January Sum Up!!...

Okay, a tad premature as there is still a full day left, but as The Argo is recieving some much needed TLC today (in the shape & form of a new wheel bearing, repair to the splash cover, etc,etc...), I'm working night shift tonight, have my daughter tomorrow... well, nil birding I'm afraid!!... (I can always edit this anyway!!)... ;~)
So I thought I'd do my end of month write up today.... It's been a mixed month I guess, with some highs & lows... The bad first - Due to work & other commitments I missed on a few trips early in month which cost me a really annoying 4 lifers!!!... Plus around 10 year ticks, with some goodies in there too!!!...
I've dipped Iceland & Ring-billed Gull in the county (Ring-billed is a bogey bird of mine too), also failed to find the Great Grey Shrike in Morville earlier last week (not a county tick, but a good bird none the less!!)...

The better stuff - In the first week I had a lifer!!... and not just any old lifer, a MEGA & major unblocker with the now infamous White-crowned Sparrow at Cley!! (Although I'm sure every sod & his dog has seen this bird now!!..). Plus Norfolk netted my 26 year ticks in what was a poor days birding, Snow & Lapland Bunting the only birds of note!! Dipped Water Pipit again!!! (This is my major bogey bird!!!)...
Managed 63 species on New Years Day in 5 hrs birding in the home county, Crossbill being the best bird!!...
Had a great county tick with Glaucous Gull at Granville!!!
And finally managed a day trip to Angelsey to nail a few birds up there... Then this last week or so... very little birding done.

End of month tallies are - County Year List: 89 Species. (Pretty crap really, I've done 95 before now & this year wanted to hit 100, so waaaay off that target!!).

UK Year List: 126 species. (Beating my previous best by 1 species, but I should've really been well into the 130's!!)...

So, February I have my work cut out... need to grip back a few year ticks, need to nail some lifers... & well, just need to try harder!!... ;~)

A Day on Angelsey!!...

I was planning on doing a North Wales jaunt on Friday, but as Mand had said she'd like to see Angelsey for the first time, plus me oversleeping by 2hrs yesterday morning, decided to cram it all in today!!..

We woke around 08:30am & casually rose & readied ourselves leaving Shropshire around 10am. We headed straight for South Stack RSPB!!..

It was great to jam in on the lone Hooded Crow almost instantly, perched on a wire above someones garden (not one of this birds hybrid offspring!!)... Makes me wonder how old this bird is now as it must've been resident at South Stack now for at least 4 or 5 years?...

From the cliff face we soon scoped several Fulmar's perched precariously on the cliff face, surrounded by loads of Herring Gull and a few GBB Gulls...

Then I picked out a lone Chough feeding in the grass below the footbridge which leads to Ellin's Tower. Try as I did I failed to get a photo as it kept dropping out of sight! There were plenty of Raven flying about plus a few brave Stonechats, that even though perched up brilliantly & close just flew regularly enough for me to give in trying to get a piccie!!!... A seawatch gave up just one lone, distant Guillemot... no Kittiwakes or Gannets!! They'll be nailed later in the year!!.. ;~)
Overlooking Ellin's Tower, South Stack RSPB... quiet today, but in a few months!!...

Just one of several Fulamr perched on the cliff face... I know, my usual naffness in picture quality!!...

Holyhead Harbour was next, where after a few scans I picked out a lone Black Guillemot, not too far out, plus a couple of Shag, diving very frequently, making for a very rushed photo!!...

Lone Black Guillemot in Holyhead Harbour, trying to hide behind the bouy!!... Too quick for ya matey!!...

....& a very rushed pic of one of many Shag's seen today around Angelsey!!...

Red Wharf Bay was the next port of call where we relaxed & had a lovely dinner in the Boat House restaurant (I can highly recommend the local fish pie!!). Then we went for a walk along the beach (aaaaww, I know, straight outta Mills & Boon eh?... who say's I aint romantic!?)... But I did take my scope!!.. There was around 400+ Wigeon on the tide line, with easily over 1000 Knot!! Around c.250 Common Scoter were scattered across the sea, with 1 Red-throated Diver, loads of Shag & Great Crested Grebe!!... Still no sign of any scarce sea ducks (Red-breasted Merganser, Eider, Long-tailed Duck or Velvet Scoter!!)... I'd hoped for a Rock Pipit here too, but failed to find one!!...

