tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72350036462400641932024-03-10T02:46:19.650+00:00Mr Eele's Birding BlogPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03124511952935629442noreply@blogger.comBlogger384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-10918235276341088462017-10-03T20:00:00.005+01:002017-10-03T20:00:49.370+01:00The NW wind does blowAnd today it blew hard making any productive birding a real challenge.<br />
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We did our usual and headed to Valyie as this was probably the best place to find some calm conditions. 3 swallows and 3 house martin over the garden were new in and an increase of skylarks in the crop in the valley. At least 15 birds were present.<br />
There were quite a few people not on the island so we thought we would do something crazy and try somewhere new in the hope of finding some more crossbiills.<br />
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While talking to the guys staying in Northdale yesterday the talked about a small plantation on the east side of the road to Burrafirth which they named 'Pauls Pines' after one of their number stepped on a nail while checking it out last year.<br />
It was a bit of a trudge over the moorland to get to it but we were hopeful of getting something there. Sadly it only contained a chiffchaff and chaffinch but it was worth putting in the effort; you never know and at least neither of us got injured.<br />
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Not a single bird was in Burrafirth so we decided to head home for lunch. To be honest we really didn't know what to do. The weather and number of people around left us undecided as to where to go.<br />
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We decided to walk to Houlland from our digs, down the burn checking the iris beds then up to the house and back along the road. We were rather surprised by the amount of iris near the house but they contained noting today. A reed bunting was still in the irisbed north of the road and then Nick flushed the probable grasshopper warbler we saw yesterday evening. Views weren't much better than yesterday but we did manage to get a couple of record flight shots. Although the tail looks short in my pics I suspect that it is just an artifact on the picture and in reality it was much longer.<br />
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Around the garden the redstart was still present along with a yellow browed warbler and a pink footed goose over calling.<br />
On the walk back we stopped to chat to another birder when Nick picked up a little bunting saton the fence on the edge of Baliasta. The bird showed well briefly on the road before flying further down to the burn. A yellow browed warbler was in the next garden along with another next to our digs<br />
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We decided then to try Clingera for some shelter. There wasn't much but we did get a couple of redstart and 3 chiffchaffs. One of the redstarts was rather damp and showed well around the farm buildings.<br />
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Final stop of the day was another look at the parrot crossbills. They were rather more elusive than yesterday but still showed well.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-90502793385944424462017-10-02T20:26:00.002+01:002017-10-02T20:26:54.882+01:00Loxia LuckWhen we had a large looking crossbill fly out of Valyie this morning, never did we realise what was going to happen later on in the day.<br />
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We were at Vaylie as it is one of the areas on the island that we can get signal so we headed there in the hope of getting news about the pg tips that was on the mainland yesterday. The birds were pretty mush the same but we did have a two tree pipits behind the house along with a redstart and reed warbler along the road. A calling crossbill in the top of the garden flew down into the small pine plantation before heading up the valley towards Saxa Vord. Both of us commented on the size and that the call 'sounded different' We didn't get anything on it so left it. Nick also had a second bird fly out and head towards Skaw but I didn't see that one.<br />
Ken Shaw joined us a short while later and also commented on the crossbill that the size and call were interesting<br />
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We headed to Baltasound to get some signal and any news on the pg tips. No sign so we gave up waiting and went birding.<br />
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With the wind now in the south-west, much of Haligarth was sheltered so we had a boot around the walled garden. 2 spotted flycatchers and a bunch of chiffchaffs we feeding around the edge and Nick had a single pied fly within the trees. The common rosefinch was still in the scrubby rosa bushes next to the ruined house. While I was on the outside of the garden a crossbill came in from the east calling. I thought it was going to drop into the wood but it just circled and headed towards Setters Hill. The bird was strikingly big and had a bright pink rump as it flew away.<br />
I grabbed a couple of pics of the tree pipit and then we headed up to Setters Hill.<br />
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We took a side each of the small pine belt but only managed to locate a robin and a female blackcap. We walked along the back of the estate where the little bunting was still present along with a female redstart. At the end, I decided to cross the moor to the next estate while Nick retraced our steps. At the bottom of the estate, Nick radioed to say that he had found the crossbills, lucky really as his radio was about to die and he wouldn't have been able to reach me.<br />
I headed back along the road towards the estate, flagging down Ken Shaw and his team, to find Nick watching the birds feeding in the pines. Nick had decided to walk through the trees and could hear them feeding above his head!!<br />
With 2 males and 2 females present, it looked like the birds that were being seen around the area throughout the morning had come together into a little flock. A lot of discussion was had around the identity of the birds with the males almost certainly parrot crossbills and the females probably were too.<br />
