My First Bittern

A dry day, a Christmas family day out. Cameras, Scopes, Binoculars & Warm waterproofs packed. Sat Nav programmed for Slimbridge WWT, A quick flick around the collection of ornamental birds and plenty of ducking a diving at the hoards of incoming Geese.

Incoming Greylags

And off towards the Kingfisher Hide, a quick pit-stop in the Van De BovenKamp Hide as the majority of foot traffic where headed towards the more exciting Kingfisher Hide, was well worth the stop, as after around 5 minutes of scanning the edges of various reed beds, my first ever Bittern spotted skulking along the edge of the water 100 yards from the hide, Magical! Interesting to see the Mallard on the water mirroring the Bittern as it stalked its way along the waters edge to a thick clump of reeds. Showing for a good 10minutes, Not the best photos, but definitely clear enough to tell what it is. Well worth the trip!

Bittern

The Kingfisher hide didn't show any Kingfishers, but a good outlook over the water meadows showed a lot of Curlew in the distance, the Bird feeders hanging from the nearby trees, had Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and regular visits of scavenging Jackdaws a few sitting still long enough for me to shoot of a couple of pics.

Blue Tit

After parting with a small fortune for a Baguette in the Restaurant we got down to some serious Wildfowl watching, first stop over looking the Tack Piece, the Martin Smith Hide giving any visitor and serious birder a pretty breathless first glance. Ducks, Geese, Swans as far as the eye can see, Hundreds, Thousands all feeding on the flooded water meadows. Wigeon, European White Fronted Geese, Goldeneye, Pintail, Pochard, Bewicks Swans, Mallard, Common Teal, Tufted Duck, Redshank, Dunlin and Lapwing all mixing together.

Feeding Wigeon

Just A Small Number Of The Feeding Wildfowl

A Huge flock of Golden Plover fed on the far side of the water meadow often rising and re-settling again, getting us all excited in the hope of a Peregrine zooming through the middle of them, no birds of prey unfortunately other than two rather sedate Buzzards perched on matching fence posts. Also spotted on the Tack Piece a good view of a pair of Lesser Scaup a somewhat rarity for the country.

Common Teal

View Of The Tack Piece

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

A final stop at the Rushy Hide, gave some great views of drake Pintails, and a female Goldeneye.

Female Goldeneye 

Drake Pintail

So all in all a good day, with a couple of firsts the Bittern, Pintail & Lesser Scaup. And seeing thousands of wintering birds on the Tack Piece something I wont forget in a hurry. Definitely worth the trip!

Happy New Year Everyone!

And A Partridge In The Hedgerow

Well my apologies first of all for the lack of posts this week, haven’t had the chance to get out at all, the weathers been pretty rubbish and more annoyingly I’ve been suffering from a serious bout of Man Flu! And we all know what that means!!!

Feeling near enough alive again, and having a surprisingly quiet day planned I used the excuse of walking the dogs, to trek around the estate. And I must say a very festive result, 25 species of bird for Christmas, and no im not just making that number up.

Below listed are the Bird Species spotted today around the estate and on the garden feeders:

1.Blue Tit 2.Great Tit 3.Blackbird 4.House Sparrow 5.Dunnock 6.Grey Heron 7.Green Sandpiper 8.Wood Pigeon 9.Carrion Crow 10.Treecreeper 11.Goldcrest 12.Long Tailed Tit 13.Buzzard 14.Yellowhammer 15.Chaffinch 16.Red Legged Partridge 17.Coal Tit 18.Great Spotted Woodpecker 19.Sparrowhawk 20.Little Egret 21.Mallard 22.Common Teal 23.Pheasant 24.Tawny Owl 25.Robin

Also spotted – Roe Deer, Brown Hare, Rabbit & Stoat

Hopefully I will be able to get out and about again before the New Year, may even get a chance to pop up to Slimbridge during next week. So I shall take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, may you all drink and eat too much and give and receive plenty.

Female Great-spotted Woodpecker

Christmas Lights

Female House Sparrow

Here's For All The Gull Fans!

Saw this, this morning on a bookmarked Graphic Design site. Thought some of the Gull fans out there would see the funny side.

http://raw.abduzeedo.com/post/14263649929

Species Of Gulls - Anna Grape

What You Looking At...

Snow, Sun, Rain, Hail all before 12pm I was a little apprehensive as to how wet and cold I might get on today's lunchtime excursion to Anton Lakes. Luckily it stayed dry, and wasn't too cold, to be fair its probably warmer outside than in the office at the moment. 2 Days with no heating is starting to take its toll.

