A Wet Weekend

It rained, and it rained! With an already waterlogged ground, the mud and surface water in the fields made it difficult and slippery going. Choosing to walk around Dosthill NR in Wellies wasn't the best idea I've ever had. Wellies are great for keeping out the water, their grip in mud though leaves something to be desired. Many times I lost my footing in the mud, sliding backwards on inclines. I did well keeping my balance in all but one incident, it was inevitable I was going to end up on the ground at some point. No damage done, just a covering of mud.

The walk was interesting, Pete had chosen to wear walking boots, so he wasn't slipping about like me. Quite a few Goldeneye about, and my first Sparrowhawk of 2014 put in an appearance.

Sunrise Dosthill NR

Taz enjoying the morning out.

Gave the reed beds a good look over. No Bittern though!

View over Middleton from Dosthill.

The view over RSPB Middleton from the top of Dosthill Bund. In my Wellies, it was like some slapstick comedy routine getting up here. One step forward, slide two steps back!

Off Road Segway?

As we got to the end of the bunds, we encountered some sort of Segway event. It looked good fun. The group were navigating really muddy areas and tackling steep slippy slopes on Segways. It was interesting to note, they were more stable than I was.

Segway event day.

The day then took an unexpected turn. I had dropped off Pete, been home, set up a rod for an hour or so fishing, when I rare bird alert caught my eye. Hume's Warbler!!! How had I not noticed this national rarity earlier?

Fishing trip put on ice, quick call to Pete, and we were off again. River Tame at Coleshill and we encountered the other eager birders hoping for this tick. My mate Jon, even left the wedding he was attending and turned up,in his wedding suit, tie and Wellies.

Looking for the Hume's.

It didn't take long, and the Hume's Warbler was added to our life lists, with several brief but much appreciated glimpses of a very mobile and elusive bird. A national rarity, and a first for Warwickshire.

Pete and I on hearing the approaching thunder getting louder and the light values dropping headed back for the car. Timed perfectly. As we got in the car, the storm hit. Heavy rain, thunder, lightning and good size hail stones. I can't remember the last electrical storm in January? Usually summer events in my recollections.

More heavy rain due today (Sunday) with flood alerts all over the country. I have already been out for a wander in the rain. Think I may stay warm and dry for the rest of the day. After a pub lunch obviously.

 

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A Perfect Sunday.

The day started meeting Jon while it was still dark and going in search of Tawny's. We were successful. Not one, but two Tawny's together. I only got decent views of one of them, Jon saw them both. Will be checking that area out again.

We then wandered around the waterlogged fields having a chat and enjoying the morning.

Still a lot of surface water in the fields

Around the lanes and fields

Who got mud in the car?

Once home, a quick change of clothes and a spruce up and it was off to the pub with the family for Sunday lunch,and an enjoyable pint to wash it down with.

Back home for a relaxing hour, then popped out for a couple of hours to put my new lure rod through its paces. This resulted in a perfect little predator posing for a picture before being carefully returned.

Now, that's how to spend a Sunday!

 

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Staying Local

With the Moors flooded and the Tame and Anker spilling over into the fields, I had to think about where to go this morning. Pete has some photographs he has taken of the Moors in flood, I will add them when he emails them to me.

I picked Pete up and we headed for Whitemoor Haye, hoping the roads were passable. They were, but the Trent was level with its Banks.

The bad news we discovered was the tree the Little Owls have favoured for years, had succumb to storm damage. The large right hand bough has completely sheared off.

Storm Damage

The good news was, that after a bit of searching, we located one Little Owl, so they are still using what remains of the tree. This also gave me a local year tick. I soon had my second year tick of the session in the form of Tree sparrows. Great looking little birds.

It was raining, dull and overcast and light values poor. The distance to the Little Owl was about 90 yards, so I just did the best I could in the conditions using my Spotting Scope and iPhone. Not great results, but decent record shots.

 

Yellowhammer. Difficult to get out in the open today.

Male Chaffinch

Yellowhammers were out in abundance with some large flocks flying from hedgerow to hedgerow, but apart from the odd Reed Bunting and Chaffinch, it was a quiet morning. Not complaining though, a good walk, good company, and two year ticks. Nothing to complain about there.

 

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First entry of 2014

This year is going to be a little different. Rather that chasing round the country for year ticks, to see birds I have seen before but tick them for 2014, I will be concentrating on my local area.

I have a couple of local "Patches" that will see most of my efforts, but I will still be travelling for life ticks. The new year saw me wandering the fields and pools locally, working on my local year list. At this point in time, my local list stands at 51 species. I'm enjoying trying to add to it, and enjoyment is what it's all about.

I hope to add some of the local wildlife other than birds to the blog this year. I intend doing a spot of fishing this year, mainly for predatory species, so a few fish will hopefully appear on the blog pages.

