I am afraid I have been a bit lazy over the bank holiday weekend.  I have got on with various tasks such as watching football, watching grand prix, watching beer glasses empty etc etc, so no birding this weekend.  Sorry.  Next weekend I will be fresh and ready to go as on Monday 2nd June i am on the way to the Farne Islands.  Come on!!!  Congrats to Hull FC for there promotion.  Well done Phil Brown, bet he is laughing at The Rams demise.

There are various things which drive people to watch birds- watching behaviour, seeing varities, photography, list builders, etc, and they have different names - birders, twitchers, local patchers, whatever.  Whatever you fall into and call yourself, you do it because you love it.  I love to see as many birds as possible.  I love making lists.  I love adding to these lists.  But, primarily, I love birds.  Today, for me, was a day to remember as I photographed my 200th bird, and I could not have got a better bird. Last weekend I missed the chance of seeing a Red-footed Falcon due to being on call.  There were loads around the country but the chances of them staying were bleak.  I have been tracking a female in South Yorkshire and my plan was to go up Saturday morning.  That was until a female turned up in Ingleby near Willington.  I finished work at 4pm, picked up my gear and the dog and found Ingleby and followed the river to a bunch of birders.  On the way I saw Swift, Swallow, Mute Swan, Skylark, Mallard, Common Tern and Blue Tit.  I got there and immediateley got onto the bird, a female RED-FOOTED FALCON.  A stunning bird.  Unfortunately the nikon camera has got a fault so I only had my Sony Alpha 100 camera.  I attached it to my scope and I photograped my 200th species of bird.  A great mile stone for me.  Other birds I saw were Sedge Warbler,  Kingfisher, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Wren, Herring Gull, Great-crested Grebe, canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Pheasant, Robin and Blackbird.  Keep birding people.

I have not been here for a few weeks so I was long over due a visit.  From the car park I saw Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Canada Geese, Swallow and Chaffinch.  Walking up the track I saw Carrion Crow, Magpie, Lapwing, Teal, Robin, Swift, Greenfinch, Common Tern and Great-crested Grebe.  Through to the east side and I added Oystercatcher, Avocet (a major suprise and a new bird for me here though it did not hang around, instead flying in the direction of Junction Pool in the arboretum), Shelduck, Rook, Jackdaw, Mute Swan, House Martin (which I photographed  becoming my 199th bird), Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Gadwall, Wood Pigeon, Skylark, Willow Warbler, Cormorant, Buzzard, Black-headed Gull, Goldfinch, and Kingfisher.  Back to the main side I added Sedge Warbler, Linnet, Dunnock and Chiffchaff.  A good visit with a new bird and new photographed bird.

I decided to take the dog for a walk around the square at Whitemoor and I saw Carrion Crow, magpie, Yellowhammer, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Skylark, Corn Bunting, Swift, Blackbird, Linnet, Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Wheatear, Common Whitethroat, Swallow, House Sparrow, Lesser Whitethroat, Starling, Tree Sparrow and Pied Wagtail.  The walk was ruined by constant shooting at a nearby farm which frightened the dog and she legged itto the car.  I stopped at the quarry lake and added Mute Swan, Gadwall, Greylag Geese, Redshank, Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck, Canada Geese and a single Pochard.

My mother and a family friend wanted to go to the water park to join Dave Scattergood on one of his walks so I decided to do along.  To be honest, there was too many people there, about twenty something.  Usually there are only about ten max and everyone can join in.  The more there are, the less chance of getting in on the act.  We stayed near the back and I tried to find birds for my mom and friend.  Birds we encountered on the day were House Sparrow, Canada Geese, Mallard, Pied Wagtail, Swallow, Great-crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Common Tern, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Kestrel, Coot, Sand Martin, Swift, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Wren, Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Moorhen, Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Greenfinch, Reed Warbler, Robin, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Buzzard, Bullfinch, Song Thrush, Starling, House Martin, Sedge Warbler, Goldfinch, Lesser Whitethroat, and Common Whitethroat.  A good list.  

Firstly, my apologies for not writing up the blog for a week.  I have been on call and had call outs Sunday evening and Monday evening.  Tuesday I was busy, Wednesday football, and Thursday is my pub night.  There is a little to catch up on so here goes.

A Great White Egret was reported here on the previous day so up early and a walk around Blithfield before any call outs.   Regular readers will know the fun I have with these birds, racing to see one at Tamworth, Stafford plus another three places I can't remember (or don't want to remember), and dipped on every one, the one in Tamworth by two minutes.  Back to Blithfield and I walked around to Blithe Bay before heading around the headland and into Tad Bay.  Suprise suprise, no Great White Egret but the birds I did see were Pheasant, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mallard, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Jackdaw, Great-crested Grebe, Swallow, Tufted Duck, Blue Tit, Lapwing, Coot, Shelduck, Gadwall, Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Swift, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Stock Dove, Wren, and Willow Warbler.  A nice start to the day. 

