Author's posts
Apr 05 2011
Birding Group Visit to Tatton Park 5th April 2011
The weather forecast wasn’t too good for the day and it started off dull and a bit ominous with few birds to be seen or heard in the woods. However as the morning wore on the weather picked up and so did the birding. By the far edge of the Tatton Mere we could see around eight Grey Heron nests with half of them occupied by one bird each and there were others around. On the water were fair numbers of Tufted Duck and Mallard and also a fair number of Great Crested Grebes. The last pair we saw were displaying to each other with head swivelling and neck bobbing aplenty. There were plenty of Coots but only one Moorhen and a solitary Mute Swan. By far the best sight on the water – or rather just above the water – was a huge flock of House Martins – at least 300 but possibly as many as a thousand depending upon whose judgement you believed.
Apr 02 2011
Owl by Desmond Morris
“Owl” by Desmond Morris is part of the “Animal” range of books published by Reaktion Books. I had previously read “Falcon” by Helen Macdonald and like that book, Owl deals in great measure with the mythical, sociological and iconographic history of Owls as well as the natural history of owls. In this book, however, the balance between the social history and the natural history is weighted too much to the former in my opinion. Continue reading
Mar 29 2011
Birding Group Visit to Wigan Flashes 29th March 2011
We haven’t been able to go to many of the “WEA Birding Group” mornings out recently due to a combination of visiting relatives, being on holiday and having to go to London – all pleasant events but preventing us from going on the birding mornings. So it was nice to be able to attend again and it was a fine morning for it.
We started off at the parking spaces just outside Hawkley Hall School and walked around some of the smaller flashes until we got to the place where you have the middle of Scotman’s Flash on your left and Pearson’s Flash on your right and then returned to the parking spot. We were there from around 10am – 2pm and saw the following
Continue reading
Mar 25 2011
Visit to London Wetland Centre – WWF Barnes 25th March 2011
Anne and I had arranged to go to London to attend a friend’s 60th birthday party so we decided to go a day early and visit the WWT centre at Barnes. We got the tube to Hammersmith and then a number 283 bus from Hammersmith bus station (stand K) which is just at the rear of the tube station and the bus took us all the way to the entrance so it was all very easy getting there. As it was a week-day it was quite quiet apart from lots of school children on group visits but these were largely confined to the conservation section and few ventured into the “wild” section. It was a gloriously sunny day but not too warm to be comfortable.
Mar 10 2011
Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich
We have been on holiday for a week in Funchal where we did see some birds, Swifts, Blackcaps, Blackbirds, Grey Wagtails and inumerable pigeons. We didn’t really go there to bitd watch however but I did need a good solid book to read to I took “Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds” by Bernd Heinrich and I wasn’t disappointed.
Feb 23 2011
Falcon by Helen Macdonald
I have just finished reading “Falcon” by Helen Macdonald. It is full of all things falcon but with a distinctly anthropological bent. There is an introductory chapter on the natural history of the falcon but thereafter the concern is with the symbolically created meanings arising from human interaction with the falcons – primarily the Peregrine Falcon. Continue reading
Feb 15 2011
The Goshawk by T.H.White
I have finished reading T.H. White’s book “The Goshawk” written during 1938 but not published until 1951. Its description of the author’s attempts to train a Goshawk using techniques primitive even at the time is not so much a book about the bird as about his own psychological desire to tame the animal and also his respect for the wildness of it. This contradiction and some of the psychological factors underlying it are nicely observed in the introduction by Marie Winn especially if you are fond of Freudian interpretation. Continue reading
Feb 14 2011
Birding Group Visit to Hilbre Island 14th February 2011
This week the birding group’s visit was to Hilbre Island on the Wirral. There were around 12 of us and we were fortunate to pick a really fine day for it – even if it was a little cold.
We saw a very large flock of Oystercatchers which amounted to at least 200 birds (but probably much more) mixed in with around 50 Black-tailed Godwits, 30 Redshank, 20 Dunlin and a dozen or so Turnstone.There were 3 Grey Heron, a Cormorant, Black-headed, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls and around 50 Brent Geese. We also had a great view of a singing Wren. As we were coming back we encountered a small flock of birds bouncing around the sand and rocks and what little grass there was and after much humming and hawing we concluded that it was a flock of a dozen or so Linnets – though, subsequently it crossed my mind that they just might be Twite but they seemed a bit too dull peachy around the chest for Twite.
Anyway we spent nearly 2 hours on the island and also had the added bonus on the way back of seeing a group of 40 Atlantic Grey Seals lying around on a sandbank a few hundred metres from one of the islands.
Feb 08 2011
Birding Group Visit to Neumann’s Flash 8th February 2011
A fine morning for a birding walk at Neumann’s Flash which is a part of the Northwich Woodland Area. There was a clear blue sky and it was mild for February. Birds spotted included a Buzzard flying low across our path and later two roosting in a tree near the biggest lake. Also there two Stock Doves roosting on top of a nest box and a Sparrowhawk roosting in a tree overlooking the lake. On the water were Shovelers, Shelduck and Teal . Elsewhere on the site there were large numbers (150+) of Lapwing rising, wheeling and settling back down and Bullfinch in the trees. A Song Thrush singing on a telephone wire and a Cormorant flying above. Others of the group saw a GreatSpotted Woodpecker and a Golden Plover but I missed those.
Feb 06 2011
Wet Wet Wet
Today has seen heavy rain all day but this just seems to have encouraged the garden birds to stay put so we have been seeing a lot of our daily visitors who are usually :
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Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Starling, Blackcap, Collared Dove and Wood Pidgeon.
Oddly enough the rain seems to provoke bathing in the bird bath.