2012 Roundup

I spent the last day of the year in the office and despite being confined to my desk, my final bird of 2012 was a splendid male Sparrowhawk as it swooped over the top of a house nearby - Excellent!

Looking back at this year, I have managed to finally see some of my unseen birds, Caspian Gull, Sooty Shearwater and Balearic Shearwater but others like Red Backed Shrike still manage to evade me.  A great year also for statistics with a grand total of 251 species seen with 20 being lifers.  This has now taken me over the scary total of 300 for the UK.

Bird of the year is difficult to decide on - Possibly the Black Winged Stilt in Oxfordshire or Balearic Shearwater off the Scillionian III.  Although, Capercaille and Ptarmigan are right up there especially as they have been birds that I have wanted to see for over 30 years.  However the winner goes to........................

And my birder's wife awards her winner to..............................

 What a great photograph!!

So, next year beckons and while a bird watcher would always hope to top his/her year list from the previous year, I doubt I will ever achieve a total like I did this year (unless I take many holidays indeed and go part time) and I therefore just want to contend with seeing a few on my unseen list next year, notably, Red Backed Shrike and Pomarine Skua - Let's just wait and see.

Happy New Year.

Final Birding trip of the year

I decided that today was the day to do one final twitch and try and increase my year list by one or two birds.  Unfortunately, when I pulled back the curtains all I could see was a blanket of rain.  I therefore decided to head for Slimbridge on the basis that they had hides and I would not get totally soaked.


Upon arriving I received a phone call from my birder's wife informing me that she had gone over a pot hole somewhere in the Cotswolds and had damaged her tyre and wheel.  Fortunately my brother in law sorted her out and got her back on the road and I was able to continue with my day of birding without worrying any further.

I headed over to the Zeiss Hide, as a Green Winged Teal had been reported from there earlier in the week and immediately saw the Bittern who was posing very close by.






I turned my attention to look for the Green Winged Teal and despite careful scanning I could not find it among the many hundreds of Teal present.  I then had a walk over to the other hides overlooking the Tack Piece to view the many thousands of birds present including Lapwings, Golden Plover, Redshanks, Bewick Swans, Dunlin, Wigeon and Teal.

Despite continued searching and a walk back to the Zeiss Hide early afternoon I could not find the Green Winged Teal and before heading home I went via the Peng Observatory to watch the Swan Feed which is always very informative.

Raptor Fest on a car journey

Being Boxing Day and full of food, myself and my Father decided to have a stroll round Draycote to try and walk off some of the excesses of the previous day.

As we headed down Warwick High Street, I noticed the Pigeons from St Mary's Church were agitated and flying round in a desparate fashion.  The reason for their agitated state soon became appararent when a Peregrine Falcon flew low and in a relaxed fashion over the houses.  Raptor number one.

Passing through Kites Hardwick, a Sparrowhawk flew in front of the car chasing some small passerines, while a buzzard watched on, perched on a dead tree.  Raptors number two and three.

Upon arriving at Draycote, the sky opened and provided us with some welcome rain (whatever happened to the drought), so we sought refuge back at the car and had a drive to Lawford Heath to search for any gulls loafing around the fields there by the tip.  Unfortunately, the fields were gull free but as we passed down Ling Lane a female Merlin whizzed in front of the car, then down the middle of the road.  Raptor number 4.

We chose to make our way back to Draycote as the rain has eased off, taking note of individual Kestrels making the most of the break in the rain.  Raptor number 5.

Unfortunately, as we arrived back at Draycote the heavens opened again and the rain seemed to be settled for the rest of the day.  So, we gave up the idea of a walk and headed back home via Princethorpe and Cubbington.  On the way through Cubbington we spotted 4 Waxwings perched on a tree over the road.

So, even though we did not have a walk, we managed quite a special day bird wise, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon and Waxwing.

My biggest twitch of the year

I am not normally one for going on twitches (long distance) but after missing out on seeing the Buff Bellied Pipit yesterday due to permits being then not being issued, I decided to go for it today.

Unlike dedicated twitchers who were probably on the road before sunrise, I awoke from my slumbers at 9:00am and checked the news services to see if the bird was still around.  When I saw that it was I jumped into action and was soon on my way.

An hour or so later I arrived at the Queen Mother Reservoir, with welcoming smiles from the volunteers who had given up their Saturday to register those going in and out of the site - a big THANK YOU to them all.

My register number on site was close to 200 and that was only at about 10:30am, so I would love to know what they had got up to by the end of the day.  It was very busy with birders walking to and from the car park.

Being a major twitch, it was not difficult to see where the bird was showing, all one had to do was just head for this lot and then look down at the causeway as it was extremely confiding and did not seem to be bothered at all with huge lenses being pointed towards it from several feet away.

Not being one for lugging huge equipment around, I managed to get my own record shot on our tiny Canon ixus (slightly out of focus but hey ho!).

A quick scan against of the reservoir then provided a Red Necked Grebe and Long Tailed Duck - Pretty amazing birding with minimal effort.

Although I could have looked at the Pipit for longer, I wanted to make the most of being in the area and decided to twitch the Grey Phalarope at Thorn in Bucks.

After a drive round the M25 car park and then up the M1, I soon arrived at the site, again welcomed by a smiling volunteer and then had an enjoyable half an hour watching the bird and chatting the friendly local birders.

A great mornings birding, made all the better by friendly birders.

 

 

 



Flexi Falcated Day

I have many hours owed to me at work and therefore decided to take a flexi day today.  I was hoping that access would be granted for the BB Pipit in London but after many messages of "it is" and "it isn't", I decided to go and see the Falcated Duck at Farmoor instead.

Upon arrival I was more worried whether or not I would be able to see the reservoir let alone the duck.  The weather was so appalling that I had to think twice before getting out the car.  However, I did venture out and soon found the duck in the corner on F1 just at the start of the Causeway.  It was extremely trim and quite nervy which gives it some characteristics of a wild bird but then who knows?  I didn't stick around to look for the two Slavonian Grebes as my face felt like it was going to freeze to my bins!

As no further news had emerged regarding the BB Pipit, I decided drive a few miles down the A34 to explore Appleford and surroundings to try and find Gulls.  After a brief search I found a flock settled on a mound almost opposite to the entrance to the Appleford Hanson site.  Before the mist and rain descended, I just managed to find an adult Caspian Gull in amongst the GBB, LBB and Herring Gulls - Unfortunately no white winged Gulls were around.

Even though the time was only 13:00 it felt like dusk and therefore I decided to give up and drive home contemplating if I can be bothered to twitch the BB Pipit tomorrow or not.

Waxwings nearer to home

After making a long round trip to see some Waxwings last weekend, the reports of them everywhere seem to be increasing by the day.  Last week, a friend of mine had some in his garden in Warwick but despite searching for them the following day, we could not relocate them and then today on the way to work I thought I had one in flight just opposite Myton School.  My suspicions were confirmed when I ground to a halt in the normal traffic at the end of Myton Road (Leamington end) and noticed some activity round a Rowan tree outside Blockbuster.  I counted at least 20 as they commuted from the top of the nearby warehouses back and forth to the tree.  Unfortunately, I didnt have time for  lunch break today but will check in again with them tomorrow to see if they are still around.

Draycote

A late afternoon visit to Draycote with a friend today gave us good views of a female Scaup off Farnborough Bank along with at least 5 Goldeneye.  The gull roost was impressive but we arrived far too late to optimise our viewing of the larger gulls which seemed to be close to the valve tower and miles away from us.  A brief detour home via Grandborough gave us Little Owl.