My walk was pretty short today, not a lot showing up, I'm guessing this is due to the colder weather beginning to creep in, with a lot of Birds heading to Gardens for a feast on the Bird tables of Hampshire.
I did however see, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Wren, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Song Trush, Redwing, Kingfisher, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull, Gadwall, Mallard, Coot, Little Grebe, Moorhen & Canada Goose.

Swan Portrait

Black Headed Gull

Redwing

Cygnet

I did almost have a rather funny altercation with 3 Hooded Youths, now with out being Stereotypical or even Racist they were Black and looked like my camera was in danger of thievery, after forcing me to walk on the grass as they hogged the path, I was verbally assaulted with "What you looking at...." In a rather menacing and accusing tone, as I looked back down the path at the Small flock of Redwings crossing from the Tree-line to the nearest hedgerow. Now lets be honest, even if I was delusional enough to be taking pics of passer-by's I wouldn't be doing so in Wellington's or a Camo Jacket. But hey ho thats Andover. Im just so glad they weren't closer to me because in such situations when confronted by ridiculous looking people Im more than likely to start laughing.

Like I'd Never Been Away

A trip to Rooksbury Mill was in order today, As I don't think what with various bits and bobs going on that I'd visited there in about 2 weeks. I was pretty disappointed to find all the small birds had vanished, In the whole hour I spent around the lakes, I didn't see one Blue Tit, Great Tit or Sparrow, a sorry state of affairs. A few Goldfinches did show up as I got back to the car park, but that was about it.

A few more ducks appearing on the big lake now, Mainly Tufted Ducks, Coots, Moorhen, the odd Black Headed Gull, a pair of Little Grebe and a lone Juvenile Great Crested Grebe (No.50 on the December Area List). He/She was a bit far out for a decent picture.

Very Distant Great Crested Grebe

The species and numbers on the smaller lake haven't really changed at all, Half a dozen or so Gadwall, 8-10 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and 4 Mute Swans. Both Kingfishers were calling up and down the river but I never got a glimpse today, here's to hoping for more luck at Anton Lakes tomorrow if the weather permits.

Tufted Duck Drakes

Gadwall Drake

Gadwall

Mute Swan Cygnet

Praying It Wasn't A Rat

12pm Hurricane gone, sun out, smashing! 1pm, drizzle and a stiff breeze. Oh the joys of british weather. Either that or I should start taking my lunch break an hour earlier. Not a bad thing though in some respects, as I only passed 2 Joggers in the entire hour, definitely a first for the Chav/Dog Walker friendly Anton Lakes.

Still no luck on the Bullfinch front, just the male present today, same tree as last time, a slightly better photo at identifying it, but nothing to write home about.

A few Collared Dove hanging around the paths edge in the trees with remaining berries. And the customary Blue Tits & Great Tits flitting about from side to side, but definitely not in the same kind of numbers as earlier in the week, possible I guess that the extreme winds of the last 2 days have disturbed them some what.

The lakes where unexpectedly quiet also, no Little Grebes or Gadwall today. Even the Swans weren't really keen on the water, both Adults and the 3 Cygnets where next to the path feeding sifting through the reeds and grass.

Mute Swan

If Tuesdays visit brought the sounds of Robins, today brought the sound of the Kingfisher, several high pitched calls before I located the bird landing on the same branch as I had Photographed last week. Again I crept into a fairly decent position opposite the branch, but distracted myself to turn around as I heard a hissing Swan, just to make sure I wasn't in for some broken arm treatment, turning back slowly, now confident of my safety to find the Kingfisher had flown another 20 ft upstream, partially hidden by the wispy branches. Photo opportunity gone! Not disturbed by me I decided to stick it out, plenty of time left to get back to the car. I waited around 20 minutes the Bird frequently flying (and calling) up and down stream past my position 2 or 3 times, just never stopping in a clear enough spot.

Distant Kingfisher

I guess the events that happened next could be classed as pretty special, Kingfisher perched in the tree, Water Vole emerging directly underneath said tree. I must admit I got pretty excited, having never seen a Water Vole other than on TV, I started snapping away, praying it wasn't actually a Rat. Great to see one on that particular stream. I did try to get the Kingfisher in the shot as well but a blue blur through the trees isn't really clear enough.

Water Vole

The rest of the walk around the Lakes proved pretty uneventful, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Robin, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Wren, Buzzard & Magpie the only other sightings.

