If anybody is interested, I have had a reply regarding details of a ringed Cormorant that I saw last week at Pennington Flash. It had a white ring with red inscription reading ZT3. This bird was ringed as a chick on 28/6/13, one of three in the brood, at a colony at the Point of Ayre Gravel Pits, in the far no...
We have on Commission Sale a pair of Nikon Monarch 7 binoculars, they are the 8x30s and are in mint condition, described as 'as new' on our website. They come complete with all accessories and are boxed. They were an unwanted present (all these birders getting optics as presents!! luckier than me!!) s...
Had a walk with the family around Monsal Head just a minute walk from the car park and we saw a male Merlin zoom past at our level just skimming over the tree tops heading towards the rocky outcrops to the right hand side of the car park as you look out over the valley. Was great to see and my first ever Merlin....
Has anybody got any thoughts on the best way to insure cameras and optical equipment when out and about - including overseas? Do people mostly use specification of expensive items on household insurance? Any thoughts/tips would be appreciated.
There is a small area of woodland in Davenport, bounded by Barnfield Road East, the playing fields of what was once Davenport College, and allotments. It was once an orchard, but is now heavily overgrown.
On a brief visit this afternoon, I again found a couple of Fieldfare feeding enterprisingly o...
Both of these great sites are vastly underwatched. I went for an hour this afternoon and found a few good sightings, including a couple of year listers: Grasshopper warbler (another heard) Sedge warbler Whitethroat-6 Blackcap (male) Swallow-10 Grey partridge-2 Kestrel Skylark-15 Reed bunting...
Hi AllGroundwork and the Environment Agency are running a project to Bring the River Irk to Life and are seeking local views on how to improve the area . To this end, they're asking if people can fill out a 2 minute survey via this link.https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/JN2B7/ This is a good chanc...
Is there anyone I can get in touch with who would know whether birds of prey are being kept legally or at least in acceptable conditions? I ask because I came across such a place locally this afternoon which did not seem to fit such criteria, looking both cramped and in a poor state. Thanks,
26-29th March, City break with my wife but did some productive birding early mornings in woods below the observation tower near the castle. Best birds were Firecrest, Hawfinch, Middle Spotted Woodpecker. I can imagine these woods would be even better in May but very pleasant and a fantastic City as...
1 Brown Hawker 1 Common Hawker 1 Common Darter 1 Green-veined White 1 Small Tortoiseshell 1 Comma, a very worn individual which was difficult to identify unless very close. 1 Speckled Wood 1 Marbled Beauty on Ragwort. Even a very common moth is a welcome sight this year.
Following on from the success of this months 'Leica Day' we are pleased to announce that we have arranged for Swarovski to host an In-Store Day in April. The date for your diaries is Saturday April 6th, so not long to wait! There will be refreshments free of charge and the Swarovski Rep will be bringing t...
this past weekend i went to the farne islands on a three day birdwatching trip, got there late friday so not much , saturday went on a boat trip round the islands and an hour on inner farne (good idea to wear a hat ). what an amazing place artic turns every where! coming down and sitting on your head and peckc...
A short walk this morning around Abney Hall Park. Not much today but an excellent site with bags of potential and it's rather a surprise that this hasn't got its own thread already.
Nuthatch 5 at 3 locations
Blackcap 4
Chiffchaff singing loudly
Jay 3
Heron 2
Bullfinch
Cheers, John
We have a Commission Sale Opticron HR66 Scope for sale with an SDL Zoom eyepiece and luxury green stay-on case. This is the newest versions of this scope, the flagship of the Opticron range. It is in excellent condition and is on sale for only £629. At this price and being a good size for travel & tran...
For anyone who isnt aware the Elton area is currently under threat (like a lot of other areas in GM) under the GMSF. On Sunday 17th March there will be a protest walk from Elton High School starting at 1pm which will take a route of 4 miles and end at Elton Sailing club in protest of the proposals. The sailin...
We have taken in on a commission basis a very desirable piece of kit that shouldn't be with us for very long. It's a Swarovski ATS 80 Scope Body with the 25-50x Zoom Eyepiece, a Swarovski stay-on case and is all boxed. The scope kit is the v.2 version, which folk should always check when buying an ATS, and i...
Comes with stay-on case and 30x WF eyepiece. Slight wear on outer rubber on eyepiece (which doesn't affect optical performance), otherwise in excellent condition and a great scope for the money. Please note that this is not the ED model. The only reason for sale is that I also have a Leica telescope an...
Hi folks....has anybody ever visited Stadt Moers Park in Whiston. There is a large pond/ body of water with quite a few water birds visible. It is surrounded by trees and reeds and such and looked like a decent birding venue. I havent been for a while but the last time I visited there was a good number of sp...
On a busy day for arrivals, yesterday, we had anothe Commission Sale Binocular arrive. This is a Zeiss Conquest 8x32 HD Binocular and is in excellent condition and is boxed. It comes with all the original accessories and is hardly used, being too big for the pocket use the buyer required. The asking pr...
A wee bit of a late call this! But better late than never: Tomorrow, Saturday March 9th, we are having an In-Store Day at Focalpoint Optics, Sevenoaks Sawmill, hosted by Leica UK. Our Leica Rep will be present with a range of binoculars and scopes to test out. A Leica Technician will be present to health...
On 8th March 2019 it's the 25 year anniversary of the Black-faced Bunting at Pennington Flash Country Park In my opinion, it was not just one of the biggest ornithological events ever in Greater Manchester, it was one of the biggest ornithological events ever in the UK http://www.leighos.org.uk/2...
Pete Hines and myself got back last night from a 48hr trip to the west coast of southern Ireland.The bird of the trip was undoubtedly the 1st winter Thayers Gull at Ross Beach,Connermara which we spent most of Weds. watching before we retired to the nearest pub to down a couple of pints of Genius to celeb...
Hi folks.....my name is Gary and I'm new to MBF....thanks Ian for allowing me onboard. I'm certainly no expert but really enjoy all aspects of the countryside and wildlife, especially birds. Birds have always caught my imagination, their song and calls, their behaviours and appearance. Im forev...
