21-03-09
12 Red breasted mergansers
100 oystercatchers
all the usual gulls
several curlew and distant bar tailed godwit
best of all 6 Slavonian grebe lifer for meone already in summer plumage
3 common scoter
We have on commission with us a mint condition Zeiss Diascope 85 (the silver body version) with a stay-on case and a 20-60x Zoom eyepiece. This is still my favourite Zeiss scope, it has dual focus (coarse and fine) in separate knobs rather than the later geared single knob which was less intuitive to us...
Just back from a 14 night stay in Thailand, 22 February until 7 March 2020. Weather sunny and hot every day with no rain. Around 34 degrees c with real feel at times up to 40 deg c. We were with a non birding couple so, as usual, it was a morning walk for an hour and a half before it got too hot. Otherwise, keepin...
Just back from a very pleasant break in Devon visiting "the relatives" near Dartmoor. Warfy senior (mr & mrs) had the comfort of their caravan whilst i pitched the tent near Drewsteignton overlooking the beautiful Castle Drogo and Hannicombe wood. Inspired by Ian's recent "M...
I unfortunately had to dispatch a wood pigeon yesterday at anglezarke which had somehow completely broken it's neck. It was still alive but must have been in great pain, so I am in no doubt I took the only option that was best for the bird. I just left the body a little bit away from the path. I didn't know if...
Originally posted on January 21st by Paul Brewster:As many will know I've been forced out of birding proper at the mo due to 2 cataract operations. I'm halfway through, so very incapacitated with my 2 eyes being totally out of synch. Added to that post-op infections and complications for which I'm st...
The Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition Both volumes of this classic work, boxed, in excellent condition, £45, can arrange a mutually convenient drop-off
3rd April.
1 flushed Woodcock, a singing male Lesser Redpoll was a nice surprise , a flock of c10 Linnets were feeding on a field trampled into a muddy mess by horses - possibly signs of the start of the summer influx of this species? Carrion Crows and Long-tailed Tits were nest building.
Cheers,
...
Saturday 22nd Good numbers of Ruby Elfcup Fungi at Jubilee Nature Reserve this morning. Cheers Dave Phillips. -- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 24th of February 2020 05:46:58 PM
On the evening of February 26th we are holding an astronomical event at our showroom at Sevenoaks Sawmill on the A559 (CW9 6JB). The evening will start at 6pm running until 9pm and will have staff from our shop and a Celestron representative present to help answer all questions on 'Astro' equipment. A...
Saw an interesting moth on the claypits today but couldn't identify it.looked on the internet and the closest I could find to it was yellow underwing.roughly the same size as a cinnabar moth big bodied with a yellow patch at the base of the wings.the rest of the wings were dark/black with a prominent ye...
Another commission sale has arrived in the showroom and shouldn't be with us long. It is the popular Opticron Travelscope, the MM3 50ED, the previous model to the current MM4 and MM3 range.This is boxed and in excellent condition and is body only. The customer is asking only £229 for this scope body. D...
We have on commission sale a telescope body with 80mm objective. It is the Opticron ES80 ED telescope. This is a body only, with no eyepiece so would suit a buyer who already has Opticron or of course we have eyepices for sale too. It comes with a green stay-on case and a box, although the box is for the mode...
Good weeks birding around Moray Firth from Spey Bay across to Loch of Strathbeg. Some great sea watching that would have been even better a month or so earlier.
Saw the following;
Red Throated Diver,
Black Throated Diver
Great Northern Diver x 1(Burghead Bay)
Slavonian Grebe x 1(Burghead Bay)...
At 12.15 today 3 ring necked parakeets were at Tonge Cemetery on Cemetery Road Bolton. They were still there content and preening at 12.50 when I left. Two of them have been mating and using an unused old Gtr Spotted Woodpecker nest. The local magpies and crows are showing an interest in the new noisy n...
Twenty copies of British Wildlife from late 2016 to end of 2019 free to a good home, to be collected from Ramsbottom area, first come first served. Regards Brian 07708161437.
We have on commission a complete scope outfit that would set someone up with nothing extra to buy. It is a Leica APO62 angled scope with 16-48x Zoom eyepiece and 32x fixed eyepiece. It has a stay=on Leica case and a Leica camera adapter. It also comes with a Velbon 5370D tripod and a Viking Tripod S'Port t...
We have for sale on commission a nice pair of Leica bins, they are Leica 8x42 BNs, a classic model from Leicas past range. The bins come with strap, rainguard and box. They are in good nick optically although like all bins of this age the lenses do show signs of having been cleaned, but this doesn't affect...
With Arpley Tip shutting down and suffering severe withdrawal symptoms Jeff and I decided to check out Gowy Landfill,a bit of time was wasted till we found the best areas to view the gulls,well worth it with about 10,000 gulls in the area we managed to see the following in a shortish space of time:- A cra...
We have on commission sale a Swarovski Fixed eyepiece for the ATS/STS/ATM/STM scopes. It is a 20x fixed magnification and in good condition. The customer is asking ONLY £175 for this. Please ring 01925 730399 for availability.More Details & pictures here:https://www.focalpointopticsl...
We have on commission sale a Swarovski Fixed eyepiece for the ATS/STS/ATM/STM scopes. It is a 30x fixed magnification and in good condition. The customer is asking ONLY £175 for this. Please ring 01925 730399 for availability. More Details & pictures here: https://www.focalpointopticsltd...
Just a quick post as we are at the start (ish) of the listing year. Here at Focalpoint we have always provided Bird Leagues on our website for folk to keep track of their lists. They aren't really competitive, much more there for record keeping an a casual basis. At present for 2020 we have leagues for the...
There doesn't appear to be a thread on here regarding Wild Justice's campaign to challenge the legality of the General Licence issued by DEFRA which allowed any landowner to kill or take certain species of wild birds to prevent "serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegeta...
We have just taken in a really interesting piece of kit and have it at a really good price. It is a pair of Swarovski 12x50 EL Swarovision binoculars, specialist kit but fantastic optics. They are in excellent condition, are boxed and have all the accessories with them. They have the same internal opti...
We have just received , on commission, a fantastic piece of kit, as it is as new due to it being an unwanted present. It's the Hawke Endurance ED 68mm Scope in the angled version, with a 16-48x Zoom Eyepiece and Stay-on Case. This is boxed and would make a fantastic scope and is pretty portable having onl...
We have taken in on commission a pair of Nikon Monarch 5 Binoculars. They are 8x42s and come with the strap, rainguard, objective covers and carry case and are in good condition. The seller only wants £169 for these so they come in as a very cheap 2nd pair for someone or even a starter pair at a great price....
Firstly, my apologies for the absence in news from the Greater Manchester Bird Recording Group (GMBRG) to its members and interested parties and for the lack of recent County Bird Reports, the reasons for which are complex and now largely behind us and so I seek to look forwards, onwards and very much...
Well I must admit that Berkshire is generally one of those counties that I drive through without spending much time in, however, with a bit of annual leave left to take, I grabbed the opportunity to twitch a few birds at Queen Mother Reservoir today. Though the Great Northern Diver didn't stick around...
Whinchat (a male fly catching for 10 mins or so) and Skylark at Tandle Hill today. Seems years since they were last here. Also amusing to see Great Spotted Woodpecker checking six fence posts bottom to top each time. Regards Brian
