Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birds, insects, loxley valley, my patch, sheffield on July 6, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Today I braved the rain and went for a quick walk on my patch - there was only really one big shower, and I actually managed to walk for most of it in one of the few sunny spells of the day!
Very few bird highlights - 4 x drake tufted duck and 1 x baby coot at [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged amphibians, birds, newts, nightjars, sheffield, wharncliffe heath, woodcock on July 3, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Call me a wuss, or call me sensible, but nocturnal birding has never been my strongpoint as I’ve never been one for wandering round lonely areas in the pitch dark on foot. So last night I siezed my chance to catch up with a couple of night-dwelling birds on a SBSG guided walk at Wharncliffe Heath.
The [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged agden reservoir, birds, flycatchers, sheffield on June 28, 2008 | 2 Comments »
This morning I had a walk round Agden Reservoir, with a specific aim of finding pied flycatchers. I failed miserably at this, but did catch up with their spotted cousins. The first ones I saw were a pair on Smallfield Lane, near Low Bradfield. They’re really photogenic birds due to their habit of returning to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birds, garden, loxley valley, mammals, photography on June 20, 2008 | 2 Comments »
As promised, some more pictures from the FZ18. It’s amazing how well it works on ridiculously high zooms, even handheld, albeit with a loss in quality.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birds, damflask, loxley valley, my patch, photography, sheffield, surveys on June 16, 2008 | 3 Comments »
On Saturday I got up early and spent the whole morning finishing, or nearly finishing, my two surveys. Firstly I did my late visit for the BTO Breeding Bird Survey. The first thing I found as I got off the bus at Damflask were three great spotted woodpeckers, all in the same tree, which boded [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged barnsley, birds, old moor, reserves, rspb, volunteering on June 7, 2008 | 4 Comments »
I’ve had a fantastic day today! I was volunteering at Old Moor, helping lead guided walks showing people baby birds around the reserve to tie in with Springwatch. Plenty was there to see, including coot, little grebe, Canada goose, mallard and black-headed gull chicks, and lapwings and kestrels on the nest.
Adding an extra dimension to it all, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birds, deer, derbyshire, fox hagg, mammals, moscar, redmires reservoir, sheffield, stanage edge, wyming brook on June 6, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Today I took a day off work and caught the bus out to Lodge Moor, walked up to Redmires, up Stanege Edge to Moscar, down to Wyming Brook, Fox Hagg and then caught the bus home!
Things started out well at Redmires, with a grasshopper warbler reeling away. Although I didn’t get a glimpse, it still [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged badgers, birds, loxley common, loxley valley, mammals, my patch, rants, sheffield, surveys, wadsley common on May 19, 2008 | No Comments »
On Saturday I went for a walk around the tetrad I’m surveying for the Sheffield Bird Study Group (tetrad SK28Z). It was a bit of a dingy day, and there wasn’t too much about, but still managed to see a couple of highlights. Including:
A reed bunting on Rowell Lane, just outside the tetrad. The first I’ve [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birds, loxley valley, my patch, sheffield on May 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I went for a walk last night on the Loxley Valley, highlights including:
Pair of lapwing at Old Wheel Farm, the male displaying.
Sparrowhawk over Old Wheel Dam area.
Singing bullfinches heard at Old Wheel Dam.
Male blackcap on the path between the bowling green and Rowell Bridge.
Singing garden warbler (a year tick), blackcap, chiffchaff and willow warbler on path south [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birds, birds of prey, derbyshire on May 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Last night I went out to a site in Derbyshire where some friends of mine believe peregrines to be nesting. Due to the persecution of these birds, and the fact this place doesn’t seem openly known, I’m afraid I’m not going to divulge the site on an open blog, sorry!
Although it took us a while, [...]
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