finedon - fineshade whats the difference

I have been looking forward to this Sunday for a couple of weeks now. It had been planned to pick Alan up 7 am Sunday morning and have a shortish trip into Northamptonshire - That was the plan.All was well at 7 am, at 7.05 am was when things started to go wrong. Leaving Alans house I headed towards the M6 to pick up the A14, as my Sat Nav suggested (it said we were 43 miles away from intended venue), but Alan in his wisdom, said that the way he had planned the trip ,we would be better off going along the A47 - fair enough I thought Al's an intelligent guy and has obviously done his homework, he is bound to know more than the 'world wide sattelite tracking navigation systems' (not sure how many billions have gone into developing the sat nav system) but I was sticking with Al. A trip around Hinkley and into Leicester was when problems set in. The A47 suddenly changed to the A46, and signs for Peterborough became none exsistent (not sure why we were following signs for Peterborough) I put the sat nav back on and it wanted us to go towards the motorway and back towards Hinkley (the sat nav says we were 44 miles away now) but no I still had my trust in Alan So we persevered for a bit taking in the marvelous sights of Leicester City Centre. In the end we succumbed and put the Sat nav back on. It sent us back to where we had come from,we joined the motorway and we were still 42 miles away. Along the A14 Alan kept pipe-ing on about the A43 and as I had lost a little bit of confidence in his directions, I said we will stick with the sat nav, it may know a short cut or something. It wasnt long before we pulled off the A14 and Jo (thats the name of my sat Nav - because it keeps nagging - hope Jo dont read this lol)said that we had arrived at our destination - It didnt look very birdy to me, the centre of Finedon, a nice place but not many birds. Alan obviously realising that I had put the wrong name in, said it was Fineshade we were going to not Finedon and he assumed that I was pronouncing Fineshade wrong-- No I wasnt. Luckily we were not far from the A43. Things started to get good
A few miles along the A43 we saw a red Kite - then another and another. We parked at Wakerly wood in the hope of our target bird, the Crossbill, no joy im afraid but it was a great stroll through the wood with quite a few tits, including coal tit which Alan pointed out there song, and I was hearing it all over the place.We went accross the road into fineshade and after a visit to the visitor centre we started on a trail, with Alan leading, it wasnt long before we were lost and on the outside of the wood, and that was where I managed to get this picture of a red Kite not brilliant but im glad i got it


it wasnt long before a buzzard came along



I turned round and sitting on some wires was a kestrel


turning back the kite and the buzzard were riding the same thermal



this was brilliant I was like a kid a christmas. Red Kites and buzzards were every where we saw 3 kites up at once and we also saw 3 buzzards up. Alan pointed out how to recognise at a distance, which made the skies even more interesting. I think we must of saw over 12 red kites over various venues in the county.
We then moved on to Blatherwyck lake in the hope of a Manderin but we had no joy but seen a lot of waterbirds. Next stop was auldwinkle (titmarsh) it was a flying visit a such as we wanted to get to some dissused airfield to spot a short eared owl - Alan had read about it on some roving doctors blogspot (wonder who that can be). we got to the airfield and I saw my first yellow hammers - what a great start. I was trying to picture where Kev in one of his posts had seen this owl but suddenly it appeard (absolute rubish photo but the best I could get)



it went over the back and sent up a flock of golden plovers. We stopped there for about an hour before it got to dark.
All in all a fantastic day and lots of ticks for me - we saw over 50 species on the day. the time just flew by. Alan went home with instructions to plan our next trip next month - I cant wait. Im off to Breydon water next week with Nuneaton Bird club - another trip to look forward to. Im hoping to pop in at Brandon soon to as there seems to be quite a bit going on there

Im still here

I have managed to get out birding each week but struggled to get on top of my blog. Hopefully I can get it back on track now that I have a bit more time on my hands as the web site is about done.
I have been out with Nuneaton Bird Club a few times this year including Frampton Marsh, Friestone Shore, Titchwell, Sculthorpe Moor. I really enjoy these outings, They are a great bunch who make you feel really welcome and I am learning each and every time I go out with them.I dont get to use the camera much on these occasions so most of my bird photos are now done at Brandon.
Bit of a dissapointment at Frampton /Friestone in January as I thought I had got a nice linnet but as soon as the more experienced guys came the yellow bill confirmed it was a Twite. Other birds that day included snow bunting, Blacknecked Grebe, Woodcock,White fronted goose,Pink footed goose and some wonderful Barn Owl action
The following month found us at Titchwell and Sculthorpe I think it was a count of 82 birds seen on the day by the members so not bad at all. My highlitghts were watching 3 hen harriers prefoming 1 marsh harrier, Avocet, Bar tailed Godwit.
I have also been getting out to Brandon where I have been enjoying snipe, shellduck , siskin, lesser redpoll, goldcrest but alas no Bittern. Here are a few recent pics















And a couple of fish

freezing cold at Brandon

Well the holiday period is over so I can get back to normal at last. Work has been very hectic but cant complain it keeps the boss off me.I managed a trip to Brandon on Monday only to find a tiny strip of water with about 100 birds squabling to get on to it. It was early morning and some fantastic light so off came the long lens and on came the short lens. Got quite a few landscape pictures but no birds im afraid. There was not much about at all or so it seemed and then I met Kevin Grewcock (the birding medic) in the carlton hide, I have been following his blog for ages so it was great to meet him. As we sat in the hide he picked out numerous birds singing, a Jay flying and he had spotted quite a few birds in the woods. Just shows how much skill and experience counts in this game - One day Kev I will get there, but I am enjoying the journey. Im really looking forward to the year ahead particularly after seeing the venues Nuneaton bird club have lined up. Anyway no birds but a couple of landscape pics






A couple from last year

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