HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!
Monday, 24 December 2012
Thursday, 20 December 2012
HALF AN HOUR BIRDING!
Wednesday 19th December 2012.
At work today I was out and about visiting Clients dropping off Xmas goodies. On my way back to the office I thought that I would drop into Stubbers Green near Aldrige, Walsall , as its small pools are along side the main road and easily viewed. I was hoping for a Caspian Gull as I STILL need it for the year.
I set up my scope and started scaning through the 100+ Gulls gathered on the grass by the small pool. Plenty of Herring Gulls , Lesser Black Backed, 12 Great Black Gulls , Common & Black Headed Gulls, but no Caspian !
Had another scan just incase I had missed anything , then from behind a Herring Gull appeared a white winger , Iceland Gull , full Adult , NICE !
At work today I was out and about visiting Clients dropping off Xmas goodies. On my way back to the office I thought that I would drop into Stubbers Green near Aldrige, Walsall , as its small pools are along side the main road and easily viewed. I was hoping for a Caspian Gull as I STILL need it for the year.
I set up my scope and started scaning through the 100+ Gulls gathered on the grass by the small pool. Plenty of Herring Gulls , Lesser Black Backed, 12 Great Black Gulls , Common & Black Headed Gulls, but no Caspian !
Had another scan just incase I had missed anything , then from behind a Herring Gull appeared a white winger , Iceland Gull , full Adult , NICE !
Sorry couldn't get a good photo.
Well that was well worth stopping for! With work calling I packed up and headed back to the office.
ATB - Olly Clam.
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
WINTER BLUES
Sunday 9th December 2012
Yet another cold morning but the sun was out so I set out to have a look over Essington Quarry Pool as last week the Wildfoul numbers were very good
Parked up by the Pig Farm looking up at the wires overhead where it only seems five minuets since they had Swallows on them, I walked down past the orchard good numbers of Blackbird , 33 counted , House Sparrows, 2 Mistle Thrush , but not a lot else very quiet.
On approaching the pool there was about 400+ Woodpigeon feeding on the field so I had a quick scan through, in amongst them was 12 Fieldfare, Carrion Crow, no Golden Plover ! 20 years ago we had large numbers of GP upto 1000 but how things change, never mind let's see whats on the pool.
Yet another cold morning but the sun was out so I set out to have a look over Essington Quarry Pool as last week the Wildfoul numbers were very good
Parked up by the Pig Farm looking up at the wires overhead where it only seems five minuets since they had Swallows on them, I walked down past the orchard good numbers of Blackbird , 33 counted , House Sparrows, 2 Mistle Thrush , but not a lot else very quiet.
On approaching the pool there was about 400+ Woodpigeon feeding on the field so I had a quick scan through, in amongst them was 12 Fieldfare, Carrion Crow, no Golden Plover ! 20 years ago we had large numbers of GP upto 1000 but how things change, never mind let's see whats on the pool.
Arse end view of Little Grebe.
What a change fro last week , bloody dead! 1 Mute Swan, 7 Little Grebe, 5 Tufted Duck and 49 Coot!
My only assumption is that the Wildfoul Shooters must have been up here blasting away ! C**Ts is all I can say about these people, unfortunately for us who watch this pool the owners are bloody shooters! , this would be a really good place to watch if it wasn't for the disturbance!
I continued to walk around the pool for another hour and had a single Buzzard, so I packed up and headed back home.
Angry Olly Clam!! Keep the Faith - Clam On!!
OUT LOCAL
Sunday 2nd December
Winter is here and things are very quiet, short days means limited hours of light for Birding, I truely dislike the winter but to stop me going insane I decided to go out local this weekend and try and bag a Caspian Gull for my year list.
I arranged to pick up Tom at 09.30. I left the house at eight and it was very cold with a good frost cover. As I was a bit early on my way to Tom's I stopped by at my local patch Essington Quarry Pool, parked my car up at the top end of the pool and set my scope up for a quick scan.
To my suprise there were good numbers of Wildfoul for a change , 79 Wigeon, 29 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 8 Teal, 26 Mute Swan, 49 Coot, 150 + Black Headed Gull. Excellent !, I checked closely through all the Wigeon hoping for a Yanky but no luck , scanned through the Gulls but no Med, maybe next time, best go and pick Tom up.
After picking Tom up we headed over to Stubbers Green near Aldridge to check out the Gulls that gather there during the day , we were hoping a Caspian Gull may turn up. On arrival we scanned through the Gulls , Great Black Backed , Lesser, Herring, Common & Blacked Headed Gulls were here in good numbers but no Caspian! Hey Ho - were next?
Now there have been good numbers Waxwings in the country but Tom hasn't seen one this year yet so I decided to head upto Lichfield where there has been a good flock of Waxwings earlier today.
They are Waxwings honest!
We arrived at Lichfield 20mins later pulled of the A38 and onto Eastern Avenue , and there they were a group of six Waxwings, pulled over the car a parked up. A nice year tick for Tom, cracking birds.
After viewing these little beauties for about 20 mins we decided to make our way back home, but on the way I thought that we would drop by Chasewater to see if the Great Northern Driver was still there.
The Swag Pool at Chasewater.
Arrived at the Swag Pool at 12.30 , walked across the road and started to look for the Driver, after a few mins Olly picked it out swiming over by the pillon diving on occasion. Great, nice to see these coastal birds in our cental counties. We viewed the bird for about 20 mins and headed back home.
A nice morning Birding - Clam On !!
Winter is here and things are very quiet, short days means limited hours of light for Birding, I truely dislike the winter but to stop me going insane I decided to go out local this weekend and try and bag a Caspian Gull for my year list.
I arranged to pick up Tom at 09.30. I left the house at eight and it was very cold with a good frost cover. As I was a bit early on my way to Tom's I stopped by at my local patch Essington Quarry Pool, parked my car up at the top end of the pool and set my scope up for a quick scan.
To my suprise there were good numbers of Wildfoul for a change , 79 Wigeon, 29 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 8 Teal, 26 Mute Swan, 49 Coot, 150 + Black Headed Gull. Excellent !, I checked closely through all the Wigeon hoping for a Yanky but no luck , scanned through the Gulls but no Med, maybe next time, best go and pick Tom up.
After picking Tom up we headed over to Stubbers Green near Aldridge to check out the Gulls that gather there during the day , we were hoping a Caspian Gull may turn up. On arrival we scanned through the Gulls , Great Black Backed , Lesser, Herring, Common & Blacked Headed Gulls were here in good numbers but no Caspian! Hey Ho - were next?
Now there have been good numbers Waxwings in the country but Tom hasn't seen one this year yet so I decided to head upto Lichfield where there has been a good flock of Waxwings earlier today.
We arrived at Lichfield 20mins later pulled of the A38 and onto Eastern Avenue , and there they were a group of six Waxwings, pulled over the car a parked up. A nice year tick for Tom, cracking birds.
After viewing these little beauties for about 20 mins we decided to make our way back home, but on the way I thought that we would drop by Chasewater to see if the Great Northern Driver was still there.
Arrived at the Swag Pool at 12.30 , walked across the road and started to look for the Driver, after a few mins Olly picked it out swiming over by the pillon diving on occasion. Great, nice to see these coastal birds in our cental counties. We viewed the bird for about 20 mins and headed back home.
A nice morning Birding - Clam On !!
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