On Saturday this blog was one year old.  When I started it was for various reasons, I enjoy sharing were I have been and what I have seen, to make friends, and to annoy others.  I think over the year I have achieved that.  At this moment I have had 5845 hits.  To me, that is unbeleivable.  I would like to say thank you to all who read this blog and hope you all continue, because as long as I live I will be chasing birds, locally, and around the country.  I may even venture broad again soon.  Cheers, and hope to see you all in the field.  Keep on birding. 

I wanted to do a bit more birding in the evening but I was tired so I did something different.  I spent one hour in the garden, in a comfy deckchair, and I noted down every bird I saw or heard, either in the garden, flying over, or singing next door.  It was good fun, no energy wasted, and I had two suprise birds.  Birds I saw were Carrion Crow, Peregrine, Collared Dove, Starling, Black-headed Gull, Greenfinch, Swift, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Swallow, Wood Pigeon, Common Tern, House Martin, Blue Tit and Great Tit.  Birds I heard were Great Tit, Wood Pigeon, Wren, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Swift, Robin and Dunnock.  Spot the two suprise birds. This is a good exercise when, like me, you are a recovering alcoholic.

It is only about two and a half miles but it is quite a nice walk.  Birds I saw were Wood Pigeon, Wren, Chaffinch, Skylark, Mallard, Common Whitethroat, Linnet, Pheasant, Yellowhammer, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Magpie, Song Thrush, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Chiffchaff and Starling.

Not much birding was going to be done today.  A few of us had a night out by a bonfire, drinking lots of beer, eating burgers and staying up very late.  a top night.  Unfortunately it does not mean a good Sunday.  Anyway, you have got to have a bit of fun sometimes.  I had to drop the van off at work and, instead of being picked up, I decided me and the dog would walk around the resevoir and then walk down the Trent and Mersey Canal back home.  The resevoir is only small and surrounded in woodland and I saw Blue Tit, Mallard, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon, Wren, Goldfinch, Robin, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Great Tit, Pied Wagtail, Moorhen and Carrion Crow.  Nothing brilliant but it was for future plans.

Stockton Resevoir.

 

Since I was a kid upto the time I moved to Wales in 1998, I was a mad keen fisherman.  This finished when I moved to Wales as course fishing is not really done.  No canals and the rivers are trout rivers.  I work for British Waterways and they hold competitions throughout the year so I decided to have a go.  Stockton Resevoir is south of Rugby.  I did not do any good but, as I am always a birder I did see and hear Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot, Moorhen, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Wood Pigeon, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Robin, Blackbird, Magpie, Cuckoo and Common Tern.   The match was five hours and as it started my pager sprang into action.  White-winged Black Tern at Draycote Water.  It was funny as only the other day I was looking at this bird in a bird book and was wondering how it was going to grace my black book.  I kept an eye on the pager all day and as soon as we finished I put Draycote up on the sat-nav and I was only five minutes away.

 

Draycote Resevoir.

 

I did not think I would get my works transit van into the parking area as it was rammed with cars and people in various stages of undress (the hot weather as opposed to a dodgy film set).  A bit of searching and I got my spot, got my gear out and set of for Farneborough Bank (I think that is what it is called).  There was a group of birders not far along the wall and I approached with excitement.  Far out, but visible eith a scope was three Black Terns and one WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN.  What a stunning bird.  The odd Common Tern was also about.  I did not come for a site visit, only to see the bird as I had to get the van back.  I also noted Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler, Mute Swan, Mallard, Pied Wagtail, Linnet and Chiffchaff.

 

I was in the mood for a bit of midweek birding and , as I have not had a Hobby yet, I decided to walk around Barton GP.  I usually get good sightings of Hobbies here.  Firstly me and the dog had to run the gauntlet of getting past , what looked to be an innocent cute dog.  That was untill we got near it when it pounced onto my dog and started biting it.  I kicked it off and got my dog over the stile just as an alsation came running out of the farm.  Thus, however, turned out to be soft as sponge and just wanted fussing but the little thing was growling and showing its teeth all of the time.  I went to the farm house and banged on the door but no-one was in.  Good job really, I was fuming.  Anyway I checked Jess over, she was alright, and got on walking along the footpath to the pits.  On the way I saw Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Lapwing, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Blackbird, and Swallow.  I walked from the south pit to the top end and added Black-headed Gull, Coot, Tufted Duck, Canada Geese, Mallard, Pied Wagtail, Ringed Plover, Robin, Great Crested Grebe, Swift, Oystercatcher, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Dunnock, Wren, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Cormorant, Blue Tit, Stock Dove, Bullfinch, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Grey Heron, Chaffinch, Great Tit, and Buzzard.  On the way back I added a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  No Hobby tonight and I also managed to avoid the little dog.

I am now going to eat my words.  I visited Shustoke yesterday and wrote that I didn't see much blah blah blah.  I have just looked on the Shustoke blog site shustoke.blogspot.com and I have changed my minds.  The birds they have had there are excellent, and reading the blog, they do get quiet days but they also get Osprey and Gannet and Petrels so, If anyone has told Steve Seal et al that I was horrible about his site (I was not too bad but chinese whispers and all that), I apologise and will be back again.  Have a look at the site mentioned above and I will put a link to the site from my blog.

