Blast from the past - Birthday Falcons!

21st May 2008: A surprise birthday present for me today. Melanie took me on a mystery tour to deepest Lincolnshire. For what, I knew not? It was a surprise right up to the moment I parked the car at a remote house on the Lincolnshire plains. for the surprise was an afternoon at a Falconry and even better, we get to fly the raptors.

This was a private session with just Melanie and myself there. The husband and wife team of Falconer's gave us a talk about the birds that they have; 2x Harris Hawks, an Eagle Owl and a Lanner Falcon. All had been reared from the egg and so were fairly humanised. All of them were large birds and when the time came to hold one of them... heavy too!

Over in the flat, flat fields, we were given a flying display by one of the Harris Hawks and very impressive it was too. Though we were a bit worried and so was the Falconer when "Bovis", the Harris Hawk went and perched on an enormous hedge and refused to return even after repeated calls. Eventually the Falconer had to go over to the hedge and retrieve "Bovis".

Both Mel and I had an opportunity to fly "Bovis" and to have him fly direct towards your arm and then at the last moment slam on the air-brakes as he lands on your gloved hand, is very impressive! What a birthday present.... thanks Mel!

November 2010 - Old Moor RSPB in the snow

Sunday 28th: It was bitterly cold today! With overnight temperatures dropping to -7, the snow from last Friday night, froze. Still, undeterred, a trip out to Lakeside and Old Moor RSPB was the plan. But first a visit over to the town centre Tesco where there was a faint chance of seeing Waxwings. Unfortunately, no sign at all of the elusive bird that has spread across the country this autumn. It seems that the Doncaster area is a no-go zone for these brightly coloured Scandinavian birds! We did see a Song Thrush perched on top of the clock tower spire above the store and a few Blackbirds, Robin and various members of the Tit family.

So onto Donny Lakeside in search of a Black Redstart that had been seen there yesterday. Well... you guessed, no sign at all. What we did catch sight of, though purely by accident and if we had been paying attention, we would have got a good close view, was a Kingfisher! It had been perched close to us and we watched as it flew at low-level across the surface of the lake to the other shore. A Cormorant perched on a buoy in the middle of the lake, with its beak raised to the sky with indifference! Plenty of other waterfowl; Canada Geese, Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks, Mallards and Pochards.... and of course, the ever-present Black-headed Gulls standing on the frozen lake along with 2 Herring Gulls... oh, and... the Coots.

A twenty minute drive over to Old Moor RSPB through the snowy countryside. It was perishingly cold! At the garden hide were many song birds namely Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Bulfinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits.

A couple of Pheasants were also in attendance. Over at the Tree Sparrow farm Sandra and myself saw at least two Yellowhammers, with several Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches and several Magpies.

The lakes were frozen and what water fowl were there, were massed together over where the water was still ice-free. Quite a few Wigeon could be seen together with Mallards, 8 Goosanders. a small flock of Golden Plover stood on the ice in a long line facing into the bitting wind.

Interspersed were with the Golden Plover were Lapwings. A fellow birder pointed-out a Peregrine Falcon perched high on a pylon. Well even through the scope I couldn't identify it as it was so far away as the photo shows. But he assured us that it was indeed a Peregrine Falcon.
Walking back to get a cuppa, someone shouted, "Waxwings!" We all looked up but again we couldn't be sure. Now for that hot cuppa tea and home! Though my toes and fingers were frozen... it was a good day out.

November 2010 - House Hedgehogs!

Sunday 28th: Last Thursday evening, Melanie moved the 3 Hedgehogs into the house and the warm... and not a moment too soon! Because Friday night saw a deluge of snowfall and overnight temperatures plummeting to -7! It had been getting steadily colder for a few days before and as they hadn't gone into hibernation and were losing weight, we took the precaution of bringing them into the house. They will stay here for as long as it takes during this cold-snap and probably longer. Though all 3 are together in one large penned area, after initial grumbles, they seem to have accepted the close proximity of each other and appear content. All of them sleep all day and do not wake until late at night when they become active for a short while, eat and drink and go back to sleep. Daytime temperatures outside are sub-zero and this is not good for their health. If the weather continues like this, I can imagine that it will have a detrimental effect on any Hedgehogs out in the wild. Saturday night and temperatures were again below zero with a very hard frost!

November 2010 - Another visit by the Wren

Monday 22nd: I posted last week that the Wren made it first return visit for mealworms after a Summer vacation. Well, today he/she came into the kitchen to help him/herself to mealworms! Now tell me that this Wren is not the same Wren that visited all last Winter! Wrens are very flighty birds and it's inconceivable that a bird on it's second visit would hop into the kitchen to eat! It took this Wren, last winter, several nervous visits to the back door before it would come in. Even the Blackbirds took half a dozen days and numerous visits to the back door before they comfortable in entering the kitchen to perch on the side and eat mealworms.