Watching them feeding amongst the trees you could really get a feeling of how big they were with large deep based powerful bills. They were certainly nothing like any common crossbill I have seen. It was really interesting watching the way the birds were feeding, pulling the cones off and dropping onto a lower branch to feed on them. Great birds but tricky to get a good photo.<br />
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As more people arrived we had out own twitch, we didn't realise there were that many birders on the island. Later in the day there were even people from South Mainland at the site. There were plenty of photos being taken and at least two people got some sound recordings so that should help with the description process.<br />
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With the weather getting poorer we headed to Skaw to seek some shelter. We didn't but we still had a boot around the area before the rain got too bad. Both the red throated pipit and little bunting were still present but the rain beat us.<br />
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After a short break to dry off and change waterproofs, we headed up to Burrafirth but there were only a few birds about and nothing new in.<br />
Final stop of the day was a visit to our Houlland patch. The chiffchaff, robin and redstart were still present along with some frustratingly brief view of a warbler sp flushed from the wet areas below the croft. We concluded it was probably a grasshopper warbler but it disappeared before we could pin it down. Maybe tomorrow....<br />
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Last bird of the day was a new yellow browed warbler outside our digs.<br />
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It started as a frustrating day but ended up pretty good.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-57802439816966830972017-10-01T19:04:00.004+01:002017-10-01T19:04:53.186+01:00Upland disappointmentWe didn't hear about the upland sandpiper on Fetlar until it was too late yesterday so we decided to head down to the south of the island so we were within striking distance of the ferry should positive news come in.<br />
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We did the west side of Uyeasound although it was very quiet. Single willow warbler, chiffchaff and a dunnock were the highlights!! We headed down to the ferry terminal to get wifi access and be ready to the 10:45 boat off the island. Sadly no news came so we went back to do the east side of Uyeasound. The whooper swan was back on the loch along with , yellow browed warbler, chiffchaff and willow warbler were in the large vegetated garden near the church. 2 black guillemot in the harbour.<br />
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News of a red breasted flycatcher at Clingera took us back to the Baltasound area for the rest of the day.<br />
On arrival at Clingera we walked the burn leading into the property flushing a garden warbler from the rosa and then a couple of chiffchaff as we entered the wood. There were a few other birders in the wood who told us the flycatcher was still present but mobile They were not wrong, the bird was typically mobile and elusive, bombing around the little wooded area but in the end it seemed to settle down to a routine, favouring a small sycamore. Managed to get a couple of shots but it was a bit too dark really. Alsso in the wood were 3 chiffchaff and a redstart.<br />
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After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon birding around Baltasound covering Setters Hill, the sports centre area and the health centre garden. Highlights included the little bunting at Setters Hill, 2 garden warbler, 5 blackcap and willow warbler in the scrubby areas around the sports centre and a fieldfare on the football pitch. The sheltered health centre garden held a nice little selection of birds. Only our 2nd pied flycatcher was nice along with yellow browed warbler and several chiffchaffs.<br />
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With rain starting to set in we headed back to the car and headed to Skaw where we could get a little bit of shelter. A tour group were already present and had done the croft and found nothing new so we went to Burrafirth instead. Male blackcap and robin were new birds for the site but the biggest surprise were 8 swallows over heading south. In the current weather it will take them a while to get to Africa!<br />
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The weather was now grim so we headed home.<br />
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Gutted that the sandpiper didn't stick as it was a lifer for both of us. Hopefully the PG Tips will get on the list tomorrow if it is still about....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-11135730280641238862017-09-30T20:02:00.004+01:002017-09-30T20:02:49.902+01:00About bloody time we found something!!We have been working hard over the last week with no real rewards. Its been great being out in the field but given the SE winds we had been hoping for more.<br />
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We knew we had a weather window today so we were out into the field early to make the most of the bright and calmer conditions.<br />
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We started in Valyie valley and straight away there were birds active in the first garden. OK, they were probably birds that had been about for a while but the improvement in conditions meant they were actually showing. 2 male blackcap, lesser whitethroat, 2 redpoll and a couple of redstart were flitting about before we got to the garden. Tree pipit and reed warbler were in the little burn running up to the house but the garden itself was relatively quiet. Possibly due to the fact most of the birds didn't need the shelter from the bad weather. 2 yellow browed warblers were active around the area and it was evident that song thrushes were dropping in for the north, settling briefly then carrying on south.<br />
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The little bunting showed well at the bottom of the hill and we walked back to the car.<br />
