I am not what you would call a keen photographer - in fact I forget my camera as often as I take it. As such I only have fairly basic gear - a canon DSLR and a 70-300 zoom is my standard kit. But I am thinking of upgrading to something a bit better - probably mirrorless. So, my question is, am I better sticking wi...
Sandwich Tern fishing no 3 Reservoir late afternoon/early evening. Please note this site has now been secured by the owners and a permit is now required - see thread on general birding discussion forum for details (although 1 or 2 cheeky Joggers/Dog Walkers etc are still sneaking on!). -- Edited by I...
8-30-9-30am 3 Little Gulls (2 adult summers) 2 Common Terns 2 Sedge Warblers -- Edited by warfy at 15:29, 2007-05-03-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 3rd of May 2012 04:48:26 PM
On saturday lunch time all the pools on No3 bed were free from ice and a lot of duck were present including 200+ Tufted Duck and 151 Pochard, also present was a male SCAUP all viewed from the new John Morgan Hide. There is a new feeding station at this hide and there were a variety af birds feeding including...
Afternoon visit on Thursday the 5th July produced: 3 Green Sands 1 Kingfisher (willow pool) 1 Oystercatcher (flying all over the place) 5 broods of Gadwall 1 brood of Tufted Duck (4 very young birds on the main lake) 3 Mute Swan cygnets (willow pool) 5 Reed Warblers 4 Chiffchaff 2 Willow Warblers 4 Whit...
Vale Royal Locks to Winsford (PM) I was advised by a nature lover from Northwich that this area is a hotspot for Grass Snakes, alas I didn't find any. It's a walk worth doing though, no uncommon birds about, but lots of wildlife, and at this time of year a botanical gem, especially the marshy areas adjoin...
26/07/2012 - Fermyn, Lady and Souther Woods, Northamptonshire: Thanks to some useful info from John Rayner I headed down to these ancient woods with Mike Duckham. Butterflies were the main draw, including the stunning and sizeable Purple Emperor: 3 Purple Emperors - numbers lower now but some col...
we've now been here a week of what is essentially a family visit involving socialising, sight seeing, working on the farm, with some birding when the opportunity presents itself. A few common species were frequenting the garden of the Bangkok house, with Pied Fantails zipping around in typical fas...
A fishing pool a mile or so south of Sandiway, best accessed from the Nova Scotia Lane/Sandy Lane end (the east end). Redhead Smew fishing at the western end close up against the bank at 1530 today. Been there a couple of days. Another birder there intimated that it had been at Astbury Mere and Westport L...
Went up this a.m. with P Johnson looking for Ring Ouzel but no luck. Did see lots of Meadow Pipits, even more Carrion Crow, 4 Pheasant and a Kestrel. Surprisingly no Wheatear, they must all be at Elton!. Also heard singing 1 Willow Warbler. Cheers Ian --------------------------- Forgot the half doze...
Between 10.30am - 2.30pm today Peat pools were very quiet , just the Plovers and Reedbuntings and 2 Buzzards over Over and around Astley Moss and Rindle road, 2 Buzzards 5 Yellowhammers 6 Tree sparrows 8 Reed buntings 2 Jays 2 Skylarks 4 Mpipits 2 Whitethroat 2 Willow warblers 1 Whimbrel and 1 Sparrowh...
Great tits have nested in a box in my garden this year, i am waiting with anticipation as to see how many will fledge. Parents have been feeding none stop for a while now and the chicks are getting louder by the day i think they will be off any time now. Also of note over the last few days 2 Jays gs woodpecker 2 n...
MM- Marsh Harrier ,KIngfisher from Ron Barker hide. ruff and 2 green sand pipers from swanlink hide.Plus all the usual stuff. MS- Glossy ibis, curlew,pied wag, 4 snipe,2 common sandpipers,1 avocet,3 little egret,100s godwits and lapwings all from sandgrounders hide. 5 ruff,100s godwits and lap...
Had a bit of a Rochdale Bird Race with Paul Cliff, highlights included;
Wigeon - 2 on Ogden Res, 3 on Hollingworth Lake
Goldeneye - 1 on Hollingworth Lake
Little Owl - 1 at Birlte
Lesser Redpoll - 2 Rochdale Golf Course
the cold snap hampered our efforts with Tufted Duck and Little Grebe not seen,...
16th August. 4 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 40+ Pied Wagtail, c15 Linnet, c130 gulls - numbers of gulls has been much higher than this recently - today mostly Black-headed - but 4 Common and 3 Lesser Black-backed also present. c220 Lapwing, 30 House Martin, Begging juveniles of both Greenfinch and Goldf...
Short eared owl today at 14.30 This was on the moor above the reservoir on the opposite side of the road from the sandwich van If this is out of our area I apologise Good close up views but not quite as good as the twelve (12) that i saw last week on the Dee estuary at Dalton marsh all at the same time, it took fiv...
I think with this post i will tell you about some of the great places i visited for birding around north wales and Anglesey,starting with the latter.Cemlyn on Anglesey is a brilliant spot on the west coast with waders in abundance dunlin,turnstone,sanderling, oyster catchers,redshank,curlew,r...
Birds seen yesterday 10 Golden plover ( N ) 3 Oystercatcher 2 Curlew ( summering?) 4 Northern Wheatear 70 c Fieldfare (S) 2 Swallows 1 Willow Warbler 1 Blackcap - both the above 1st of the year Many Chiffs 2 Grey Partridge Approx 15- 18 prs Lapwing nesting. ( plus another 6 prs on old Airfield ) Cheers Chri...
Having not seen any peregrines for several weeks I thought they had finally vacated for the winter. This afternoon though, I saw 2 (1 adult, 1 1st year), chasing each other around St Peter's square for about 5 minutes, before settling on the Town Hall, just before dusk, approx 4pm. Not sure if they were...
first visit to Moore NR this morning, not a bad this for 2 hours at the site.
blackbird
bunting reed
buzzard
coot
cormorant
crow carrion
crow hooded
dove collard
duck, tufted
finch bull
finch chaf
finch green
goose canada
grebe great crested
grebe little
gull black headed
gull co...