December 2012 archive

Dec 31 2012

Summary December 2012

Summary December 2012

Garden

The start of December saw a change in the weather from the extremely wet weather of November to dry, sunny and freezing. This brought about a transformation in the garden with the sudden appearance of two Mistle Thrushes, two Blackbirds and a small flock of Starlings as well as a Robin, a Dunnock and lots of Blue and Great Tits – and a Coal Tit. On the feeder the Goldfinches are returning in numbers and, in general, the garden is suddenly very busy again. On the 5th we saw a Magpie eating a Starling in its entirety whilst sitting in a neighbour’s tree (the Magpie that is) which was a vicious affair. We could not tell whether it had killed it or whether it was carrion but it certainly made short work of it. On  6th we had a female Blackcap on our bird table and a Wren also visited the garden. On the 9th we saw the first two Greenfinches on our feeder for a long time. On the 10th we started to see a male Blackcap in addition to the female and on the 12th we had a Bullfinch Continue reading

Dec 12 2012

Provision Birding Group Schedule for January – March 2013

Provision Birding Group Schedule for January – March 2013

The provisional schedule worked up at the end of term lunch at Dunham Massey was as follows :

Jan 8: Pennington

Jan 15: Burton

Jan 22: Tatton Park

Jan 29: Marshside/Mere Sands Wood – day trip

Feb 5: Neumann’s Flash

Feb 12: Point of Ayr (12.26 high tide)

Feb 19: Sandbach Flashes

Feb 26: Brockholes Reserve (near Preston)

March 5: Moore (meet at Bittern hide)

March 12: Parkgate: (11.24 high tide)

March 19: Frodsham

March 26: Marbury + lunch

No doubt there will be changes as we go along.

 

Dec 11 2012

Birding Group Visit To Dunham Massey 11th December 2012

Birding Group Visit To Dunham Massey 11  December 2012

The last day of the birding group “term” was to Dunham Massey where we had a long walk and then everyone stopped over for lunch and a planning session for the next term. It was a very cold but beautifully bright morning with clear blue skies and frost underfoot. We met at the car park from where we started off with a Buzzard on a tree in the near distance and then set off down Farm Walk to the end then turned left on the path and crossed over Main Drive on to the end of Charcoal Drive. We then came main down Charcoal Drive to the main building complex. Continue reading

Dec 04 2012

Birding Group Visit To WWT Martin Mere 4th December 2012

Birding Group Visit To WWT Martin Mere 4th December 2012

The scheduled visit to Point of Ayr was cancelled because it was felt that thehigh tide was quite late in the day (noon) and that we would do better to go there when high tide was earlier. After much to-ing and fro-ing and it was decided to postpone the trip to enable us to get a day when the tide was higher and earlier in the day. At the moment this looks like it might be March 12th 2013. Anyway it was decided in the end to go to WWT Martin Mere instead. We had been there quite recently but it is always guaranteed to be interesting in one way or another so we were happy enough to go there again.

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