Day 4-brdignorth (wednesday)

today we packed up. on the way back we stopped off at a national trust place. it had loads of grouns and a deer park. no prizes for guessing that i went to the deer park first. the deer were shy but i managed to find them. what was most spectacular was the hunderends om mipits that eurupted from the path around me. feildfares were flying overhead in flocks of about 20. they kept stopping off at one tree so i managed to get some pictures. as i walked round i caught up with a buzzard and a seven spotted ladybird plus a wren and a robin. there was also a very shy moorhen on the river.

a seven spotted ladybird!!

the first this year in the midst of the harliquin front line

a very tame fallow deer

some not so tame fallow deer

plenty of feildfares were on passage

when we left i remeber seeing a little egret on the river but we couldnt stop so i diddnt get any pictures.

day 3-bridgnorth (tuesday)

having seen the country park yesterday we decided to come back. the wether was slightly worse than yesterday but still plenty of wildlife to be seen

huge numbers of goldfinch around in massive flocks

a willow tit

the experience never wears off
also in the country park:

1 bullfinch

1 moorhen

4 lonmg-tailed tits

feildfares and redwings over on passage

blue tits and great tits

afterwards we went to an arboretum. although birlife was short the fungus was astonishing

shaggy ink cap

a very dark g.s.woodpecker

fly argaric

the fungus was amazing. i found a smaller group of ink caps and took my dad to see them. they were next to a pong and as we arrived a kingfisher appeared really close. it was much tamer and was fishing just infront of us. i tried to get some photos but they failed and in the end it flew over. as it flew off it went over my dads head and did a poo!!

also there were:

1 willow tit

redwings over

2 jays over

buzzards

coal-tit

great tit

blue tit

blackbird

day 2-bridgnorth (monday) part 2

the second part of the day involved alot of wlaking. the idea was that we would get off at a country park station and walk round. unfortunetly the train didnt collect passengers at this station so we had to walk all the way to the next station. we ate lunch near the station and thenh walked along the river severn to our next station


the thermals made conditions just right for buzzards so we saw plenty

a mandarin pair was on the parks duck pond

look at this beauty we found on the river

a ruddy darter dragonfly, in october!

you never realise the extent of the porblem until you experience it first hand. these were the first halaquins i have ever seen but to be sure they will not be the last (we checked our car before we set of and at least three were trying to hitch a lift) >:(

a comma butterfly

plenty of wildlife out today

mallards and moorhens are the only things i have not metioned.

day 2-bridgnorth (monday) part 1

today we went for a ride on the trains. when we arrived we learnt that the tornado (most recent built steam train) was here. we stood on the bridge and waited for it drive underneath us. when it did though my brother got a cloud off smoke in his face-sucker.
we went up and down the track once and then decided to stop off at a little country station when will be in part 2. the one bit of wildlife that was notable was the elephants in the shrubland-very rare these days!!

a rare sight!

the train we used for the journey

the tornado-a special sight

a rare manor class steam train

p.s. there were also lots of camera shy pheasants as we drove past, buzzards, carrion crows and a jay.

day one-bridgnorth, shropshire (sunday)

we often go on holiday at this time of year, but this year we were a little late bucking and so we went to no apparent place whatsoever. personally i cannot say that before this i had ever heard of this place but so thats the way it is. on the way down we stopped off at some random national trust place, as we often do, in the middle of nowhere. but there was not much loss as the sun was shinning and it was warm. the birds were remarkably sparse
starlings-lots
goldfinchs-7
great tit-1
canada goose-plenty
mute swan-2
mallards-i diddnt count
moorhen-3

the trees were all fruiting at this time of year.



all the geese needed cleaning
to some surprise there were plenty of insects about despite it being late october
southern hawker
red admiral
small tortoiseshell

once we arrived at the campsite we discovered (well i did, since i haddnt been before) that it had a great pond and dangerously tame mallards.

