Bit of catching up to do

11 January 2012

We stayed local today for our birding and went to Coombe Abbey Country Park near Coventry by a roundabout route.  My Nikon scope has a plate screwed onto the bottom of it and one of the screws has been lost somewhere.  Anyway, I took the scope to Focus Optics in Chorley to see if Tim could fix it.  He couldn't and needs to contact Nikon to get a replacement.  Seems a lot bovver for a screw.

Anyway - on Saturday I went for a ride around Riversley Park here in Dorktown, just to get me out of the house for an hour or two mainly.  However, I still 12 birds on my travels including a long tailed tit, which believe it or not, I didn't get last year.  Sunday was a London day for me.  As the M6/M1 interchange was closed on Sunday I left Dorktown and headed to Lutterworth before taking the Foss Way which took me to the A45, onto the M45 and then on to the M1 southbound.  It's a lot longer route really but I expected some major hold ups on the A45 round Coventry, that's why O took that route.  It paid off too with me getting a pair of barn owls just before the A45. 

While at Focus Optics today we had a look at the fed table and got a brambling and a bull finch and loads of other small birds.  Then it was off to Coombe.  On the way we got tufted duck and fieldfare, we were hopeful about Coombe then and we did pretty good really, adding nuthatch, tree creeper, redwing, pochard, dunnock, cormorants, great crested grebe, grey heron, cettis warbler, jay and starling.  Also at Coombe today there were three hybrids showing well.  I got photos of two of them, the third on was all black but with a white chest.  I think they were hybrid mallards.  Anyway, here's a few from shots from today ...