Gronant - Birthday grueller!

My Birthday cake gets bigger to accommodate more and more candles! It was meant to be a 'lucky' day and a trip to Norfolk was put on hold due to the weather there. A day in North Wales turned into a dip strewn grueller: very briefly.....

First call at Gronant for the Shore Lark ended up as a hard slog for nowt, a few miles of tideline, virtually to the Point of Air ended up nearly blank!






Apart from roosting Sanderling....






5 Grey Plover (a year tick), plus more Sanderling and Dunlin.......








The only Larks on show were plenty of Skylark!!






Llanbedr-y-cennin refused to yield Hawfinch again, hmm maybe my birthday bash is destined to happen on Tuesday with a return to Parkgate (10.2 metre tide) and the Wirral???

Tamworth Pigs - (Waxwings)

Had to drop Gemma off at the Space Centre in Leicester today where she was working on her NVQ, studying the effects of swimming in weightless conditions? :-)

I went off to study the effects of planting ornamental Sorbus trees in residential areas - they seem to attract Waxwings although pretty hard to come by this year!!! I ended up in Tamworth, Staffs and spent most of the morning watching a traffic island, explaining to taxi drivers what I was doing/looking at and showing images of the birds to local residents to convince them I wasn't planning on coming back later that evening.....






Here's why!






Attactive birds as ever and nice orange berries but gloom and drizzle put the mockers on a bit of quality!








A long morning to try and get a pic or two, the pattern followed was:

1. Gorge berries for about 1 minute

2. Sit in a tree (totally off limits for photography) and digest them for 30 mins

3. Repeat 1 and 2 (unless a Mistle Thrush shows then go to 4)

4. Fly off somewhere

5. After 15 mins, return to 2 and with luck loop back to 1 !!










Here he is - one of two particularly spiteful Missile Thrushes - get orfff my berries, or else!






OK, Ok I'm going.......






Eventually, so did I and back in Leics. with another hour to spare, checked out Eyebrook reservoir. All very distant birding and no Green-winged Teal, no White-fronted Goose but at least South of the Island, Slav Grebe and Black-necked Grebe had hung around, plus a bonus male Smew on the far bank!

The only image forthcoming here was that of a fine male Kestrel....








It's my BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!! I think I'll just be geting wet somewhere??

Here we go, here we go....

Almost off topic but I'm long overdue a rant (the dust on this one has now settled)

**** CAUTION *****

This post contains irony* and may not be suitable for persons of a sensitive disposition. Please do not read on...

Irony* Dictionary definition incongruity between what is expected to be and what actually is, or a situation or result showing such incongruity

Shropshire birds 'Yahoo group' should be a valuable resource available to Shropshire birdfolk. I link to it, I post when there's something worth reporting, many other like minded birders do so too. I live in hope that it will be the reliable resource it should be?

And then, this happens....

.....just had a telephone call from the man who wears the "Lennie the Lion" mascot outfit at Shrewsbury football matches. He says he was walking along the river at Shrewsbury this afternoon near the old football ground when he saw two ducks in the river he had never seen before. He had a good look at them and has sonce looked them up on the internet and he says they are a male and female Smew.......






I've got nothing against 'Lennie' - I'm sure he's a lovely man and he was only doing what any normal person does when trying to enhance their knowledge of nature - ask an 'expert'?. It really shouldn't have gone further than that though? A quiet, "Lennie, it was almost certainly a pair of Goosander, just have another look at your book or the internet?" in his ear......

Could Shropshire be responsible / guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of information? Some clues are evident....

The posted report is in editorial English and immediately makes a point of alerting us to the fact it was from a man who routinely wears a Lion outfit - is this meant to add value or credence to the sighting? (Hmm, well maybe..... if we were talking Antelope vs Impala at 400m range) Lions have very good eyes for that sort of thing but we're talking birds here....

......Two ducks in the river he had never seen before

WHAT, never seen the River Severn before!! Evidence of an ailing memory I fear! It's not too many years ago that the footie was played at the Gay Meadow right by the same river and no doubt one or two Goosanders got clobbered by footballs, or empty beer cans thrown off the English bridge by chanting mobs - no wonder they left to find a quieter stretch of river?? They have now returned as the place is much quiet and tranquil (apart from 'courting' couples in the dead of night - more of that later)....

......looked them up on the internet and he says they are a male and female Smew

The Internet, or a field guide for that matter allows you to have instant recall of the most notable and detailed identification features of just about any rare bird - (for example) Little Crake to Stellers Eider, so.... they are..... no 'maybe, might or doubt about it'......

But....Wait a minute! How do you look up something you have never seen before??

I tried to simulate this - keyed 'White duck' in Google Images and got a 'Splendid Duck' or various Farmyard type creations - hmm, hardly exciting, not one of them then.....

I then tried Googling - 'Duck I have never seen' and got 'Wood Duck' at the top of a very illustious list including some really good RB Mergansers pics, and then finally .....Surf Scoters!! - crikey - is this where the Pensarn birds went to?!! Hang about though, Surf Scoters aren't normally misidentified as Smew are they? One of the Shrewsbury birds must have been white - maybe, just maybe - a Surf Scoter spontaneously becoming leucistic??

Come on you Smoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo's

Here we go, here we go, here we go......

To the Severn by the English bridge that is - Black Redstart had also been correctly recorded from the area up by the old RSI a couple of Winters back too!....

