So finally after an extended Christmas break that involved skiing and my overeating and sleeping, I have come to write an abridged version of the bird events that happened during this time.
I went skiing with Dad and brother for a week in Serre-Chevalier, otherwise known generally as Alpine France between Grenoble and Turin. Beautiful week and sad to leave. Was pleased to see what I'm sure were crested tits and some coal tits whilst out there, along with countless alpine chough flocks. I know virtually nothing about European birds but my Collins book has helped me to that end... do I add it to a list or not...?
Upon my return to Aylesbury, I slept massively and then did a spot of birdwatching from the garden window at 10am the following morning (28/12/10). Got a massive 21 species in about 30-40 minutes of watching, including a couple of really mega birds presumably relocating to our garden due to poor weather (snow and ice). The highlights were moorhen, 3 reed bunting, 3 bullfinch (2 male, 1 female), male great spotted woodpecker and finally a male siskin! Garden and Aylesbury tick right there, feeding with the greenfinches, of which there were several.
The afternoon of the 29th, Dad and I headed out to Weston Turville reservoir where he and countless others had seen a bittern. Spent a good amount of time there but unfortunately no bittern to speak of. However, saw a fox, a little egret took off from the small stream, a nice view of a jay, and I'm pretty sure we heard (and saw one of) what were 2 water rails but light was fading and mist rising so it was a tough call.
Finally, today, Dad and I watched birds from the back window again, then went for a walk out along the canal and through the rare breeds farm at around 1:30 onwards. Highlights included song thrush, many bullfinches, many redwing and very many fieldfares. Quite a few green woodpecker sightings and a flying snipe over the canal and away. A female great spotted woodpecker was drumming and I was trying to communicate with a stick and a fence post. Seemed possibly to work, but not for sure. A couple of skylarks flew over. A pair of teal on the brook pond and a few reed bunting in the preceding field were good to see. Finally a kingfisher darted across the brook pond, rounding off the day at 33 species - a good number!
Back to London tomorrow... expect more Rainham posts!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Yawn (irony)
The irony in 'yawn' is that I am both actually very tired, AND had two not-so-great birding trips. One to Rainham and one to Richmond Park.
Rainham was supposed to be great because there was the 'gull identification day' that you could just drop into. I dropped in for about 45 minutes but although the man running it was incredibly knowledgable, the ice meant there was basically nothing about. The highlight was a yellow-legged gull amongst the more common of gulls, but although I could see it differed from its more abundant counterparts, I still wasn't hugely sure of it and would never have ID'd it myself. So it's a bit depressing when that happens. The only other highlight was a skylark. Yeah. Then again, loads of redwing are always nice to see!
Richmond Park was a beautiful place but lacking in the way of birds. Best things were a couple of jays, green woodpeckers, and ring-necked parakeets in their tens and tens. Seriously didn't stop hearing them calling the whole time. Saw a group of 4 or 5 deer too, which was a lovely sight, with their huge antlers and everything.
Forgive the brevity and low quality of this post; I am still recovering from very little sleep. Till next time!
Rainham was supposed to be great because there was the 'gull identification day' that you could just drop into. I dropped in for about 45 minutes but although the man running it was incredibly knowledgable, the ice meant there was basically nothing about. The highlight was a yellow-legged gull amongst the more common of gulls, but although I could see it differed from its more abundant counterparts, I still wasn't hugely sure of it and would never have ID'd it myself. So it's a bit depressing when that happens. The only other highlight was a skylark. Yeah. Then again, loads of redwing are always nice to see!
Richmond Park was a beautiful place but lacking in the way of birds. Best things were a couple of jays, green woodpeckers, and ring-necked parakeets in their tens and tens. Seriously didn't stop hearing them calling the whole time. Saw a group of 4 or 5 deer too, which was a lovely sight, with their huge antlers and everything.
Forgive the brevity and low quality of this post; I am still recovering from very little sleep. Till next time!
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Visibility: 0%
Rainham sounded like such an attractive option after all the ice and snow bringing some beautiful rarities or scarcities to the marshes. So I headed out early on Monday morning and despite central London being relatively clear, east London and Essex looked a lot colder, foggier and were still covered in snow and ice. Undeterred, I confidently pulled up (alone) into the car park and carefully slid across the ice to the visitors' centre. The trails were open!! Fantastic news!!
So off I trekked, in a clockwise direction, unusually for me. It was bitterly cold so I spent a lot of this time walking, also as it was so foggy, there wasn't much point looking out further than about 100 feet. However, I got to the first bridge (1 minute's walk) and there was some pinging. Lo and behold, 2 male bearded tits hopped out under the bridge and proceeded to feed a mere 6-8 feet away from me for about 20 seconds. Superb views that encouraged me to continue my walk! Several snipe were flying about and feeding out in the open fields, and I kept getting persistently awesome close-up views of wrens. A skylark flew up and over (identified by its call, oh yes!) and reed buntings were flying about calling quite a lot too (but also perching for long enough for me to identify the things). A lovely male stonechat was very showy near the new hide, seeming quite unafraid of big ol' me. Whilst enjoying the stonechat, I also observed a small number of linnets further along, and a lovely female marsh harrier being mobbed by a couple of carrion crows, scaring off all the lapwing. The marsh harrier is a first for Rainham for me.
