Battle of the retail parks!

Today had a Waxwing 'feel' to it so after a late start I decided to have a trawl around the local (Shrewsbury) retail parks and Superstores. You may not be surprised at the results in the Shrewsbury Waxwing League.....

Sainsbury's - Waxwings 0 - Berries 10,000s - Potential VERY GOOD

Asda - Waxwings 0 - Berries 1,000s - Potential Good

Morrisons - Waxwings 0 - Berries 100s - Potential Medium

Aldi - Waxwings 0 - Berries 100's - Potential Medium

NB all Waxwing counts are approximate!

I never got to Tesco's as I had a text alert from Ian Grant, Pete Jordan had been shopping at Waitrose in Newport and achieved a Waxwing count of '1'.

25 minutes later I was watching my first Shropshire Waxwing of the year with Ian and another local birder! We were watching the bird from a comfortable distance when we ran into a problem.....

How do you stop Paul from trying to collect Waxwings in his lens hood or simulating a broad daylight firework display with his flash? Answers on a postcard to the Waxwing Defence League, please.....

The Waxwing didn't do much - just sat at the top of a tree.








Fanned it's tail on occasions.....






Then flew into a Rowan, ate a couple of berries then sat amongst the branches - it never came out again!










I went to move my car and got back to find..... the Waxwing had indeed come out but departed for alternative Retail Parks!!

There will undoubtedly be many more opportunities to come, but for now, in the Shropshire Waxie League, Waitrose leads the way!!

Point of Ayr - Wader spectacular

Having decided against a long haul twitch or some retail park shopping for Waxies, a last minute decsion was made to join the SOS party at Point of Ayr! There were no great rarities but plenty of birds - waders by the 1,000! (Bigger than usual pics posted so that you can enjoy the spectacle!)

A pretty high tide for the time of year (9.64m) seemed to concentrate all the waders nearby (although never close enough for individual birds!) Nevertheless, the sight of 1,000s of birds forming dense clouds as they wheeled about the sky is one of nature's most impressive sights!!

One thing guaranteed to get the birds into gear was a marauding ringtail Hen Harrier!






The Knot (how about a Nimbus of Knot??) were soon putting the nearby rain clouds to shame! (At least a 1,000 in this group alone although a few Godwits mixed in)






Before settling down again on the distant 'point' with numerous Oystercatcher.....








Several '100 strong' groups of Black-tailed Godwits coming in to land a bit closer....






A riot of Redshanks??








There were also smaller flocks of Dunlin, two Grey Plover and a Greenshank seen.

An afternoon check of Kinmel bay added Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Turnstone to the wader list for the day, not at all bad! Not a Snow Bunting to be seen but lets save that for another day.....

Venus Pool etc - Barnacles

Not a lot doing on the local front is a bit of an understatement, although Geoff Hall had a nice find (Hawfinch) which may yet elude me as I'm in airport run mode tomorrow! A Saturday scour of retail parks in Shrewsbury failed to turn up a 'you know what' (despite the fact they are 'everywhere' and approaching fast!!) I even spent an hour or two at Stubber's Green with no unusal Gulls on view there either!

There have been a few Barnacle Geese moving around the County (blogged in desperation??!)

Three at Venus Pool on the 14th - briefly in and straight back out.......












Plus a singleton at Polemere on the 21st .....








Obligingly having a wash and getting in a bit of a flap!!














If all else fails, the archives look destined to get a another trawl....

**Update ** Holme - Pallid Harrier??

*** Another retrospective post ***

I mentioned in the original thread that the Harrier sp seen at Holme on the 9th October could be a 'Pallid' with the identity door still ajar! This enigmatic bird may be a little closer to revealing it's 'considered' identity once the BBRC have reached a decision.

The reflex shot taken as I was unloading the camera from the car in the vistor centre car park seems to have become a vital piece of evidence in the case FOR Pallid Harrier and I've been asked to provide the image below to accompany the formal description. With Dick Forsman (DF) firmly of the opinion that this is the species involved, it does seem to be the probable outcome!

Juvenile Harriers of this type are notoriously difficult enough given prolonged views and photographs are likely to be essential to clinch the identification. I must admit every image I found of juvenile Pallid Harrier showed a particuarly striking 'Boa' which clouded my judgement initially (this is a variable feature....) DF has now pointed out that whilst the head has some clear identification pointers, the secret lies in the underwing pattern!

Pro-Pallid Harrier features as seen here are the pale collar which reaches the throat and the striking contrast of it's appearance. This is considered to be a key juvenile Pallid Harrier feature rather than the somewhat more variable facial features and boa.






