out at last

Well it has been quite a few hectic weeks at work along with some rubbish weather has kept me in, but I have managed a trip down to seeswood and a trip over to Brandon.It was drizzling on sunday and couldnt make my mind up whether to go out or not, in the end I decided to drop in a Brandon. I was hoping to see some snipe and cettis warbler well that was the plan. I think I needed to listen for the Cettis but not knowing what to listen for I think I was on a bit of a no hoper. The light was absolute rubish so an ISO of 800 on a hand held 400mm was not going to give me any decent Photos. I walked past Grebe Pool taking my time and listening intently, but I aint much good at spotting these smaller birds and for my trouble I watched a dunnock for a few minutes along with several Blackbirds ,Great tits and long tailed tits also a Jay flew over which was a first for me, nobody was about and the peace and quiet was most welcome. I then moved to the John Baldwin hide where there were several cormorants,Teal,Shoveler,Pochard,Mallard,Lapwings and 1 L.B.B gull along with other unidentified gulls and black headed gull


I then moved onto the Teal hide where all I seen was a moorhen and a couple of Teal, I sat in there for about 30 mins and nothing arrived except a grunt well I dont think I even got a grunt off this one when I quietly said hello, he soon went and sombody else came in and they actualy said good morning, I nearly grunted at them thinking this was the thing to do when you are in a hide but I returned the greeting and this guy was a nice bloke. I went into East Marsh and there was nothing different to be seen than what I had seen in the Jon Baldwin hide. I was really enjoying my morning out so thought I would just have a quick wander down to Carlton. Glad I did as I saw the kingfisher along with a tree creeper (a 1st ) bullfinch


heron and a group of mixed tits. The tree creeper was thanks to a guy next to me who was taking pics and he pointed the tree creeper out, twas a shame I was too slow on the button.
I dropped in at seeswood on my way back and there was little to be seen but I did get a nice foto of a B.H.Gull

Nuneaton Bird Club

I went down to Nuneaton bird club on Thursday night and was suprised to find out that they had 80 members and was probably the oldest bird club in the country (1950). The people were great and there was a slide presentation about a couple Alan And Sylvia Williams had retired and bought 11 acres of land to which they added 5000 trees this was in 2002 (i think) and it was a history to present day. I must say not only was I a little green I was amazed at what they had achieved, one particular thing was they had a clutch of barn owls and a clutch of Kestrels in the same nest box at the same time and both sets of birds fledged.
On Sunday I was picked up by the club bus and we went to Donna Nook where I saw sky larks, Meadow Pipits, Shell duck, Curlew, a group of 10 Little egrets,Grey plover,Brent Goose,Sparrow hawk, Redshank and hundreds of starling, We then decided to trudge through the marsh to see the grey seals and wow what a sight, There were 100's of seals and you could get so close to them it was amazin, I dont think you could see wildlife any closer than this.Think I will take Jo over in November when they will be pupping.
We then went over to the RSPB reserve of Frampton and what a day we had a Cock Hen harrier,scaup,I watched a barn owl for at least 1/2 hour,pin tail.


I really enjoyed my day and met some fantastic people who offerd me loads of advice. I think the highlight was the barn owl hunting along with the hen Harrier (what a big bird)but to see the starlings flock was fantastic - not a good day for photos but still very enjoyable

just a couple of my favorite pics

Every so often as I potter about I come accross this drawing
what my Dad did when he was a youth not long after the war finished



Just to lighten things up

Draycote again

Well I have really been looking forward to getting to Draycote after reading so much about it, I wasnt disapointed time flew by and as I had a mother to get back and see at 11.30 at 12 noon I thought I might be a bit late - never mind. I was really excited to see a pair of tufted ducks at seeswood well here there are hundreds of them


This was the first of many as I made my way to a bird hide I had read about.As I walked down the bank my attention was off the water and looking at a group of about 30 Goldfinches all flitting about It was really good to watch. In amongst them was a Meadow Pipit a first for me


The sun was out and the sky was blue giving some great light although there was a bit of nip in the air.I reached the hide and I must of stayed in there for over an hour, there were plenty of Lapwings, a couple of Teal (a first) Pochard another first but it was a small group of young moorhens that provided the entertainment as they wanted to go where a LBB gull was and he wasnt going to let them, in the end they found there own space.