Robin 

Dunnock

Exmoor & Back Again

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a little trip down to Exmoor planned, unfortunately not specifically for Wildlife Watching, and wasn't able to take the camera out and about. The location the Orchard Wyndham Estate about 6 or 7 miles from Minehead on the Eastern outskirts of the Exmoor National Park.

Orchard Wyndham Estate

The first encounter of the day a small murmuration of Starlings coming off of roost as it got light over the Illchester to Taunton road, I've never been lucky enough to encounter such a sight, and although it was only a small number (a couple of thousand) it certainly wet the appetite too see the birds heading to roost in all their glory.

After arriving during a rather sudden Downpour, which came rolling in from the Bristol Channel in a mere matter of minutes, the hopes of a dry day wasn't looking good. However it soon cleared, leaving clear blue skies and beautiful golden light. The wind mind, was pretty much gale force so standing still in one place without being blown 15-20 yards proved to be a little tricky.

Although I was soon pleasantly supprised an a little amazed with the species seen and the numbers in which they were present. Flocks of Bullfinches & Goldfinches were present in the Ash Trees on the edge of the Estate, with the Bullfinch numbers way into double figures, the males striking pink underside highlighted by the bright morning sun as they flew from tree to tree.

Now my next sighting questioned my birding knowledge a little bit, there I was in the middle of the rolling Somerset countryside, no real major watercourses around other than a smallish stream, and the customary ditch alongside every hedgerow. 5 or 6 Reed Bunting perched in the nearest hedge row, A somewhat unusual sight I think to myself, but all was to be revealed, or its the reason Im giving. The other side of the hill alongside the B3190 stood several hundred acres of cover around 7ft in height, which on closer inspection appeared to be Reed used for Thatch. Would be logical right?

Other species I noted around this area, Hundreds of Pheasants, 4 Woodcock, Rook, 6 Buzzard, Carrion Crow, 5 or 6 Wheatear, Blue Tit, Magpie, Great Tit & Blackbird.

The afternoon brought a walk across some set aside Wheat stubble fields, the abundance of bird life rising from the ground was pretty incredible to be honest. Huge numbers of Skylark, Yellowhammer & Corn Bunting. All species I'd feel lucky to see at home.

The wind drew the weather in pretty fast, and it was pitch black by the time I made my way back along the A303, so no late afternoon Starling spotting. But a most enjoyable day, unfortunately I sit writing this post at my desk this afternoon, gazing out of the window at the dreariest grey wet day for a long time. But its nice to reminisce even though it was only yesterday.

What Did I Miss?

Well turns out the only thing I did miss was a nice warm office. Only joking, but the excitement of last weeks trip to Anton Lakes wasn't duplicated today, However lots of Birds showing up, Fieldfare galore with smallish flocks seen all of the way around the site. A lone pair of Bullfinches hid amongst the branches, but neither moving near enough to the outsides of the bush for a decent photograph.

With the first proper frost this morning (Icy covering on the roads) all of the Native birds seem to have multiplied in numbers, so I'm reckoning some migrant Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbirds & Wrens have joined the winter population.

Todays chorus of Robin song pretty much drowned out the sound of anything else, and it seemed every
15-20 yards brought forth 2 or 3 battling for territories throughout my lunchtime walk, does mean however that they are a little bit easier to photograph.

Robins

Quite a few Jenny Wrens showing up, along with a definite increase in Chaffinch & Goldfinch, already in mixed flocks. Sadly no Kingfishers around the lakes or the ajoining waterways today, although a rather mottled Buzzard did fly off from his perch out in the water meadow as I walked past.

On the water the story is still pretty much the same, Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Black Headed Gull & Mallard, although the Mallard numbers definitely seem to have swollen, possibly a lot more 'Wild" birds coming in as they were a lot more flighty than normal.

Mute Swan

The remainder of the walk back to the car brought pretty much the same as the first half, with the addition of 4 Redwing & a lone Greenfinch. Off to Exmoor tomorrow for a change of scenery, not packing the camera however so you'll just have to believe me if I see something exciting.

Busy Busy Busy

I must apologize I seem to have no time for the important things at the moment! Getting out and about with the Camera and Bino's! Work, Weather, Weekends away oh and when finally finding a free lunchtime on friday. Forgetting the Battery and memory card for the camera! Not the most pleasing of ends to the week.