Just a few of the 1000+ strong flock of Knot at Red Wharf Bay... not a day for waders really today...

Llanfairfechan was our last stop, the rain now falling quite heavy & the light fast disappearing!! I soon located more Common Scoter, at least 4 Great Northern Diver & 2 Razorbill!!... But again not a single Merganser!!?... I heard a Rock Pipit, but in the poor light there was little chance of seeing it!!...

Yours truly scoping something out at sea!!?... Failed to see a bleedin' merganser all day!!!...

Wet & tired it was time to head off home....

I must say a huge thanks to Mand, who not only drove all day, but was almost as thrilled as me with every year tick added & never tired running around on the beach with my pooch Tess!!.. I scored 9 year ticks but failed to connect with at least 3 or 4 that I'd normally expect. But it was a nice day 'casual' birding, a great meal and pushes the owd list up a bit more...

Now... we're relaxing nice n' snug in front of the telly!!!... ;~)

Finally!!! A County Tick!!... (No.1...?).

Well, it aint like I haven't put in the effort for one thus far this year, is it?... I was going to Priorslee today anyway, but after a text from Geoff yesterday at 3pm informing me that the 1st w. Glaucous Gull was there I was in a bit of a conundrum... I had just cooked a late dinner, Mand was round plus I knew on past sightings that Glauc only remained at Priorslee for a few minutes before leaving! Anyway, I didn't go, the bird was still there when Geoff left at 3:20pm!!


I was at Priorslee for around 10am this morning, there were a few large gulls on the pool, Herring & LBB's, but not that many! So, I decided to try Granville Landfill site, where Andy had scored the gull a few days previous.
I arrived and the vast number of gulls was, well, more than slightly impressive, there were literally thousands!! This was going to be hard!!

PLEASE NOTE: Granville is a working site & if you wish to bird here you MUST get permission from the site foreman beforehand!!!

Which is what I did, he's a decent bloke & was quite interested in what all the fuss was about a gull!! Anyway, after going through the saftey procedures & donning the owd reflective vest on he took me to a spot where I could scope from - he couldn't have picked better!!!...
I literally set my scope up & began scanning L-R from the large blade working this area of landfill & just 20 odd ft. from the blade, stood on a small ridge, was the 1st w. GLAUCOUS GULL!!!... Brilliant stuff, cant believe how quickly I jammed in on this bird!!... It dropped off the ridge into a small gully, so although it was still visiable, I couldn't get a brilliant shot of the bird... But well enough to see that this is clearly a Glauc! A county tick for me & an excellent year tick and grip back on a few of ze lads who scored at Chasewater on New Years Day! Then the entire flock got up, I scanned for the Glauc, but couldn't relocate it!! How much of a jammy sod am I?!!... I had a scan through a few of the other gulls, but apart from a pos. Yellow-leg, I could see nothing of note.
So, I signed out & decided to swing into VP on the way home (got my daughter today, so only had a small window of available time to bird).

The Glaucous Gull, good shot of the white primaries & large size (also the aggresive behaviour this gull was showing towards any gull that came too close!!), but I failed to quite capture the pink bill with the dark tip!!... Nevermind, not a bad shot for me!!


Another shot showing the white primaries, paler colour etc... it was a sod to get a good shot as it was feeding in this small gully!!...


Granville Landfill, as the gulls took to the air, easily c.2000 gulls on this part alone, with easily as many again further across to the left of the site!!

VP provided an unexpected year tick in the shape of a solitary Pink-foooted Goose, asleep with the Greylags!!... Brilliant!... I think that takes my Shropshire year list up to 87 species & the UK year list to 117 species!!... Going okay so far... (still need that bloody Song Thrush though!!!)

Wet N' Wild!!!...

...The title is the best way to describe the weather today!!... (Incidently, last time I read the title it was an advert in a magazine, I phoned the number shown below & the very friendly young girl on the other end of the line funnily didn't seem to want to chat about birding, but it was okay as we ended up having a very interesting conversation anyway!!)...
Ahem!... back to the job in hand
After finishing my night shifts I decided to hunt down a few year ticks locally on this a very dire day weather wise! Condover first where there were easily around c.300 Golden Plover in 'the field', also c.500 Lapwing, Meadow Pipits (gotta be a good spot for a potential Water Pipit now that the field is flooded!!?), 5 Skylarks, BH Gulls & Starlings!! Nice start! The sun even came out - albeit briefly!

