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.

September 2010 - Fairburn Ings RSPB

Friday 24th: It's true what they say; "what a difference a day makes"...or two! Last Wednesday, myself and Sandra went to Old Moor RSPB and the weather was warm and even sunny at times... so warm that shirt-sleeves was all that we needed. But today...today here in Yorkshire it was blowing a right old gale! Heavy rain all the previous night only relented at around 8am this morning! A grand day to spend outside watching birds! So fleece and jacket was required but the gloves were left behind and were sorely needed at times. We drove up to North Yorkshire to visit Fairburn Ings RSPB near to Castleford. Setting off early we got caught up in the "rush-hour" traffic but by 9.30am we were parked in a bleak wind swept car park wondering; "is this worth it".

Well we needn't have worried, within the first 30 minutes we had already twitched a Kingfisher at close-quarters that obliged by constantly fishing and gave us around 20 minutes of breath taking views. Marvelling at the antics of Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Tree Sparrows, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit and others on and around a closely situated bird table. After all this, anything else would be a bonus. Well during our long and wind-swept trek around the NR we were to get that bonus!

On our trek down to the village-end of the lake, the usual suspects were seen; Cormorants (17), Mute Swans (lots), Mallards (quite a few), Coots (too many to mention) but also Shovelers, Gadwalls, two Herons, eight white Geese that were probably farmyard related and Grebes, both the Little variety and Great Crested of which we saw five adults and one adult shepherding three immatures that were probably about 3 months old! But the bonus was another two Kingfishers that flew in front of Sandra and the female Goosander sitting on the bank of a lake that I would have walked right past if Sandra hadn't motioned to me!

Having slogged back to the car (at least 3 miles were covered in total) we ate a hearty bunch of sandwiches and drank tea while watching the Tree Sparrows on the feeders. House Martins wheeled overhead in the steadily bluer skies and out of the blue glided a Buzzard! We watched through binoculars as it slowly wheeled around in the sky - what long wings it has!

We had a quick tour of the feeders by the Visitor Centre and over at Pickup hide we watched in amazement as a Kestrel was mobbed for some 10 minutes by three Carrion Crows! To finish the day, we drove up to Spoonbill Flash, but alas no Spoonbills! Here were lots of dabbling and diving ducks, the usual suspects a Black-tailed Godwit and two other waders that have yet to be identified but what was to be the last highlight of the day was the Kestrel that spent some time in front of our hide hovering and dropping to the ground in its search for food. And we got some good close views as it wheeled in front of the hide...binoculars weren't needed it was so close! But the very last highlight was when we got back to the car and Sandra nervously fed a band of Mute Swans tuna sandwiches!

September 2010 - Old Moor RSPB

Wednesday 22nd: Today I went over to my local RSPB nature reserve near Rotherham. A warm late September day meant that it was shirt-sleeve weather -no need of a jacket! I called for Sandra and we got there just before lunch time. almost immediately we were treated to some sights: a male and female Bullfinch, Sandra's first since 2006! Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits and even a Willow Tit (we think), was seen from the hide attached to the Visitor Centre. Luckily everything is very close at this hide as my binoculars are just too powerful... must remember to bring the 10x25's as well! Being a warm day, there were plenty of Dragonflies about and one of the Red Darters even landed on Sandra's hand, obliging long enough for me to grab some photos! The Tree Sparrow Farm area was strangely quiet with a couple of birds about, a Tree Sparrow (Sandra's FIRST) and a chiffchaff.

On the Main lake there were the usual suspects: Canada Geese (37), Mallards, Coots, Gadwalls, a couple of Mute Swans, 5 Great Crested Grebes, 5 Little Grebes with 2 Cormorants and 10 Wigeon. Across the lake wheeled 8 Swallows or were they House Martins?

The highlight of the day was over at Wath Ings hide. Here there were flocks of various types of bird, all congregated over the grassy banks and mudflats. Unusual to say the least was the sight of 11 Grey Herons all equally spaced along the bank or fishing in the shallows. A large flock of Lapwings was on the mudflats, could have been 200+. Amongst them were smaller numbers of Golden Plover. As always I take my scope and that just added to the enjoyment of seeing the details of the birds. Amongst all this were... well at least 20 maybe 30 Linnets! Again Widgeon with some Pochard and quite a few Shovelers! A Kestrel disturbed the flock and all Lapwings, Plovers and Linnets took to the air. A mass flock swirled around the sky as the Kestrel tried to pick one from the swirl! Fantastic... but the sight of a lovely plumaged Black-tailed Godwit on the far bank was the bonus!

After a quick bite to eat we toured the outlying areas of the NR where we came across what I took to be a Scaup. Now female Tufted Ducks are often mistaken for Scaups but this duck was bigger than your average female Tufted Duck. The jury is still out on that and I will need to consult some more pictures and compare with mine.

The late afternoon had brought the cool air and the sky became overcast. It was time to depart for home and reflect on a marvelous day out. I have some video footage that when transferred from tape, I will attach to this entry... soon.

September 2010 - Hoglets are now Hedgehogs!

Sunday 26th: It has been a privilege to watch these animals develop from such tiny and helpless creatures to three individuals who have their own personalities and are approaching adulthood. We are approaching the end of the 14th week so they are now 3 months old and all have a healthy weight: the male weighs-in at 818g and the largest female at a whopping 918g! We are extremely happy with the male as he was very poorly when just a few days old and not gaining any weight. It was touch-and-go with him but now he is a very healthy Hedgehog! The only (little) problem with these two is that they keep coming into the kitchen at night and spending as much time as they can in there!