Saturday night was the last time we saw all three Hedghogs. Tonight is the second night that the Hedgehogs have not stirred from their hibernation houses. Last night they never appeared nor ate any food. So we believe that this could be the start of the hibernation period.

November 2010 - A long-missed friend returns!

Tuesday 16th: A visit from a very noisy Wren at the back door this afternoon signalled the return of an old friend from last Winter. We had a Wren paying regular visits to our kitchen and take some live mealworms from last December 2009 to March this year. The Wren then disappeared, we assume to pair-off and raise a brood. So imagine Mel's delight when this bird re-appeared at the kitchen door! We are both convinced that it is the same bird from last Winter as it knew exactly where to go and where the mealworms were, it even announced it's arrival with the usual calling, until fed by Mel and not at all nervous at Mel's close proximity! let's hope that it again decides to stay for the duration of this coming winter.

November 2010 - Thrybergh Country Park

Sunday 15th: Not planning to do any Birding this weekend, Sunday dawned a sunny but cold day and an unplanned trip to Sheffield was on. I have never seen a Waxwing and currently, there is a population invasion from Scandinavia. A quick drive to Sheffield and the location that I had, produced nothing! Next time I will be armed with several locations. I am determined to see at least one Waxwing before the end of the year! The website http://www.sbsg.org/ looks a good place for picking up sightings. So determined that my trip out was not totally wasted, I drove on up to Thrybergh CP near Rotherham.

A small country park where there is a lake with various waterfowl. Plenty of Mallards, Coots and Canada Geese not to mention the ever predsent Black-headed Gulls. But what caught my eye was a unusual goose, the type of which I had never known existed, let alone seen! It turns out that this goose is called a Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides). Originally from China/Mongolia, its possible that this is an escapee. It seemed 'at home' with the other waterfowl and a Greylag Goose spent alot of time in its company. Several Lapwings came in from the surrounding fields. There were also large numbers of hybrid Mallards as the photos show. Apparently Mallards routinely cross breed with other ducks. At the car park, 3 Mistle Thrushes and a female Bullfinch were in the trees, but not much else was seen. A very quiet day!

November 2010 - Hatfield Moor YWT & Blacka Moor YWT

Sunday 7th: An early start to a bright and Sunny day with a visit to Hatfield Moor... well, this was our second visit of the weekend. Sandra and I went over there yesterday afternoon as a Rough-Legged Buzzard had been hanging around for the last 3 days and I need a doctor... I'm turning into a twitcher! Unfortunately we didn't see it yesterday (though a couple of Birders did shout at us to look to the sky as it was airborne)... but I can't be certain I saw it! Lots of formation flying Gulls, hundreds of them. Where did they come from and where were they going? On the lake there wer the usual waterfowl; Little Grebes (the photo below is from Lakesdide a few weeks ago), Pochard,Tufted Duck, B-H Gulls and Mute Swans... not to mention Coots!

Today, we saw high-flying falcons; Buzzard (common), of which I got some questionable photos, Kestrel and another that we couldn't identify. A Roe Deer! After spending 45 minutes with scope at the ready, atop a small hill, we decided to move on. One of the bird hides provided close-quarter photos of Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Willow Tit and Chaffinch. Sandra saw a Redpoll which evaded me (it would've made an interesting photo). A Common Red Darter obliged for its photo - early November and still a member of the Dragonfly family about, in fact there were two! Then came the Great Buzzard photo shoot... Sandra spotted the raptor high up in the clear blue sky. I immediately took some photos, while she watched it through binoculars slowly circling. It was at the limit of my camera's' zoom! A Ranger believed it could be the Rough-Legged... but another birder confirmed it as Common! Still, a fine image! Time to move on to Sheffield.

Off to Blacka Moor on the edge of Sheffield to see if we could find a Great Grey Shrike... I am turning into a twitcher! Well we eventually got there no thanks to the Sat-Nav! Looking for one little bird amidst a vast Peak-District Moor is impossible but that's the sport of Birding! Needless to say when we got there it was late afternoon. The light was beginning to fade, made even more gloomier with the ever present storm clouds. We did see a Dunnock, missed a pair of Bulfinches but spent a lot of time watching an unusual Kestrel through binoculars as it was pale in colour and I'd decided to leave the scope in the car! Well I started trekking out over the moor in an effort to get closer and that's not to be recommended as the light was fading and the ground was very uneven and boggy! Below is the best long-long range image of the "Kestrel". Needless to say, no Shrike... well it is a very large moor! All-in-all a good day out!

Below are two silhouette images of what is probably a Kestrel - the Sun is behind it and beginning to set. The other three images show a pale and grey bird in a small tree about 200 yards away... is this also the same Kestrel? Is it a Kestrel? The Sun is low and to the right.