Y'see, I can do picturesque!!... 'The field' at Condover.... Now for the usual shite!!....

Golden Plovers, Lapwings & Starlings at Condover.... usual crap from myself here!...


Longnor next, where I scored a single Dipper!!... Nothing else here.

Longnor Bridge; great place for Dipper... & playing 'Pooh sticks'... & for access to the A49 from Longnor, without driving your car through a stream... & for... oh balls to it, y'get the gist!!...

Next was VP, the pool was awfuly quiet! But the feeding station had a stunning male Siskin & a female Brambling. Stacks of Yellowhammer & Reed Bunting in the top field, only 2 Lesser Redpoll though!... (Oh yeah, had a second Dipper at Cound Stank bridge - like bloody buses, aint they?)... Onwards....

View across Cound Stank bridge.... Nowt else to tell ya really....

Male Reed Bunting, from here on we hit shitesville!!....


Take my word for it... this is a Lesser Redpoll!!!...


....& a camera shy Yellowhammer... hardly make much difference with me behind the lens!!...

Drove around the back roads in the Walcot area, finally scored 2 Corn Bunting, but not a single Grey Partridge... or even a Red-legged!! Checked the floods at Atcham, but nowt here also!!..

Three year ticks takes the Shrop year list to 85 species... But still need a Song Thrush!!!...

.... Now, what was that massive bang at 16:00hrs I heard!!?....

Fort Knox Revisited!!...

Dave Tittensor got the news out yesterday that the Ring-necked Duck had returned to Monkmoor Pool!! Geoff Holmes arranged access for us non-key holders to view the bird this morning at 09:30am. So, after arriving home from work at 7am I had a quick doze for an hour before Dave came round and we headed off to Monkmoor.

We arrived to find Jim already there & were soon joined by Big V, Mike & The Guru! Geoff soon turned up & opened up for us... There was a brief scene like the start of the Whacky Races as we all jostled for pole position (how we went from second to last I dont know Dave?), and drove down the dirt track to the small parking area.

We entered the hide to find Dave & Paul already there & the Ring-necked Duck was showing well.... but was once again fast asleep!!.. I think it lifted it's head just once, and that was for about a micro second!! It soon drifted behind the island and most of us headed off with a very tasty county year tick under our belts!! (my 1st year tick since Norfolk!!!)

Damo had just arrived after we left and was making his way down to the hide... good luck Damo, hope you scored!!...

So, back to bed for me now, last night shift tonight then next week I'm hoping to whack on a few year ticks as I'm begining to lag behind everyone!!...

Some friendly banter before the start of the Birding F1!!.. (From L - R; Mike, Big V, Dave, Jim & The Guru!!).

Lazy sodding duck!!!...I know it's a Sunday, but c'mon!! How much of a lie-in do you need for gawds sake!!?...

Gull-Dipping!!

Yeah right! 'Gull-dipping!!', could be a new sort of sport or game almost (well, there's 'cow tipping' aint there?). If it was I'd be contender for world champ!! I have almost nil good fortune in scarce gulls!! I only life ticked Glaucous & Iceland Gulls last year!! Still need a Ring-billed... & with all 3 reported within the county this last week I surely must get at least one of them!!!?...So, even though I'm currently working nights, I was at The Mere, Ellesmere with Big V himself yesterday around 1pm all ready to catch the gulls as they came into roost! The weather was dire!! It was freezing cold, a strong piercing wind & bloody driving rain! This was gonna be useless!! But big Rich is usually very good at getting gulls... my opposite in fact! Despite being froze solid & drenched (scopes were soaked too, making them almost useless!), we began watching the gulls come in!Common Gulls were first, along with BH Gulls, despite a quick moment of excitement when I thought I'd got the Ring-bill, they were all Common's!! By 3:30pm Rich retired to the car as he was in his work suit & was totally soaked through, I stayed scanning. Hundreds of Common & BH Gulls were in, quite a few Herring & LBB Gulls had arrived & at least 4 GBB Gulls!!... But no Iceland & scanning for Ring-bill was a no hoper as the light was going, the driving rain made visibility even worse... So, soaked through, froze solid and totally pissed off I said farewell to my bud & drove home!!...