I had to take a chance - there was a chance all of this could be true - STFC for the Premiership? John Terry reinstated as England Captain! Ashley Cole having a quiet night in with Cheryl.....

I actually went then and can you guess what I saw? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss you can!






Even during my 30 minute walk, I was asked if I'd photographed the 'Mergansers'* or whether it was normal to see 'Shag'** around here (Hmm, maybe after the clubs turn out in the early hours, cue disappearing Goosanders as the moans reach excessive decibels......)

* = Goosander depending upon your viewpoint?

** = Cormorants

Oh and the odd pair of BN Grebe were almost certainly this freakish Siamese twin Little Grebe combo!






Footnote - no offence is intended by this post and no birds came to harm either. Assuming you got this far, this was a light hearted dissection of how / when not to report birds you thought you saw / was told had been seen , a mega-suspect or 'possible' but unlikely sighting from self / a 'member of the public', dress code optional. Did I not / did you understand any of that?!!

Kinmel Bay - Black start.....

Escape from Shropshire is not impossible but with the prospect of Mordor or Crane Hunts as local options...... No question, it had to be the snow covered single lane corridor of liberation to some decent birds - the A55 to North Wales!






The target was Snow Buntings plus undoubtedly a few year ticks? Yvonne had her camera packed (prospect of lifer) too, question was - would they show?

A pretty good omen for the day - the first bird seen - within seconds of leaving the car was a Black Redstart!






A flighty little so and so, prone to completely disappearing but every now and then popping up on one of the fence posts....








(Presumably) this same bird has been reported several times a 'female/juv' - it looked to me with the dark ash grey colouration more like a juv male!






Appears to be a white wing patch developing too plus a noticeably darker shade to the head....








It wasn't long before the Snow Buntings put in a an appearance - 4 of them including a very nice male. Even more flighty than the Blackstart though and two brief glimpses - near the rivermouth and later further along the beach were all we got that morning!






I really like the thought of capturing them feeding on the wild grass seeds, so much more appealing than on the deck!

No great numbers of waders but Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Redshank and numerous Oystercatcher were present on the beach/estuary mud. A pair of Goosander were on the river mouth.

We headed down the coast to Pensarn.....

Kinmel Bay .....Snow to finish!

The middle of the day didn't entirely go to plan! It was looking good when a stop at Pensarn yielded 100's of Common Scoters, a group of 3 Velvet Scoters at least three Red-throated Divers and a few Red-breasted Mergansers. No sign of Surf Scoter though and a long-tailed Duck seen earlier in the day had drifted/flown out of view!

The Hawfinch at Llanbedr-y-Cennin had also deserted their normal feeding areas (now under a carpet of snow!) An hour was more than enough time lost here. A quick look at Caerhun, (well, never really expected them to be there either!) and looking down on the banks of the Conwy, a Greenshank added, in amongst other waders....

Preferring a 'safe bet' next, we decided to give the Snow Buntings another go and boy oh boy - right decision!

Kinmel Bay take 2 then! It was nearly a disaster as they were feeding on the rivermouth tide-line debris on arrival and promptly flew off again!. We caught up with them further up the beach and got one or two (record) shots before lady luck then took over....

After flying for the 'fourth' time, this time they circled and landed - within 10m!!








Of course it didn't last and off they went - back towards the river mouth! Watching them from the dunes, we could see they were following a fairly straight line directly towards a few tussocks in front of an old wooden breakwater. We nipped down behind this and waited......






It didn't take long before we had four Snow Buntings in view and all within a 20m zone - aware of us but totally confiding now!






On the boulders.....






Finally - what we were waiting for - they started feedind on the grass seed. Fantastic to watch and almost like Bearded Tits in their manner, arching the grass stems and feasting on the small seeds therein!

A few wing flaps to help maintain balance....










On occasions - two birds within the field of view!










My favourite portraits (in no particular order)!

feeding.....








posing....








Eventually with the light fading, we had a all too late stab at the Gronant Shore Lark. We walked the boardwalk and had a quick search of the tideline to no avail. Oh well, a good excuse for another day in the area??

If you want to see more of these obliging Snow Buntings - have a look here here

Gigrin - Red Kites

I'm writing this on the 20th! Goshawk and Merlin the only highlight of last weekend! Other than that, just non productive local Crane, and Firecrest hunts in the past week or so, which which have taken up most of my (brief) spare time.

Just as well I promised a few Red Kite shots then - it's all I've got to offer!! Concentrating on the delightful upperwing, juveniles first.....














An underwing shot to finish....






I think I'm due an escape out of the County tomorrow, nothing twitchable but some decent birds will do .....

Gigrin - Black Kite II

My January encounter at Gigrin resulted in few keepers of the Black Kite due to the cloudy conditions - I'd promised myself a return visit on a 'blue sky' day!

I nearly got it as well, with a well timed 'half day' but some high cloud came on the scene just as lunch was being served. Nevertheless, I have to be pleased with the outcome. The overall feeding effect of the massed Kites makes you think, this is easy? Each bird needs just two or three successful food runs over an hour or so and then - is gone for good! You have to make each appearance of a particular bird (the Black Kite that is) count!

In no particular order, these are the best of the session.....






Diving....











A successful food run and away!








In aviation terms - a definite near miss (not a montage!)






Getting the upperwing shot was my priority though - this bird really is a stunner when caught banking!






My favourite shot of the day is....






If I get chance - a few Red Kites to follow......