7 Tree Sparrows, 5 Blue Tits, 7 Great Tits, 5 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch, 5 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 1 G S Woodpecker and 3 Grey Squirrels which Wayne keeps chasing off to no avail.  We also have a resident Pheasant which roosts in our Yew Tree and creates the biggest pile of poo in one night imaginable straight outside the shed door and unexpectedly this morning 5  Peacocks set up residence on the patio.  For the first year ever we also have a small party of 20 Redwings and 2 Mistle Thrush who regularly come to feed in the paddock at the bottom of the garden and again another first last week when a Herring Gull was also feeding in the paddock.  I am not sure what's attracting these new visitors except there are a lot of mole hills this year probably due to the severity of the winter and the birds are feeding in and among these.