Wot! No birds?!!...

Weeeell... seeing as I have missed every notable bird so far (Mart's Common Scoter, Jim & Andy's Nightjar, plus Red Kite & Green Sand at VP yesterday ~ thanks to Dave for the texts!!)... Plus, I thought some of you may find this of some interest?...

Before I was married I was into Herpology, the keeping of reptiles!! I had a 16ft Burmese Python, she weighed in around 9 stone & was very friendly. Sadly she died. I'd also owned Western Hog Nose, Californian King & Tai Beauty snakes... But when I got married I realised that it was an end to this hobby of mine... Plus, it aint practical to have snakes around kids or other pets!!

But one pet I always wanted was a Tarantula, but as my ex-wife was terrified of spiders, I knew this would never happen!!... Until now!!! Today I recieved my new additions to my home... so allow me to introduce you to my latest family additions!!..

...... (Above), This is 'Spooky', a female Chile Rose Tarantula. She is almost fully grown, fairly docile & placid (although no Tarantula's actually 'like' to be handled!!)... She is a terrestrial (ground dwelling) tarantula. She will burrow a small hole, covered with partial web, as all tarantula's do not like light!! They have to be kept around 16-23Deg.C, in a very humid enviroment, and also in a dark place. She will feed on one locust per week, which she will capture by surprise attack (almost all tarantula's 'wait' for thier prey to literally walk right past them!! She can happily survive for 3 or 4 months with no food at all...

..... And this is 'Boston', a Mexican Blood-legged Tarantula. Not 100% sure of the sex as this is a sub-adult, as with all spiders, the females grow larger than the males!! Boston, although from a different place than 'Spooky', is almost the same in every aspect (ie: how he/she is kept, fed etc...) They are kept in seperate tanks, as if you were to put two tarantula's in the same tank, eventually you'd end up with just one, fatter tarantula!!!...

Hope you found this of some interst, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have... Cheers all!!...

After the storms!!....

Aah yeah, I love electrical storms!! Especially when it pours with rain & it gives you the excellent excuse of staying in the pub!!... Sadly, last nights storm prevented me from heading up Black Hill to try for the Nightjar found there at the weekend!!... (Would be my 8th county tick for this year!!)... However, I hoped that the storm would would drop something in at VP!!... So, at 06:20am this morning I pulled in to VP!!...
The reality was soon apparent... VP was still pretty quiet, with little 'new' stuff in!! A juv. Peregrine was flying around the pool when I arrived, but soon dived out of sight... A Kingfisher was perched on a post directly outside the main hide & a quick first scan produced nothing more of note bar a single Redshank!!.. Another search of the pool produced 2 Wigeon, which I admit was a minor surprise to see today... Green Woodpecker & Common Sandpiper were the only other birds of any real note.. Coot count produced 91 Coot on the pool today...

Two utter naff pics of one of a pair of Wigeon & a Redshank, both 'new' in at VP today!!...

Anyway... quick update!!...

54 ~ Peregrine. 55 ~ Redshank. 56 ~ Wigeon.

Few more additions....

Had a quiet 45mins or so at VP this morning after my nightshift... apart from well over 70 Coot on the main pool (this is a very high count for VP, wonder what the largest number is??)... There was little going on... Apart from the usual summer vandalism... Beer bottles, food containers etc, strewn outside the main hide, plus fag ash in the hide & some complete tit's attempt to burn the ledge outside the lower window of the hide!!!... (who are these total brainless w**kers?!!!)
Added...
51 ~ GS Woodpecker.
52 ~ Magpie.
53 ~ Wren.

But little else... Shall swing in tomorrow if I aint too tired (gotta take my daughter to the cinema tomorrow to see Wall-E!!)... ;~)

So, where's our summer then?...

It's a fairly typical, quiet July in all fairness.... but just how much rain are we gonna have??... Despite a couple of visits to VP, very little to add to the list (only 1 tick, in fact ~ GS Woodpecker!!... Still no Rook!!??...)...But at a BBQ in Ludlow the other night I had my 1st Hobby of the year!! (Yeah, it's taken me 'til now to see one!!)...

However, a text from Andy added a nice county year tick in the shape of a juv. Black-necked grebe!!!... Only my 3rd ever in Shrops!!... My county year list still just shy of the 150 mark (Jim is now beyond 150!!)... But still not had a SpotFly, Whinchat, Little Egret, Little Owl, Woodcock, etc....

Juv. Black-necked Grebe, my 145th species for Shropshire this year!!... Should've (could've!!), been much higher had things been a bit different this year!!... ;~)

Facing Up To The Future....

Well, hello there!!... Yeah, I'm still here & back out birding again after a full month of zero birding!!!... The reason? My divorce was finally finalised, & the paperwork was mounting higher than my stress levels!!... Well, to be honest, I wasn't all that stressed at all.... I just had so much stuff to sort out, coupled with working almost throughout June I simply was too knackered & overwhelmed with it all to give a shite about birding!! Sounds harsh?... Well, not really... not to me at least!!.. One thing I've learnt from all this is that birding 'aint everything!!'... as I've been told many times in the past by many different people, (granted, they're all non-birders!!).

But, it has put it all into some kind of perspective for me!! I was totally obsessed with birding & had & did let it consume my life!! It wasn't just my personal life that suffered from it but also my work life, I had more than one bollocking for 'last minute sickness' & 'not being with it'... let alone my mobile constantly going off in the control room!!...
So, I've had a full month to take stock of my life & where I want it to go!! I admit the thought of jacking the hobby in totally did cross my mind more than once!! But then I realised that all I had to do was get a firm grip of it & get things into some kind of perspective!! My work life, my social life, my time birding!!...
So... My yearlist, for this year at least, is scrapped!! My targets for 08 are now gone!! A whole new approach is needed. With my finances now stretched to the extreme, & with fuel at the ridiculous cost that it is, twitching will be a very rare luxury from now on for me... As will regular day trips!!... So, I shall continue what I love best anyway... Patchworking!!! To be honest I spend 75-80% of my time birding at VP anyway!!...

So today I decided to set out on a 6 month VP list!!!... No serious targets, but I'd like to try & see over 100 species at VP by the end of the year.... Starting TODAY!!.. I was at VP this morning around 08:45am & began my list!!... Below is my tally for today in the order I saw them...

1 ~ Wood Pigeon.
2 ~ Song Thrush.
3 ~ Lesser Whitethroat.
4 ~ Goldfinch.
5 ~ Blackbird.
6 ~ Greenfinch.
7 ~ Crow.
8 ~ Canada Goose.
9 ~ Swallow.
10 ~ Whitethroat.
11 ~ Willow Warbler.
12 ~ Mute Swan.
13 ~ Common Sandpiper. x2
14 ~ Little Ringed Plover.
15 ~ Coot.
16 ~ Moorhen.
17 ~ BH Gull.
18 ~ Grey Heron.
19 ~ Mallard.
20 ~ Lapwing.
21 ~ Cormorant.
22 ~ Sedge Warbler.
23 ~ Pied Wagtail.
24 ~ Tufted Duck.
25 ~ Kingfisher. x2
26 ~ Great Crested Grebe.
27 ~ Greylag Goose.
28 ~ Green Woodpecker.
29 ~ Swift.
30 ~ Skylark.
31 ~ Sand Martin.
32 ~ Ruddy Duck. x3m
33 ~ Reed Warbler.
34 ~ House Martin.
35 ~ Jay.
36 ~ Great Tit.
37 ~ Chaffinch.
38 ~ Tree Sparrow.
39 ~ Blue Tit.
40 ~ Dunnock.
41 ~ Chiffchaff.
42 ~ Robin.
43 ~ Teal.
44 ~ Jackdaw.
45 ~ Reed Bunting.
46 ~ Little Grebe.
47 ~ Buzzard.
48 ~ Stock Dove.
49 ~ Grey Wagtail.
50 ~ LBB Gull.

Excellent start, exactly half way to where I'd like to finish on!! And clearly, loads of common species still to add (no Rook today!!!)...
If you fancy a challenge & you aint doing a 'list', see if you can beat me!! Starting in July, just at VP... see how many you can do!!...
Great to get back out there... I did miss it after all!!!.. ;~)

Cheers all!!!... I'm back!!!