Today I went on the Sheffield Bird Study Group’s “Twitcher’s Fieldtrip”. Basically it was a bit of a mystery tour, with no fixed destination, and decisions based on where we go based purely on what birds are around.
A concentration of decent stuff led us to Lincolnshire, where we started off at what must be one [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
22 Nov
A dirty day’s twitching…
17 Nov
Carsington, Redmires, etc.
Last week I had a trip to Carsington Water, a great site in Derbyshire I’ve never visited before. The main aim of the day was great northern diver, which we got reasonable quickly, although sadly only distantly through the scope. A very distinctive bird though, its shape unmistakable even as a distant silhouette.
After spending the [...]
5 Nov
How to find… Waxwings!
OK, I’ve still not got much interesting to write about, so I thought I’d make myself useful and do the first of some semi-regular posts on how to find certain species.
Now November’s with us it’s time to be wary that waxwings may descend upon us at any moment. Some years these Scandinavian berry-munchers arrive in [...]
2 Nov
A dose of flu…
Well, I was hoping to start November with some good hijinks from the weekend, as I fully intended to have a potter round Little Matlock Wood to get some mushrooms for my uni course on Saturday, and spend Sunday morning vis-migging at Redmires. Unfortunately the flu struck on Friday evening – I’m not being overdramatic [...]
25 Oct
The last two weekends (including a lifer!)
Sorry, I haven’t updated for a while, but here’s a few details of the last couple of weekends.
Last Saturday I had a uni fieldtrip to Ringinglow looking for fungi (I’ll do a mycological post soon, honest!), and there were definite signs that autumn had well and truly arrived, in the form of two skeins of [...]
13 Oct
Return to Spurn
Today I managed to have another crack at Spurn, after persuading my dad he needed to experience Spurn in autumn! The day started well with my first fieldfare of the winter, and a brambling in the churchyard. A quick peek in the Crown & Anchor car park led to us following the gaze of the assembled birders [...]
5 Oct
Buzzards
I had a great “from the house” tick yesterday with two buzzards low over Loxley Road, clearly visible from the living room window. I have seen distant buzzards overhead before in the Valley, but these were the best views I’ve had on patch, and the first from the house. Good stuff!
Last week I started my part-time [...]
27 Sep
Spurn and a new patch mammal…
This morning it was a stupid o’clock start for a trip to Spurn with the SBSG. The recent westerly winds and nice sunny weather meant that I wasn’t expecting it to be a rarity-fest, and I wasn’t wrong! The only scarce bird around was a barred warbler, which despite spending the entire day in the [...]
26 Sep
A couple of patch updates
This last two weekend’s I’ve actually had a walk on what is probably becoming one of the most neglected local patches in the country…
Last week’s highlights were a dipper at Stacey Bank (ringed light blue over metal/red over yellow), a couple of grey wagtails, 5 x tufted duck on Old Wheel Dam, and the usual [...]
19 Sep
Peeps
Before I get on with today’s sightings, a quick postscript to the last post. Here is a picture of the elusive Edderthorpe spotted crake, not taken by me but by Dave Simmonite, who not only had the fortune to see it in much better light than my twilight encounter, but turned up at the flash [...]
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