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Dave Cooper and a tour group had already done the croft at Skaw so we headed to the north cliffs again. Song thrushes were again in evident with 11 seen along with a single fieldfare, 2 wheatear, 2 redstart, snow bunting, 2 siskin, Lapland bunting, grey wag, lesser whitethroat and 4 robins. Not much but enough to keep us interested.<br />
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Back at the croft we added garden warbler and a late house martin to the list.<br />
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Then the trip improved dramatically.<br />
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I will admit to slacking a bit at this point chatting to another birder and drinking coffee while Nick was working the croft. I didn't even have my bins around my neck when a bird dropped into the grass on edge of the croft in front of us. For some reason it looked like a bunting so I with the other birder to check it out. To my disappointment (at the the time) a pipit flushed out of the grass and landed a short distance away. I managed to get a few pics of the bird before Nick came round the corner. I suspect that we were both thinking it was something different but it wasn't until it flew again and called that we knew we had just found a RED THROATED PIPIT, our first quality find of the trip. The bird flew onto the beach then to the edge of the burn before dropping back into the croft and showed well on some fencing before dropping back into the grass.<br />
We haven't had any signal on the island away from our digs so getting news out but thankfully the other guy had signal so we were able to call Paul French back on south mainland and get him to put the new out for us.<br />
We left the bird in peace and waited for the first birders to arrive. A local birder followed by the tour group soon arrived and we relocated the bird in grass just outside the croft before moving to the beach were we left it showing well for the small group.<br />
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We couldn't match the excitement on the cliffs at Lamba Ness but did have another 2 redstart (8 for the day), fieldfare and another 8 song thrush.<br />
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We finished off the day doing 'our patch' adding sedge warbler to the trip list, a further redstart, yellow browed warbler and reed bunting.<br />
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A fantastic day and reward for all our hard work in the crappy weather over the last few days.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-83753453943769338162017-09-29T19:06:00.002+01:002017-09-29T19:06:13.368+01:00Raining cats & dogs and blowing a hoolieWe knew is would be a bit rough again today and we were not wrong. The wind howling around the roof of the house last night was a good clue that it was going to be a testing day for both us and the birds.<br />
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Strong winds and a mixture of heavy rain and drizzle had us looking for some kind of shelter. We didn't bother with our usual patch and headed straight the Norwick area. The first garden still held a redstart and robin but it is a really hard area to see into; shame as it is really calm in these strong winds. The oat crop next to it held a willow warbler and a couple of blackbirds<br />
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The garden at Valyie was incredibly windy being high up the side of the hill but at least the 'back edge' was calm. We split up and Nick bagged a male redstart and dunnock at the back of the garden while I added a chiffchaff and yellow browed warbler. Conditions were awful so it was a surprise that we saw so much. Lesser whitethroat, 3 blackcap, brambling, robin and 2 mealy redpoll were in the two gardens in the valley. There seemed to be an increase in thrushes with 4 redwing and 2 song thrush in the area.<br />
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On the drive over the Skaw we flushed the most bedraaggled bird I think I've ever seen. The poor little common redstart looked so sad trying to shelter out of the rain. It was seen by several others so hopefully is will make its way to warmer places soon.<br />
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The birds were pretty much the same at Skaw as they have been over the last few days. The very wet reed warbler was in the nettle by the stream as was the blackcap and chiffchaff around the back of the buildings. As we moved through the back of the croft I flushed a bird out of the grass and onto the wall in the corner, a lovely little bunting and a nice find. The bird flew round the end of the building and despite searching, we couldn't relocate it (it was still there in the afternoon visit)<br />
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A brief look at the Burrafirth burn produced out first reed bunting of the trip and the reed warbler still present.<br />
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We revisited the morning sites in the afternoon adding our first trip tree pipit at Valyie and a 2nd reed warbler at Skaw but that was it and the weather finally got the better of us.<br />
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Weather looks better for tomorrow so we are going to find the 'big one' then. You heard it here firstUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-75283199586005480652017-09-28T17:09:00.001+01:002017-09-29T19:08:00.964+01:00Tough conditionsWe had seen the weather forecast all week and we knew that today and tomorrow were going to be tough and probably a write off and we were not wrong.<br>
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Although dry to start with, the gale force winds really were not very good for birding. we knew that it would be too strong for our usual Houlland path so hoped the SW of the island would be more sheltered and headed for Lund and Westing.<br>
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Well we were wrong with thinking it would be clamer but carried on with the plan.<br>
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The thistle bed at Lund has rare written all over it. Although some of the thistles seemed to have been cut and where not as thick, the nettle beds were great. Last year we had a long staying little bunting and a siberian accentor turned up there later in the autumn. No such luck today with the wind keeping the birds very low. We did manage to find a blackcap, whinchat, song thrush and 4 redwing. 3 female red breasted merganser were in the sheltered bay.<br>