this morning

i was on the computer downloading holiday pics when my mum called me to the front door where a skein of about 100 geese were going over >east.
i went to my phone to find that somebody else had seen the same flock over lumbuts but comfirmed my hunch that they were pink-feet

soil hill -yesterday

a walk up to soil hill yesterday in the wind. at first i thought i shouldnt have bothered as there was no bird call and besides crows mobbing a kestrel way off no sign of life at all. as soon as i walked onto the top however i flushed a snipe. it flew forward and landed at the first scrape. i saw it land by a aptch of bulrushes so tip-toed over to it. however as soon as i got there the snipe rocketed out of a bunch of grass-not where it landed and as it did so a second eurupted from a nearby scrape. i managed to get a few quick shots but the one here is the only decent one which shows and snipe traits. they flew off towards ogden and warley moor.

after walking round the top i had only flushed a skylark i headed down to the pools i managed to find nothing on the way down but when i got there a pair of mallards were flushed. after a qwuick scout round ispotted a stonechat on the wires going over. i tried to sneak closer to it but it saw me and flew in to the reeds. there it was joined by a second.

there were no other birds besides these, the kestrel was flying about a bit and two mipits flew over but besides that nothing of any note.

soil hill-a cracking day

what a typical goldfinch scene

four of a large linnet flock

jays-3 there this morning

i think these are teals

i went to soil hill this moring at once birds were erupting from the ground everywhere. i walked round the top and thought i saw an osprey-but on closer examination it was plane. then i walked down to the pools at the pools i flushed three ducks. the photos arnt much good but i cant make out the second white line to distinguish it to be a mallard. just i was trying to find out where the ducks had gone a crow sized bird with a white rump flew past and i instantly recognized it as a jay. it then joined its buddies to bring the total to three.
overall:
linnet-big flock
mipit-too many
skylark-bouncing off the floor everywhere
wheatear-1 with mipits as you enter
kestrel-2 circling
red grouse-four flushed
jay-3 quite close
sparrowhawk-1 but camera wouldnt focus so no pics
teal??-3 flushed by first pool
goldfinch-numerous large flocks
crows-loads milling about
lesser black-backed gull-1 flew over

lakeland weekend-pictures of lakeland

are you looking at me


fog moveing over skidow

a postcard picture

migrating geese at sunset

a lovely sunset

the crystle calm lake

always a favourite

a nuthatch!

how do you drive this thing-amateur joyrider

a buff-tip moth caterpillar

what a view

whirlygig beetles-the most comical insect alive

rosehips-the autumn fruit

something was obviously wrong with this shrew (although it didnt show) as it happily munched a worm

this was about 5cm away, you could touch it

a common puffball

a common darter-a stunning insect

another view of lakeland

the merganser family

hello there

ohhh, like ouch

like water off a ducks back

a clean sweep!

some took extreme methods in hygene

like the hyenas on the savanah, always after your lunch!!

that concludes the flight with goose 923

the southern hawker in the park

lakeland weekend-the day

a fishing party of RBM


a mallard in a flap

a nuthatch

it was a cracking day but to keep things simple most of the photos are going on the next post, becuase there are so many. thus many labels will go on the next post but hey.

we started by going for a lakeside walk. i can tell you now that the only passerines to exist up here are robins and chaffinches. the walk was beautiful and when we reached the flooded forest i also spotted this nuthatch quite close. i spotted a large family of red breasted mergansers (numbering 7) they wree really close and good to see.

after this we went on a rowing boat. this was good-except my brother cant row. when we arrived at the reedbed we were surprised to find large numbers of shoaling perch and minnows-only in staggering numbers. a beautiful southern hawker dragonfly came and fle arouhnd the boat giving us a lovely view. the mergansers caught up with us but that was the best bit of the boat ride. cormorants flew overhead.

when we got back we went into town where,obviously there was nothing. in the park though i found a female southern hawker.

it was a smashing day and the pictures see next post were awsome.