The Mere, Ellesmere - a cursed place for me, not only have I dipped Iceland & Ring-billed Gull here, but also Leach's Storm-petrel, Common Scoter & Grey Phalarope!! Sodding place!!


To make things even more annoying, the 1st w. Glaucous Gull had dropped into Priorslee again!! F*** me, these bloody gulls are taking the piss now!!!... So, again after a night shift, I was at Priorslee this morning for 7am, straight from work. After 15mins there was enough light to scan... Around c.300 BH Gull... not one big gull!!!... So, once again well bloody peed off I went home to bed to sulk & have a little sob!!

Got up to find out The Guru had had the Glaucous just down the road at Granville landfill site!!Now I'm getting annoyed! Just want these white-winged arses for a county tick!! Is that too much to bloody ask?!! Two more night shifts to work & then I'm off for a week! I shall be concentrating on Priorslee, The Mere & hopefully Granville to try & claw on of these buggers back!!

You'll have to come back to see if I succeed or not, wont you?... ;~)



(P.S. The Guru & Big V are currently at The Mere & have had a Yellow-legged Gull so far.... I didn't even get that!!)

More Hope (now!!). Norfolk - Part 2.

With our target bird now well & truly in the bag, plus two additional good ticks with the Snow & Lapland Bunting's, the pressure was off & we could slip into some more relaxed birding. (Just as well as it turned out!!).
I cant remember the name of the next location, but basically we were after a Black Brant for Eddie, a lifer for him! (Although this isn't a full BOU species, but I've whacked it on my year list just to annoy Mike, he cant stand non-BOU ticks!! ;~p ).
We arrived and scanned the far playing fields where there was a large flock of Brent Geese, the Black Brant had just done a disappearing act behind some vegitation. As I've seen a few Black Brants in the past I hopped over the sea wall to check the salt marsh area. Curlew, Redshank & Turnstone was pretty much the lot, although I did hear a Rock Pipit, but couldn't see the lil' bugger!! As everyone was on the other side of the sea wall and I needed to pee, I decided to position myself behind some scrub to relieve the pressure on my bladder!! I was just about to 'let loose' when I realised I was facing directly into the wind, so I did a quick 180 degree spin.... only to face an approaching woman walking her dog!! Somewhat red-faced I 'tucked myself away' & decided to find a more discreet place to perform this most basic of natures tasks!!... (The woman had a smile on her face as she passed.... hey, it was bloody cold y'know!!)

With the Brant in the bag we headed for Titchwell RSPB. We picked up Red-legged Partridge at Choseley, but not a single bunting was there!!!... It was very, very quiet at Titchwell... the quietest any of us have known it. But Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, a few Ruff, 2 Little Gull, just one Sanderling & a couple of Little Egret were all picked up. Seawatching was dire!! Only one Common Scoter & a very distant Red-throated Diver were all of note!! Despite it being only 3pm the light was vanishing fast!! So, as we were all pretty whacked by now we made the walk back to the car.

Al, Rob & Eddie, all quite wiped after a long, but successful day birding.... basically, after ticking 'the sparrow', we were grinning any way!!... Great day fella's - Cheers mateys!!!

It was a great day birding, despite the weather & the fact that a lot of Norfolk 'certs' just weren't about (we didn't see a bloody solitary Pink-footed Goose!!! - how bloody mad is that!!??..)
But Norfolk did give us a farewell prezzie as we drove home with a Barn Owl hunting by the side of the road, a great bird to end the day on.
I cant tell you much about the drive home as I slept most of it, to wake in Birmingham with a totally shagged neck!!
Counting crappy 'Feral' Rock Doves & the non-BOU Black Brant, I scored 26 year ticks, including the mega, mega lifer of the White-crowned Sparrow!! Taking my year list to 111 species in the first week of 08!!!... Great start to the year and still loads of common species needed!!!
Huge thanks to Al for driving, to Rob for picking me up & bringing me home for Al's house, and to Rob, Al & Eddie for a great days birding and a good laugh!!... What's next for the list then?....

Tune in to Ja's Antics blog again soon... Thankyou for watching!!! :~)

Norfolk-in Hope!!!...

