RAF Cosford Air Show 2012

Well a one off (well depends how many Airshows we get to this Summer), off topic post. To share our other passion, Airshows. Well it's still avian! so it's not that far off topic.

We um'd and ah'd for days about whether to go to Cosford this year, we didn't fancy sitting in the rain as we have at other shows, but the forecast didn't look to bad, so we went for it and I'm so glad we did, it was a great day, with just one 15 minute downpour, for which we scurried back to the car.
I won't post loads of photos (I took 1175!!) just one or two from each item on the programme!

The day started with a display of model aircraft, very impressive, especially the jets, they almost looked like the real thing. But to open the show:

This was towed around a couple of times by:

As usual the show opened with the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team:

Then a star from Scotland:

Eurofighter Typhoon, 6 Squadron, RAF Leuchars

The Typhoon gave a great display, showing why it's one of the best fighters in the world.

Next up:

Westland Lynx, Royal Navy Sea Cats
Going Vertical!

Followed by:

Sea King,  Search and Rescue from RAF Valley, Anglesy

And no William wasn't up front, he was probably with his Nan having a cuppa!

Some nice aerobatics followed from the twister duo:

A great display next, by the Great War display team, flying World War I replicas, basically it entailed the British and German aircraft chasing each other and pretending to shoot each other down (lots of sound effects and smoke!), there were 6 aircraft in this so you might get more than 1 photo!

Sopwith Triplane on the Tail of  a Fokker Triplane

SE5a 'shooting down' a Junkers CL.1

Sopwith Triplane

SE5a escorting another wounded SE5a home

The Germans!

Moving on to World War II, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight:

They always put a lump in my throat!

After that along come the Belgians:

Belgian Air Component, Westland-August A109
(No longer the Belgian Air Force, although that's what it says on the tin!)

Slowing the pace down, 2 ex RAF Jet Trainers, a Jet Provost Mk3 & Mk5 (To get technical!)

Now the old mount of the Red Arrows before they adopted the BAE Hawk, many years ago:

Folland Gnats

The contribution from the Royal Navy Historic Flight, sadly the Swordfish couldn't make it:

Hawker Sea Fury

Another RAF Trainer, this time for multi-engine training:

King Air

So on to the stars of the show, The Red Arrows. Following last years tragic accidents the Arrows are only displaying with 7 Hawks this year: (You will have to indulge me more than 1 pic for them!)

Back to WW II Aircraft:

USAAF Kittyhawk

Hurricane Mk 1 (Battle of Britain Survivor)

"Bang" up to date:

2 Tornado GR4s, blowing up the Airfield

A very rare sight these days. Vickers VC10 K3 (Tanker)

Apache!

An excellent display team, the Russian Yak-50s:

Followed by a Jet from the past:

Gloster Meteor

Twig Display Team, 2 Pitts Specials:

A great display of Aerobatics from the Gliding Association:

Back to a couple of trainers now, first a primary trainer raise by the University Air Squadrons (This from Birmingham University)

Grob 105

And the RAFs primary trainer for fest jet pilots, done up nicely for the Jubilee:

Shorts Tucano

And to close the display the Blades Aerobatic team, this team is made up of 4 ex Red Arrows pilots flying Extra 300s, they were truly amazing:

£25 Well spent!! (each!)

A Week Near Skegness - Part Two

Now on my 3rd attempt to do part 2 of our Lincolnshire week, I have almost finished twice and despite saving as a draft google has conspired to wipe it both times!

So 3rd time lucky.....

Day 4
Decided to stay local today and went to Gunby Hall a nearby National Trust property. A lovely place with great grounds and walled gardens, with quite a bit of bird life too.

So enough of the scenery I hear you say, what about the wildlife. Well we did get a bit wild when we saw that the tea room only served instant coffee, good job we had the flasks. (but you should have seen the cakes!)

Birding wise we saw our one and only Buzzard of the week, I never realised to I looked at the books that they were not so common this far east. We added a Kestrel, a Moorhen on the Carp pond. The walled garden though was a haven for small birds; Finches, Tits, Swallows and Pied Wagtail. The most rewarding being when we stopped to sit on a bench and get out the flask, we saw a pair of Blue Tits ferrying insects into a hole in the wall over our heads:

We have lift off...

There's always house work to do!

We toured the house which was very interesting, then came out for cake! Whilst making our selection there was the roar of jets approaching, we were treated to a fly past by the Red Arrows in formation, after they had been down to London to cheer the Queen up! Excellent, although didn't have my camera ready!

So as the weather wasn't as bad as forecast we decided to have a couple of hours back at Gib Point. We were glad we did as we spotted two Little Gulls on Tennyson's Sands, so another new species for us. Just a few highlights from the hides:

Hiding out of the rain, but we can see you!

Convoy

Avocet mobbing 2 Little Egrets (he nearly took the first ones head off, hence its tucked up!)

Oh Deer, you've seen me! (Sorry!)

We left the hides and decided to walk along the edge of the Old Saltmarsh, but the weather had deteriorated again and there wasn't much about.

