Finally!!... It's taken me a little over 7 years to achieve it, but today I finally managed my 200th species for Shropshire, gaining me access to the elite group of the Shropshire 200 Club!!... It was just before midday with a text from Damon (shortly followed by another from Mike), informing me of a Brent Goose on my patch, VP!!...
I raced off immediately, arriving at VP in the falling drizzle. Despite a few cars in the carpark I was surprised to find only 2 birders in the main hide?... They had 'no idea' where the Brent was!! Oh no, not another dip whilst on the cusp of my 200th species!!?... The only thing I could do was check the Trout Pool...
Fortunately I'd spotted Jim's car on arrival, so I phoned him as I left the hide, & joy of joy's he informed me that the bird in question was indeed sat on the Trout Pool!!
After a brief dash I had the lone Brent Goose in my bins, a pale bird sat in the middle of the Trout Pool, surrounded by a few Coot & 1 distant drake Goldeneye! But at last, I'd nailed my county goal of 200!!!
What an excellent start to the year, a county tick in the first 2 weeks is pretty bloody fab!!...
Right, I'm off for some food... Till next time my luvlies!! :)
*Ooh, on a side note ~ the Brent Goose also became my 164th sp. I've seen at VP!! I was also a bit pissed off to discover I'd missed a White-fronted Goose at VP a few days ago!!... I dont need WFG for Shrops. thankfully, as I saw 2 at Polemere in 2009!!.... But I did miss out on 3 patch ticks last year, Marsh Harrier, Sandwich Tern (also a county bird I need!!) & of course, that sodding Whiskered Tern!!! Which is the full bag for me... as I've never seen one... ever!!!*
Sunday 16 January 2011
Saturday 8 January 2011
A Slight Interlude!!...
Was planning a jaunt out birding yesterday, with maybe Llanfairfechan at the top of the list of 'Where To Go'... Possibly the closest 'good' seawatching spot!! And I love seawatching & aint done any in over a year!! And Llanfairfechan is an excellent spot for Red-throated & Great Northern Diver, Red-breasted Merganser's, Common Scoter's and maybe an Eider, or an Arctic Skua or something even better?... But the early morning snow scuppered that plan!! And today?... Nah! Saturday's aint a good day, roads are way too busy etc... & I hate queues of traffic ~ road rage imminent!!
And I was sat here thinking about a converstaion I had on the parade yesterday with a fellow Bayston Hillite, who also has an interest in things avian, and he asked me 'what's the rarest bird you've seen?'... To which my answer was very easy ~ Long-billed Murellet!! What a bird that was!!... And maybe the biggest twitch I went on!! He than asked me a rather trickier question to answer... 'What's your favourite bird?'....
Hmmm, now this is tricky, as trying to name your favourite film or favourite song is tricky, as it greatly depends on your mood etc... A bird that I love in as much as if I had to be a bird I would want to be this, is a Peregrine Falcon!!! But, when your birding at a local pool or scrape, or at the coast or on mudflats... the last bird you want to see is one of these as they disturb everything & generally all the good birds fly off!!... So, sadly, no Peregrine doesn't make the top spot!
This is moi, holding an adult male Peregrine I found exhausted on Unit 2 Turbine at work. After being given some fluids & allowed to cool off, I successfully released the bird shortly after on the turbine house lawn & watched this awesome bird fly off over the cooling towers!! The Peregrine ~ the fastest animal on the planet!!!
So, still left with the same quandry! Maybe easier if I pin down a family group? Well, I love waders, always great to arrive at VP & there on the far mud patch is a wader scurrying around... I've been fortunate enough to find a few decent Shropshire waders ~ Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit & best off all a Pectoral Sandpiper!! But generally speaking waders are pretty much fairly unstriking in appearance with no amazing call to boost it along the rankings either... (take for example Cetti's Warbler, a dull, skullking brown bird, but it has the best call ever to make up for this...)
So, very sadly no wader gets the top spot, even though I love them all!! How about owl's then? Wow!! How awesome are owl's? Everyone loves owls! From the ghostly Barn Owl, to the most recognised 'twit-too-woo' Tawny Owl, the cute Little Owl, the spectacular Snowy Owl & my personal favourite the Short-eared Owl!! (NB: My birding mate Jim Almond took the greatest picture of a hunting SEO last year on Whixall Moss in twilight, it is the most atmospheric & haunting pic I've seen of this bird ~ so Jim, just wanted to say I love that pic mate!!)...
BUT!! As owl's are so popular I feel just like it's cheating a bit to pick one as my all time favourite, so very sadly I'm letting owl's go!!...