Not long after I finished writing my previous blog entry I recieved a call from my mate Mike to inform me of a true mega in every sence of the word being found in Cley, Norfolk. An adult White-crowned Sparrow!!! We think only the 3rd ever to reach British soil! As I was en route to work I made a few frantic phone calls to see who was up for going? (Later I phoned Jim who was already in Norfolk & he was en route - and scored, with some truly awesome pictures of the bird, especially as viewing is as restricted as you can possibly get within reason!! - Well done once again Jim!)... ;~)
Rob was up & it was soon arranged. This morning I was up at 03:15am (just 4 hours sleep!!!), and 30 minutes later was in Robs car off to meet up with his two mate Al & Eddie!!
We arrived at Cley around 08:20am & already there was a good 100+ birders present with more arriving the whole time. The weather was awful, strong winds, cold & black clouds rolling across the sky! With no small birds showing, only being blown past like tiny missiles, we began to have doubts!! Around 10:15am we decided to push off & do some birding, should the bird appear at least we were local & could come back.
Part of the early crowd at Cley this morning, 'the gap' is where the 2 cars are, so you get an idea of just how utterly impossible mass viewing was here!!!...

We moved to Cley visitor centre where Water Pipit had been reported. But the wind was now so fierce that it rendered our scopes totally useless!!! A large flock of Golden Plover was in the field, but only Linnet & Starling were positively ID'd (a couple of small birds flew up, which were 'pipit-like', but we weren't prepared to tick these!!). 30+ Avocet, a good sized flock of Brent Goose & Marsh Harrier were all ticked though!
Salthouse was next where we had our first bit of luck! Even though the wind still blasted us almost skyward & back to the midlands, we got great views, if somewhat shaky, of a flock of c.40 Snow Bunting & 3 Lapland Bunting (incl. an excellent ad. male!!).
Then Al's pager informed us that the White-crowned Sparrow had shown at 10:47am, just 30mins after we'd left!!!... (Bollocks!!!).... So, back to Cley we went!!...

Salthouse. There is a lovely flock of Snow Bunting & 3 Lapland Bunting here, pity the wind prevented me from taking more of my stunning avian photography for you!!... Still, you get the gist of where they were... erm, on the shingle bank at the back to the right... okay?...

We arrived & parked up to find not only the hoard had swelled to nearer 200+, but even ze Old Bill were on site to control traffic. A good orderly system had been organised to allow those who hadn't seen the bird access to sit by the gate for 5 minutes at a time!! A short wait & it was our turn (bearing in mind the bird hadn't been seen for a good 30 mins or so!!)... Rob & myself knelt by the gate along with the other 12 odd allowed birders (Al & Eddie were somewhere behind us!). I raised my bins and a Blackbird was feeding by the bend in the track when a small bird with the most striking head plumage popped out next to it to feed.... the WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW!!!!... "It's out!!" I called, and we all stared, gobsmacked, at this amazing North American passerine as it fed for around 2 minutes, just 20 odd feet away, before hopping back into the hedge & vanishing again!!! We were ecstatic!!! What a bird, what a tick!!!
I was texting or phoning everyone I knew was interested whilst chugging down endless cafe cremes... Around 20 odd minutes later the bird was out again for a brief time, just as my bud Mark from Cheshire arrived with Malc, Mark & his bro (they all scored the bird later!!). As were were all more than pleased we moved away from the throng to do some more relaxed birding!!!


As we departed I took this atmospheric picture of the masses cramming to view the awesome White-crowned Sparrow!! Thanks to great organising on site we had crippling views, despite the most tight of viewing angles!!...

Afternoon birding report to follow... Only got back home 2 hours ago, I'm bloody tired & need more tea!!!... Check our further antics later, cheers all!!!...

Outta Tha' County Birding!...

It's not that I intended to head off out of Shropshire today, complete opposite in fact! I found myself at Priorslee Lake at 8am this morning in search of the Glaucous Gull reported yesterday. I was soon joined by my mate Dave Western and it was soon very apparent that there was very little hope of the bird turning up (the dreaded 'Sunday effect', explained to me by The Guru himslef!! - on a Sunday tips are closed, so white-wingers tend to bugger off to other feeding grounds!!).

With vertually no large gulls on the lake (& then, the ones that were around were mostly flying over anyway!), Dave & myself decided to shoot off to Chasewater in Staffs.