My main efforts though will be with the birding and getting as many local species as I can.

Wandering the lanes.

 

Flooded Fields

 

The geese enjoy the flooded meadows.

Dosthill Reserve. Sunrise.

Pit Sunrise.

 

Goosander - River Anker

Well, that's about it so far. Looking forward to a few local surprises and interesting finds.

 

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Another lifer

Reports coming through that the Black-Throated Diver was showing well at Swithland reservoir had me heading to Loughborough in an attempt to add it to my year and life list.

I got to within about half a mile of the dam wall, parked the car and set off on foot. The lane towards the dam wall was not really a road and it was getting difficult to navigate around the potholes.

In the distance, I heard the whistle of a steam train, and sure enough, one passed by, steam billowing up from the engine. An impressive sight.

I arrived at the dam wall and started scanning about for the Black-Throated diver.

View from dam wall

Eventually I picked it out and attempted some pictures.

I also managed some video, and was surprised how well it turned out considering the distance involved.

 

If this video is not playing in HD, go directly to youtube to view it.

http://youtu.be/YQI7ZbmFCtE

An impressive first winter bird. Another surprise tick before the end of the year. I would imagine this will be my last tickable bird of 2013! But who knows?

 

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The last twitch of the year

I didn't expect to add anymore birds to my year list at this late stage of the game. But, you never know in birding.

Reports of long staying Velvet Scoter and Ring-Necked Duck were proving hard to ignore. I found myself free to please myself on Christmas Eve day, so decided to try my luck. The storm of the previous day and night made the journey longer than anticipated with a couple of detours due to flooding. Eventually, I made it to my destination.

The first birds I stumbled upon were a bonus year tick, I wasn't expecting, a pair of Ruddy Shelduck. They were distant and I couldn't get a good picture.

Distant Pair Ruddy Shelduck. iPhone through scope.

The wind blowing straight into me was bitter, I couldn't locate my target birds so moved on, but not before a Red Kite flew low overhead giving some stunning views.

I heard the Velvet Scoter had been sighted in front of the Fisherman's lodge, so headed there. It gave some great views and was a life tick too.

The dam wall at Eyebrook

 

Video of Velvet Scoter

On the walk back to the car, I got Male Smew, stunning bird and spent a while watching it.

I then luckily walked past a guy scanning the water who informed me he was on the female Ring-Necked Duck. Once he relocated it after a dive, he allowed me to view it through his Swaro Scope. I set my own scope up and followed it for a while, more birders arrived and everyone saw it. Again, a lifer for me.

All in all, a cracking days birding to see out 2013.

 

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Back to the Drawing Board

Friday evening I was sorting my gear out looking forward to Saturday mornings birding with Pete. I was looking for a specific eyepiece to use on my small scope, and remembered it was still attached to my bigger scope. I fetched the HR66 out of storage and before taking the eyepiece off, couldn't resist a quick look through it. I had forgotten what a great image this scope produces. The little GS52 ED produces a nice image, but this the HR range is seriously in another league.

I decided on a change of plan for Saturday. I decided I would take the HR66 out for a spin, and attempt a bit of iscoping through it. Pete and I went for a wander across the moors with Taz, I didn't take the scope on this walk. The Moors were quiet this morning, only a few Redwing and Fieldfare compared to last weekends noisy flocks of winter thrushes.

We reached the feeders and could immediately see activity on and around them. The niger feeder Pete made is a big success. Goldfinch almost constantly on it. The nut feeder is constantly also receiving a lot of tit activity. We have been placing a block of lard in a cavity in the trunk of the tree our freezers are on. At first, this was not producing much, now, it doesn't last long. A couple of Woodpeckers and a flock of Starlings are making short work of it. We replaced the Lard this morning, it had been completely removed for the second time this week! As we walked away, a flock of Starling started making a bee-line for it, they were busy devouring it within 10 mins of it being put out.

Goldfinch near Pete's Niger Feeder

Later in the afternoon I decided to try the HR66 out. I was pushed for time but couldn't resist getting an hour in and seeing what I could manage with the iPhone. I intentially went for shots at distance to see how the set up performed. All these shots were taken at distances off approx 100 yards+.

iPhone through Scope

The limited time I had flew by. This has left me wanting to carry out some tests. I hope to get out with the scope and camera tomorrow. I hope to get some decent pictures, or a least enjoy trying.

Sunday 1st Dec

Light values were very poor this morning, so iscoping not really worth spending much time on. Took these of some distant Widgeon just to see what I could do in poor light. Again, acceptable record shots at well,over 100 yards.

So plenty of distance photography with the iPhone and Scope this weekend. Obviously, I took some pictures with the Canon SX40 of some closer birds too. This Great-Tit being one of them.

Weekend over, back to work!

 

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