I then thought about the 'aaaah' factor!! Cuteness is always a winner... So, what is it? A Wren (my Mum's fave), Goldcrest? Firecrest maybe? How about a stunning Pallas's Warbler? ... Been lucky enough to see 3 of these!! But no... There is one bird that wins the cute stakes hands down in my opinion... Ladies & Gentlemen I give you the Northern Long-tailed Tit!!!
Once brilliantly described as 'snowballs on sticks', here is the fantastically cute Northern Long-tailed Tit!!...
But I aint after cuteness for my top slot!! So, farewell NL-tT!!... But does it have to be a bird I've seen? It would help! But even though I haven't seen a massive number of species of bird (less than 400 in the world sadly!) it is still extremely hard to pick my all-time favourite? The Sooty Tern at Angelsey was amazing (my best day birding too, with Big V & the Cheshire lads!!)... Also on Angelsey was the stunning Green Heron I went too see with a few of the TSB lads!!... Also when I went to Florida I saw a trully stunning Reddish Egret!!
But then again I saw so many great birds in America.... Anhinga was another I can remember being so chuffed to see... But then again, I didn't see Eastern Meadowlark, which I was desperate to see. And then there's all the American warblers which are mindblowing in their spectacular array off plumage colouration!! So, that in mind, I aint going for a bird on stunning plumage colours as there are simply way too many of them!!!...
So... What's it going to be? Having ruled out so many general area's of bird species I have decided on one! A bird that I haven't seen!! Also, for impressiveness I am going down the raptor route, just love birds of prey (always loved animals that hunt & have that 'wow' factor about them, this is probably why I have such a facination with keeping snakes & tarantula's!!)... Also, it needs to be rare, as I have a passion for rare birds!! Also, it needs to be a bird that is extremely difficult to see, even where it lives!!...
So all that in mind I have made my decision... My all time favourite bird!! My I introduce the awesomely spectacular HARPY EAGLE!!!!....
The Harpy Eagle ladies & gents is found in the Americas & lives in rainforest, the Amazon Basin & the likes... Despite it's enormous size it is very difficult to see as it hunts in the tree canopy. I remember watching Steve Backinshall on Deadly 60 trying to film one of these at a nest site & despite knowing where the nest was they had enormous difficulty in filming one of these!!... It is a huge eagle with the strongest talons of any raptor, capable of puncturing the skull of an adult monkey ~ Whoa!!..
Also, & very sadly, it is also now extremely rare due to destruction of its nest sites due to deforestation!
So, the Harpy Eagle, the full bag! Awesome, rare, difficult to see, amazing plumage... And a bird I can only ever dream of seeing in the wild!! But that is one of my ambitions, to go & see one of these birds in its natural habitat!! So, maybe one day in the future I'll achieve my dream of seeing my dream bird!!
Cheers all, J.
And I was sat here thinking about a converstaion I had on the parade yesterday with a fellow Bayston Hillite, who also has an interest in things avian, and he asked me 'what's the rarest bird you've seen?'... To which my answer was very easy ~ Long-billed Murellet!! What a bird that was!!... And maybe the biggest twitch I went on!! He than asked me a rather trickier question to answer... 'What's your favourite bird?'....
Hmmm, now this is tricky, as trying to name your favourite film or favourite song is tricky, as it greatly depends on your mood etc... A bird that I love in as much as if I had to be a bird I would want to be this, is a Peregrine Falcon!!! But, when your birding at a local pool or scrape, or at the coast or on mudflats... the last bird you want to see is one of these as they disturb everything & generally all the good birds fly off!!... So, sadly, no Peregrine doesn't make the top spot!
So, still left with the same quandry! Maybe easier if I pin down a family group? Well, I love waders, always great to arrive at VP & there on the far mud patch is a wader scurrying around... I've been fortunate enough to find a few decent Shropshire waders ~ Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit & best off all a Pectoral Sandpiper!! But generally speaking waders are pretty much fairly unstriking in appearance with no amazing call to boost it along the rankings either... (take for example Cetti's Warbler, a dull, skullking brown bird, but it has the best call ever to make up for this...)
So, very sadly no wader gets the top spot, even though I love them all!! How about owl's then? Wow!! How awesome are owl's? Everyone loves owls! From the ghostly Barn Owl, to the most recognised 'twit-too-woo' Tawny Owl, the cute Little Owl, the spectacular Snowy Owl & my personal favourite the Short-eared Owl!! (NB: My birding mate Jim Almond took the greatest picture of a hunting SEO last year on Whixall Moss in twilight, it is the most atmospheric & haunting pic I've seen of this bird ~ so Jim, just wanted to say I love that pic mate!!)...