We arrived around 9am, and there wasn't much activity at all... human at least! Chasewater itself was postively brimming with birdlife, large numbers of Goldeneye, Pochard, Tufted Duck etc... We joined another birder who had nothing much to report. A quick scan & I soon picked up on one of the Great Northern Divers, overon the far shore, Dave soon located the second nearby! Target one ticked! We were joined by two other birders who we put onto the divers, it was one of these guy's who loctaed our second target, not too far from the divers in fact, a stunning drake Smew!!!... Excellent, two down, one to go!

We moved further along the chase, and met up with two photographers who told us where to find our third and final target bird. A 1/2 mile walk and there it was, just FIVE feet from the shore line, a stunning Slavonian Grebe!!! The bird was totally uninterested in us, it sat calmly on the water surface, occaisionally preening, but otherwise couldn't care less. Now, I have seen Slav's in full breeding plumage & they are truly breathtaking, but even in winter plumage, these really are a fantastic little bird! It is well worth the effort to go if you haven't already been, to see this scarce grebe and sooo close is just brilliant!!

Leaving Dave, who was going to work his way around the chase to try & get closer to the divers & Smew for a pic, I set off back to the car park & was soon heading home along the A5, as I have work again this afternoon - yeah, great stuff!! But 3 excellent year ticks, not bad for a Sunday morning before work, eh?... ;~)

A selection of 3 photo's of the Slavonian Grebe at Chasewater today, by the standard of my pics (esp. the last one!), you get an idea just how close you can get to this bird! What a lil' stunner!!

I tried to give you an idea here just how close the bird was, but on here it looks a little way out, it was in fact just 7 or 8 feet away when I took this pic!!...

With a full day off tomorrow, where shall I go to try and top this for an hours birding?.... You'll just have to come back & find out, wont ya?!!...

Gull-fest at Priorslee!!..

Well, the answer to my previous entry was yes!!... Sadly, there was no sign of the Glaucous Gull!! But as I was there & a full hour to spare I had a scan of the gulls anyway!! A large number of gulls present with 80% being Lesser Black-backs (around 300 easy), with several Great Black-backs (incl. an adult bird), only 1 Common Gull, stacks of Black-headed Gull, around 10+ Herring Gull &..... a pristine adult Yellow-legged Gull!! Nice one. Wigeon & Grey Wagtail were also year ticks I gained here.
As it was nearing time to go I noticed a large gull with a pale mantle, I looked closer & noticed the primaries were different to Herring in as much as the leading primary was white, with then mostly black & then a couple of other white tips on the inner primaries!!... The bird was preening, but I could make out a clear white head, was this an adult Caspian?!!.. Before I could get a decent look at the head, and more importantly the bill, a total pleb in a speedboat bombed straight through and put every single gull up!!! Excellent!!!...
Not added the latter to my list, but now on 81 species (over half way to my county target after just 5 days!!... it does get much harder though!!)...
Hoping to get 'out of county' soon... especially as Jim has ticked Richard's Pipit, Lapland & Snow Bunting & Twite in Norfolk today, the jammy bugger!!! ;~)
I'll whack more to me blog soon folks (writing this at work - naughty lad!!).
Priorslee tomorrow morning hopefully to see if I can grip the Glaucous back &/or relocate the pos. Caspian!!

Priorslee Lake... you cant tell easily by this pic, but there's a shed load of gulls sat on the lake... honest!!...

Still pushing....slowly!!

Afternoon shifts are crap!! 2-10pm... ruins your entire day, especially when you have a dog to look after, a house to keep something remotely clean, feed yourself... etc. So, it leaves you roughly an hour or so to cram in a bit of birding!!

I was up at 9am & headed off for Melverley, for the Whoopers! I arrived in good time but the 20 odd Whooper Swans had moved further across, so (especially for a short arse like me), viewing them was to say the least, tricky! But there were easily 20 odd present, with 5 Mute Swan & the Aussie Black Swan!!...

Best I could manage of the Melverley Whoopers today... being a short-arsed git!!...

Enough time for a quick swing in at VP!!... A drake Pintail was an addition to the list, as was a Little Grebe. The top field remains busy as ever, with c.100 Goldfinch a very impressive flock! Redpoll & Linnet also in with the flock. A Siskin was heard outside the main hide.

Rather fab male Pintail at VP today... pity he wouldn't sit still!!....

Now... have I got time to try for this Glaucous Gull at Priorslee?....

Pushing the list!!...