The clincher however is the detail in the underside of the inner primaries. These are clearly pale tipped and this effectively rules out Montagu's Harrier, which would have dark tipped inner primaries. I've reduced the contrast slightly in this closer view although the pattern is clear from the original crop.






Ironically, the clues are all there in the images - they just need piecing togther logically! Let's see what BBRC come up with - I'll be astonished if it's not PALLID HARRIER...

The last I saw of it (and my only other image)....






I'm enoying my trawls throught the archives by the way and whilst the birding is quiet, you can expect the occasional journey back in time to see: more from the Farnes, various unsorted / unpublished images (not least of which the Blue-headed Wagtail pair from last Summer!!

Nature in focus - back to the Farnes.....

**** Important - this is a blast from the past!! Jim has not really just been to the Farne islands!!!*****

I'm still alive, a Saturday spent airport running and an uninspiring local Sunday session didn't produce a single bird worthwhile and as I was nearly nodding off at VP, I had an idea.....

I know lots of you keep dropping in and I really appreciate the interest shown - so, what do I do when I haven't got any birding adventures to report? Well, I used to be a big Dr Who fan and whilst getting my latest talk together (Nature in Focus) I came across a long lost, dusty folder in the external hard drive crypts....

These images have never been seen before, even by me! So...... lets travel back in time to the Farne islands - it's late Spring May 2008 and the temperature is a bit more inspiring than right now!!

The culmination of four days in the area (I think I got bogged down with 1,000s of images and never got round to these)! This day was all about the Arctic Terns, whilst they were getting a little frisky, there was not a bit of argy bargy with the humans, hats need not be worn!!

The Terns return.....






Arctic Tern sitting pretty!






Never mind the flowers, these guys reckon transparent fish find the way to a ladies heart?








Push off pal - she's spoken for.....






The reason they weren't attacking the humans - they were worn out after fighting amongst themselves!








Oh and after doing ratther a lot of this ....







The Sandwich Terns don't do transparent fish - they think BIGGGG!










Kittiwakes watching over the Guillemot colony.....






Don't they make a lovely couple?






Eiders feeling amorous - crikey this good looking bird can have her pick of the local studs!









A lone Puffin....






A last farewell from the locals...






No sunset - just the sun going down behind Bamburgh Castle.....






If anyone local is interested, this is just a tiny preview..... (Many areas of the UK will be covered and not just birds!) ...... from 'Nature in Focus' getting a first airing at the Longmynd Camera Club meeting on Wednesday 3rd November at 7.30 pm in the United Reformed Church Hall, High Street, Church Stretton, SY6 6BY. There is an entry fee of £3.00 including refreshments for non-members.....

Heligan- Lost in the jungle!

Every twitch should have a ‘Plan B’ - the Friday night rule may apply!! This was rigorously applied, by a certain Solitary Sandpiper at Seaton, Devon - deciding to head for the stars overnight! Having set off with Andy L first thing and with no news on the drive down (translated as good news initially), after 45 mins on site, it was clear as the skies the previous evening - a reappearance was unlikely……

Plan B wasn’t entirely to Andy’s liking either but the only other decent bird in the South West was a certain lost Heron in the Lost Gardens of Heligan and having been giving lifers a bit of attention lately, I was well up for it. Two hours later - we were following signs to the ‘lost jungle’!

Machetes were totally unnecessary as we made our way to the ‘top pool’ and a little wooden bridge at one end. There waiting for us – stood motionless in the corner of this little swamp, a cracking first winter Green Heron.....






No it wasn’t a statue, it was most certainly alive as the neck whipped upwards, the dagger like bill striking like a Cobra - grabbing a dragonfly in the blink of an eye (a male Southern Hawker to be precise). The Heron then proceeded to deny a marauding Moorhen a free meal and slowly chewed than swallowed the Hawker……
















Over the next 30 minutes, the Heron simply moved around the edge of the pool, occasionally catching small fish or posing in the vegetation. Tricky to get sharp images as the light levels were so low!
















An occasional small fish was on the menu.....






Eventually, something spooked it and it flew across the pool like a mini missile, it still wasn’t happy and shot over our heads landing at the top of a large (Rhododendron?) Cue, shutter frenzy as you couldn’t have positioned it in a better position with such a clean background and now, away from the gloom of the pool!















A minute passed and then it shot over our heads, like an arrow with wings, presumably to the lower pool. Never mind, it was job done! I was smiling! Almost as big a smile (of relief) came across Andy’s face – “Does that mean we can go?”

We did…..