Scotland

Had a right weekend in Scotland,.............as I was getting over a gate yesterday morning a bird landed on the top of the fence at the same time...Lapland Bunting   very nice and today as we got out of the car a Richards Pipit flew out of the field next to us calling loudly....
Vis Yesterday and Today (next to the coast in S/W Scotland)
Great Northern Diver 5 south
Black throated Diver 1 on sea and 1 south (both adult winter)
Long Tailed Duck  1 south
Red Breasted Merganser 1 on sea
Fieldfare 44 n/w
Redwing 2 n/w
Skylark 13 n/w
Woodpigeon 1540 south(along coast)
Starling  520 n/w
Stock Dove 2 north
Snow Bunting 1 North
Hen Harrier 1(male south)
Greylag Goose 9 south
Pink footed Goose 8 south
Rock Pipit 22(bloggers)
Eider 30 (bloggers)
Stonechat 10(Locals)
Twite 45 *
Linnet 180 *
Golfinch 10*
Reed Bunting 17*
Pied wag 15 *
Chaffinch 300 +
* feeding in old turnip field with sorrel.

Violent Storm 11

Drove up to Scotland yesterday in Violent Storm 11(shiping forcast)it was a grim drive.3 hours sea wathch today produced
Great Norther Diver   4 south
Black Throated Diver on sea 1
Long tailed duck        1 south
Eider                       10 on sea
Cormorant 17 south
Shag 2 south
Kittiwake 4 south
1 male Peregring chasing woodpigeon
Curlew 1 south
Oyks 10 south

Boo hoooo

How fustrating, I could see loads of Woodpigeons way out to the east pouring through,but all the ones over Northowram were heading north/east (no doubt a bit of reverse migration going on) 1000+ throughout the day.I see in Dorset they had 161 thousand south ...Loads of Starlings in small flocks heading low west all day about 700+ in total.....

More Waxwings

25 over A&E  this afternoon taking my 7 year old in cos he nearly chopped his finger off.....................................................................

Pigs on the wing(Part 1)

 A classic Woodpig morning with clear blue skies and excellent visability.
Woodpigeons
7.00 - 8.00    3850 s/w
8.00 - 9.00    1375 s/w
9.00 - 9.30      350 s/w
total ...............  5575 all s/w

Pink footed Goose
8.00 - 8.45
130
175
180
  50
 535 all east
Other birds of note apart from a Skua species which eluded id .. I was going with juv dark phase Pom and I see no reason on refering to books that it was'nt this species.but the view was all too brief (drat)??
2 Goosander west
10 Greenfinch west
30+ Chaffinch west
22 Siskin west
50 + Common Gull west
1 Pied wagtail  west
1 Mistle Thrush   north
5 Mallard  west

Round and about....

Its allways nice to see birds when your working and a group of 10 Waxwings over Manor heath today was no exception..!167 Lapwings between Northowram and Queensbury was a good count with 10 linnets also here.

Early Morning Vis...then nowt

Clear Skies ..7.30 - 8.15

657 Woodigeon s/w
2 GBBGull        west
6 Mistle Thrush   west
12 Fieldfare west
7 Redwing west
33 Starling west
14 Meadow Pipit west
6 Chaffinch west
after 8.15 an almost sudden stop to any more movment......

South West Scotland...Top Vis

A few days in south west Scotland started with an early morning vis on Sunday the 24th October
Fieldfare 5600       NNE
Skylark     615      NNE
Redwing       4      NNE
Lapland Bunting  1 NNE
Whooper Swan  2 south
Hen Harrier(ringtail)  1 south
Meadow Pipit   86     NNE
Starling          800+      NNE
Jackdaw        670       south
Twite              14                 NNE
Greylag           9             south
Mistle Thrush  22  NNE
Linnet              1  NNE
Chaffinch         3 NNE
Brambling       4   NNE
Waxwing        25 WNW
Reed Bunting   1 NNE
(AC and KS)
Other Birds present
Rock Pipit                  28+
Black Throated Diver    2
Buzzard                         3
Raven                           4
Willow warbler            1
Twite (no rings maybe a differnt species?) 20 on beach(where they should be)
Eider  62
Snipe  3
The next morning before dawn Waxwing calls could be herd in the dark along with masses of Redwing,Skylark and Fieldfare but as dawn broke only 2 waxwings and a handful of Mipits were observed..........
Vis    27th

Whooper Swan  30 North

Hen Harrier  1 Adult male south

Swallow  1 south

Merlin 1 south

Woodpigeons

A fall of 300/400 woodpigeons this evening at about 5.30 circled round the field and then off s/w.Good numbers of fieldfare earlier on in the week.

