Showing posts with label Noneley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noneley. Show all posts

Saturday, 25 April 2020

On this day (April 25th) ... 2019 - Channel Wagtail

This little beauty featured in the April Birdwatch 'Guide to Yellow Wagtails' - here's the full sequence of events on April 25th 2019...

Is there a more beautiful bird? This was the highlight of a North Shropshire tour of the Meres and North Shropshire.The answer is probably 'yes' but I fell in love with Channel Wagtail after my first encounter at at Venus Pool in 2011 and despite the fact it's an untickable (hybrid) bird, worth every effort to enjoy... Having seen several now, they are consistently uniform in appearance but the light can play a huge part in the colours we see. A hybrid between the European Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava) and our resident 'Yellow wagtail' (M. flavissima) it combines the head of the former (in a paler grey blue tone) plus bright yellow underparts. Simply drop dead gorgeous...

It was looking good even 60m away...


So, I picked spot to stand and wait... patience is a virtue of course!


Just a turn of the head and movement of the grass...






The pristine white throat and sharp demarcation with the yellow add to the charm. The dark patch is the wind ruffling the feathers!







With two successive thunderstorms, the background (distant trees) colours were constantly changing.The darker tones set it off quite nicely?


How about a lucky moment calling!


'Showing well' would be a safe description...

Friday, 10 May 2019

Noneley - Little Stint!!

A talk the previous evening meant I had no chance of seeing the Little Stint on the nearly dried out flash at Noneley. Luckily, it stayed overnight and I was up early to savour a (now) prized bird to enter Shropshire airspace. The last one I'd seen in Shropshire was back in September 2010 at the Mire Lake, back in the day they were near annual birds!

I wont bore you with lots of distant images, it was the best part of 100m away!


But looked good for size comparison against a Ringed Plover!


How times change...