BUT!! As owl's are so popular I feel just like it's cheating a bit to pick one as my all time favourite, so very sadly I'm letting owl's go!!...
I then thought about the 'aaaah' factor!! Cuteness is always a winner... So, what is it? A Wren (my Mum's fave), Goldcrest? Firecrest maybe? How about a stunning Pallas's Warbler? ... Been lucky enough to see 3 of these!! But no... There is one bird that wins the cute stakes hands down in my opinion... Ladies & Gentlemen I give you the Northern Long-tailed Tit!!!
But I aint after cuteness for my top slot!! So, farewell NL-tT!!... But does it have to be a bird I've seen? It would help! But even though I haven't seen a massive number of species of bird (less than 400 in the world sadly!) it is still extremely hard to pick my all-time favourite? The Sooty Tern at Angelsey was amazing (my best day birding too, with Big V & the Cheshire lads!!)... Also on Angelsey was the stunning Green Heron I went too see with a few of the TSB lads!!... Also when I went to Florida I saw a trully stunning Reddish Egret!!
But then again I saw so many great birds in America.... Anhinga was another I can remember being so chuffed to see... But then again, I didn't see Eastern Meadowlark, which I was desperate to see. And then there's all the American warblers which are mindblowing in their spectacular array off plumage colouration!! So, that in mind, I aint going for a bird on stunning plumage colours as there are simply way too many of them!!!...
So... What's it going to be? Having ruled out so many general area's of bird species I have decided on one! A bird that I haven't seen!! Also, for impressiveness I am going down the raptor route, just love birds of prey (always loved animals that hunt & have that 'wow' factor about them, this is probably why I have such a facination with keeping snakes & tarantula's!!)... Also, it needs to be rare, as I have a passion for rare birds!! Also, it needs to be a bird that is extremely difficult to see, even where it lives!!...
So all that in mind I have made my decision... My all time favourite bird!! My I introduce the awesomely spectacular HARPY EAGLE!!!!....
Also, & very sadly, it is also now extremely rare due to destruction of its nest sites due to deforestation!
So, the Harpy Eagle, the full bag! Awesome, rare, difficult to see, amazing plumage... And a bird I can only ever dream of seeing in the wild!! But that is one of my ambitions, to go & see one of these birds in its natural habitat!! So, maybe one day in the future I'll achieve my dream of seeing my dream bird!!
Cheers all, J.
Wednesday 5 January 2011
The Curse of the Camera!!!
Okay, so today is hardly a good weather day for trying to photograph birds outside, but pretty certain that the Allgold Dr. Waxies weren't going anywhere & being probably the only birder who aint managed to photograph a Waxie yet I thought I'd take my camera back to Allgold Dr. & try to take a half decent pic of these charismatic birds!!...
I waited for a break in the clouds & set off just before 2:30pm. As I arrived at the entrance to Allgold, the Waxwing's were doing a fly past around the estate, calling as they went!
So, excellent start... they're here... So, I parked opposite the sorbus bush & using the car as a hide waited for the birds to land & settle... Which they did... for aprox. 5 seconds (the time it took me to get my camera out, lower the car window & point it at the tree they were perched in, before they immediately flew off again!!...
They did a couple of fly pasts, but after 15 minutes they had disappeared over the estate. Not wanting to get arrested (a bloke alone in a car, outside someone's house with binoculars & a camera didn't look too good!!), I decided to head back home for a cuppa & maybe try again tomorrow....
So, as I cant wow you with any Waxwing pix, here are some of the Cound Bewick's Swan's from New Year's Day instead!!...
Right... Cuppa tea for me & relax & watch The Outlaw Josie Wales....Work again tonight ~ Joy!!....
I waited for a break in the clouds & set off just before 2:30pm. As I arrived at the entrance to Allgold, the Waxwing's were doing a fly past around the estate, calling as they went!
So, excellent start... they're here... So, I parked opposite the sorbus bush & using the car as a hide waited for the birds to land & settle... Which they did... for aprox. 5 seconds (the time it took me to get my camera out, lower the car window & point it at the tree they were perched in, before they immediately flew off again!!...
They did a couple of fly pasts, but after 15 minutes they had disappeared over the estate. Not wanting to get arrested (a bloke alone in a car, outside someone's house with binoculars & a camera didn't look too good!!), I decided to head back home for a cuppa & maybe try again tomorrow....
So, as I cant wow you with any Waxwing pix, here are some of the Cound Bewick's Swan's from New Year's Day instead!!...
Tuesday 4 January 2011
Waxwings in Shrewsbury!!!....