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The wind wasn't helping us still at Westing and had probably increased too. Along the beach to the small croft at the end, the sparse docks produced single willow and yellow browed warblers but anything in the croft garden was keeping very low. We walked up across the fields to track down a mystery wader we could see in the distance, turned out to be a ruff, before getting to the 'Westing willows'. Despite the low willow bushes being completely blown out, they did hold a redstart, redwing and a blackbird. The irisbeds in the burn produced nothing but we did flush a lesser whitethroat found under the van!<br>
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Clutching at straws we headed down too Uyeasound but again it was too windy to checking bushes so we added a few wildfowl to our trip list and headed back north to Burrafirth. The yellow browed warbler had moved on but we did find a reed warbler.<br>
The news of a red breasted flycatcher new in at Skaw prompted us into a little twitch. On arrival, Dave Cooper had just been watching the bird before it flicked over a wall and despite searching the croft several times, we couldn't find it. Dipped again!<br>
There were still a few bits around the croft including 2 robin, 2 blackcap, reed warbler, wheatear and a male siskin.<br>
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The weather was now really set in so photo editing, eating biscuits and drinking coffee was the plan for the rest of the day; we didn't venture out again!<br>
<br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-43285996542755422212017-09-27T22:32:00.001+01:002017-09-27T22:32:12.491+01:00More of the samePretty much a carbon copy of yesterday, Houlland first thing followed by Burrafirth, Norwick and the cliffs of Lamba Ness and Skaw.<br />
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The strong winds are not great for Houlland blowing hard through the garden but we did manage to add our first redwing of the trip along with the continuing robin and chiffchaff. 2 more redwing were on Baliasta village along with the male blackcap and 2 chaffinches.<br />
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Peregrine over the road on the was to Burrafirth then the yellow browed warbler still along the burn. We stopped in the small quarry near Qouys to see the male snow bunting. It was a rather showy individual<br />
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After not checking Norwick we caught up on a few of the migrants that had arrived yesterday. Nothing exciting but we ended up with 2 lesser whitethroat, 2 redstart, 2 robin, blackcap, 3 willow warbler, little bunting and whinchat. Highlight was my first long eared owl in years roosting on one of the large conifer trees in the garden at Vaylie.<br />
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The waders were nice on the beach in a bit of sunshine. After missing it on Monday, the purple sandpiper was showing well roosting on the rocks.<br />
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We did the cliffs at Lamba Ness and Skaw again and although there were not that many birds we did manage to add a couple of new species for the trip; pied flycatcher on Lamba Ness and a spotted fly at Skaw. Also between the two sites were glaucous gull, 6 grey heron, 2 lesser whitethroat, snow bunting, redstart, mealy redpoll, 5 song thrush and 4 wheatear.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-32436813901389849332017-09-26T19:59:00.004+01:002017-09-26T19:59:29.395+01:00A day of 2 halvesBit of a strange day to be honest but one that you learn to expect on Shetland. Despite the calmer winds and brighter conditions this morning, everywhere seemed pretty quiet. Our morning walk around the patch only produced a chiffchaff still at Houlland and another with a yellow browed warbler near the school. I did manage to get a few pics of the YBW and hope for better as the trip goes on.<br />
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Our first jaunt around the Haroldswick was tough going in the strong wind. 11 grey herons (groups of 7 & 4) over, chiffchaff, robin and yellow browed warbler was all we could muster.<br />
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We decided to go and have a look around Skaw then have some lunch. The croft was quiet and to be honest, we were a bit fed up. I suggested we have a look down on Lamba Ness and if nothing else, do some seawatching.<br />
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Instead of seawatching we decided to check the sheltered cliffs which turned out to be a good decision. First birds seen were a couple of robins, not much but they were migrants. Then a male redstart appeared from nowhere. A good decision to check the cliffs and were were getting interested. Our check around the end of the cliffs also produced wheatear, blackbird, mealy redpoll and a nice little group of dunlin. With birds about, we decided to head back to Skaw and do the cliffs north of the croft. Nick and I had checked them last year so we thought it was worth a go.<br />
On the drive back up Lamba Ness we added kestrel, whinchat and a song thrush to the list.<br />
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As we got to the top of the cliffs there was a group of large gulls bathing in a pool of water. As they flushed I said to Nick that it would be good if there was a glaucous gull with them. There wasn't but Nick looked down into the geo and said 'there is a glauc down here' A rather beefy 1st winter was showing well.<br />
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As at Lamba Ness there seemed to be birds about. Another couple of goldcrests, 2 wheatear, 2 chiffchaff before Nick called 'dolphins offshore' and we were treated to a show from at least 10 Risso's dolphins feeding in the bay. Although a little too far for photography, they showed really well through bins. There was a nice mix of adults and youngsters with one of the adults being so pale and scarred that you could actually see it underwater! They were impressive with their tall swept back dorsal fins, I can only imagine how impressive an orca would look.<br />
