I have just removed the link for 'my photos on Flickr' they are changing their offerings and it is no longer free to have more than 1000 photos on their site. I can't say I blame them, they were the only site I know offering unlimited storage.
So as I have over 19,000 photos on there and being a poor retiree, I don't want to pay the annual £40 to keep them there.
So until I find another way to do this or be more selective, I am going to remove them.
(If anyone has any ideas let me know)
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
Haden Hill Park & Corngreaves NR
We took advantage of a bit of late afternoon sunshine yesterday and went for a quick walk up through Corngreaves NR up to the Park, around the Lower Pool and then back down through the NR.
The walk up to the park was very quiet, we hardly saw anyone which was unusual, we guess the muddy paths had put off the dog walkers. So we might have expected lots of bird activity, but we only saw Woodpigeon, Blackbird and Robin, so we thought another walk without seeing much.
We paused briefly at the pool, where there were only Mallard, Black-headed Gull and Coot. A few Blue and Great Tits were flitting around the trees and a solitary Chaffinch was hanging out on a branch. So disappointed we walk back through the reserve, along the river. Then as we approached the first steps that dropped back down to towards the river, we had a flurry of activity.
First a large group of Long-tailed Tits turned up with Blue Tit and Great Tit in tow, we watched them for a little while, whereupon a Treecreeper was spotted;
The light was now fading so the shots very grainy. The Treecreeper flew off, but was replaced by a Nuthatch;
We were very happy with the turn of events, which was then capped by a Goldcrest up high in the trees;
It was excellent 15 minutes of birding and well worth braving the mud!
The walk up to the park was very quiet, we hardly saw anyone which was unusual, we guess the muddy paths had put off the dog walkers. So we might have expected lots of bird activity, but we only saw Woodpigeon, Blackbird and Robin, so we thought another walk without seeing much.
We paused briefly at the pool, where there were only Mallard, Black-headed Gull and Coot. A few Blue and Great Tits were flitting around the trees and a solitary Chaffinch was hanging out on a branch. So disappointed we walk back through the reserve, along the river. Then as we approached the first steps that dropped back down to towards the river, we had a flurry of activity.
First a large group of Long-tailed Tits turned up with Blue Tit and Great Tit in tow, we watched them for a little while, whereupon a Treecreeper was spotted;
We were very happy with the turn of events, which was then capped by a Goldcrest up high in the trees;
It was excellent 15 minutes of birding and well worth braving the mud!
Monday, 17 December 2018
A First Visit to Carsington Water
Our good friends Wendy & Tim who we met some 6 years ago now in Sri Lanka have recently moved to Matlock. So we popped over to see them in their new home before Christmas, after a coffee and an initial catch up, they took us out to Carsington Water, for a short look around.
We visited the two hides, but with the water levels very low most of the birds were a fair distance away and as it was a dull afternoon, long distance photography didn't stand a chance, so I didn't bother!
Having said that there were plenty of birds about, although I was surprised at the number of Pheasant feeding around the edges of the lake. Plenty of Gulls, Lapwing, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pied Wagtail, Coot, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, a few Gadwall and a pair of Goosander were seen from the hides. A solitary Canada Goose swam by, however we found all his 'mates' when we went over to the visitor centre.
The reported Great Northern Diver proved elusive, we might have seen it in the fading light, but can't be sure.
Other birds seen and the star of the show, a Willow Tit in the wooded area behind the hides!
We visited the two hides, but with the water levels very low most of the birds were a fair distance away and as it was a dull afternoon, long distance photography didn't stand a chance, so I didn't bother!
Having said that there were plenty of birds about, although I was surprised at the number of Pheasant feeding around the edges of the lake. Plenty of Gulls, Lapwing, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pied Wagtail, Coot, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, a few Gadwall and a pair of Goosander were seen from the hides. A solitary Canada Goose swam by, however we found all his 'mates' when we went over to the visitor centre.
The reported Great Northern Diver proved elusive, we might have seen it in the fading light, but can't be sure.
Other birds seen and the star of the show, a Willow Tit in the wooded area behind the hides!
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - The Rest!
To round up the rest of our birding in Norfolk, on a particularly wet and windy day, we birded by travelling the coast road and popping down tracks, around harbours and estuaries, using the car as a hide and weather permitting getting out to have a look around. We call this "Having a Mooch Around". Usually on these days I don't take many photos as the weather is against getting anything decent. I think we end up doing this at least once when we go to Norfolk in the winter.