Meanwhile, the other female is becoming a cause of concern; her current weight is 788g, which sounds good, but she has not gained the weight in the last two weeks that the other two have. She is the only one of the three that tends to behave as Hedgehogs do. She is people-shy, which is good, and spends most of her time outside in the enclosed garden. Though there is plenty of dried cat food out there plus whatever insects etc she can get, she is now lagging behind weight-wise. This Hedgehog was the one that was showing the most promise for release, but now we are holding-off.

Indeed, last week was the week that we were due to release them all but releasing them would in our opinion be a death sentence for them. After checking up on various websites and reading the research on releasing into the wild and seeing poor results with tagged hogs...we have decided to over-winter them for hibernation come December and take it from April when they emerge. When they emerge from hibernation next April, they should wake-up as adults and just maybe they will have all the adult instincts that tell us that we can release them to the wild and know that they will have a fighting chance.

September 2010 - Sparrowhawk visit to the bird table!

Tuesday 21st: Lunchtime and all of a sudden the bird song stops. Mel calls me, "Sparrowhawk on the bird table!" I grab the camera and reel-off a few shots. The bird stayed for about 10 minutes and even flew across the garden to the perch by the feeders. As everything had taken cover and nothing was available for lunch, this female Sparrowhawk flew off without making a kill. The photos were shot through the study window so as not to scare it off if I opened it. The short movie below was shot on my camera.

September 2010 - Hoglets now young Hedgehogs

Thursday 9th: The Hoglets are now reaching the end of week 12 and have grown to such an extent that they can be called "young Hedgehogs". It's now approximately 4 weeks since they began to spend all night and day outside in the penned garden. Their weight tends to fluctuate by a few grammes on a daily basis but on the whole, the Hedgies are gaining the weight and thus, the fat reserves. All three at last are ahead of target for their weight according to
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/, but are not ready for release yet. Having researched the subject of; "release into the wild", we believe that the Hedgies need to be over 700 grammes minimum weight in order to survive the Winter and hibernation.

At the moment, the male is far from ready. Weighing only 588 grammes and although healthy , fit and with a heavy set of quills, he has shown no inclination to making a nest, eating live insects, or showing any purpose in what he does. He does eat dried cat food and live mealworms and would readily eat all that we have, but mealworms are not generally found in abundance in the wild! It maybe that come late December, he may be staying behind but as yet it is still too early to make any decision about him.

The two females weigh-in at a hefty 690 & 670 grammes. Both have a heavy set of quills covering their bodies but like the male, are not eating live insects only live mealworms and dried cat food! Although one of them made the nest that all three tend to sleep in, the second female has shown no interest or need to build a nest.

The big question that faces us is; "If released in the next month or two, would they survive or starve?" I keep coming back with the answer; "they would starve!" These Hedgehogs are not wild animals, they were not born into the wild and know nothing of the wild and how to hunt for food. They were born by the patio door and abandoned/orphaned after a few days. Mel has done a monumental job in raising these three Hoglets to become young Hedgehogs. Though, they still have along way to go. For us, it would be cruel to release these animals into an environment that they have no instinct for. Better that they stay in the environment that they know until the time comes when they show us they are ready to leave!

August 2010 - First day and night in garden for Hoglets!

Sunday 22nd: Well, we are nearing the end of this journey of raising 3 orphaned/abandoned baby Hedgehogs. Maybe in four weeks we will release the Hedgies into the wild. We are now looking at possible locations well away from roads and hopefully their main predator...Badgers! The Hoglets already spend about 5 hours outside in the garden at night so as last Friday was a dry and warm night, we left them outside all night with their respective shelters, their group-built nest and a good supply of food and water. But it wasn't just a case of "leave them to it". I also stayed-up all night, checking on them each hour.

It's now 62 days and Monday is the start of week 10. Their weights are 436 and 382 grammes for the females and 300 grammes for the male. He is still not showing much in the way of instinct and purpose about what he does, like the two females. We would ideally wish to release them together, but if he is not ready then we may have to hold the two females back until he is ready. We will see what happens in the next few weeks.

Friday 27th: Apart from one night, the Hedgies have been spending all their time this week outside in the garden. Mel has widened the area within the garden that is secure and they roam at will, eat and sleep a bit then roam again. Apart from one day, when they lost weight due to the weather turning cold, they have all regained that lost weight and more!Their weights as of yesterday are 518, 442 & 364 grammes respectively.

August 2010 - Looking more like adult Hedgehogs

Monday 16th: This is the start of the 9th week and its been 56 days since the birth of these amazing animals - they look more and more like mini versions of adult Hedgehogs, particularly the two females. Besides being bulky and heavy, (the Hoglets pile on the weight each day), their bodies are now fully covered in quills and their fur has developed a brownish tinge.

The Hoglets are eating only dried food in enormous quantities and drinking water. A Hedgehogs natural instinct has kicked into play as they sleep most of the day and only become active at dusk - meaning late nights for us! As the Hoglets have got larger, they require a greater area to roam at night. This has necessitated in Melanie turning our back garden into one giant enclosed area.

Here the Hoglets can forage amongst the flower beds and rockery for insects and alike. The two females have taken to nest-building amongst the flower beds and tend to spend some of the night inside, while the male still prefers to rest in the shelter we have provided.

At the moment, their weights are 358, 328 & 234 grammes, the latter being the male and because of that we bring them inside the house around 2am for their safety. When the Hoglets top 400 grammes, we will be more confident about having them stay out all night by themselves!