Porkers and bird visitors

6 September 2012

It's been ages yet again since I posted in here.  The simple reason for it is that we haven't been out birding.  Jan had was in hospital for an operation and just after that we moved home.  Now we are in a ground floor flat and felling very happy about it.  We're hoping that now we are properly settled in we can get out and do some real birding. 

On Sunday we had a day out to London Zoo and then into town to have a look at the South Bank.  Bird-wise it was a so-so trip.  We had around 10 birds on the drive down but none on the drive back seeing as it was fully dark as we came back we didn't see anything at all.  We were rather pleased though to see a small flock of ring neck parakeets flying around the zoo grounds.  There was also a fair number of grey herons on the zoo grounds too.

Back here in Dorktown now then ... for many years we have fed the local birds.  That hasn't changed since we moved here.  At the rear of the block is a self contained little community of mainly disabled or elderly residents.  It's a very friendly little area indeed and one we are really happy to be part of and accepted by.  Bird wise it's not quite so good however. 

Right from the first day Jan has been feeding the birds.  Mainly we just get collared doves, wood pigeons, magpies, dunnocks, blackbirds and house sparrows.  But one day last week was a very good day.  Look what Jan snapped ... 

a sparrow hawk!  She did a lot better than I did.  I kept shaking as I tried.  It was sitting about 20 feet away from our back door and stayed there while Jan was shooting for about 10 minutes.  What a treat that was!  On Monday I looked out of the kitchen window and saw two goldfinch on the feeder.  Jan saw them again yesterday.  OK, not a spectacular sighting but a first for us here in our new home.  What we haven't seen though are any of the tit species.  I know they've had a rough breeding year this year but I would have expected to see a few of them, at least great and blue tits.

Oh would you look at that!!!  I've been telling porkies - oh horror.  We did get out one day last month.  We went to Newport Wetlands; not that it was a particularly bird filled day mind.   pleasant day out though, which is always a good thing in itself.  The main problem at the site was that the tide was well out while we were there and we couldn't really hang about waiting for it to come back in.  Next time I will check the tide times before we set out - which reminds me ... I must check them for our next planned trip to - well, I was going to say the RSPB site not far from Southend-on-Sea.  But looking at the RSPB website it's not there now.  It's not even listed in Where to Watch Birds in Britain, strange that.  I remember going there one time some time ago.  Now we will have to look for somewhere else.  Good job I checked!

Quiet day all around

18 May 2012

Jan and I went off to Leighton Moss on Wednesday and got back home feeling a bit mixed in as far as the day went.  Bird-wise we got 42 species and only tree for the year list.  If it hadn’t been for the black headed gulls Leighton Moss would have been just about empty.  By the time we got round to Bolton-Le-Sands the tide was well out and there was only dunnock and tree sparrows to be seen.  From there were headed off again and we called into Blackpool for a couple of hours. 

Our list for the day then reads thus …

To Leighton Moss

Wood pigeon, buzzard, jackdaw, magpie, lapwing, crow, black headed gull, rook, greater black backed gull, oystercatcher,.

Leighton Moss           

House sparrow, greylag geese, mallard, bullfinch, chaffinch, coal tit, great tit, nuthatch, black headed gull, tufted duck, hen harrier, coot, Canada geese, lapwing, shell duck, black tailed  godwits, shovelor, swift, swallow, grey heron, gadwall, mute swan, pheasant, blackbird, blackbird, starling, magpie, lesser black backed gull, goldfinch, stock dove, herring gull, dunnock, tree sparrow.

You will notice that I list hen harrier; I do that because when we saw it weren’t sure to start with and Jan claimed it as such.  None of the others in the hide said differently and I saw one man nodding his head. Yesterday I got an email from someone who posts daily lists for East Anglia and even North Norfolk was very quiet too.  Looks like it was just one of those birding days that we all get every so often.

Not a total considering ...

13 May 2012

At long last we managed to get out birding again - it was 1 March we last went.  I can't believe it has been so long.  It's no wonder our list doesn't grow all that much.  Anyway, on Friday evening when we saw the weather forecast for yesterday we decided we would go. 

#We were up early and on the road for 7.15am heading along the A47 towards Cley again.  It   was a good run too with no hold for a change.  The weather was nice and dry and sunny all day.  We finally arrived there at around 1030 ready for the off.  On the way with me driving we got collared dove, blackbird, magpie, starling, woodpigeon, pheasant, jackdaw, buzzard, crow, green woodpecker, rook, red kite, sparrow hawk, peregrine, mallard, sky lark, swallow, lapwing, shellduck, greylag.  That red kite seems to be becoming a regular along there near Peterborough.  It's good to see them spreading too.

By the time we got to Cley I was busting for a wee so I headed off and left Jan to lock the car.  We decided that coffee was due before we headed off round the site and while we sat drinking it we could see that the reserve didn't look all that busy with birds.  There were a lot of birders about though with groups all standing around together in various places looking at something of value.  Most of these groups were up on the beach path or on the path along the eastern side of the reserve, both of which are out of bounds for us on our scooters. 