This time was no different, I think this is the only one I took on that day at Morston Quay.
We visited Brancaster Staithe, Stiffkey Fen, Morston Quay, Cley (beach roads, and just used the visitor centre for the facilities.), Salthouses, Blakeney and of course Wells. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen, plenty of common waders and winter ducks, although we did add a Barnacle Goose to the list.
At Salthouse Beach we did see a large raft of 'black' ducks out on the sea, but even asking a chap with a scope they were to far to identify.
I should mention that we were aware of the Pallas's Warbler at Wells Woods and did have a look but never found it, even though the area it was in was only 100 yards from the lodge we were staying in! C'est la Vie!
The only other thing to add was our compulsory visit to the Hawk & Owl Trust at the Sculthorpe Moor Reserve. We always go and never mind paying the entrance fee (now £5) as we love the place. Great hides and usually an abundance of woodland birds, plus Marsh Harriers and Owls. Having said that it was unusually quiet, the first hide produce very little, just Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Pheasant, Blackbird and Dunnock. Normally here there is an abundance of Tits, sometimes Brambling, even Red-legged Partridge, but not this time.
As we walk from there through the woods to the next hide overlooking the reed beds, we always hope to see Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Wren and Great-spotted Woodpeckers, this time not one!
The second hide was the same very little about, just some Blue and Great Tit, but we did add a Bullfinch.
After coffee and running out of patience we left for hide number three, picking up Marsh Tit on the way.
The third hide did prove better with plenty of activity on the woodland feeders and even a bit of dappled sunshine:
Chaffinch,
Brambling,
Great Spotted Woodpecker,
Collared Dove,
Blue Tit,
tons of Goldfinch, Marsh Tit
and Coal Tit
We never fail to enjoy Sculthorpe, give it a go.
This time was no different, I think this is the only one I took on that day at Morston Quay.
We visited Brancaster Staithe, Stiffkey Fen, Morston Quay, Cley (beach roads, and just used the visitor centre for the facilities.), Salthouses, Blakeney and of course Wells. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen, plenty of common waders and winter ducks, although we did add a Barnacle Goose to the list.
At Salthouse Beach we did see a large raft of 'black' ducks out on the sea, but even asking a chap with a scope they were to far to identify.
I should mention that we were aware of the Pallas's Warbler at Wells Woods and did have a look but never found it, even though the area it was in was only 100 yards from the lodge we were staying in! C'est la Vie!
The only other thing to add was our compulsory visit to the Hawk & Owl Trust at the Sculthorpe Moor Reserve. We always go and never mind paying the entrance fee (now £5) as we love the place. Great hides and usually an abundance of woodland birds, plus Marsh Harriers and Owls. Having said that it was unusually quiet, the first hide produce very little, just Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Pheasant, Blackbird and Dunnock. Normally here there is an abundance of Tits, sometimes Brambling, even Red-legged Partridge, but not this time.
As we walk from there through the woods to the next hide overlooking the reed beds, we always hope to see Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Wren and Great-spotted Woodpeckers, this time not one!
The second hide was the same very little about, just some Blue and Great Tit, but we did add a Bullfinch.
After coffee and running out of patience we left for hide number three, picking up Marsh Tit on the way.
The third hide did prove better with plenty of activity on the woodland feeders and even a bit of dappled sunshine:
Chaffinch,
We never fail to enjoy Sculthorpe, give it a go.
Sunday, 9 December 2018
A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - RSPB Titchwell
A mixed weather day for Titchwell, started bright, but became rapidly overcast. At the visitor centre we saw that there was a Red-crested Pochard on the East Pond, so we went there first, but it must have know we were coming and bug**d off!
Plenty of Ruff showed from the hide which was nice,
It was otherwise very quiet that side with just Coot, Mute Swan, Mallard and a few Tufted Duck about, although as expected we did see a Marsh Harrier or two while we were walking.
So back around to the main part of the reserve and a coffee in the first (Island) hide overlooking the freshwater marsh. The first thing was being treated to what can only be described as a murmuration by the Golden Plover,
Shelduck are always a treat to see,
as are the Teal,
a juvenile Ruff turned up and showed quite well to the left of the hide.
After coffee we decide to walk straight up to the beach and see what was about, as with Snettisham the tide was a long way out so with only bins (as my scope is bust!) it was impossible to see anything. There were plenty of Gulls, Oystercatcher and a few other waders on the shoreline but we decide not to venture further and check them out.
