Did anyone else notice a big movement of Swallows today? I arrived at work in horrid weather and as I was opening up glanced out of the shop window to see dozens of Swallows, mostly juveniles, flying very low in the rain over the cattle field. They stayed around, seemingly trying to feed, for about an hou...
Four days on Rum, weather was horrendous for two, but still some decent birds. Ghurdil Bay 2 Golden Eagle 1 White Tailed Eagle Loch Scresort 15+ Red Breasted Mergansers 20+ Curlew 30+ Oystercatcher 3 Red Throated Divers 1 Glossy Ibis, An Isle of Rum First! Feeding just of Loch Scresort In a field. 3 Bre...
Trying to obtain spare copy of Martin Garners Birding frontiers Autumn challenge series, not concerned about the condition, its for a young birders trying to build up a reference stock of books Keep Birding
A once in a blue moon (or should it be red sun this week ) opportunity has come up with a pair of mint condition, current model Swarovski binoculars up for commission sale. These bins are jsut back from a complete service at Swarovski and are unused since return and so are in effect new and unused! The ow...
Montserrat Mountain 04/10/17 2 Bonelli's Eagles, 2 Firecrests, 1 Kestrel, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Redstarts, 1 Jay and a singing Robin. Around 30 Crag Martins flying above the monastry. Salou Area 05-09/10/17 Noticeably very few gulls along the coast, just 1 Audouins, 1 Mediterranean plus a few Yellow Le...
Know anyone who might be visiting SE Brazil? I have 3 good homemade books of plates to give away (and they will be throw away if there are no takers). 1. All the plates from Tudor and Ridgely. 99 pages, spiral bound. 2. Birds of SE Brazil. 29 pages, spiral bound (plates extracted from both Handbook of the B...
The Rochdale Field Naturalists' Society are running a coach trip to Filey Dams and Filey Brigg this Saturday 14th October at the height of the autumn migration. If you are interested in going on the trip Sheila Simpson is taking the bookings. Tel 01706 853791 The fare of £15 is paid on the coach which le...
My morning shave was interrupted by an 8.30 call from John Rayner advising of a mega alert regarding a Scops Owl discovered at Ryhope, some 4 miles south of Sunderland. We were soon en route (I driving, and Doug Smith navigating, as this was "terra incognita" for me despite the site being only 2/3 miles...
Originally posted today by John Watson: View the following and accept disclaimerhttps://apps.wigan.gov.uk/planappsPlanning application A/17/84395/MAJORThere is a substantial bird report (which describes breeding birds only) & an ecological assessment. Both reports by Penny Ande...
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...