lakeland weekend-evening of arrival

included for no appearet reason-never-the-less still very pretty


a gorgeous picture of migrating geese at sunset


a gorgeous picture
not much happening this evening but a cracking sunset with bats flying all around. much to my annoyance, you may (will) remeber the LBBG last time that gave me the slip into it being a yellow-legged gull. well i can tell you now that its still there.
also mallards, canada geese and black headed gulls plus a new herring gull on the area. carrion crows were playing on the boats.

harewood-bank holiday monday

"wow, its the almighty human!!!!!"

harewood is famouse for its red kites. but i only had the naff little lense so my photos leave alot to be desired.

an adorable coot family

we went to harewood for a steam rally, and red kites, and neither failed to diassapoint. the only downside is it was not possible for me to get the photos i desired becuase the camera was under maintainance.

other life was far between but one heron was perched lonely on the lake and on the lake there were great creatsed grebes and tufted ducks.

i lost my family on the lakeside walk so sat perched for a long time. a dragonfly unidentified flew overhead but i could identifie it to my dissapointment. a while later something bright blue dashed past and i instantly got to my feet hopeing that the dragonfly had come back but not, it was much better. a kingfisher. although it was only breif it was still stunning and beautiful.

garden catchup

ill bet you have never seen this many sparrows on a bird bath, and i can promise you that there were many more but they were more flighty than these. still quite a sight

a shocking thing is that most of the caterpillars i have seen this year have been in september. if i recall correctly, and i think i do........(off i got to check i spy moths)...........and i am not. it is not a vapourer moth but still very pretty. often we got broom moth caterpillars anually butthen my mad neighbour cut down the plant it needed and since have not seen any.

thats a swift round up off all the gardens going ons.

black redstart, cold edge

these are not my photos but the same bird at the same place and same time i was there

thank-you very much to Sean Jhonstone for use off these photos

as you can see these photos are much better than mine but if you look around the muoth you can see the impression of a gape which led sean to his conclusion that it must be a young bird

thanks once again for use of the photos

cold edge, yesterday

got a text about a cuckoo at cold edge yesterday at around 3.30pm. i asked my mum if we could go and so we did. as we arrived the phone died cvauseing problems and we got lost. my mum dropped me off at the bottom of the track and then drove off to find somewhere to park. when i got there dave sutcliff was there but the cuckoo had done a runner. sean jhonstone and then nick dawtrey arrived but still no cuckoo. Sean showed me a whinchat through the scope which was quite special as i have never seen one before. then he showed me a cute ball off fluff juvenile little owl-my first confirmed sighting off one. it was a realltreat off a day and it had only just begun. as we waited paitently for the cuckoo nick did some prowling around and then, going up to the barn called us over about a black redstart. this bird was amaing. one minuet it was there the next minuet it had gone. it flew out off the barn where nick found it and flew into a tree where we lost it. it then re-appeared on the roof off the old barn. sean went to try and find it with his camera and it appeared on the lowest barn building where we were stationed waiting for a cuckoo. it then flew off up to the top barn building and then i lost it. i managed to get these rubbish pics for the brif seconds it stayed about.

it really was a cracking afternoon also preasnt were 1 grouse flushed on the farm track and the usual mipits, swallows and woodpigeons plus a magpie.

p.s. one m,inuet after we left the cuckoo came out and flew over the road-talk about timing

whitby and sandsend

this turnstone was actually much closer than this photo depicts and it trodded around the whitby harbour wall

what a picture

heres a photo of a herring gulls foot. you can see why its included

sorry buddy, its closing time

a cracking day spent a sandsend today. when we arrived at 11.00 it was low tide so went for a walk along the seafront. there were large numbers of juvenile terns roosting there and you could get pretty close. it was spectacular to see them roosting with all the gulls (herring, gbb, black headed) and the oystercatchers.