From the path back to the Parrinder Hides overlooking the Salt and Freshwater marshes the Redshanks showed well:
We had great views of the Golden Plover from the South Parrinder Hide, although the weather was rather dismal now, so the photo doesn't do their colours justice:
While we watched though a Pink-footed Goose sauntered past the window,
we normally don't get see any that close.
A highlight was a Water Pipit, this was our first Water Pipit for 8 years! It doesn't look special but it was great to see.
there were also a number of Pintail about, now that is a splendid duck, but they were fairly inactive and distant, but for the record:
We stayed quite late and watched the Marsh Harriers and Little Egrets gathering for the roost.
We counted at least 32 Marsh Harriers in the air, which was magnificent and we lost count of the Little Egrets, but I'm guessing at around the 50 mark.
Oh, I forgot to mention that from the North Pallinder hide we did see a distant (aren't they always) female Hen Harrier.
So a good day as usual.
Thursday, 6 December 2018
A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - Holkham NNR
We made a few visits to Holkam during the week, 2 full dayers and a pop in on the way back from elsewhere at dusk. There are a few great reasons to visit Holkham apart from the exorbitant parking fees! Firstly there are two great hides for viewing the Pink Foots coming in, in the evening, Secondly a wider variety of birds are to be seen and the Marsh Harriers (17 one night going down to roost in front of us.) are an absolute treat and thirdly great walks especially when you are rewarded with "a drift" of Snow Buntings and "an exaltation" of Shore Larks. (sorry getting in to my collective nouns!)
This was our first visit since the new visitor centre, called; "The Lookout" has opened, basically it's a Cafe! But at least it has good toilets, this was sadly lacking before, but does account for the hoick in the car parking costs. The lookout does provide chained down binoculars for looking out over the lifeless new pool/scrape that they have created, however the windows have huge thick vertical beams on the outside spaced about 50cm apart, so if you did see anything worth looking at, you can't track it, too much wood in the way. Bonkers!
Anyway so on to our visits, the first was to spend the day in the two hides, with a bit of a walk. Again the weather wasn't too bad, so some good views were had,
Sparrowhawk,
Egyptian "Tree" Geese,
Grey Heron,
Kestrel; having a snack,
Marsh Harrier and
Greylags and a Galloway!
The Greylag flocks also contained a number of White-fronted Geese, but not in the above photo.
The geese didn't show too well that night.
The next full day took us along the beach back towards Wells to find the Shore Larks, at first there was no sign, but then the aforementioned drift of Snow Buntings turned up:
But no Shore Larks, however with a little bit of patience a group of six arrived. Now the area they like is now roped off, to protect them no doubt from over zealous photographers, this I understand, as much as I love taking photos and hoping to get that perfect shot, I would rather just watch the birds than disturb them, however tempting it is to get closer. So a rather poor photo of one I'm afraid:
Other birds seen where a Great White Egret in addition to the usual suspects:
Little Grebe,
the Great White Egret,
Marsh Harriet at sunset.
and Red Kite.
Talking of sunsets, we have been visiting Holkham for about 10 years now and one of my favourite views was a distant copse of trees at sunset as the sun goes down behind it, indeed in our dining room I have a blown up photo of it:
we were deeply saddened to see that the tree fellers were in! (I'm sure there's a joke there somewhere) but this is it last week:
I'm sure by now the last three trees have gone, just seems senseless to me.
So finally we had some great Geese moments, much to dark to photograph, but we did get some video, which I will post when I've finished these posts.
I forgot to mention we also had a Bittern drop into the reeds in front of the Washington Hide on one occasion, brilliant! (not fast enough with the camera though.) Also only our second Rough-legged Buzzard in the UK, the first was 4 years ago at Holkham.
Here's our Holkham list:
This was our first visit since the new visitor centre, called; "The Lookout" has opened, basically it's a Cafe! But at least it has good toilets, this was sadly lacking before, but does account for the hoick in the car parking costs. The lookout does provide chained down binoculars for looking out over the lifeless new pool/scrape that they have created, however the windows have huge thick vertical beams on the outside spaced about 50cm apart, so if you did see anything worth looking at, you can't track it, too much wood in the way. Bonkers!
Anyway so on to our visits, the first was to spend the day in the two hides, with a bit of a walk. Again the weather wasn't too bad, so some good views were had,
Sparrowhawk,
The geese didn't show too well that night.