Butt anyhow I hope to get out tomorrow, Wednesday's a no no as Im off to Exmoor for the day. So the weather better be good tomorrow. (Rain forecast)

I did however manage to log a few species around the Estate on Saturday morning. Blue Tit, Blackbird, Great Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Pheasant, Red Legged Partridge, Skylark, Wren, Long Tailed Tit, Grey Partridge, Jay, Wood Pigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Rook, Fieldfare, House Sparrow, Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Snipe, Woodcock, Yellowhammer, Tawny Owl, Robin, Greenfinch, Roe Deer, Brown Hare, Fox, Rabbit & Muntjac.

Not to bad for a mornings work.

November To Remember

I guess you know its going to be a good lunch break when the first bird you see without having to leave the Car is a Kingfisher, without bragging I'm seeing them so often now Im going to soon have to learn the difference between Male & Female. Well maybe I am bragging a little bit!

So I decided to walk the Anton Lakes LNR path in reverse today, with the late Autumn sun so low in the sky it makes spotting on and around the lakes near on impossible with the amount of glare, so I thought a change of angle might bring me better fortune. Turns out it did! Second spot about a minute down the path was this Grey Squirrel not at all perturbed by my presence as he tucked into the berries atop of this tree.

Grey Squirrel

I thought Id be sneaky today, and crept down a bit of a drainage ditch to a piece of water enclosed public eye from both sides, instantly regretting my decision as I flushed a Water Rail from the bank beneath me! It always seems to be me doing more damage than good. But a definite confirmed sighting as it skimmed across the shallow water to denser cover, the first Water Rail I've seen in the Andover area so one for my records!

Now if God or some other divine being, Momma Nature perhaps was repaying me for my disturbance of the Water Rail, they picked a pretty instant return. About another 50 ft down the path in a small Rowan tree near by its side, 5-6 Bullfinches fed happily atop its branches, 1 Male with his gorgeous Pinky Red chest plumage, and 4-5 Females no less striking with their thick black caps. Beautiful Birds!

To be honest I think I would pick them over a Kingfisher 9 times out of 10. So I inch my way very slowly down to wards the tree, checking the camera settings so as to snap them perfectly against a blue sky. Then I realize that the pathway to the local play park is about 10 yards further on, as 4 very young looking smokers (about 12) swearing and spitting (Dirty Bastards) disturb the birds to the thicker Ivy covered hazel behind me on the other side of the path. Bloody Typical!

Im not going to give up just like that, I mean a flock of Bullfinches in beautiful autumnal light, but they had flown off so I thought i'd bide my time, pretty certain I might get a couple of shots, but I guess it could have been predicted, something sent to thwart me, that as soon as the birds hopped a bit further up the overhanging branches, looking as if they might return to the Berry bush, some rather unassuming member/members of the public would walk past and disturb them and give me a look that suggested pure unexplained wierdness. This happened on no less than 3 occasions, Dog walker, Single Mum, and a Kid on a Bike ringing his bell! Bloody Strikers! Kids should be at school! I did manage to get a proof shot, up through the branches before they were disturbed finally an flew off up the adjoining hedgerow.

Male Bullfinch

Plenty of Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits & Great Tits on the lower branches around the waters edge. The usual array of Ducks, Geese, Swans and Coots on the water. But I don't suppose nothing prepared me for my next encounter, towards the bottom of the lakes, the River Anton flows into the lake coming up from behind the retail units in town and along side the London - West Country Railway line. This is quite an open piece of ground with 2 small water meadows bordering either side of the River bank. Sat on the branch about 4 ft above the water was a Kingfisher, perfect visibility no branches or leaves interfering with my line of sight! Am I really that lucky!

Kingfisher

Turns out I was, So I crept a little closer, and closer still, and still it perched, not at all bothered by my presence, so I move around the other side of the bush, and crept slower still up the opposite side of the bank, staying close to the fence-line, till I was pretty much opposite the branch. Still no movement, now either my stalking skills have suddenly become very impressive! Or it could have been the fact I decided to wear my real tree camo coat, now confirmed that it is extremely camouflaged! I managed to fire of about 50 shots in the time, before he/she dived into the Water and flew off on re emerging!

The Best One Yet

Now I've been entering onto this blog for just over 2 weeks now and I must say Im a little shocked with the amount of interest and page views I've received but then again that could be my witty Blog title! With certain web browsers a little disappointed when they click on "A Cracking Pair Of Tits" and Wild birds pop up instead of plastic ones!

As its is the first of December today I thought I'd give a brief tally up of the Bird / Mammal Species seen in these 2 and half weeks in November - 59 Birds & 7 Mammals with the Black Redstart being a complete newbie to me, New species for the area that id never seen before included Siskin, Treecreeper & Water Rail. Here's to hoping the imminent arrival of Christmas brings me some more delights.