Hi guys,
Went on the Exe estuary cruise a few weeks back had a lot of fun. I'm going to list all the birds I saw on the trip and only will have a full report on the nice birds.
This is hopefully in taxonomic order pretty much...: Herring gull 150 possible argentus; black headed gull; 200; great black backed gull 15; lesser black backed gull 50; 2 little gull I'll explain later; 10 common gulls; wigeon 5+; teal 5+; mallard 2; curlew 150+; avocet 100+; sanderling 5+; Dunlin 1000+; 20+ turnstone; oystercatcher 150+; redshank 20+; greenshank 4; spotted redshank 1; slavonian grebe; red-breasted merganser 30+; little grebe 2; shag 15+; cormorant 10+; peregrine 1; carrion crow 20+; 10 shelduck; pied wagtail 1; sparrow 10;
When on the boat I found myself a little gull fly over the ferry. Next spotted the spotted redshank before the guide and finally saw the next little gull so pretty.
bye,
Alex
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Monday, 24 February 2014
St just 18th January 2014
Didn't go out to got birdwatching a week ago however... My grandma, while watching tv called me upstairs to look at two birds. So I ran up stairs looked out the window and saw beautiful male bullfinches. Bullfinches are my Grandad's favourite bird so being right on his door step got him rather excited! We were watching them from my Grandma's then they flew off straight in front of our cottage it was simply perfect! Again the next day they were found outside our house at the same time, probably showing off!!!
One other interesting thing was a blue tit that looked like it was leucistic blue tit further research said it possibly may of been infected by parasites, they'll be a picture of what it looks like below.
WHAT DO YOU THINK'S HAPPENED?
One other interesting thing was a blue tit that looked like it was leucistic blue tit further research said it possibly may of been infected by parasites, they'll be a picture of what it looks like below.
WHAT DO YOU THINK'S HAPPENED?
February 15th Stover country park
I went down to Devon last week with my Grandma. We both thought that it would be a great idea to go to Stover country park. From now on I'll only do a brief explanation of what i have seen...
At the start of the walk by the front of the lake we found: 50 black headed gulls; 4 herring gulls; 2 lesser black backed gulls; 5 goosanders; 1 great crested grebe; 2 goldcrests; 2 robin2; 3 tufted ducks; 1 great tit heard calling and a about 10 hybirdized mallards.
We then set up camp with the lake behind us and the woods in front. It started off slowly but soon enough the birds became braver and we found: two black birds; 8 blue tits; 5 great tits; 2 coal tits; 3 beautiful nuthatches; 3 dunnock; 3 robins; 100 black headed gulls behind with a few nearly moulted into summer plumage; 3 goosanders; 4 tufted ducks; 1 different great crested grebe. My granny, Mama as we like to call her thought that it would be a good idea to place parts of a hot cross bun on our table. Sure enough the blue tits great tits and the coal which I don't reguarly see arrived. Then out of the blue this yellow finch landed on the tree in front of us then dorpped on the floor behind a clump of brambles it was a female siskin already a new bird!!! Soon after the nuthatches arrived My granny was very pleased to see them!
We carried along the side of the lake round towards this boardwalk I'm going to list the birds we saw before we got there: 3 robins; 1 marsh tit calling and feeding; 5 goosanders took off; summer plumaged black headed gull; 1 treecreeper which is a first for my grandma; 10 blue tit; 5 great tit; 1 great crested grebe; 4 tufted duck; and a few blackbirds.
Once we arrived at the boardwalk we were stunned by the sheer number of birds using the feeders there. We heard a great spotted woodpecker drumming a tree first then found: 1o chaffinch; 10 great tit; 15 blue tit; 5 coal tit; 1 male bullfinch; 3 nuthatch. While we went to leave i heard a lot of calling in a tree so looked up and found around 20 siskins in a tree it was fantastic.
Anyway had a great day and will be posting more tomorrow!!!
At the start of the walk by the front of the lake we found: 50 black headed gulls; 4 herring gulls; 2 lesser black backed gulls; 5 goosanders; 1 great crested grebe; 2 goldcrests; 2 robin2; 3 tufted ducks; 1 great tit heard calling and a about 10 hybirdized mallards.
We then set up camp with the lake behind us and the woods in front. It started off slowly but soon enough the birds became braver and we found: two black birds; 8 blue tits; 5 great tits; 2 coal tits; 3 beautiful nuthatches; 3 dunnock; 3 robins; 100 black headed gulls behind with a few nearly moulted into summer plumage; 3 goosanders; 4 tufted ducks; 1 different great crested grebe. My granny, Mama as we like to call her thought that it would be a good idea to place parts of a hot cross bun on our table. Sure enough the blue tits great tits and the coal which I don't reguarly see arrived. Then out of the blue this yellow finch landed on the tree in front of us then dorpped on the floor behind a clump of brambles it was a female siskin already a new bird!!! Soon after the nuthatches arrived My granny was very pleased to see them!