It was nearing tea time so I decided to pop in at Whitemoor on the way home and scan the lake for anything.  I saw Redshank, Tufted Duck, Canada Geese, Robin, Magpie, Lapwing, Wood Pigeon, Ringed Plover, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Little Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Gadwall, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Swallow, Cormorant, Common Whitethroat, and Herring Gull.  Not the most stunning of birdwatching sessions but a nice end to a good days birding.

I am afraid I did a naughty thing here.  I arrived at a group of birders and assumed the Spoonbills were there.  So I parked the car, left the windows open for the dog, and got my stuff out to see the birds.  There were two Spoonbills on Teal Pool, washing and preening on the bank.  I got a few shots and then left as i did not like leaving the dog in the car.  The only other bird I noted were Gadwall, Canada Geese and Grey Heron.  I don't like going to places, seeing one bird, and then leaving but with the hot sun and the dog in the car, I could not stay long.

Now I was stuck.  It was too early to head off home and I wanted another chance of some terns.  I look in my site guide and I noticed Shustoke Resevoir was only ten minutes away.  So off I went and arrived at a car park.  This place was not what I expected, being honest, but I head off.  I saw Pied Wagtail, Great Tit, Mallard Blackbird and Coot.  I had got about a quarter of the way round when the pager went off and two Spoonbills were at Alvecote Pools.  A couple of expletives later and I had a choice, carry on or leg it back and get to Alvecote.  I decided to carry on, quickening the pace admittedly.  The rest of the birds for the walk were  Wood Pigeon, Wren, Robin, Mute Swan, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Great Crested Grebe, Buzzard, Swallow,and Magpie.      

After breakfast I had a practice on the drum kits (how sad can one person get - loves birding and is a wannabe drummer), whilst watching the weather slowly improve.  Finally it stopped raing and I fancied a place with lots of birds, a good walk with the dog, and the possibility of some Black Terns.  I don't know why I chose Kingsbury.  Bank Holiday.  Tea rooms.  Childrens play areas.  Easy walks.  I was asking for trouble there.  But I was pleasantly suprised.  I arrived in the car park and there was loads of cars but not many people around.  It is such a huge place that it can absorb loads of people.  There are loads of pools and so many places to find some privacy.  And the birds were excellent too.  Four year ticks and a photo of a Garden Warbler (my 197 photographed species by the way).  The birds I saw were Coot, Mute Swan, Carrion Crow, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Pied Wagtail, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Mallard, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Magpie, Tufted Duck, Wood Pigeon, Willow Warbler, Wren, Turtle Dove (a major suprise), Song Thrush, Robin, Cuckoo (finally located after lots of searching), Reed Warbler, Gadwall, Shelduck, Cormorant, Sedge Warbler, Moorhen, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Sparrowhawk, Dunnock, Swift, Common Tern, Willow Tit, Buzzard, Collared Dove, Lesser Whitethroat, Marsh Tit, Garden Warbler, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greylag Geese, Lapwing, and Shoveler.  Not a bad bird list for a public place . Oh yes, no Black Terns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forecast for Monday was best day of the hloiday weekend.  A beer free and early night led me to waking up to it ............raining.  I couldn't believe it.  By eight though the rain had stopped so I was off.  I started walking to the pools and saw Carrion Crow, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Skylark, Wood Pigeon, Jackdaw, Blackbird, House Sparrow, Black-headed Gull, Swallow, Common Whitethroat, Song Thrush and Long-tailed Tit.  By the time I got to the south pit it was starting to drizzle but I was not going home.  On the pit I saw Mallard, Lapwing, Tufted Duck, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull, Robin and Cormorant.    Three Little Gulls had been present a couple of days earlier but with the ever heavy drizzle I gave it a go but had get going back to the car, back home, and back to eating breakfast................and failed on the gulls.

I have been watching Birdguides for Black Terns in the area, which i have been missing all of the time, so I decided to go and find my own at Blithfield, and failed miserably.  As previously mentioned in the Whitemoor entry, I was not in a walking frame of mind so I parked up by the causeway and reversed my car (it's an estate - or in a state), and sat in the boot and scanned for about three quarters of an hour hunting terns.  I saw Coot, mallard, Common Tern, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Greylag Geese, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Swallow, Tufted Duck, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Sandpiper, Wood Pigeon and Magpie.  No 'blackies' today but I will keep trying. 

Sunday mornings!  Love them and hate them.  Today I hated them as I was partaking in a few beverages last night.  This and getting up early I was feeling tired all day so when I finally managed to get out it was only at the pool at Whitemoor, no walking - lazy &%£@*!.  Anyway, 1 hour there and I had Common Sandpiper, Pied Wagtail, Swift, Lapwing, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Blackbird, Ringed Plover, Mallard, Gadwall, Black-headed Gull, Teal, Great Crested Grebe, Carrion Crow and Garden Warbler.  A Wood Sandpiper and Whimbrel had been reported over the weekend but to see them I had to go into the quarry, which is unfortunately private property (as you can see this is a blog for birding not moaning so I will not be doing a 'soap-box' bit).  Nuff said.