Day 5
An earlyish start for us, as this looked like a reasonable weather day, we had decided to go further afield. Up to Flamborough, via Blacktoft Sands. But because of the roads, traffic and tractors it took us much longer to get to Blacktoft than planned and that was the half way point, so we decided to stay put for the day.

After chatting with a warden to see where was best to go, he said all the hides had something to offer, but there was a Marsh Warbler displaying near the Singleton Hide, just off the path and that you couldn't miss where because:

It's behind you!

Now time for a little rant! We had been watching Springwatch (top programme!) the night before and Bill Oddie did a little piece about not taking the more common birds for granted. This kind of sums it up for me. Blacktoft is a great place with so much going on and great behaviour to see. Some of this lot spent hours on this path waiting for a glimpse of a Marsh Warbler, now don't get me wrong we had never seen a Marsh Warbler and  if would love to see one, but to stand around for hours on the off chance when just meters behind you there are such wonderful things to see, I don't get! For us of course we like to add ticks to the list, its always exciting to see a new bird, like our Spoonbill on day one, but the most important for us is to watch and learn, see new behaviour and marvel at what our birds go through to survive, for instance, watching Common Tern fishing:

Or Avocets seeing off all comers (what a gutsy bird):

Taking on a Marsh Harrier

and teaming up to see off a family of Swans

Sedge and Reed Warblers bringing food back to the nests:

Marsh Harriers hunting:

The Marsh Harries never came very close, the Avocets saw to that!

Snipe hiding:

Hares running:

But each to their own, I'm sure some of you will disagree with me, but I never want to get fixated on just adding birds to the list.
So did we see the Marsh Warbler.... of course we did! We just happened to pop out of the hide when it decided to show, it stayed for about 10 minutes then disappeared again. So did we, too much else to see! A smart Warbler but I'm glad we didn't stand around for hours waiting for it!

We love Blacktoft.... 10/10!

Day 6
Today we decide to Visit Frieston Shore (RSPB) and Frampton again.
Frieston is a smallish reserve with a Lagoon and Salt Marshes, the lagoon turned out be Black-headed Gull central, the noise was deafening and we have never seen so many chicks in one place!

No trip though is complete without an Oystercatcher photo:

Having a bath, but if he waits an hour he can have a shower!

We were surprised to see a pair of Brent and a pair of Pink Footed Geese here as well, (Speaking to the Warden at Frampton later, he suggested they were probably injured and couldn't leave). This pic tends to confirm that:

We went for a walk around the lagoon and looked out over the marshes, but it was all fairly quiet. We did see Skylark and Reed Bunting showing off and of course more Avocets on the scrapes. As the weather was starting to look nasty, we decided to leg it back to the car and head a bit further down the coast to Frampton where we know there's a nice warm visitor centre.

Just on the road as we approached Frampton we cam across this juvenile Pheasant, we just hope his parents were around:

As we pulled up at Frampton the heavens opened and we dashed into the visitor centre, with the flasks and had a coffee, whilst we watched the Yellowhammer under the feeder and the Finches and Tree Sparrows on the feeders. Because of the weather it was much quieter than when we came earlier in the week, we did brave the rain and head out to the 360º Hide as this has the best views across the reserve.

There was plenty about if you scanned the scrapes and islets, it was just finding them. We did see (aptly) a pair of Water Pipits, which were nice they didn't seem to mind the weather to much, but everything else was settled down to keep as warm as possible:

A very wet Lapwing

Common Tern with a Little Gull in the background

Stoic Avocet

Competition Time: Spot the Bird

Last day, time to go home!
After packing up we paid a last visit to Gib Point, the weather again conspired against us and there was even less about than our previous visits, although the US Air Force cheered me up as two F-15s dropped out of the cloud over the reserve, heading off to RAF Lakenheath I would guess. This has whetted my appetite for this weekend and the RAF Cosford airshow, but the weather again isn't looking great.

So off home via Rutland Water, never been here before and we didn't realise how big the reserve is, so we opted just to have a late lunch in the viewing gallery over the visitor centre as again it was raining and we didn't have time to do it justice. Apart from the usual Geese and Ducks we did see 2 Egyptian Geese just outside the centre, so that was nice. Then it was off for the last hour and a half drive home.

So our full list for the week:

Species	Gib Point	Frampton	Gunby Hall	Frieston	Blacktoft	Rutland
Avocet	x	x		x	x
Blackbird	x		x		x	x
Blackcap					x
Black-headed Gull	x	x		x	x	x
Black-tailed Godwit	x	x
Blue Tit	x	x	x
Brent Goose				x
Buzzard			x
Canada Goose	x	x		x	x	x
Carrion Crow	x	x	x	x	x	x
Chaffinch	x	x	x	x	x
Coal Tit					x
Common Gull	x
Common Tern	x	x			x
Coot	x	x		x	x	x
Cormorant		x			x	x
Curlew	x
Dunlin		x
Egyptian Goose						x
Gadwall	x	x			x	x
Goldfinch	x	x	x		x	x
Great Black-backed Gull	x	x
Great Crested Grebe		x			x	x
Great Tit	x				x	x
Great White Egret		x
Greenfinch		x			x
Grey Heron			x		x
Greylag Goose	x	x		x	x	x
Herring Gull				x
Hobby					x
House Martin		x	x			x
House Sparrow	x
Jackdaw	x		x			x
Jay		x
Kestrel	x		x		x
Lapwing	x	x		x	x
Lesser Black-backed Gull	x
Linnet					x
Little Egret	x	x
Little Gull	x	x
Little Ringed Plover	x	x
Long-tailed Tit					x
Magpie	x				x
Mallard	x	x	x	x	x	x
Marsh Harrier					x
Marsh Warbler					x
Meadow Pipit	x
Mistle Thrush	x
Moorhen	x	x	x		x	x
Mute Swan	x	x			x	x
Oystercatcher	x	x		x
Pheasant	x	x			x
Pied Wagtail	x		x		x	x
Pink-footed Goose	x			x
Pochard					x
Redshank	x	x
Reed Bunting		x		x	x
Reed Warbler					x
Ringed Plover	x
Robin	x				x
Rock Dove	x		x
Rook	x		x		x	x
Sand Martin	x				x	x
Sedge Warbler		x			x
Shelduck	x	x		x	x	x
Short-eared Owl	x
Shoveler	x	x			x	x
Skylark	x	x		x
Snipe					x
Spoonbill	x
Starling	x			x		x
Swallow	x	x	x	x	x	x
Swift	x	x			x	x
Teal	x	x
Tree Sparrow		x			x
Tufted Duck	x	x		x	x	x
Water Pipit		x
Whitethroat	x				x
Wigeon	x	x				x
Willow Warbler			x		x
Woodpigeon	x	x	x	x	x	x
Yellowhammer		x
Total (83)	50	43	17	17	43	27

A Week Near Skegness - Part One

We have just come back from a week staying in a Caravan near Skegness. (Actually 3 caravans, but that's a long story!) We took advantage of the double bank holiday to explore some of the birding sites in Lincolnshire and apart from the Sunday, when the weather was so bad we stayed tucked up in the van and watched the Thames Pageant (even then we managed an hour at Gib Point) we were out and about visiting Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust),  Frampton Marshes (RSPB), Frieston Shore (RSPB), Blacktoft Sands (RSPB) and Gunby Hall (National Trust - Not a birding visit, but of course managed to find a few!), we came back via Rutland Water where we just stopped for lunch, so we didn't go around the reserve as the weather was awful yet again!

We started off on the Saturday by spending the day at Gib Point. Firstly I have to say this is a great place with a wide variety of habitats, scrapes, pools, reed beds, salt marsh, estuary, grassy dunes and beach. The only draw back was the weather! But that wasn't the LWTs fault, well I don't think it was!

On arrival we went to visitor centre and had a coffee of course,there the recent sightings board showed that there had been a Spoonbill there that morning, but as we had had a lie in, (another integral part of our trips is to catch up on some Zeds!!) we didn't give it a thought, until we sat down in the first hide (Jackson Hide) and there it was, our first bird of the trip and it was lifer! You can't ask for better than that. It was a fair distance away across the pools, but unmistakable: For the record a really poor long shot:

After about ten minutes it upped and left, that's how lucky we were! As it departed towards the coast it came a little closer, so got a slightly better if somewhat grainy shot:

So what else did Gib have to offer that day: loads of Avocet, Curlew, Shelduck and Black Headed Gull, plus some Redshank, Common Tern and Little Plover. We bagged 37 species for the afternoon, with 2 Short Eared Owls hunting over the dunes just before we left. Just a few other pics for the day:

Little Egret Hunting

There were about 20-30 avocets around the various pools

Loads of Rabbits around the dunes

Redshank Flypast!

Oh and how could I forget to mention a Muntjac!

As I said earlier day 2 (Sunday) was a wash out so we enjoyed watching boats on the Thames and chilling out for a change. We did nip out about 4ish as the rain had stopped, to Gib Point for an hour as it was only 15 minutes away by car. From the hides we didn't pick up anything new but after walking the Grass dunes and being stared down by some Dexter Cows (I just kept thinking Sunday dinner!) we came surprisingly across a lonely Pink Footed Goose lurking in the long grass. We then retired back to the van as the weather was turning nasty again for G&T and a bottle of Old Peculiar before Tea!

So day 3 we headed down the coast through Boston (Traffic was a pain, it should have only taken about 35 minutes, it took us nearly an hour) to Frampton Marsh. The weather improved a bit when we got there and the sun came out! Another great place, nice warm visitor centre with friendly RSPB volunteers. The visit got off to a good start again with Yellowhammer,,Tree Sparrows, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Tits at the feeders visible through the visitor centre window, whilst we had our first coffee! The visitor centre has great views across the lagoon, where Avocets, Lapwings and all manner of Ducks were showing, plus vast numbers of Hirundinidae and Swifts were to be seen.

There are number of good walks around the lagoons and meadows so we opted to walk around the lagoons visiting all the hides en route. Just a few highlights:

Boo!

You looking at me?

Britain has got the Ahhh Factor!

Tree Sparrows Hanging Out

By Gad.. its a Little Egret

The real thing was better!

LRP

Sedge Warbler, first one for 2012