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Nick was a little further up the cliff edge when he called 'little bunting'. Bugger, I was messing about with the camera further back but managed to get great views as it hopped around the grassy edges of the cliff calling regularly. It eventually came up onto the clifftop and after a bit of commando crawling through the grass I managed to get a reasonable shot.<br />
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Back at the Skaw croft, a new lesser whitethroat was in plus a chiffchaff and the same male blackcap that has been there for a coupe of days<br />
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After a slow start it turned out to be a good day<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-84531068074451910632017-09-25T18:47:00.003+01:002017-09-25T18:47:28.916+01:00Our little patchAlthough there are lots of great sites on Unst, Nick and I have our own good little patch on our doorstep at the end of our road at Houlland.<br />
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Parking on the road before the final house, the walk up has a nice crop field that is currently being grazed by sheep. Nothing in there this morning apart from a couple of skylark.<br />
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The garden itself is a nice mix of mature sycamore, fushia bushes and rosa but despite being small is can be very hard to see anything in it. The Blyth's reed warbler last year was a nightmare to see! The garden was quiet this morning holding single chiffchaff and yellow browed warbler.<br />
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Dropping down the side of the fields to the loch is a small ditch that although has only held a few meadow pipits so far, it looks good for something. Small patches of meadow sweet are always worth checking before we head up another small iris filled valley that held a reed warbler this morning.<br />
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Combining this area with the nettle patches and dense gardens around our digs should keep us bus every morning<br />
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Several areas checked today including Baltasound, Halligarth, Norwick, Burrafirth, Northdale and Setters Hill provided us with a decent total of 8 yellow browed warblers, barred warbler (Northdale), 2 lesser whitethroat, jack snipe (Burrafirth), 3 chiffchaff and 3 blackcaps. Highlight of the day was a juv common rosefinch found by Nick at Halligarth that managed to disappear before I get there despite being only 10m away!<br />
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Nice otter tracks at NorwickUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-17606040521390732282017-09-24T19:07:00.005+01:002017-09-24T19:07:50.075+01:00Shetland is a long way!!Well I started my journey to Unst on Friday afternoon via Newark to pick up Nick, an easy journey to Aberdeen on Saturday followed by a rather sleepless night on the ferry up to Lerwick. We eventually arrived on the Shetland mainland on Sunday morning and the birding could begin.<br />
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First birding stop of the trip was the small roadside site at Sandgarth, an oasis of willow scrub by the main road.<br />
First birds to get us going was a small flock of redpolls containing a very pale bird but the flock was massively frustrating as they kept disappearing into the trees and out of sight. We had our 1st yellow browed warbler of the trip (one of 3 on the site), goldcrest and couple of blackbird - a rather quiet start, We did however catch up again with the redpoll flock and our pale bird turned out to be 2 mealy redpolls.<br />
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Once onto Unst we have a look around some of the sites to see what was about.<br />
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Brambling, 2 blackcap and garden warbler around our digs at Scraefield, yellow browed warbler at Burrafirth, 2 blackcap and garden warbler at Skaw.<br />
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Quiet but good to be out in the field<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-81202872264207986872017-09-21T19:14:00.000+01:002017-09-21T19:14:11.522+01:00Hunstanton to HolmeThought I'd make the most of some time off to get out birding this week before heading up to Shetland at the weekend.<br />
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I haven't walked this route in ages so I thought I'd give it a try. It has a good reputation and even I have have found some good birds here in the past - barred warbler and red backed shrike when we used to live in Hunstanton.<br />
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To be honest is was pretty quiet although there were more migrants about that at the weekend despite the wind being in the south. Highlights being<br />
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Chiffchaff - 8<br />
Blackcap - 4<br />
Wheatear - 1<br />
Hobby - 1 west chasing the mixed swallow/house martin flock<br />
Pink footed goose - 75 in/off sea over the NOA obs<br />
Dark bellied brent goose - 4 on sea at Gore Point<br />
Stonechat - 6<br />
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Not a great deal but better than being stuck indoors<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-47226903116537283442017-09-20T18:24:00.001+01:002017-09-20T18:24:12.074+01:00The dark side of the Wash<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A birding day took me, Simon and the Colonel across the county boundary and into the badlands of Lincolnshire to Frampton for a boys' day birding. There has been so many birds about again this year and we had high hopes for a good day especially as Les hadn't bee to the reserve before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As well as a bit of quality #bants with the team in the visitor centre there were a few birds from the windows to get us started. An adult and juv tree sparrow were showing nicely on the feeders right outside the window, adult yellow wag on the waters edge and a nice wood sand feeding on one of the close islands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The water levels from 360 hide were nice and low but most of the small waders had moved onto the grassland near the seawall as the water levels had just been dropped there exposing a nice load of new food so we have to be content with close views of both little and great white egret along with the whooper swan that has been hanging around for the summer.