Category: Featured in Slider

Oct 20 2013

Glossy Ibises Bolton : 20th October 2013

Glossy Ibises Bolton : 20th October 2013

Glossy Ibis, Bolton

Glossy Ibis, Bolton

I had been following the presence of four juvenile Glossy Ibises on “Bird News Anywhere” for a few weeks and we even went to the fields at the back of Bob’s Smithy Inn (at 1448 Chorley Old Rd, Bolton BL1 7PX ) on our way up to Scotland on the 2nd of October. That time we had been unsuccessful even if we did meet some other birders also looking for them. This time we were luckier. We parked in the lay-by on Walker Fold Road – an incredibly busy road for a country lane and quite dangerous for the inattentive. We spoke briefly to another birder and he pointed to the four birds at the far end of the field. With the scope at full zoom they gave a reasonable showing but it got more interesting when we decided to walk around in front of the pub and walk up the road to the footpath that comes along the far side of the field and which we hoped would give us close views hidden behind a low stone wall.

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Oct 08 2013

Highland Birding Holiday Day 1 : 8th October 2013

Highland Birding Holiday Day 1 : 8th October 2013

Crested Tit, Grantown-on-Spey

Crested Tit, Grantown-on-Spey

We arrived at the Grant Arms Hotel early afternoon on Monday the 7th October and we were pleased to find that our room was already prepared for us so we could check in early. We were pleased that we had been given quite a nice room on the first floor and, although it didn’t have much of a view, it was quite spacious and very comfortable. We got all out luggage in and sorted out and after that we took a walk around Grantown-on-Spey to get the lay of the land. In truth there aren’t a lot of attractions in the town with just the one pub and a couple of closed hotels but there is a post office, small supermarkets and a newsagents and bakers etc. so they do have all the essentials and we expected that we wouldn’t be going out much after dinner at the end of long birding days.

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Sep 05 2013

Curlew Sandpipers at RSPB Leighton Moss : 5th September 2013

Curlew Sandpipers at RSPB Leighton Moss : 5th September 2013

Curlew Sandpiper Leighton Moss

Curlew Sandpiper Leighton Moss

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Aug 20 2013

Visit to Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire : 20th August 2013

Visit to Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire : 20th August 2013

Red Kite, Aston Rowant

Red Kite, Aston Rowant

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Aug 06 2013

Visit to Blacktoft Sands : 6th August 2013

Visit to Blacktoft Sands : 6th August 2013

Wood Sandpiper Blacktoft Sands

Wood Sandpiper Blacktoft Sands

We went to the Yorkshire coast at this time of year last year but this time we decided to add in a couple of new sites for us. The first of these was the RSPB site at Blacktoft Sands which has featured on our birding group schedule from time to time but, for one reason or another, has never materialised. In fact the last birding group member to go there said it was a bit of a disappointment. Our experience was quite different, however, and we had fantastic views of some fantastic birds and had the opportunity to add a few ticks to our 2013 year list.
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Apr 23 2013

Visit to WWT Slimbridge 23rd April 2013

Visit to WWT Slimbridge 23rd April 2013

We made a second visit to WWT Slimbridge on the morning of the 23rd before we drove down to Poole. This time we got much closer views of the Cranes and a chance to observe some interesting behaviour. As we watched the Cranes at the far side of the lake, one of them broke from the group and strode off purposefully to the right. As we homed in on this it was clear that the bird had something in its mouth and this turned out to be an egg. Slimbridge observers took this to be a Greylag Goose egg and it was certainly the right size for this. As it set off with this egg, it dropped in onto the ground and started to eat the contents. It proceeded to pick it up again and move further away with it and as it did so the yolk was clearly visible dripping from the shell. Continue reading

Apr 22 2013

Visit to WWT Slimbridge 22nd April 2013

Visit to WWT Slimbridge 22nd April 2013

We broke up our trip from Manchester to Poole with a stop for the night at the Tudor Arms Hotel in Slimbridge on the night of 22nd April. We arrived with a little time to spare so we had a chance to make a short visit to WWT Slimbridge. We arrived fairly late but we managed to get an hour and a half in before closing. Our first interest was to try to get views of the Cranes. We headed off to the Martin Smith Hide which overlooks the “Tack piece”, a small lake surrounded by fields with the River Severn in the background. We were instantly rewarded by views of three Cranes.

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Mar 24 2013

Birding in The Brecks Day 2 : 24th March 2013

Birding in The Brecks Day 2 : 24th March 2013

On the second day of our two-day guided birding tour we had some new additions to the group and a couple of losses so Stuart felt obliged to show the newcomers some of the same spots we had visited the previous day. Whilst this was a little boring for us it was understandable – at least it wasn’t snowing and, although it was cold, the birding was much easier because you didn’t have to clear snow off your bins every five minutes. As with the previous day, we started off with a walk along the banks bank of the Little Ouse near Santon Downham. The going was poor underfoot as some of the previous days snow had partly melted into the underlying mud making it very slippery and slow walking. Again we saw Siskins, Bramblings and Redwings, though not in the numbers of the previous day and no singing from the Redwings but, in contrast to the previous day, we did get brief glimpses of a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Continue reading

Mar 23 2013

Birding in The Brecks Day 1 : 23rd March 2013

Birding in The Brecks Day 1 : 23rd March 2013

While we were getting work done on our house we thought that it would be a good idea  to get away for a week when all that was left to do was the painting work which we felt could not really go wrong. As it happened the work finished before we expected and we found ourselves going on holiday on the last day of the painting work.

We had planned to mix visiting friends with a bit of birding so, after a bit of research we thought that a visit to the Brecklands would be a good idea – perhaps we could see Goshawks, Firecrests and Hawfinches ? What we had not built into the plan when we arranged all this was the weather as blizzards closed down large parts of the country and led to week-long power cuts in Ireland and the coldest March for fifty years. However, our plans were made and we had no intention of calling off a much needed break from a house turned upside down by plasterers, carpenters and painters and, with carpets lifted, radiators removed and windows open to let paint fumes out, freezing cold. How much colder could it be anyway ? We were about to find out ! Continue reading