The next full day took us along the beach back towards Wells to find the Shore Larks, at first there was no sign, but then the aforementioned drift of Snow Buntings turned up:
Other birds seen where a Great White Egret in addition to the usual suspects:
Little Grebe,
Talking of sunsets, we have been visiting Holkham for about 10 years now and one of my favourite views was a distant copse of trees at sunset as the sun goes down behind it, indeed in our dining room I have a blown up photo of it:
So finally we had some great Geese moments, much to dark to photograph, but we did get some video, which I will post when I've finished these posts.
I forgot to mention we also had a Bittern drop into the reeds in front of the Washington Hide on one occasion, brilliant! (not fast enough with the camera though.) Also only our second Rough-legged Buzzard in the UK, the first was 4 years ago at Holkham.
Here's our Holkham list:
| Bittern ("Botaurus stellaris") |
| Blackbird ("Turdus merula") |
| Black-headed Gull ("Chroicocephalus ridibundus") |
| Blue Tit ("Cyanistes caeruleus") |
| Brent Goose ("Branta bernicla") |
| Buzzard ("Buteo buteo") |
| Carrion Crow ("Corvus corone") |
| Cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo") |
| Curlew ("Numenius arquata") |
| Egyptian Goose ("Alopochen aegyptiaca") |
| Great Tit ("Parus major") |
| Great White Egret ("Ardea alba") |
| Grey Heron ("Ardea cinerea") |
| Greylag Goose ("Anser anser") |
| Hen Harrier ("Circus cyaneus") |
| Herring Gull ("Larus argentatus") |
| Jay ("Garrulus glandarius") |
| Kestrel ("Falco tinnunculus") |
| Lapwing ("Vanellus vanellus") |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull ("Larus fuscus") |
| Little Egret ("Egretta garzetta") |
| Little Grebe ("Tachybaptus ruficollis") |
| Long-tailed Tit ("Aegithalos caudatus") |
| Magpie ("Pica pica") |
| Mallard ("Anas platyrhynchos") |
| Marsh Harrier ("Circus aeruginosus") |
| Mute Swan ("Cygnus olor") |
| Pheasant ("Phasianus colchicus") |
| Pink-footed Goose ("Anser brachyrhynchus") |
| Red Kite ("Milvus milvus") |
| Red-legged Partridge ("Alectoris rufa") |
| Robin ("Erithacus rubecula") |
| Rough-legged Buzzard ("Buteo lagopus") |
| Shelduck ("Tadorna tadorna") |
| Shore Lark ("Eremophila alpestris") |
| Snow Bunting ("Plectrophenax nivalis") |
| Sparrowhawk ("Accipiter nisus") |
| Starling ("Sturnus vulgaris") |
| Teal ("Anas crecca") |
| Tufted Duck ("Aythya fuligula") |
| Water Rail ("Rallus aquaticus") |
| White-fronted Goose ("Anser albifrons") |
| Wigeon ("Anas penelope") |
| Woodpigeon ("Columba palumbus") |
| Wren ("Troglodytes troglodytes") |
Wednesday, 5 December 2018
A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - RSPB Snettisham
We spent a week in Norfolk staying in Wells-Next-the-Sea, it's a great location for getting easily to all our favourite birding sites, although the accommodation left a bit to be desired.
Day 1 a Sunday took us to the RSPB reserve at Snettisham for the day, it was much brighter day than we expected with a surprise thrown in too. Having said that the tides were really against us! I think you could have almost walked all the way to Holland it was that far out, subsequently the waders were a long way away apart from a few just in front of the first hide:
A Ponderance of Golden Plovers, was a short way off, but too far for a deceit photo. (A Ponderance by the way is one of a few collective nouns for any type of Plover, along with "Deceit", "Brace", "Congregation" and "Wing".)
On the other side of the hide overlooking the lagoons there were plenty of Canada and Greylag Geese, Wigeon, Cormorant, Lapwings and Teal.
We took a walk clockwise from there around the lagoon to the temporary hide come screen. So that we could get a better view of four Whooper Swans that were nestled down on one of the scrapes:
A Little Egret presented itself well before flying off:
I remember not that long ago when we used to get very excited about seeing an Egret, they seem to turn up in numbers most everywhere now, still great to see though, especially when they are fishing.
After a bit of a chat with some locals we moved on to the next hide, where despite the sunshine these Wigeon ere keeping themselves tucked up.
Also the Whoopers decide to come out and do some "Whooping" We have this on film, Tina did a great job, when I have edited it I will post it on the blog.
Despite the sun you could tell there was some rain about.