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">East hide was the best spot for the waders, according to Toby who was now giving us a personal guided tour while he checked the water levels and tweaked the sluices, so we headed in that direction. A small group of dunlin were feeding by the path on the way up to to the hide but we need the the height of the seawall later to see the area properly. From the hide, another small wader flock contained several ruff and 2 smart juv curlew sands. A small group of brents, the 1st I've seen of the winter, dropped in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the seawall it was much easier to see the birds both on the grassland and the saltmarsh. A nice little group of ca25 yellow wags were feeding at the bottom of the seawall although they were very flighty, probably because of the hunting kestrel and sparrowhawk we saw later in the morning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The great thing about viewing the grassland was the extra height to look down into the vegetation where many of the small waders were feeding. 80 dunlin in a couple of groups along the bank contained 8 little stint, 20 ruff and a nice little party of 4 spotted redshanks. Wigeon numbers were already building up with several hundred feeding close to the back. Before heading off for lunch, a group of other birders pointed out a distant peregrine perched out in the saltmarsh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following a rather filling lunch of sausage, chips and curry sauce, we ended the trip at the Roads Farm reservoir looking for the red necked grebe. Amongst the wigeon and little grebes the bird was actually quite hard to locate especially as it was diving loads to start with. Once it had managed to swallow a tricky fish it settled down and showed well. Although they are a regular species off the Norfolk coast in winter it was good to get some nice to get such good views. We didn't manage to add any more wood sands to the list (there had been 3) but we did have a calling green sand close by that we didn't see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all it was a good day. Lots of birds, plenty of bants and good company.</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-43890248414530415072017-09-15T19:32:00.001+01:002017-09-15T19:36:39.885+01:00A day too late...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly that always seems to be the case with me that I am always busy when it comes to decent seawatching off Titchwell and this week was no different. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although I did manage to sneak down to the beach for a short while (seeing a couple of Manx and a flock of 11 bonxie) most of the day was spent sorting out the last of my things in the office so missed out on all the action once again. A calling yellow browed warbler outside the office was decent compensation though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the winds had dropped by the evening I still decided to get out early and see what was moving. Despite it being still very dull on the walk down to the beach the 2 juv little stints were still present on the fresh marsh with the dunlin flock but light wasn't really good enough to look for much else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wind really wasn't going to help bring any birds in close now it had gone the west and died but there were still a few bits about. The short eared owl was still about hunting around Thornham Point along with a couple of marsh harriers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There wasn't much movement on the sea with only 9 bonxie and 2 arctic skuas in the 90mins I spent watching although the wildfowl passage was good. Without the strong north wind, many of the duck flocks were staying far out and the haze meant that identifying them impossible. On jizz, most of the flocks looked like teal and wigeon. I must admit I was a bit fed up with missing out again so headed off. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My brief watch did record</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 pintail</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">173 teal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">31 wigeon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 RB merganser</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 shelduck</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 razorbill</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 sandwich tern.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the walk back down the path, the juv curlew sand that had been found by Alan Davies was showing well right under the path with the dunlin flock.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the way home I decided to have a little walk around the Choseley barns arrea, Although the area around the barns is much quieter these days for birds, the field margins in the whole area are excellent. The farm have been planting wild-bird mixes along many of the field margins and they are really doing the trick. In the 'dip' south of the barns with millett content within the mix id proving very popular with the small finches. 20 linnet, 20 goldfinch, 10 yellowhammer and a rather smart corn bunting were feeding by the road. The margins run between the barns south to the village and I'm sure will only get better as the winter weather arrives. Fingers crossed that is something good turns up in the flock that people behave...</span><br />
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Popped up to Cley yesterday for the first time in ages to
catch up with Simon in the CleySpy shop and to pick up my new bins (more about
this in the coming weeks). Having been all over the place in the morning there
wasn’t really time to go out onto the reserve but the birding from the shop was
pretty good all the same. The panoramic view over the reserve despite being
distant gave some good views.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The small wader flock had included several curlew sands and
it was just about possible to pick out one of the juvs feeding with a ruff on
the back of the closest lagoon. It was good to see a lot of dunlin about as it
seems to have been a quiet period for them recently at this end of the coast.