Totally fab or what?... After the serious cold snap relented a bit most of the huge Waxwing influx from last year seemed to have diminished a tad! But, a text from good 'ol Damo yesterday reported a flock of 18 Waxwing at Allgold Dr. just off the 'column' island in Shrewsbury!!
I was working a split shift yesterday, so never made it. But I was up at midday today & as soon as I'd managed to chip the sleep from my crusted-up eye's & get them open, find some energy, I was in the Argo Mk.II & driving the short distance to see if they had remained!
I was very pleased to see that when I arrived Paul was there with his camera set up & the stars of the show were perched in a nearby Ash tree (it was an Ash, wasn't it Paul?) & that there were now 19 Waxwing present!!
They made a short fly to the sorbus bush that was the main reason for them being there, before returning to their chosen perch again. Happy with my views, but not so happy that I'd left my camera at home, so had to use my bleedin' mobile to whack a couple of totally useless pix off, I left Paul (now joined by Rob also) & went off to brave the chaos of shopping at Sainsbury's...
A good start to 2011 with Bewick's & Whooper Swan & now Waxing in the bag!!.... Bostin'!!!...
19 Waxwing perched in the...whatever type of tree it is...??...
Here's 2 Waxwing perched in the sorbus... still no better an image for those who dont know what a Waxwing looks like... so....
....Here's a much better pic of one, so you can see just how cool these birds are...!!!
I was working a split shift yesterday, so never made it. But I was up at midday today & as soon as I'd managed to chip the sleep from my crusted-up eye's & get them open, find some energy, I was in the Argo Mk.II & driving the short distance to see if they had remained!
I was very pleased to see that when I arrived Paul was there with his camera set up & the stars of the show were perched in a nearby Ash tree (it was an Ash, wasn't it Paul?) & that there were now 19 Waxwing present!!
They made a short fly to the sorbus bush that was the main reason for them being there, before returning to their chosen perch again. Happy with my views, but not so happy that I'd left my camera at home, so had to use my bleedin' mobile to whack a couple of totally useless pix off, I left Paul (now joined by Rob also) & went off to brave the chaos of shopping at Sainsbury's...
A good start to 2011 with Bewick's & Whooper Swan & now Waxing in the bag!!.... Bostin'!!!...
Sunday 2 January 2011
After A Year Away.....
I guess 2010 wasn't really the year I should've stepped away from birding in order to concentrate on my advancement at work!!... Too many county ticks slipped past... A Wryneck on Titterstone Clee (which I did try for... twice!!), a Turnstone (at Mire), a Little Tern (at Mire), a Sandwich Tern ( 1 at Mire plus another at VP) & worse of all.... Shropshire's first Whiskered Tern!!! A juv. at VP!!... Damn it!!
I did however manage one county tick, a rather splendid full summer pl. White-winged Black Tern (once again.... at Mire!!)... Plus I did see a few Smew at the start of 2010 (3 redheads at VP), my 2nd county Red-breasted Merganser (at Colemere) & ended the year with 20 odd Waxwing at Sainsbury's in Shrewsbury/Meole!!...
So.... 2011 and a new start!! No targets, no goals & no lists... Let's just see what happens!! Although I would like 1 county tick (for the Shrops. 200!!) and 8 UK lifers for the 300!!...
Worked yesterday morning till 2pm, but en route home I stopped at Cound to see the 31 Bewick's Swan & 3 Whooper Swan!!... 2 great species to net so easily & on New Years Day... Not seen Bewick's in Shropshire since the 5 birds at Cressage bridge way back in 2004!!...
So... it's started... I'm looking forward to getting myself back into my birding, maybe even find a decent county bird plus notch up a few lifers!!?... Cheers all, J.
I did however manage one county tick, a rather splendid full summer pl. White-winged Black Tern (once again.... at Mire!!)... Plus I did see a few Smew at the start of 2010 (3 redheads at VP), my 2nd county Red-breasted Merganser (at Colemere) & ended the year with 20 odd Waxwing at Sainsbury's in Shrewsbury/Meole!!...
So.... 2011 and a new start!! No targets, no goals & no lists... Let's just see what happens!! Although I would like 1 county tick (for the Shrops. 200!!) and 8 UK lifers for the 300!!...
Worked yesterday morning till 2pm, but en route home I stopped at Cound to see the 31 Bewick's Swan & 3 Whooper Swan!!... 2 great species to net so easily & on New Years Day... Not seen Bewick's in Shropshire since the 5 birds at Cressage bridge way back in 2004!!...
So... it's started... I'm looking forward to getting myself back into my birding, maybe even find a decent county bird plus notch up a few lifers!!?... Cheers all, J.
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