Lost in the Fog

Could'nt find my lads football match today it was meant to be in Ripponden but I must have got the directions wrong/wright.
450 Pink Footed geese west over Ripponden
1 Cormorant  west over Ripponden
40 Lapwing N/w over Northowram
150 redwing s/w over Northowram
2  Ravens over green Withens clough
44 Common Gull Manor Heath

Vis accsessories

Does any body know where i can buy a big GREEN (for camouflage) fisherman's 'flatback' umbrella ...??Im going birding in a remote part of Scotland for a week and aparently I need one of these.??

Northowram Quarry

Looking s/w to Norland Moor and Wainhouse tower

11 Swallows west
1 Redwing   s/e
54 meadow Pipit all directions
45 Woodpigeon  east
34 Linnet bloggers
1 Great Spot wood very high south
6 Mistle Thrush
1 Stock Dove east
3 Chaffinch  south
2 Pied Wagtail s/w
1 Goldcrest calling from the middle of a large mound of boulders.??
Not bad shows potential for a longer watch......

Northowram Quarry

A quick look this afternoon produced 22 starling,4 Linnet,4 LTTit,2 Golfinch,1 Kestrel,3 woodpigeon,2 collard dove , 1 Goldcrest and 9 grounded meadow Pipit(which is encouraging)
A SPOTTED FLYCATCHER in the pine tree opposite the house this evening did'nt stay long as the local robin saw it off.A Great Spotted wood high s/w.

In for the Kill.2

In for the Kill 1.

I

New Patch

I found a new patch as I am sick of running away from cows which have destroyed my old walk.(Ruff,Snow Bunting ,,Honey/ Buzz, Whooper,Bewicks swan,Barn Owl and Jack Snipe)
my first walk today produced 22 Linnet,15 Goldfinch,1 Great spot wood (over)20 starling,1 Pied wag,1LBBGull and 6 Magpies.it reminds me of the Hill from Hell(Soil Hill).Watch for photos soon.....Meadoe Pipits and Swallows pileing through this morning(sat).

Afternoon walk

Afternoon Walk
40 + Swallows
2 House Martin
3/4 Sparrowhawk
2 Stock Dove
27 Woodpigeons/ east
1 Buzzard high south

Turtles at Dalyan..Turkey

http://www.dalyanguide.co.uk/DalyanCaretta.html both these Loggerheads had been hit by Speed Boats and are undergoing rehab.Hopfully they will make it back to sea.The beach we went to had 100 nests each nest containing 100 - 150 eggs.We watched them hunting crabs a realy brilliant sight.

Rainbow Rising

Last Swifts

2 swifts above the house today at 5.45 forced down by the rain.3 LBBgulls ,2 BHgulls and a Sparrowhak .

Beautiful Demoiselle

Turkey (is very hot)

Most days about 110 degrees and at night neverbelow 80,

Goldfinch

The local flock of goldfinch is now at 31 this is on my front lawn feeding on dandilion (type)also 5 Linnet including 3 juvs have joined the Goldfinch.Good numbers of gulls on the move with LBB,Common,Herring ,BH and one adult Yellow LeggedGull was a real bonus.

Eider

Managed this after a boozy doo in bamburgh.Still saw more birds than yer average autumn passage in Northowram.

Gulls on the Move

Over the last few weeks LBBGulls have been on the move west but today the first GBBGulls (1o+) have been seen moving east with the first BHGulls of the summer going n/e.canada Geese have been moving n/e a couple of weeks ago and 5 greylags east was a record for me here.the local sparrowhawks and Kestrels had been collecting food on a regular basis the last couple of days.

Jay House lane

Had a look at jay house lane this evening and managed about 6 /7 Tree sparrows ,whitethroat and Stock dove.

Is it Winter.........??

Its been like winter this week the car was frozen solid on wenesday morning,??Swifts and swallows have been on the move all week with a massive move on sunday with birds moving n/w all day.LBBGulls going west and 2 Herons high west on thursday the highlights of a dull week.

House Sparrows ,Linnets and Swifts

4 Linnets today in front field the first of the year(about 2 weeks later than last year),2 Swifts on the 6thn were a week early.A Bright line Brown eye in the moth trap was the earliest by 2 weeks.House Sparrows are much in evidence nest building and the local Sparrowhawk was seen carrying food today.

Badger

had a few new sightings locally recently including my first Badger walking down the road when i came back from a late night moffing session,Fox,Rabbit and Noctule Bat.Swallows,House Martins are well in now and it was nice to hear Reed warbler at EGP the other day.there has been a good move of LBBGulls west last week with a few Herring Gulls in with them.

Not for the faint Hearted

Some good photos of himalayan Vultures cut and paste this ............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





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