Everything got stirred up when a young harrier did a fly past and then the
hobbies arrived. Having a big panoramic view meant you could follow both
hobbies at they took turns chasing the dunlin flock; both birds taking in turns
doing stoops onto the flock from high up. After 10 unsuccessful minutes they
have up and disappeared.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While we were checking out some of the bins, both Simon and
I called a hobby coming over the carpark and flying straight towards the
CleySpy shop and going over the roof. The large size and brown plumage meant it
wasn’t a hobby but something more interesting. We rushed outside expecting to
see the bird heading inland over the fields but were rather surprised to see it
sat on the roof staring back at us!! The initial shock wore off as it was soon
apparent that the bird had escaped from somewhere as it was sporting a full set
of leather jessies and bells.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Overall the bird was brown with dark brown markings on the
breast, upper belly and thighs pointing towards one of the parents being saker
but presumably it is a hybrid. </div>
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Whatever it is, it was impressive to see at such
close quarters and attracted much attention for the short time it was present.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was suggested that we try the sheltered picnic area around the Asprokremmos Dam. Even here was windy and we only managed a female pied fly and a cuckoo.<br />
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We'd heard that there had been some crakes at Agia Varvara so decided to give it a try. The stream by the ford was dry but a lucky meeting with some birders informed us of some water storage tanks further up the valley.<br />
There were other birders there when we arrived and there were already a bunch of herons in flight; 8 greys and 2 smart adult purples.<br />
Moving to the 2nd tank I instantly saw a pale bird creeping around the waters edge in the corner. A dash to unpack the scope was required but worth it to add our final species to the trip list, a lovely female little crake.<br />
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Sadly it was time to head for the airport with the last minute little crake taking the trip list to 111.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-2410496690829396362017-04-22T15:01:00.000+01:002017-04-22T15:01:02.237+01:00Cyprus day 10 - last full dayA quick walk around the block first thing produced a pair of nest scraping stone curlew but little else.<br />
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We headed for the Akamas today with the hope of adding a few more species to the list. A couple of stops in the hills failed to add long legged buzzard for dad's list but the views out over towards Paphos were impressive.<br />
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The first stop was the caravan park just beyond the Baths of Aphrodite, a slightly random place of old caravans under the olive trees. It was however, great for birds. As soon as we got out of the car there were blackcaps everywhere. I would say that there were at least 50 birds throughout the area. Every olive seemed to have several feeding. Mixed in with them were a few other things.<br />
The wood warblers, probably 3 of then, look absolutely stunning in the bright sunshine, the yelow and green so bright contrasting with the white underparts. A nice showy nightingale performed well, male collared fly, 3 female pied fly were present and at least 2 whinchat.<br />
Surprise of the morning was the 'long legged buzzard' I spotted from the car as we headed back. Thankfully the bird was still about by the time managed to stop. The bird didn't 'look right' and getting the scope on it I realised it was a Bonellis eagle. Well happy with that ( we didn't get the buzzard for dad in the end)<br />
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We headed up towards Smiyies picnic site for a walk around. Good numbers of serin were present today and we had nice views of ortolan, female masked shrike and a smart male marsh harrier overhead.<br />
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Final stop of the trip was Evretou Dam. The drive down was rather interesting and not recommended if it has been wet or you have a low car but our hire car made it fine.<br />
The muddy margins around the end of the lake had several squacco heron and 3 species of wader. 4 common and a marsh sand had already been added to the list but a summer plumage greenshank was new.<br />
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The sun was particularly hot so we retired to the pool and shade around the villa for the last few rays<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-51887711147925918112017-04-21T16:26:00.003+01:002017-04-21T19:03:53.441+01:00Cyprus day 9 - Ringing pt2We were lucky enough to be able to join Richard and Mike again for another ringing session.<br />
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This time we headed for their river site to the south of Polis. On the journey over we finally managed to catch up with long legged buzzard for the trip. We also had a harrier and falcon sp over the car that remained unidentified. Just before we reached the ringing site a cracking roller was sat on the roadside wires. Apparently they breed in the farm close by.<br />
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Richard and Mike had already been on a net round so there were bags of goodies waiting for us. Being in a river valley the species composition was very different. In the olive grove last week it was mainly blackcap, this week it was reed warbler (30).<br />