There were a few tits flitting around the feeding station unfortunatly their wasnt any food in them I also spotted this bird I am not sure what it is I think it maybe a hen Chaffinch


Then this little fellow came along not 1005 sure but I think this is a Dunnock


I came out of the hide and reluctantly made my way back. I met a guy on the way back who knew a hell of a lot more than me lol he had the same lens as me and a canon camera 40D I think, so at least I made a choice that somebody else has done although I think I would probably go for the zoom now instead of the prime. He was a real nice chap and he was telling me about all the birds that had been seen over the past week, he asked if I had spotted the Scaup to which the answer was no, I wished I had studied it harder now as I wasnt sure if I had or hadnt, but he says that it may over winter there so I will get it one day.

a list of birds that I saw today
Teal,Little Grebe,G.C.Grebe,Meadow Pipit,Mallard,Tufted Duck,Cormorant,Carrion Crow, Goldfinch, B.H. Gull, LBB Gull, Moorhen, coot, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Heron, Pochard, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Canada Goose

Had to get back as I had a fish delivery, 4 boxes from singapore, not my normal African Cichlids but 48 species of community fish which I quaranteen for the shop. But here is a couple of new aquisitions of malawi's

Labeotropheus fuelleborni female from chipoka


A zebra from Minos Reef

Draycote

Sunday morning saw me at seeswood yet again. Their was not much happening on the bird front as their was a fishing contest on, still I made myself comfortable at the back of the pool and just had 40 minutes or so sat on a tree stump.I was watching a group of longtailed tits and there were also robin, dunnock, blue tit,coal tit and great tit also their was a group of young blackbirds foraging about, the pair of tufted duck are still on the water although I think they had had an argument as they were on different sides of the lake. A little dissapointed as their was nothing to be seen so on Monday had an hour spare so took Jo and went and had a quick look at Draycote - Love it - We only walked a little way round (clockwise from the center) to a place called the overflow (not sure if it was bird ethical to walk along so I didnt)and as I had Jo I didnt spend too much time their but I saw a couple of firsts for me, a little grebe and wheatear. It was nice watching the coots do what they do along with quite a few tufted duck, cant wait now to go and have a proper look.

Monday 28th september

I was hoping to go to Draycote this week but unfortunatly something cropped up so I went off down to the pool. Its been about 3 weeks since I was last there and It is difficult to believe the change over such a small time. My favorite oak tree is shedding its leaves as if they were going out of fashion, most of the reeds have died down and the swallows and most of the warblers have gone.I am not sure where the Canada geese went but when I was under some trees I did hear them although I couldnt see them. One welcome return was a pair of tufted ducks which I had not seen for quite a few weeks.I was really looking forward to getting out today as I have not had much chance to use my new camera but the light was very dull so I took my tripod so I could use a slower speed, but it was not to be there were very few photo opportunities or is it that I am getting a lot more picky now particularly after gauking at Dave Duttons superb photo's.At the back of the pool there is a small copse and I know little owl and spotted flycatchers have been seen there and I have spotted quite a lot of finches so I set the tripod up put a 2 times converter on and buried my self in a tree and I waited and I waited and I waited a bit longer, thinking to myself I will get a decent shot even if it is a blue tit so I waited longer. I scanned about a bit with my binoculars and right to my left I watched a young whitethroat (or a scruffy one) pruning its self, unfortunately it was in a position that I could not photograph.Getting a bit late for my appointment I packed up my camera. Zipping up the bag, right at the place I had focussed a small bird started to flutter, I had my bins straight onto it and although it was the first time I had saw one I knew straight away that it was a goldcrest, it made my day, just wished that I had waited a bit longer. As I walked back I sat and watched a group of Long tailed tits flitting about, I had a great show that lasted a good 10 minutes.When I gets home there is a picture of a portable bird hide, I looks , Jo starts to laugh, I put magazine down and went into my fish room. Even though I did not get any photos I really enjoyed my few hours down the pool I have such a lot to learn, but thats great at 49 a new challenge. Think I am going to go down to Nuneaton bird club at the end of next month - you never know.

Back from Norfolk

Well what a fantastic holiday and chill out. The weather has been absolutley fantastic and our little cottage that looked out onto the river was perfect. Out of my window I saw kingfishers daily along with a Barn owl,Heron, cormorant and a whole host of water birds It was also an ideal spot for fishing. On my birthday I dropped my camera and kept getting an error message when ever I tried to take a picture - I was gutted. But Jo being Jo persuaded (hehe) me to pop into jessops in Lowestoft and buy a new one.It just happend that they had a Canon 50D in stock and as it was a little under the budget I was allowed I also picked up a pair of Bushnell binoculars. We went upto Hunstanton and I managed to get an hour at Titchwell and Cley gonna have to spend a day or two at these Reserves. They are doing work at Titchwell as the sea is reclaiming the marshes I think it is only going to be a matter of time.Whilst there I saw a Black tailed Godwit and a Curlew amongst others





These were caught with my old camera, I have not managed to get out with my new camera as such.Same day a bit further down the coast I went into Cley Where again There were some great birds to be seen, Inc Egret, shell duck, Marsh Harrier and Dunlin




I think this is a shell duck if anyone can confirm

I also got a nice shot of this Green Sandpiper


I must say there are some right Grumpy old sods that frequent these bird hides and Cley was full of them. I went to quite a lot of reserves and Broads near where I was staying inc Hickling, Barton, How Hill, Ranworth, Horsey Mere. It was at Hickling where I spotted a Hobby and best of all a Red Kite. I was walking down a public footpath over a farmers feildWhen I disturbed the Kite, It was as if it flew in slow motion and I was looking down at it most of the time until he went into some nearbu woods. I dont think I will forget Norfolk for a long time