Such a long time ...

17 November 2011

Yesterday we had our first birding trip since ... We went off to Gibraltar Point for a look around.  on the way down there we got collared doves, magpie, wood pigeon, blackbird, rooks, crows, jackdaws, pheasant, kestrel, starling, herring gull, Canada geese, black headed gull and moorhen.  What I didn't do before hand was to look at the tide times so when we arrived the tide was well out - and as most people know, when the tide is out at Skegness, it really is OUT!  First things first for us is a wobble to the visitor centre so we can use the toilet.  A cuppa and slice of short bread biscuit each cost £6.20 - we were not amused!  So off back to the car to get the scooter out and off we went.

There didn't seem to be much about at all really.  We saw two mallards flying over and our next sighting was of a single red shank and 2 curlew over by the boat yard - and where I realized we'd badly miss timed the visit.  Back to the car park where we got a single redwing before we set off around the site properly and off down one path where we set off towards the coast proper.  Eventually we saw a small flock of Brent geese - don't ask, not interested in what race they were.  Now here's the thing; neither of us can walk very far, that's why we use our scooters.  I could hear birds all around but we couldn't see any of them, and I like to see a bird before I claim it; beside which, I'm not very good with bird song ;-)))  The scooter make a lot of noise I'm afraid to say so it tends to scar the birds off.  We did get a couple of blackbirds though.

At the first hide we came to ... we got loads and loads of teal.  OK Teal are male smart little birds but I fail to see why so many folks get so excited about seeing them.  Be that as it may, there was a couple of hundred of them in that pool along with a couple of moorhen and shovellers and a shellduck.  As we made our around the rest of the site all we got was greater black backed gull, chaffinch, reed bunting, tufted duck, coot, white fronted geese, pochard, pink footed and bean geese.  As I said before, not our best days birding but it was still nice to get out into the sea air. 

We're hoping to get out again soon, but knowing us, next year is a possibility ;-)))           

Not a good week's birding.

There's not been a lot of birding in Dorktown at all for some time now.  We had hoped to get some done over last week when we travelled to Blackpool for a few days off.  The idea was to look at Leighton Moss and Bolton-le-Sands over one day; to get round to have a look at Marten Mere, the lake that Blackpool gets its name from; Rossal was another place we wanted to have a look at; and finally on the way home on Saturday we had hoped to head off along the coast road to Southport for Marshside and finish off at Martin Mere the WWT site.  Oh dear ...

It was raining heavily when we arrived at Leighton Moss and as we need to use our scooters for getting around, that one got scrubbed after a cuppa in the cafe upstairs.  Arriving in Morecambe though it had brightened up a good deal and we got a good(ish) list of the usual waders there. We didn't get to Marten Mere at all.  Rossall was OK but we didn't see anything special; we also went there the day before the Fleetwood Birder's  (http://fleetwoodbirder.blogspot.com/2011/09/low-key-autumn-morning.html) mate Ian found an Ortolan bunting there!  

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast and packed the car in the rain so Southport was out and we headed off home without doing a lot of the birding we had planned and hoped for.  Ah well ... maybe again later when we are looking at going down to Minsmere, stopping a night in Great Yarmouth and the drive the coast road along to Cley, Titchwell and so on.

Now then, we all know just how violent we birders can get at times ;-)))  Well, my first book called The Mission will be soon released on Amazon and Kindle.  It's main baddie is a birder who goes around murdering folks - including birders!  I'll let you know when it's released.        

Two days out

Today I report on two days out, aren’t you lucky lot then ;-)))  OK then, last Sunday Jan and I eventually managed to get down to Rainham Marshes.  It was really nice day but we were rather disappointed in the small number of birds that were about.  The count for the day I suppose was around 30 species but we did get two year ticks, reed and willow warbler.  Now there’s a point ...

Some time ago I had ended up at Titchwell in Norfolk and as I rode back to the car I was really bursting for a wee.  Anyway, when I feel the need to go it usually means not now but ten minutes ago.  I managed to get there in time but as I was on the way I heard a chiffchaff calling in the trees around me.  Of course I didn’t have to time to stop and look for it and when I came out there was sign of it.  Now I know that some birders count birds they have heard but haven’t seen.  I don’t, for me it seems to be a bit of a cheat.  So let’s go back to Rainham then.

There we were both of us riding out scooter around the site (very good for scooter and wheelchair users by the way, nice flat paths and board walks), when we heard the strangest bird sound we had ever heard.  Jan looked for it but couldn’t find it.  We got into a nearby hide and we heard it again.  No bird though, it was marsh frog!  See what I mean about going on bird song for your list?

After Rainham the idea was to go off to see and photograph the Thames Barrier and then a look around the Isle of Dogs for the monk parakeet that is supposed be growing in numbers around there.  Instead we decided that enough was enough and we head back home via the M11 and A14 instead of fighting the M25 and M1.  We still had a good day though.

On Tuesday we went off again, this time to Hay-on-Wye.  Somehow, and don’t ask me how I totally missed not only the M42/M40 junction but also the M42/M5 junction too.  That actually had me quite worried for a time because I am normally very aware of where I am and how I got there.  It’s something I shall be keeping an eye on because it could cause problems if it happens too often.  In any event we ended up going a different route to Hay. 

 

We took the M50 as far as Ross-on-Wye and then A49 and finally the B4348 along what is called the Golden Valley.  Well, it wasn’t golden at all but by heck it was beautiful the whole way through to Hay.   