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The main highlight of the morning was an adult spotted crake, only the 6th to be ringed in Cyprus and a new bird for Richard. You forget how small they are and have a wing length the same as a blackbird (122mm).<br />
The best of the rest, and they were all good birds, we're 3 olivaceous warbler, 3 great reed warbler, spotted flycatcher, female ortolan bunting, tree pipit and turtle dove.<br />
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We had another impromptu ringing demo with another birding group visiting. They arrived just at the right time to see great reed, ortolan and the turtle dove in the hand. Another great opportunity to tell the stories about ringing<br />
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There were also some good birds around the site with long legged buzzard, 2 redstart, wood warbler, 2 female black&white flycatchers and a spotted fly.<br />
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We have been incredibly lucky with the hospitality shown by Mike and Richard allowing us to join them and ring many of the birds that were caught. Over the two session we've spent with them we've caught nearly 200 birds, handled some nice species, made some good contacts for the future and most importantly learnt loads.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-546724445372810392017-04-20T15:13:00.003+01:002017-04-20T15:13:28.475+01:00Cyprus day 8 - didn't go farRest day today so we didn't go far. Headed just up the coast to Cape Deprenon. The area looked great with some nice fields and nice well vegetated gardens. Pretty quiet for birds apart from a nightingale and a female black & white flycatcher in the 'nice garden'. The walk around the coast was 'interesting' requiring a combination of climbing, scrambling and paddling!!<br />
Clearly an area of wealth with one villa having 3 porsche parked outside!<br />
<br />
The gorge at Arakas was a really impressive walk. Several singing olivaceous warblers at the bottom of the valley but it was the narrow steep sided gorge that was the highlight. Tight and narrow which must be an incredible sight with a big flow going through it.<br />
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We decided to walk from the bottom of the valley up to Mavrokolympos Dam in the hope of finally getting good views of Cyprus warbler. Sadly not this time but we did have squacco heron and common sand on the res, 3 ortolan and a day-calling scops owl.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-13840412940508329602017-04-19T20:05:00.001+01:002017-04-19T20:05:38.063+01:00Cyprus day 7 - Akrotiri The usual pre-breakfast walk produced a similar range of birds to the last few days although I did get good views of stone curlew and finally good views of a pair of black francolin that have been calling near the villa.<br />
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After breakfast we headed east to the Akrotiri peninsula in search of wetland birds.<br />
First stop was Akrotiri Marsh and a meet up with Melpo from Birdlife Cyprus to have a look at the habitat works I had been involved with a couple of years ago. The improvements were looking good, plenty of cattle grazing, new fencing, pools and a nice tower hide. Still lots of work to do but a great start.<br />
The site was pretty quiet for birds though. A few ruff, a couple of squacco heron and a hunting marsh harrier. From the tower hide, 4 fudge ducks were sculking in the reed edge, hopefully the females were on nests...<br />
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The gravel pits area was completely dead apart from a yellow wag and a squacco heron and the small chapel was quiet too holding Woodchat, 2 pied and a spotted fly, ortolan and an olivaceous warbler.<br />
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Zakaki Marsh did add mallard for the trip but that was all. We did finally find some waders along Lady's Mile but they were all ruff apart from a smart summer plumage marsh sand. Further along was a small group of black winged stilt and 10 close greater flamingos, closer than the pink haze on the main lake.<br />
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Final stop of the day was the impressive view over Kensington Cliffs. We had good views of 4 displaying Eleanoras falcons but the Cyprus warblers were really tricky in the strong wind. There were at least 6 calling birds but I only got brief decent views of one.<br />
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Overall it was a slightly disappointing day with the lack of waders but good to look round Akrotiri Marsh at the work.<br />
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The day did add some new species and pushes us over 100 species to 104.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-59308152874189806422017-04-18T16:58:00.001+01:002017-04-18T16:58:22.151+01:00Cyprus day 6 - UpcountryWas a little surprised to have rain falling for an early walk around the villa patch but it didn't last very long. The first part of the walk seemed to be quiet with fewer migrants than recent days. Just past the taverna we flushed a cuckoo from the coast path and then there appeared to be a movement of hirundines with barn and red rumped swallows, house and sand martin and a few swifts. The highlight was a female pallid harrier over the fields but sadly it didn't hang about.<br />
19 glossy ibis flying west offshore just as we got back.<br />
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Today's plan was to visit the Troodos mountains in search of the Cypriot races of jay and coal tit.<br />
On arrival at the visitor centre carpark we were greeted by a female masked shrike and ticked off the Jay straight away. Although we knew it would be cooler at the higher altitude, going from 20 to 8 degrees was a bit of a shock. