Wednesday 29 October 2008
dawn and dusk
No photo's as I had no camera :-(
As the partridge had eaten all of the seed, I went back this morning to bait up, it was blimmin cold again but bright. The crows were having a go at something beyond the wood - then a merlin flew out and headed off towards Chev, with the corbies in hot pursuit. A mixed flock of all sorts was moving through the bushes.
I called in tonight on the way home from work, it was nearly dark and the car said it was 0.5 deg C! bloody bitter! I was only there 10 minutes or so and had two year ticks! The first was a short-eared owl, there might have been two....I had one flying from the roadside over the wood then over the pool, which then went back over the Budge fields. Later the crows and magpies were mobbing on by the Budge screen, not sure were it went, but soon after there was it or another high over the deep pool. The second year-tick was a water-rail, which was poking about in the lake outflow channel by the bridge. 250 golden plover came offuv the fields between Dru and Chev and flew over the north end, not sure what put them up, maybe it was a peregrine...if only!
The pink beast (aka my RED VW Bora), will no longer be seen at the pools, I've bought a new car - pictures will follow....
154 short-eared owl
155 water rail
Sunday 26 October 2008
A walk around the patch
153 great northern diver
Sunday 19 October 2008
Big Chopper
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Ringing again
Sunday 12 October 2008
Awright Treec?
treecreeper - patch bird No 217
It was a good mornings ringing, we caught 44 new birds, 13 different species, 3 retraps and a control. The control was great tit, it was an adult but had been ringed as a pullus, probably from a nestbox, we know this because it had been ringed with a 'B' size ring, which are only used on great tits when they are pullus, A's are used on fledged birds. So we will have to wait to see where it has come from..
Controlled great tit
There was a flock of 13 long-tailed tits moving through, we manages to catch nine of them, they are very funny birds, the four we didn't catch 'hung-around' in the trees next to the car while we ringed their mates, calling to the birds in the bird-bags - which were calling back, very sociable birds lotti's. We also caught 5 greenfinches which is quite unusual for Dru, they must be on the move.
top greenfinch, above long-tailed tit
Also on the move were skylarks, moving south early on, we heard at least 12 going over and some geese, 3 skeins of 60-70 pink-foots south and 47 greylag north and a grey wag and 5 swallows going south together....
Offshore there 26 divers in the bay - all of them red-throats in a wide range of plumage's, a great-crested grebe was among them.Ringing totals
goldfinch 13
treecreeper 1
goldcrest 7
dunnock 2
reed bunting 1
blackbird 1
great tit 1 + control
long-tailed tit 9
coal tit 1
wren 2 + 1 retrap
greenfinch 5
robin 1 + 1 retrap
blue tit 1 retrap
PATCH TICK 217 treecreeper
149 treecreeper
150 long-tailed tit
Tuesday 7 October 2008
Not much doin
I took this shot of one of the mad sheep that have been grazing the National Trust bit around the entrance willows - and doing a good job!
148 grey wagtail
Thursday 2 October 2008
Last Stand
As with any organisation it always falls to a small minority to do all of the work, the NTBC is no different. There are about 20 people out of a membership of about 250 who work really hard to keep the club going. So if there are any NTBC members reading this, there are two spaces on the committee after Thursday's AGM, why not give it a go....it's your club too!
If you are interested contact the chairman, Paul Stewart, details on the website.
Wednesday 1 October 2008
Winter's here - official
I had lunch on Wooler common today and had 15-20 redwings in large flock of 40-50 mistle thrush - I reckon that's the biggest mistle thrush flock I've seen in the County. Hopefully we'll be catching a few nice thrushes next time we are ringing at Dru.....
Mistlers in a hawthorn at Wooler Common
The pressure charts show a huge airflow from the north with strong northerlies on friday...could be good for seawatching?