August 2012 archive

Aug 31 2012

Summary August 2012

Summary August 2012

Garden

August started with some really sunny weather which was pleasant but it being August the birds are hiding away moulting. The numbers of Goldfinches have increased considerably with the addition of this years cohort. By the middle of the month some of them were starting to moult into their adult plumage with some reddish orange starting to appear on their heads. Sometimes there are around fourteen on the feeders at one time. The odd juvenile Greenfinch is also to be seen. The Blackbirds that were so in evidence a few weeks ago seem to have completely disappeared. In the air above by the middle of the month there were just one or two Swifts left and by the end of the month, none. No Robin was seen until the very end of the month when a juvenile sporting a pale red breast started to come to the bird table.Dunnocks can be heard easier than seen; even the House Sparrows seem to be laying low.
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Aug 18 2012

Day Out to WWT Martin Mere 18th August 2012

Day Out to WWT Martin Mere 18th August 2012

A look at the weather forecast for Burscough suggested a fine day and with the weather being so changeable this month we thought we should drive out to Martin Mere WWT for the day. I was encouraged but recent reports on their web site that there had been a number of Kingfishers seen from the Ron Barker Hide. We had seen Kingfishers there before but not this year – so far ! Would we get lucky? Read on.

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Aug 06 2012

Visit to Flamborough Head and Bempton Cliffs : 5th August 2012

Visit to Flamborough Head and Bempton Cliffs : 5th August 2012

For our second day on the east coast we took a drive out to the lighthouse at Flamborough Head and had a walk around the bay there which was very interesting and we could hear a number of small birds among the grass and wild flowers and plants at the cliffs enge bur they were were hidden and hard to see. There were lots of Swallows flying low along the grass. We decided that the day was nice enough to go over to Bridlington to see if we could get a boat trip on the “Yorkshire Belle” to Bempton Cliffs so we could see the colony from the sea looking towards the cliffs. We parked up (no mean fear there) and headed off to the pier where we hoped to get a boat trip. There was a trip out to Bempton Cliffs but it was a three hour trip starting at 3pm and we couldn’t wait that long. We did however manage to get a trip more or less straight away that went out to Flamborough Head and back so we thought that was better than nothing.

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Aug 05 2012

Visit to Bempton Cliffs : 4th August 2012

Visit to Bempton Cliffs : 5th August 2012

Anne and I decided to go away for our 6th anniversary and since it was on our minds to try to get over to RSPB Bempton Cliffs one of these days we decided that this would be a good opportunity. We drove over eastwards and as we drove the weather picked up quite a bit and by the time we reached Bempton Cliffs it was a really nice afternoon. It was going to be our first sight of a mainland Gannetry and I was particularly interested to see the Gannets from above rather than below as has been our previous experience.

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Aug 03 2012

Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 3rd August 2012

Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 3rd August 2012

The weather has been pretty poor so when it looked like we had a window of opportunity we jumped at it and went out to Moore Nature Reserve for a walk. Often we walk through Rigby’s Wood and on to Middle Moss Wood and Birchwood Pool but this time we walked to the left of the car park up the grassy slope that leads to the high land that overlooks Lapwing Lake. Anne had not walked this route before so it was a different view of Moore from that she is accustomed to. It was a bit late in the season though and lots of the birds were in hiding or just not singing. The land is very overgrown compared to early or late in the year as well and this makes it a bit different. However, there were a couple of nice sightings to be had anyway.

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