We soon joined in as best we could by heading off the three hides that stand together.  Another birder put us on to the Temminck's and Little Stints as well as a Dunlin before he left.  Jan had to go off back to the car for something she had forgotten so I sat in the middle of the three hides waiting for her to come back.  While I sat there a family came in; son, baby, mum and dad.  The boy was about 5 or 6 I think.  he was looking out the birds but didn't know what he was looking at.  I gave him a run down what birds were there and then had a brain wave.  Jan had bought two new field guys for us and as I had my old one with me too, I gave the book to his mum and said the lad could have it.  He was very pleased and kept saying 'thank you'.  Thing is, if giving the lad that book it encourages him to keep on with birding, then it's not wasted is it?

Our list at Cley then was ... mute swan, marsh harrier, black headed gull, sedge warbler, siskin, cetti warbler, avocet, knot, coot, pied wagtail, shell duck, common tern, temminck's stint, little stint, little ringed plover, dunlin, tufted duck, goldfinch, red shank, pochard, shoveller, turnstone, oystercatcher, swifts, little egret. 

After that we headed for Titchwell again with no worries about having to rush because of the light fading early.  On the way we called in at Wells.  No new birds there and to be honest, at £4.50 a day to park we won't be stopping there again.  As it was found a free disabled driver's space and got in there.  I don't think we will be stopping there again!  After a so-so pint of real ale we headed off to Titchwell.

There was so many birds there that our poor ID skills really did lets us down badly.  LBJ's were dashing all around us far too fast for us to get a good look at before they were off again.  How many we missed out on because of it we don't know.  We did however manage to get some good sightings, at least for us that is - but again it was with help.  A whimbrel was pointed out as well as a female red crested pochard and one we saw but couldn't ID was      declared to be a meadow pipit.  Our full Titchwell list then was ... robin, moorhen, whitethroat, greylag, coot, pochard, wood pigeon, white fronted geese, marsh harrier, mallard, shoveller, tufted duck, shellduck, pochard, little stint, black headed gull, herring gull, oystercatcher, white wagtail, reed bunting, common gull, brent geese, turnstone, sanderling, ring plover, sedge warbler, meadow pipit, whimbrel, red crested pochard, great tit, bearded tit, lesser red shank, grasshopper warbler, black cap, willow warbler, grey heron. 

By the time we got back to the car we were happily tired but cold.  Setting off we headed for Hunstanton where we went to the Marine Bar for a drink and I had pish, fhips 'n pushy meas ... very nice too.  We finally got home at around 10pm and were pleasantly surprised to be able to get our car parked just across the road, and half up the street.  

 
Top and bottom of it?  A pretty good day with 66 species seen - our biggest daily total with around 26 for the yer list and a couple of lifers too.  We were very happy with it anyway.            

To count or not to count

26 March 2012

I read a number of birding blogs as well as writing this one very so often.  One of the blogs I read is from Fleetwood Birder.  He regularly says he visits his feeding station and when he does he counts the number and species of birds that visit it.  I sit here reading those figures and marvel at them.  But always at the back of my mind is the thought that the Mighty Fleetwood Birder hasn’t really seen 197 tree sparrows in one birding session.  Now don’t get me wrong here my fellow birders.  I’m not saying that MFB is telling porkies … oh no, certainly not!  What I am thinking and therefore saying is that MFB is actually counting the number of visits to his feeding station by tree sparrows, rather than individual birds. 

Before we had to move back here to Dorktown 3 years ago we used to live in Atherton, Manchester.  We were only a couple of miles from Pennington Flash and would go for birding session down there fairly often.  But I noticed that as we sat in one particular hide where the feeding station was, I would see a bird come to a feeder, grab a nut or seed and fly off.  I watched where he would go and saw him sit on a branch or twig before returning to the feeder again.  Now that counts as two visits, not two birds.  See what I mean? 

I’ve been thinking about all this for some time now and in this morning’s post there’s a copy of a new magazine published the BTO called Volunteer – and guesses what one of the articles is about – yes, counting birds.  Having read it I’m still not sure about how it works.  The   writer speaks of how important it is count the birds we see while out birding.  Fine if you are at a reserve and can count all the black headed gulls you can see from each hide or as you walk along the paths.  But I would suggest that counting visits to bird feeding station is not all that accurate. 

Another issue along these lines is the surveys that BTO does.  Jan and I agreed to take part in   survey of tawny owls a few years.  We were given two tetrads to cover which where a good way out from our home but still in Warwickshire.  That’s no problem.  During our survey period we actually went to the two tetrads a lot more often than we expected to.  Sadly we didn’t find any tawny owls.  When I phoned the results in a comment was made about tawny owls being in trouble in our county.  But were/are they?  At the same time as we were doing our survey our son who lived not far from birding site in our town said her saw them on a regular basis at that site.  And there lies another problem for BTO – the lack of volunteers, hence the reason for the new mag methinks.  Sadly we can’t do any surveys now because of continued ill health, which is doubly sad because even though we didn’t hear our target bird, we still enjoyed being out and about.

 
So I don’t fully understand how counting visits to a feeding station can equate to counting actual individual birds, but keep at it MFB – you are doing a great job by the sounds of it!              


Here's a photo of a pied wagtail taken in Dorktown town centre - the town is not toally devoid of beauty I suppose.