Swiftly does it

Swift over Broom, May 2007

Have you seen any Swifts over your town or village this year?  Were they screaming, or diving under the eaves of a house?  If they were, you can help the Swift Inventory by sending in your records.

Please help us help Swifts.

The Zoothera hunt

OK, I promised myself to move away from gulls for the time being, as I guess not everyone wants to read about them!

This Varied Thrush was a big highlight from our trip to Vancouver Island earlier in the year. Its one of those species we weren't sure we were going to see, especially as most trip reports for the area neglect to mention it.

As it happens they were common on the west side of the island - common by voice that is! I'd pre-loaded my iphone with some of the calls before we left England so I knew roughly what to listen out for. This birds call haunted the tall evergreen coastal forests, but it quickly became an enigma as we just couldn't see it in the huge growth. They would sing from the very tops of the trees and when they moved they'd go quickly without us noticing.

Several early mornings were spent creeping round trails hoping we'd catch one feeding on the ground. We failed. On our last morning in the Tofino area we had one last crack. Two hours later, and with breakfast and our girlfriends waiting for us, it was time to go. The rain that morning had been pretty persistent and loads of American Robins were feeding on worms along the road sides. A split-decision by me to 'try one last place' while driving back ended the agony.

As there so many Robins feeding on the roadsides I drove down towards a lovely little bay, and along a very little used road as it goes no-where. As we drove slowly along it there were Robins everywhere. We must have seen over 40 individuals coming off the roadsides. Mark and I were checking carefully as we inched along.

"VARIED THRUSH!" went the shout as Mark's sharp eye picked one out as it flew up to a bush by the roadside. I craned my neck to peer out of the back window and there it was, bouncing on a flimsy stem, then flicked its wings and in to the forest. Awesome!

A few minutes later, once we had calmed down, we moved along to see if we could find it again. Almost without believing our eyes we re-found it further along the road, but this time fully out in the open at the car park at the end of the road! We knew we were pushing our luck with the ladies, so we spent a few minutes absorbing this beautiful bird and comparing it to the Robins alongside, before heading back to Tofino elated.

If you want to know exactly where we saw this bird, click here.

Canus

Common Gull, Great Yarmouth, 25th November 2007.

My crest is on fire

Always stunning, this Firecrest is just down the road from my house at the moment.

A great tit

Not your average Blue Tit, this is an Ultramarine Tit! Also know as African Blue Tit. Either way, its FAR cooler than a normal Blue Tit.

More wols

Here are a few more Tawny Owl shots from recent owl prowls. The header image is one Paul Hackett took digiscoping, with just the light of the torch for illumination. And yes, the bottom bird was very confiding!

A tale of two shots

Had a super night out chasing Owls around the local lanes with Paul Hackett last night. We had two lovely Tawny Owls that sat long enough for us to take some snaps of them.

The two shots above are taken with two very different methods. The top shot is digiscoped, with just the light of the lamp illuminating the bird. This is really difficult and relies on a wide-spread of light from the lamp, the bird being the optimum distance away, and a co-operative bird. The bottom is a far better option - a DSLR and flashgun - much faster to setup and the light is superior because of the flash.

I like the DSLR shot much better, but the challenge of getting a cracking shot digiscoped is far greater. I will keep trying...

Tawnies on ice

Our local Tawny Owls seem to be having a tough time of it at the moment. Lots of snow and ice still on the ground is making it hard for them to hunt efficiently. These two chaps were hunting the road sides just outside my village.

Brown Owl

We found this lovely Tawny Owl just outside Southill village. It was extremely cooperative, and presumably just digesting its prey (which you can see surrounding its talons). I think it could be a rat?

I think perhaps a bit more Owling is in the offing over the coming weeks...

Fierce

The birders favourite. Firecrest at Bedfordshires premier site for them, The Lodge. 5th Nov 2009. One of at least two lurking around the gardens in recent days.

Autumn at The Lodge

A view down the drive at The Lodge. 25th October 2009

Caw!

Rook, A14 service station, May 2009. Wonderful birds, in fact the whole crow family is full of character. These cheeky chaps were stealing cold chips from a waste bin in the car park!

Rare 'cat

A rare opportunity to see Polecat during the day was seized today. A family of four kits have been showing at College Lake, Bucks, recently and we got lucky with two animals visiting the hide this afternoon. Unfortuantely a crap shot, but a special one!

Swooping Swifts

About 300 of these fantastic birds over Broom this evening. Tricky to photograph well. Out of over 100 images the two above were probably about the best.

Falco-fantastico!

Had a lazy day today. Spent most of the day pottering around the garden, cutting grass, moving bird feeders about, you know the drill. Best bird of the morning was a Song Thrush bashing the living daylights out of snails. It's something I've not seen for years, but have fond memories of seeing them in my parents garden doing this all the time. It really put a smile on my face.


In the afternoon we got bored, so went to Rookery for an hour. The wind was blowing a gale over the eastern bank, which made viewing difficult. However the Hobbies were giving fantastic views right over head. Absolutely mega birds.


I also saw my first Grizzled Skipper of the year, albeit briefly before being blown away just as quickly as it flew in.

An Arctic trickle

Another quiet morning at Broom, at least it was for me as I got there at 07:30 and had missed the two Little Egrets and Dunlin!

MAW and I popped back in at lunchtime and found two Arctic Terns buzzing over the lake, with up to five Commons. Two Dunlin flew in as well, making it a successful trip.

By mid-afternoon Matt had got three Arctic's, and Dunlins had risen to five. By the evening, the Two original Arctic's were still around but had dropped to one by the time I left at 19:15.

Common, Common, Arctic

Arctic, Common, Arctic

Common, Common, Arctic (front), Common

All the above flight shots are the same lingering Arctic taken in the evening

Dartford dip and a monster falcon

A view over the paddocks at Blows Downs

After dipping the Dartford this morning I had a look around the southern badlands. Most surprising bird of all was a striking, and very large, pale falcon over the south end of Dunstable. It was possibly a Gyr x Saker Hybrid (too pale for a Saker, and too creamy for a Gyr). It was certainly a monster bird, and presumably the same as reported by Tony Donnely as a Gyr on Blows Downs last week?

presumably a first year male Blackbird at Blows

Also several Ravens and plenty of Red Kites around the downs. It was great to sit in the car park at Bison Hill and have Raven, Red Kite and Buzzard all float past at eye level.

Buzzard over Dunstable, taken with my DSLR

Not a lot else to report from yesterday - 740 LBB Gulls at Stewartby mid-afternoon was a good count.

Later in the evening, the Beds contingent (Andy Grimsey and I), even with the help of the Bucks recorder, got a right good pasting in the Absurd Bird Quiz run by Si and Rob in MK. That lot from Tring won, again!

Bonus Brambling blog shots

Here are some shots taken in my garden over the last couple of weeks. Some are taken with a borrowed Canon 500mm IS f.4 lens, but most are taken with my trusty 300mm. They are absolutely superb birds to have in your garden.

A reminder...

...that spring is just around the corner. Firecrest, Bedfordshire, April 2008.

Winter wonderland

Some winter thrushes taken today in the fast melting snow. The Redwing was in Southill and the Fieldfare in my garden.