Have my daughter this morning before work, so it was an agreed place to visit this morning & Erin was quite happy to 'feed the ducks'! So we headed off for Colemere!

We arrived around 10am, it was reading -1 on the car thermo, but was bright & no wind. So, fully togged up we headed down to the shoreline where lil' Erin busied herself feeding the domestic geese whilst Dad had a scan....

Straight onto 3 Scaup!! (incl. the ad. male & female - Jim's 'bird'!!), but the other 3 were soon located not too far away. A few Goldeneye & Common Gulls were new birds for the list too.

As it was pretty damn nippy & Erin had run out of food I had just enough time to show someone the Scaup before we headed back to the warmth of the car.

En route home I noticed a turnip field full of sheep & Lapwing, so pulled into a layby & had a quick shuftie, sure enough I was rewarded with a solitary Golden Plover!!...

Not a bad hours birding & 5 more year ticks lifts the county list to 73 species... Just 87 to go to reach one of my goals for 08!!...

Just one of the 6 Scaup @ Colemere today, could've got far better, but they were diving reguarly, my daughter was cold &.... er, oh yeah, I'm crap at photography!!... ;~)

My lil' gal... out birding with Dad... but it was bloody cold, wasn't it sweetie!!.. :~)

New Years Day Birding!!... 2008.

Well, as all the regular TSB boys (namely Rob, Mike, Big V & Jim), were off twitching Desert Wheatear, with Damo a little worse for wear, it was down to myself & Dave Western to kick off the owd county year list!!.. Dave arrived at my house at 8am, first tick - Collard Dove! We set off with a quick detour to Condover - no Golden Plovers! & to Longnor bridge - no Dippers!
Hmmm, not the best start! We arrived at Bury Ditches & walked up to the view point, thick mist kept rolling across making the scopes useless! Then our first stroke of luck, a single Crossbill flew over... then a second! Later a party of 3 flew overhead too. Siskin was eventually nailed, but very poor views! But Treecreeper, Marsh Tit, Nuthatch & Bullfinch were easily nailed here...
Onwards to Stiperstones. Here we took quite some time to nail Red Grouse, & except a brief head popping up to check us out, only a brief flight view of 3 birds was obtained. Plenty of Raven though, always a nice bird to see. A few Linnet flew over but with the arrival of every sod & his dog (literally), we buggered off to Bridges.
Again, we were joined here by New Years Day ramblers, but after a slog to the top of the bank we nailed a female Brambling, our target bird for this location.... so, no loss then!!
With time now slipping away we pushed off to VP. Will phoned from there & he'd done rather well with Merlin & Woodcock both at VP!!.. Fair play young Will!!
The main pool was very disapointing! No Shoveler or Little Grebe, but 4 Gadwall were a good tick. The top field was alive with birds!!.. c.70 Goldfinch, c.30 Yellowhammer, c.30 Reed Bunting, a single Lesser Redpoll, 2 flew over Snipe, Meadow Pipit & a Peregrine!!...
We walked round to the far hide and after a short wait we were rewarded with not one but two Water Rails, showing very well!!... Stonechat & Green Woodpecker were picked up along the causeway. Finally, a short detour through Atcham added 8 Goosanders!!...

Then... home! I was very hungry & needed to feed my face! Final tally after 5 hours county birding - 63 species! One less than my previous best New Years Day county day list (mind you that day I'd had Waxwing & Great Grey Shrike before 8:30am!!)...
Thanks to Dave for driving... we'll expand the list soon!!.. Most surprised we didn't see a Greenfinch!!?...

The mist rolls across the valley at Bury Ditches.... hiding the birds superbly!!....

Dave looking for Red Grouse at Gatten Plantation, Stiperstones; before the 'red coat' brigade turned up!!

Bridges, a rather picturesque little spot aint it!!....

One of two Water Rails at VP... not a bad effort by yours truly here... What d'ya think?....

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N.B. Forgot to tally up 07 scores... Shrop. Year List - 152 species (not bad), UK Year List - 210 species (crap!!).

My goals for 08 - Try & hit 160 for the county year list, 250 on my UK year list & life tick my bogey birds - Water Pipit; Nightingale; Euro Storm-petrel; Crane; Cirl Bunting & Roseate Tern. Let's just hope it all goes to plan.... Oh yeah, I wanna reach 300 on UK Life List!!... I need 19 lifers to reach this target!!...