November 2010 - Belfast Lough.

Tuesday 2nd: Yesterday I caught a lunchtime flight to Belfast to fulfill a lecture engagement for Northern Ireland Amateur Astronomy Society (NIASS). So today, while waiting for my return flight from Belfast City Airport, Steve, the Chairman of NIASS showed me around some of the sights and just to complete the trip he took me to Belfast Lough. Well, imagine my delight when he left me to have 20 minutes or so of bird-watching before we had to return to the airport! This is a sea lough and as a consequence, open to the Atlantic! Although reasonably mild, there was a terrific, almost gale-force wind which was so strong that I had to push against it just to keep my feet!

In front of me on the shore was a Curlew, wading in the shallows while sifting the water for food. The wader was so close and didn't seem to mind about all the ramblers close by. A FIRST for me was the close appearance of 3 Turnstones. They looked much smaller than I'd imagined and were constantly on the move.

An Oystercatcher too was close by, along with three different types of Gulls; a Common Gull and Black-headed Gull and a First Winter Black-backed Gull. But another FIRST really grabbed my attention; near two Jackdaws were three adult Hooded Crows. These are a particular rarity as they mostly confine themselves to Ireland and Scotland and only very occasionally turn-upon the English mainland! So in 20 minutes, I twitched 2 types of bird that I never seen before and one of those, the Hooded Crow which in all probability would never see in England!

Half an hour after I arrived home from Belfast, Melanie and I were pleasantly surprised to see this male Sparrowhawk perched in our garden. Is this the same male that Sandra saw in her garden last Sunday? Quite possibly, the chances of two male Sparrowhawks hunting in gardens located 200 yards apart, would be very unusual! The bird didn't catch anything and after an hour, Mel shooed it away as our pet canary was looking decidedly nervous as his cage hangs outside the back door during the day. It was a blustery afternoon and as can be seen below, the wind has ruffled the Sparrowhawks' feathers somewhat!

February 2010 - Hyde Park, London

Saturday 6th: Went down to London to the Astrofest convention in Kennsington. Met up with Neil from Dawlish, Eddie, Dave and Brian. After looking around the stalls and spending a little money, I ventured that we go and to Hyde Park as it was a 5 minute walk up the road. This was my first visit for....about 30 years! In all that time, it's not really changed at all. As you can see from the image of the BT Tower, which looks closer than it really is, Euston is not that far away, 3 miles I think.



Anyway, I wanted to sample the bird life here and see what was about, unfortunately I had not fetched my binoculars, only the camera. There were plenty of Gulls, most Black-headed, though I did count 6 Common Gulls and I suspect that there were plenty more around the lake. It was perishingly cold and the breeze coming off the water didn't help!

What intrigued me was that while people were feeding the waterfowl, they were being surrounded not just by lots of Gulls and Mallards but Starlings and Feral Pigeons! Didn't see any House Sparrows though. The Starlings for instance, and there were very many of them and Pigeons were right at the waters' edge in an effort to get to the food before the Mallards etc! Walking back to the tube, I did catch a glimpse of what I was certain was a Peregrine, that familiar call and sleek flight are a give-a-way! A good day out combining Birding with Astronomy.