We carried along the side of the lake round towards this boardwalk I'm going to list the birds we saw before we got there: 3 robins; 1 marsh tit calling and feeding; 5 goosanders took off; summer plumaged black headed gull; 1 treecreeper which is a first for my grandma; 10 blue tit; 5 great tit; 1 great crested grebe; 4 tufted duck; and a few blackbirds.
Once we arrived at the boardwalk we were stunned by the sheer number of birds using the feeders there. We heard a great spotted woodpecker drumming a tree first then found: 1o chaffinch; 10 great tit; 15 blue tit; 5 coal tit; 1 male bullfinch; 3 nuthatch. While we went to leave i heard a lot of calling in a tree so looked up and found around 20 siskins in a tree it was fantastic.
Anyway had a great day and will be posting more tomorrow!!!
Monday, 20 January 2014
Slimbridge 5/1/14
Hi,
Sorry about the wait. Went to Slimbridge to see the little stints that have settled in for at least a week back then. My Mum, Dad and I first went to the Holden Tower to see the flooded dumbles. There wasn't much luck on the rarities side of it though. however, the sheer number of common birds ( dunlin, lapwing, golden plover)was amazing. After spending an hour watching this spectacle I journeyed onto the next hide, the Zeiss hide. People had been reporting 4 avocets 1 ad. And 3 juveniles again we didn't find such a thing.
The "Last Hope" was the Kingfisher hide we saw no unusual birds on the bird feeders however my Dad looked over at the front of the hide and said "Is that a water rail". I walked over found the bird and was certainly a water rail, finally a nice bird to look at. Anyway nice to see one.
Also I'm going to have new feature in which I'll make a collage using an app called pic collage to put at the end of one of my posts again one day these photos will be mine!!!
Friday, 3 January 2014
What i was thinking of doing
I do go to the same old same old places as you can probably tell! But the places I go to have history. Like kenidjack that hosted the Yellow-throated Vireo the first and only for the Western Palearctic.
One day hopefully there'll be treasure waiting there, and I'll have a camera waiting for it! Thanks for understanding where I'm coming from.
Biff
One day hopefully there'll be treasure waiting there, and I'll have a camera waiting for it! Thanks for understanding where I'm coming from.
Biff
St Ives friday 27th december 2013
It was grannies birthday so she decided that going to St Ives would be a good idea. To be honest I wasn't that excited and thought that there'd be nothing to look at except tourists.
Oh and how wrong was I we started by walking beside the sea near the public toilets. I found around 20 turnstones and a few oystercatchers flying across the ocean.
After walking for a while we stopped off at a restaurant by the sea to have lunch and a nice sit down. I had a burger that was delicious then wanted to go outside. Mum, Dad and I went out for a bit of fresh air and lucky it was a bit hot in there as 3 purple sandpipers a new species for me were waiting out there. it was such a coincidence that a few minutes earlier I was talking about how much I wanted to see one. While looking around I spotted a very light coloured shag maybe just an unusually bright individual but still a bit odd.
A few hours later I went into a shop and found a beautiful avocet sculpture that i reluctantly bought. Another short while after that we stumbled across a flock or around 150 waders that were circulating some rocks. I thought that they were some ringed plovers by the size and habitat.
A horrible day that turned into a fantastic one with another new species added to my list
Wiki purple sandpiper
Oh and how wrong was I we started by walking beside the sea near the public toilets. I found around 20 turnstones and a few oystercatchers flying across the ocean.
After walking for a while we stopped off at a restaurant by the sea to have lunch and a nice sit down. I had a burger that was delicious then wanted to go outside. Mum, Dad and I went out for a bit of fresh air and lucky it was a bit hot in there as 3 purple sandpipers a new species for me were waiting out there. it was such a coincidence that a few minutes earlier I was talking about how much I wanted to see one. While looking around I spotted a very light coloured shag maybe just an unusually bright individual but still a bit odd.
A few hours later I went into a shop and found a beautiful avocet sculpture that i reluctantly bought. Another short while after that we stumbled across a flock or around 150 waders that were circulating some rocks. I thought that they were some ringed plovers by the size and habitat.
A horrible day that turned into a fantastic one with another new species added to my list
Wiki purple sandpiper
Book Recommendation
yesterday I received my long awaited gift, the collins bird guide 2nd edition.
I had seen this books on many other occasions with some other birders using it. I am not disappointed the book doesn't consist just of the norm it also has the rarities and vagrants.
It has most of the different plumages and subspecies, I really recommend getting the book as I can tell that it's going to become a legendary book in the birding world.
Anyway if you're wandering about what bird book is the best, definitely get the collins bird guide the price is brilliant and the illustrations are sublime
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