There were also a few Goldeneye about, but proved very difficult to get a photo, they wouldn't come near the hides.
Cormorant flying past!
We the had a surprise, there were what appeared to be three Little Egrets on the far side of the lagoon, when I noticed that Egret number three was in fact a Spoonbill!
We returned to the first hide and waited for dusk to watch the Pink-footed Geese come in, unfortunately by this time it had also started raining, but it was still a great sight.
Day 1 a Sunday took us to the RSPB reserve at Snettisham for the day, it was much brighter day than we expected with a surprise thrown in too. Having said that the tides were really against us! I think you could have almost walked all the way to Holland it was that far out, subsequently the waders were a long way away apart from a few just in front of the first hide:
A Ponderance of Golden Plovers, was a short way off, but too far for a deceit photo. (A Ponderance by the way is one of a few collective nouns for any type of Plover, along with "Deceit", "Brace", "Congregation" and "Wing".)
On the other side of the hide overlooking the lagoons there were plenty of Canada and Greylag Geese, Wigeon, Cormorant, Lapwings and Teal.
We took a walk clockwise from there around the lagoon to the temporary hide come screen. So that we could get a better view of four Whooper Swans that were nestled down on one of the scrapes:
A Little Egret presented itself well before flying off:
After a bit of a chat with some locals we moved on to the next hide, where despite the sunshine these Wigeon ere keeping themselves tucked up.
We the had a surprise, there were what appeared to be three Little Egrets on the far side of the lagoon, when I noticed that Egret number three was in fact a Spoonbill!
We returned to the first hide and waited for dusk to watch the Pink-footed Geese come in, unfortunately by this time it had also started raining, but it was still a great sight.
Saturday, 17 November 2018
RSPB Middleton Lakes
We took a trip up over Birmingham to Middleton lakes on Thursday. It's been a a long while since we have been and on the way home we remembered why! But more of that later.
It was a surprisingly lovely day weather wise, the sun stayed out most of the afternoon. As I said it's been a while since we have been and it was nice to see the work done on the paths, in past visits we could have done with waders, but hopefully with the work done not any more.
So onto some birding....
The walk through the woodlands out to the lakes was lovely with the star being a Nuthatch collecting seed from posts and railings that someone had put out;
Chaffinch and Robin, plus Coal, Blue, Great and Lon-tailed Tit also turned up.
Couldn't resist a picture of a Tree Rat...
as it was being quite 'cute'.
We continued out over the canal to the lakes and walked around anti-clockwise, deciding not to cross the bridge to Dosthill. So up to the hide or as the RSPB insist on calling it 'The Lookout'. There was plenty of Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Cormorant and Canada Geese about.
From the hide, we added Wigeon, Teal, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Pheasant, a solitary Goosander, Shoveler,
plenty of Black-headed Gulls,
and a large flock of Linnet swooping around.
The highlight was a Scaup that showed in a channel with some Tufties, before disappearing behind a bank, sadly I wasn't quick enough to get my camera on it.
After a late lunch in the hide we proceeded around to the Jubilee Wetlands where we saw a Shelduck to add to our list and had great fun watching the Greylag Geese coming in to roost:
Final approach, undercarriage down,
landing aborted going around again,
trying again,
then the next lot doing a circuit.
After waiting in the fading light to see if any starlings showed up for a mini murmuration, (about 30 did turn up briefly) we brought our afternoons tally up to 42 with a Collared Dove.
So back to the car as it got dark, then for the supposedly 35 minute ride home that ended up taking 2 hours!! Now we remembered why we don't go to Middleton in the winter!
It was a surprisingly lovely day weather wise, the sun stayed out most of the afternoon. As I said it's been a while since we have been and it was nice to see the work done on the paths, in past visits we could have done with waders, but hopefully with the work done not any more.
So onto some birding....
The walk through the woodlands out to the lakes was lovely with the star being a Nuthatch collecting seed from posts and railings that someone had put out;
Couldn't resist a picture of a Tree Rat...
We continued out over the canal to the lakes and walked around anti-clockwise, deciding not to cross the bridge to Dosthill. So up to the hide or as the RSPB insist on calling it 'The Lookout'. There was plenty of Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Cormorant and Canada Geese about.
From the hide, we added Wigeon, Teal, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Pheasant, a solitary Goosander, Shoveler,
Final approach, undercarriage down,
So back to the car as it got dark, then for the supposedly 35 minute ride home that ended up taking 2 hours!! Now we remembered why we don't go to Middleton in the winter!
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