Monday, 29 April 2019
A Mega find by Reg
Thankfully Reg no longer plays this game, otherwise we'd be hanging up our bins and Ol' Snowy would be looking forward to yet another year in Collieston. A MOLTONI'S WARBLER on Reg's patch gave crippling views for the whole of yesterday afternoon but unfortunately stayed mute until late on when eventually it gave itself away and, in the process, made Reg a very happy man.
A brilliant find and great perseverance by Reg to nail the identification.
In the mean time the patch keeps giving and I keep taking.
The best of the bunch being a drake garganey on the 'not so great pool' was a full fat patch tick. Aside from that nothing of significant note but plenty of fine birds to keep the tally rolling forward.
Total so far 80 species, 75.47%.
Happy days
Bushveld
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Blowing away the cloud of apathy
The arrival of the Golden Mallard was a welcome first for the Longhaven patch and quickly filled the space left by the departure of Ol' Snowy.
Since the beginning of the year a cloud of apathy has hung over the patch. A few birds of note (the best being a merlin in February and the first for the patch since 2016!) hasn't encouraged me to venture out with any great enthusiasm. However, over the last week or so the arrival of the first migrants along with a spell of south-easterlies has lifted the spirits somewhat and I've stopped looking at my feet and started looking up. An uncommon afternoon trip onto the patch with the two hounds today was producing the normal selection of patch monotony until the very end when from a ditch out flew a locustella. Any locustella would be a patch first but fortunately this individual decided to land on a bush some 10 metres from me, where upon it posed like a porn star, leaving nothing for the imagination it proceeded to give full on views of every feature needed for it be nailed as a full on SAVI'S WARBLER.
Totals so far. 66 species, 62.26%
Not so good but still plenty of time and the cloud of apathy now blown away.
Happy Daze
Bushveld
Since the beginning of the year a cloud of apathy has hung over the patch. A few birds of note (the best being a merlin in February and the first for the patch since 2016!) hasn't encouraged me to venture out with any great enthusiasm. However, over the last week or so the arrival of the first migrants along with a spell of south-easterlies has lifted the spirits somewhat and I've stopped looking at my feet and started looking up. An uncommon afternoon trip onto the patch with the two hounds today was producing the normal selection of patch monotony until the very end when from a ditch out flew a locustella. Any locustella would be a patch first but fortunately this individual decided to land on a bush some 10 metres from me, where upon it posed like a porn star, leaving nothing for the imagination it proceeded to give full on views of every feature needed for it be nailed as a full on SAVI'S WARBLER.
Totals so far. 66 species, 62.26%
Not so good but still plenty of time and the cloud of apathy now blown away.
Happy Daze
Bushveld
A flurry of spring patch gank
Well, the usual suspects have arrived in force... resulting in some much needed, if hardly unexpected year-tickage.
Nothing extraordinary, but the return of regulars like chiffchaff, willow warbler, sedge warbler, blackcap, gropper and whitethroat to the patch, along with the usual hirundines, puts me on 72 for the year or 82.44% in real money.
That's just enough to slingshot me back to the top of the leaderboard... for now. The worrying thing is we're still only in April... and with the exception of one or two sitters (perg and jay still to get, for example) leaves me with precious little to look forward to.
It's going to be a long, long summer!
Nothing extraordinary, but the return of regulars like chiffchaff, willow warbler, sedge warbler, blackcap, gropper and whitethroat to the patch, along with the usual hirundines, puts me on 72 for the year or 82.44% in real money.
That's just enough to slingshot me back to the top of the leaderboard... for now. The worrying thing is we're still only in April... and with the exception of one or two sitters (perg and jay still to get, for example) leaves me with precious little to look forward to.
It's going to be a long, long summer!
Wednesday, 10 April 2019
Breakfast birding
The bird feeders outside the recording studio window have proven productive at 7:35 the past two days. Yesterday there was a smashing drake blackcap, while today there was a hen brambling. What will it be tomorrow? 56 spp / 72.10%
Thursday, 4 April 2019
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