on this foggy morning
at red seas and crooke
1 water rail
15 blackbirds
5 jays
1 kingfisher
1 buzzard
2 wigeon unusual for here probably dropped down in fog
3 willow tits in seperate locations
6 bullfinch
lots of siskins flying around but no count on these
20 teal
21 c geese
crooke
2 grey wa...
Out here for a few days with David Lindo and one of his friends and staying at a nice rustic holiday home, with a watchtower over Matsalu Bay. We were joined at dinner by another group of Brits with their Finnish guide and it turns out that 3 were from Ramsbottom! *waves* Its a small (birding) world!! So fa...
Is it just me, or are there are a lot of Chiffchaffs making a different call to what I consider to be their normal autumnal hoo-weet! I started to notice it a few weeks ago and it has become more and more obvious. Its more of a "sweeooeet". Higher pitched, quite sharp. Have I just been missing this for the pa...
Canon f2.8 L Macro lens IS USM for sale £500. This L lens is one of the best lenses Canon make and is in great condition. It is as bought, boxed with lens caps, lens hood and carry bag. In addition it comes with a tripod mount. If interested and want to have a look at it e mail me at mjfsscs at gmail.com
We have just taken in for sale on a commission basis a Swarovski scope in beautiful condition. The Swarovski rep was in at the time and agreed that the price being asked for it was more than fair and that someone would get a bargain. The model is the ATS80, this is the first version, bought in 2005 original...
Originally posted today by Mark Gibbons: osprey over new line reservoir at Bacup about quarter to four then flew in SE direction over Brown Wardle so will have entered GM
We have just taken another Nikon ED50 Fieldscope in on a Commission sale basis. The comments about the other are probably even more applicable to this one! It is an ultra-cheap option for anyone who wants a small travel scope, probably a an addition to a larger scope.This one is again angled, has a 20...
We have recently taken in on commission sale a fabulous little scope that would be ideal for travelling with, especially abroad, as it would pop into your hand luggage with no problems at all. It is a Nikon ED50 scope with a 27x wide angle eyepiece and a stay-on case. The scope has its original box too and...
Does anyone have a copy of the Helm publication "Birds of Sri Lanka' by Deepal Warakagoda, Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp for sale or loan? Cheers John
Just had some very sad news from Eddie King L.O.S. recorder :- Hi all I have just received some very sad news that Peter Hilton has died. He was taken into hospital some days ago I presume with the chest problems he had. For those who knew Peter, he was a gentleman and he will be missed by many. I have no infor...
Hello My wife and I spotted an unusual bird picking up seed one morning last week, from underneath a feeder in our garden in Denton (near the reservoirs). It was about the size and similar in shape to a robin. It had a brown crown and back, a yellow throat and shoulders and a white breast, wings and tail...
FOR SALE...a brand new pair of binoculars that I have very recently purchased as a present for my girlfriend who doesn't really want them as she prefers my smaller Opticrons. They are brand new, still boxed and come with all the accessories, etc. They are not ex-demo or anything like that, they are...
12/9/17 Ancoats Not far from Oldham Road. Couple of patches of Narrow-leaved Ragwort (Senecio inaequidens). Growing on edge of car park and pavement. I don't know how common this species is here or in the county generally. It's the first time I've seen it in GM. The BSBI says that it us...
We have had a pair of goldfinch in our Birtle garden all season, happily feeding on sunflower hearts. In addition a pair for part of the season. We have only seen three chicks,in their dark plumage, once last Wednesday evening. We have not seen them again. As we dearly wish to attract these birds are the...
Soon to hit our shelves here at Focalpoint Optics will be the newly announce Swarovski BTX Scope system. This is the same optics as the current ATX/STX Scope but with a binocular eyepiece module. So anyone with any Objective end module from the ATX/STX range could add just the BTX Eyepiece module to ha...
The other day I was looking through my collection of bird books and found the first bird book I owned, yes it was the Observers book of Birds. The plates are not up to todays standard but they hold that somthing special, may be as a young lad they burned the feeling of wonder and mystery of the wild into me. T...
Sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, my dad had the following stolen from his car boot in Dukinfield. Opticron telescope - very old model, at least 30 years old with grey/green body, sorry can't remember exact model. It was in a soft black case. Cullmann tripod in perfect working or...
This week's local paper contains an article that indicates that part of Moore Nature Reserve is being proposed for development. Previous items showed that the adjoining Arpley Meadows had been earmarked for a housing development, but the plans indicated that the reserve itself would be untouche...
Just to draw peoples attention to Roy Dennis's Highland Website (or something like that), really interesting work being done on Woodcock migration by satellite tracking birds.
Cheers Ian
Hello all,I'm a student doing my MSc on ecological release in chaffinches (specifically differences in their abundance/niche/spatial use between here and Madeira, looking at whether they could be a different species over there). I've done the Madeira part and I'm struggling a little now I'm b...
Hi all, I don't own any books with this sort of detail and I thought I would ask the forum members as well as hit google. My question is about a few Chiffchaffs I've seen lately [last fortnight] with scruffy heads, seeming to lack some feathers and therefore no easy to see supercilium. The effect is to mak...
Not sure if this type of general topic is allowable rather than the usual site records threads (but I'll soon find out ) Ludworth Moor: Can anyone identify this 'Grass Moth'? Cheers, John
I'm considering selling two pairs of my bins to re-invest in another pair. The ones I'm thinking of selling are a 8x32 Nikon HG. They show some signs of wear on the body (a bit of gold paint wearing off the badge and wrinkling on the rubber eyecups - these can be replaced quite cheaply) but optically they a...
Excellent condition, complete with lens hood and case. £550 please phone 07976 088730. -- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 20th of August 2017 10:07:04 AM
We are running a Free to enter competition on the Focalpoint Facebook Page at the moment. Once the Focalpoint Facebook Page hits 500 Likes we will be giving away a thankyou gift to 2 lucky likers. Just like our page & Share the Competition Post to be entered into a free draw to win a Kenko Real Pro Andr...