6 months in…Longhaven

I thought it was about time to post my first post of the year.

not unsurprising really seeing how crap it's been.  Spring passed by without a notable bird to be seen and now we're in the glorious days of mid summer and not expecting much now for another couple of months.


Best bird of the year is a crossbill, of the common variety.

Total 61 species
48.41%

But expect a better second half performance, or  else I'll start a new patch in Singapore…

Happy Days

Bushveld

Seasonally adjusted figures

The past few weeks have offered some great highlights of South-east Asian birds and wildlife. Just a pity that most of it has happened off-patch.

Not that the patch has been without interest. The undoubted highlight has been the two buffy fish owls that seem to have taken up residence and are regular at a daytime roost. At 50 cm these are large owls, and a really nice addition to the patch at a time when things have been pretty quiet otherwise.

Meanwhile, Seppy offered me a fiver to not see so many birds. Happy to co-operate, I thought about adding ten to the target for the year, which would make the maths easier. But then I decided to take all the Category C junk off the list. Goodbye to seven species; Javan myna etc which actually feels like a good move.


In other news, a short cross border raid into southern Malaysia connected with rail-babbler among many other quality birds, and served to remind me of just how bird-poor the forests in Singapore are. But not entirely without interest, as I discovered when I was lucky enough to come across a Sunda pangolin (!) in the Central Catchment Reserve a short bus ride form home. That piece of excitement will keep me going for a while.
     

dodgy patch ticks

Far be it from me, Sepp Blatter, to court controversy but there's a calling corncrake on my patch and I'm having it on my patch list, and I ain't even seen it! What ya gonna do? Depose me? Ha! Haven't even seen one in Ireland but I'm having it anyway.

I demand a recount!

chumpions league winner

Bit late but still worth posting a shot of last years worthy winner Basil Faulty  finally getting his hands (and lips!) on the much-coveted Golden Mallard for which we all fight each year.

Victorious!

Worth fighting for... err... allegedly!

It finally arrived last week -- only five months or so late -- and now sits in pride of place in a dark, little-noticed corner of the kitchen mantelpiece (Sybil flat-out refuses to have it on display in the living room... can't think why).

The venerated Golden Mallard -- finally home to roost

So, I thought now that it's here it might be an idea to go about trying to keep it a little bit longer. A few useful year ticks gleaned over recent weeks are bound to help. Spotted flys are back -- not the ones in / around the garden but one on the far side of the lake does the job nicely. Also picked up a singing reed warbler, which is a handy bonus, as it's more luck than judgement (my main birding strategy, truth be told) getting them on patch.

Then, walking around the north-east perimeter one evening I happened upon the elevated spot where I can see the only sliver of sea from patch. Conditions were perfect -- I could read the writing on the side of a passing container ship clearly with my bins -- unheard of. Then I spotted the tell-tale white flashes as gannets wheeled and dived. Score!

Not sure if I'm forgetting anything -- but gannet pushes me on to 81 species, which in real money converts to 95.29%.

Not bad... but I'm running out of tickable options fast!

Hangin' out there

Back in the blogosphere to update the Blackdog score on the door to a very lower table 69.98% (86 species). The brief sprinkle of migrants a couple weeks back brought a sprinkle my way too but nothing to get in a tizz about. More exciting was an Osprey yesterday (4th here, I think) and to prove that nothing's changed, here's a typical "action" shot.

Maybirds in may... fancy that!

I was on the verge of turning back rather than cycling all the way around the lake. My "really can't be arsed" gene is the dominant one, and wins out more often than not -- but last night something made me change my mind.

And a good job too, because over near the north-west boundary of the patch was a field full of whimbrel. Fifteen of 'em to be exact (I know, coz I counted em). Bingo!

The last few weeks also saw buzzard make it onto a list that's seen painfully slow progress recently, and along with a fly-by cuckoo today puts me on 90.59% -- or, in other words, still trailing the tropics.

FFS!