then we went swimming and messed around in the sea. at about 6.00 we wrapped it up and went into whitby for some fish and chips. as you can see from the pictures there were some spectacular views of turnstones there which was really special and also a ringed gull. as we were comeing out of the fish and chip shop we also spotted Matt Bell which was always a nice surprise!

burnsall

meet tank burnsall. i took this old disused fish tank to burnsall today to put the catches in. unfortunatly to float the tank over the river to take the photos-from fish paradise to the camera the tank crashed into a rock and sadly broke. therfore these photos were a race against time.

a lovely millers thumb or bullhead which were plentiful in the river

a very handsome spined loach which were incredibly fast so we used a net that i found. after lucnch we went back in minus the tank and found lots of baby loaches further upstream

heres a photo from the glass looking insiude the tank

the evil signal crayfish have created a reputation for themselves in britian but are massive around here and this was a prize catch.

a cracking photo of a millers thumb from outside the glass. there were 3 in the tank

but the water was running low from the crack as this photo depicts

a better photo of the loach

they look so adorable in an ugly kind of way but these are a menace

but these werent the highlight of the day. we went for a walk after lunch and found nothing, not even the knigsfisher but on the way back i was way ahead of my family and i saw a gull fly upstream. it looked like a herring gull so i thought, i hope it lands upstream so i can get a better view. it did land but looking at it only one thing was different from a herring gull-its legs, yellow! could it be that i finally had the long awaited yellow legged gull!!!! i had no bins so waited for my mum to catch up with bins and sure enough it wasnt a lesser black backed so yesss!!!! i had it my first. but as i ran back for the camera (a fair way i can tell you) it flew off so no pictures. the reason why it flew off was a bit unclear from what my family said. i got a tale of sheep, black headed and greater black backed gulls so i cant really tell. anyway it was a really great bird to tick.

also there today were, in the way off gulls, common gull in force which also has yellow legs, lesser black backed, which also has yellow legs, which turned up as we ate our fish and chips much later. black headed gulls were there in force and a few flyover greater black backeds were there. overall a good day.

other birds were sparse but there was a female mandarin which is normally there and 3 grey wagtails and a juvenile pied milling about on the beach. oystercatchers flew over in trios occasionally. overall a great day.

tuesday at ringstone

a much quieter evening than last time
this time however we actually managed to see the common sands really well
there were also plenty of gulls-black headed and common
a moorhen was walking about
also plenty of lapwings in the distance but not actually on site

some village in the dales last wednesday

went for a walk by the river in a lovely village in the dales.
2 common sandpipers were flushed on the way back which was pretty special
there were also lots of baby wagtails on the river which was both cute and incredible. you could get pretty close to them too
2 herons were in one of the adjacent sheep feilds
2 goosanders wree flushed by the stepping stones but not a spectacular view like you can get at burnsal or bolton abbey

soil hill and ringstone a week ago last tuesday

went for a walk up to soil hill. the weather was good and a green sandpiper had been seen the day before. i was in high spirits. its quite a hike from where i live (uphill-i mean) so got there in about 15mins.
there was:
a skylark-but good views
a flock of feral pigeons

ringstone:
1 common sandpiper that was miling about
a heron looking grumpy
lapwings, gulls (inc a greater black back and chick)
mipits flying over

dumfries and galloway, holiday day 12, part 1

awwwwww cute red tree rat!

a siskin

a greater spotted woodpecker

a jay

i always love threave becuase there are just so many birds. but blast it this time the camera packed in as we arrived.

that diddnt hinder the birds though:

2 jays quite close but very flighty

1 siskin

spotted flyctacher 1

treecreeper 1

1 greater spotted woodpecker and juvenile

2 red tree rats

1 willow warbler- had me confused it was so yellow

1 robin+juv

2 blackbirds

garden birds:

blue tit 5

blue tit juveniles 9

chaffinch 15

great tit 7

greenfinch 5

coal tit 6

nuthatch 3

woodpig 2