I have already said that I like to snap pub signs as I go along and I’ve added a goodly number to the collection that day, a number of them in the Golden Valley.  We stopped for a pint at the Harewood End Inn and it was very nice too.   If you’re ever in the area, call and have a drink, very nice indeed.  The friendly helpful staff make the all the difference.

The Harewood End Inn bar and the pint of Rev James.

Hay was good as it usual is and I found three paperbacks by Ian Irvine that I had been looking for some time.  A few weeks ago I found a copy of Analogue in a newsagent in Dorktown, a bi-monthly sci-fi magazine that I didn’t know was still being published, so I bought it.  So while I was in Hay I took the opportunity to look to see if there was any of the older editions available.  I found loads of them, mostly from the 60s and 70s and bought just two of them, Venture Science Fiction from 1965.  I shall be keeping an eye out for more though on my travels. 

 

Lunch in Hay was in a cafe called the Sandwich Cellar.  It’s down a small pathway opposite the main town car park and it leads down to the town centre one way and to the castle off to the right.  Lunch was really nice mug of tea and cracking cheese and ham toastie, and all at a very reasonable price too.

This was taken while we had lunch.  It's looking back towards the car park which is only about 200 yards off.  And just look at the view form the top of it ...

Hay Castle.

Leaving Hay we headed out towards Brecon but changed our minds and went back a different way.  A couple of miles outside Hay is a pub called the Holy Bush and they have a camp site at rear of it.  I stayed there for several days in 1998 and had a great time.  We stopped there on Tuesday because we were hoping to get down by the river to get some photos but the very step steps and shaky hand rail put us off.  As left however, look what we found ...

Sadly he wasn’t flashing that gorgeous tail of his, ah well.         

We travelled back via the A479 and A 40 before joining the M5 to get home.  Again we had good run home but stopped for a rest and something to eat at a pub on the A40 called the, The Kings head.  There I had a pint of Doom Bar which was excellent and a tuna and mayo butty which was also very nice.  Again, friendly helpful staff made a big difference.  There was a little girl in there called Charlie, what a darlin’ she was.  She helped herself to a pint of coke, a packet of crisps and was heading for the larger pump when her Mum found her and took her off to bed.  I was told that as a special offer I got a free Charlie with my tuna butty but I decided to pass on it as she was a tad too big to fit in our oven.

A pint of Doom Bar, very nice and rich and creamy.

Bird-wise we got 16 I think it was, Jan was keeping the list so I’m not sure on that.  Whatever, we had another good day and arrived home safely and nicely tired out ready for an early night. 

Tomorrow we’re off the Brum for a few days so hopefully I shall be getting lost of new photos to add to my flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/15764683@N00/page3/    Why not have a look, there’s not many on there, only 3500 odd.  Some groups I post have user with more images on there than that!           

Rainham at last

At long last we got to Rainham Marsh on Sunday.  Not a lot birdwise but we still had a good day.  Here's a couple of shots I got while I was there.

I think I said that I'm always on the look out for something different when I'm out with my camera, so here's one I just had to do ...

OK, so there's been lots of shots of pylons over the years but this is the first one have done.  The bright blue sky behind the pylon as well as all the angles stood out well for me and I liked it.

A thistle, a nice combination of coulurs and shapes.

Rainham Marsh visitor centre.  Not a bad building but it takes some working out how to get onto the reserve through it,  Using our sccoters we had to drive them up a ramp sistuated behind and to the left of this view and then enter the reserves down that ramp of the right as you look at it.  The pathways were very good though and we had a good day.  On the way around we heard a really strange bird call and we looked for it but couldn't find it at all.  When we got in the near by hide we heard it again.  It wasn't a bird but a marsh frog, see we learn all the time.  From this hide I got thsi shot ...

I had seen a large plumb of dark someke in the distance as we were traveling around but I was surroised to see that it was coming froma a ship.  Luckily for the skipper they don't have any laws on this sort of thing.  An artic would be taken off the road becuase of the amount of crap this was pushing out!

There I was sat sitting enjoying a 'quiet' pint in Whetherspoons in Dorktown when a row broke out between two young female friends sat near by.  It gradually escallated and as one of them went out for fag she continued to shout abuse at the other one.  At that point the manager came over and told the other one that if they didn't keep quiet they would ahve to leav the pub.  OK, fine.  I finished my pint and went up for a second one and I saw the manager running off towards the door, and there on the floor falt out on her face was the girl who had gone out for a smoke.  Before long an ambulance arrived and they carted the woman off to hospital.  The things is, the only thing wrong with her being drunk and I do object to so many r.esurces being used up dealing with these people.  No-one was standing over her with a gun at her ehad making her drink her pint of lager, she was in that state volentarily.  So in my opinion she should be made to pay for the full cost of the ambulance and any treatment she recieved.

Just as I was finishing my second pint I had a look at the menu in there and i got another idea for a book, that's about the eigth idea this week.  The first one hasn't been released yet though, #2 is nearly finished the writting stage, so hopefully both of them will get done soon enough.

 Whetherspoon pubs I have visited have lots of old books all around the rooms.  I love old books and I wish I had the room to keep more of them and the dosh to bye them.  Anyway, I had a look at one yesterday afternoon after all the fuss had died down and came across this at the start of them book ...

                                    For those who have awareness
                                         a hint is quite enough.
                                  For the mulitude of the heedless
                                      mere knowlegde is useless.

                                            (Haji Bektash Veli)

I'm sure I can find a way to include it in one of my books.