From the new hide, there was pretty much nothing to be seen as all the water had turned to ice and the only birds were a long, long way away nearer the other hide. However, looking out to the west, I saw a lovely fox hunting across the marshes, making the lapwing look even more nervous!
A bit further round I reached the small area of open water and sat down, got out the scope, and started scanning. Gulls of the black-headed, great black-backed, lesser black-backed, common and herring variety were all there (I'm getting better), along with such waterfowl as tufted duck, shoveler, mallard, gadwall, wigeon, pochard, and a male pintail. Countless moorhens and coots as well!
A ring-necked parakeet flew over (they're getting more and more usual, I swear) near the car park, and I, of course, saw countless redwings, a single fieldfare, a great-spotted woodpecker and a song thrush. But still no waxwings... despite someone seeing one there later that same day... grrr.
So off I trekked, in a clockwise direction, unusually for me. It was bitterly cold so I spent a lot of this time walking, also as it was so foggy, there wasn't much point looking out further than about 100 feet. However, I got to the first bridge (1 minute's walk) and there was some pinging. Lo and behold, 2 male bearded tits hopped out under the bridge and proceeded to feed a mere 6-8 feet away from me for about 20 seconds. Superb views that encouraged me to continue my walk! Several snipe were flying about and feeding out in the open fields, and I kept getting persistently awesome close-up views of wrens. A skylark flew up and over (identified by its call, oh yes!) and reed buntings were flying about calling quite a lot too (but also perching for long enough for me to identify the things). A lovely male stonechat was very showy near the new hide, seeming quite unafraid of big ol' me. Whilst enjoying the stonechat, I also observed a small number of linnets further along, and a lovely female marsh harrier being mobbed by a couple of carrion crows, scaring off all the lapwing. The marsh harrier is a first for Rainham for me.
From the new hide, there was pretty much nothing to be seen as all the water had turned to ice and the only birds were a long, long way away nearer the other hide. However, looking out to the west, I saw a lovely fox hunting across the marshes, making the lapwing look even more nervous!
A bit further round I reached the small area of open water and sat down, got out the scope, and started scanning. Gulls of the black-headed, great black-backed, lesser black-backed, common and herring variety were all there (I'm getting better), along with such waterfowl as tufted duck, shoveler, mallard, gadwall, wigeon, pochard, and a male pintail. Countless moorhens and coots as well!
A ring-necked parakeet flew over (they're getting more and more usual, I swear) near the car park, and I, of course, saw countless redwings, a single fieldfare, a great-spotted woodpecker and a song thrush. But still no waxwings... despite someone seeing one there later that same day... grrr.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Walking in a winter wonder(wood)land
Despite the temperature never rising above -2C today, I decided that I needed to get out of the flat and have a good walk through Wanstead Park. I've got my incredible warm-keeping heattech shirt so thought I'd be fine. Mostly I was... but by gum it's cold out there.
Arrived at the west entrance off Warren Road and headed in. I was greeted by a large tit flock, namely long-tailed tits, blue tits and great tits - long-tailed making up the numbers most. Interspersed with these were a few very vocal goldcrests, one or two of which obliged to feed a mere 3 feet or so away from my face. No need for binoculars with something so spectacularly close! But then something caught my eye, hopping up a branch a bit higher up. I moved to get a better viewing angle and saw the red, white and black of a woodpecker... the red was a crown on its head and the white was quite prominent across its back. And it was about the size of a sparrow, slightly larger. It was a male lesser spotted woodpecker!! The first ever for me. I couldn't believe my luck and watched it for around 20 minutes or so, during which it came within 15 feet directly over the path. It even showed off by drumming on the underneath of several branches audibly for me! In the snow, with the mixed tit and crest flock, wrens and so on, watching a lesser spotted woodpecker... well... it's hard not to use the term 'magical'.
From then on, the more cynical of people would say it went downhill. I withold my cynicism however due to the incredible views I had just had. Highlights all the way round included many jays, heard some ring-necked parakeets, saw a total of 3 great spotted woodpeckers and saw one but heard many green woodpeckers. So I'm all woodpeckered out! In one day!
The ice and snow had clearly brought in a number of waterfowl, including upwards of 30 gadwall, a handful of shoveler, pochards, tufted ducks, 2 little grebes, and a number of black-headed and common gulls. I pleased myself by identifying a 1st-winter common gull. Not bad eh?
There was also a pair of egyptian geese that were flying about restlessly, but settled quite close by and appeared very tame. No idea if they were wild or escapees but I suppose it's difficult to tell. For now we'll go with wild. Sounds cooler.
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