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Saturday, 27 February 2016

On your marks.

After Matt's Oystercatcher at GLE the other day (still there but on GLW today), an increase in Ringed Plover numbers and then an internet report of a Wheatear in Essex yesterday I thought an early morning jaunt to the Broom area may be worth a punt. I did get there a bit earlier than planned but this was due to one of the dogs deciding that it's a waste of a day to be in bed beyond 0500, so I'd really only taken the dogs down there to knacker them out a bit.

Wandered about for a while tripping over rabbits with myxomatosis (an abomination of a human development), with the highlights being c100 Golden Plover wheeling around and was just about to head for the car when my day-dreaming was interrupted by a calling Curlew. It was pretty hard to locate at first but this was due to it being high up and drifting in a fairly large loop over both GLE and GLW. I wonder how many other "decent" birds are missed if they do the same but don't call, otherwise I'd never have seen it?

Anyway, I'll happily admit that I'm now going to be out and about with a bit more enthusiasm and hope that something decent will turn up, as it appears that things are a couple of weeks early compared to the norm.

Jim


Monday, 15 February 2016

Brambling Breakfast

Three records in the garden so far this year, well separated in time but all have been females so potentially the same bird. Not found one away from the house yet so a useful self-finding tick just in case there are none later in the year, as they have not been particularly numerous for a while. Photo at an angle through double glazing to ensure that the quality is compromised for the blog


Sunday, 7 February 2016

A quiet start

Not done a lot of birding yet in 2016 other that some poking around the pits a couple of times after wind and rain. I've not found anything of note there though yet this year other than one Red-crested Pochard, maybe need a bit of cold. Fortunately, the birding on the journey there this morning was not so bad as the birding at my assorted destinations as a quick scan over a rough field gave me a daylight hunting Barn Owl, my first of the year.