October 2010 - Hedgehog Hibernation Houses!

Friday 22nd: The nights are drawing-in and Autumn is finally upon us. It will soon be time for the three Hedgehogs to hibernate for the Winter. So the other night we went to the local DIY store and purchased some wood so that Melanie could construct the houses that the hedgehogs will use for the duration of their hibernation - that is if they decide to!

After spending the best part of the week building them, Mel tonight transferred the Hogs from the old cardboard shelters to these nice wooden boxes. Two have been built as that was what we reckoned was needed... "Pinky", the female that prefers her own company and is behaving rather squarely, has her own box. "Little-Lad"(not so little now), the male and "Grumpy", the other female, we thought, shared the other cardboard box and so Mel built a slightly larger wooden house. Well it turns out that "Grumpy" sleeps on her own too and the male has been cast out to sleep rough under a make-shift shelter... no wonder he likes to come into the kitchen at every opportunity!

Update 4/11/2010:

Mel has since built a third hedgehog house for Little-Lad and he has finally moved-in. All the hogs now appear to be using the houses and with the onset of the early dark nights, both "Pinky" and "Little-Lad" are out and about at 5pm. "Grumpy" meanwhile, stills likes to awaken later. They tend not to spend so much time in the kitchen now, preferring to be outside. The Hedgies have not shown any inclination as yet to hibernate. This is not unusual as the weather is still relatively mild.

October 2010 - Spurn Point YWT

Sunday 10th: The morning started overcast but as the Sun got up, the cloud was quickly burnt-off by the Sun. It looked like Sandra and I were going to have a very good outing to Spurn Point. The autumn migration is underway and Spurn is a good place to see birds coming into these islands.

A 2-hour drive soon passed and we were greeted by the sight of an army of Birders marching along the narrow country lanes. As I slowed to pass some Birders, I looked down to the roadside on my right and saw what was to be the first of many Siskins at close quarters. There were so many birds about that we didn't know which way to look! We went on through to the Reserve and immediately saw large numbers of Redwings criss-crossing the fields.

A lone female Chaffinch seemed to be interested in us when we ate our sandwiches and hung around the parked car. We wandered over to a hide on the Humber estuary coast where we saw Robins on the beach, Little Plover in another Birders scope, 3 Redshanks, a couple of Oystercatchers and other Waders not identified, some Great Black-backed Gulls and even a Meadow Pipit or two also on the shore. Through my scope 11 Brent Geese waded in the shallows. It seemed that the shoreline attracted a great many birds, presumably as they arrive exhausted and drop down on the beach to feed!

We decided to move on and drive down to the Point. I volunteered us to walk around the Point not knowing that it was going to be a bit of a hike. Down on the Humber-side of the beach I lost count of the number of Northern Wheatears patrolling in and around the clumps of seaweed and shingle. We saw at least two males but many more females. Also there, large numbers of warblers; Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Siskins were abundant as elsewhere. At the Point I managed to see and photograph a Common Redstart (another first)!

Climbing up to the Nature Reserve, I saw vast numbers of Redwings together with numbers of other unidentified birds! In fact Sandra did well in getting up a steep incline from the shore on the North Sea side to the roadside! There were so many Wheatears and Siskins that I lost count but we both got some good photos! Most of these birds would be making ready to migrate back to Africa while yet more; Robins, Redwings etc would be just coming-in for the autumn/winter. A truly amazing spectacle! I've not seen so many different species of bird in such a small area before - no wonder Spurn Point is a mecca for birdwatchers!

To round off the day, we drove back to Kilnsea and after some refreshments, a fellow birder lined-up a Lapland Bunting in my scope. We were treated to some first-class views of this rarity. It's just a shame that the photo I took through the scope was a crock... A flock of 9 Curlews flew over the car towards the north and as I watched them through my binoculars, I neglected to call Sandra to which I got a stern rebuke! Sorry Sandra!

A great day out and one of the most spectacular places that I've been too for watching birds. So I can count Northern Wheatear, Common Redstart and Lapland Bunting as new species for my Life-List. Another visit is definitely on the cards next Spring!

Above: The Kilnsea Sunset.

October 2010 - Slavonian Grebe at Doncaster Lakeside!

Thursday 7th: Well, at the third time of asking... I finally twitched this rare visitor! For the past three days I have trekked around the lake looking for the Slavonian Grebe, during my 30-minute lunch break from Work and during the last 2 hours before sunset after Work! It turned-out that if I was at one end of the lake, the Grebe was at the other end! This afternoon, I received another update from Richard, a fellow Birder telling me that at 2:15pm it was at the Stadium-end of the lake. When I got to the lake I teamed-up with another Birder who had a "top-of-the-range" camera with a telephoto lens the length of my arm! Almost immediately we saw the bird and followed as it casually sailed along. When it got chased by a Great Crested Grebe, it took flight and we lost it briefly. A quick scan with binoculars soon located it and catching up with a more relaxed bird, we took some photos and chatted about its behaviour patterns and why it could be here. This Slavonian Grebe has been on Donny Lakeside since September 26th, so a decent time. The chap I spoke to has posted some images to http://www.birdguides.com/ and will be posting the images he took today, and cracking photos they are too! But here are my modest offerings.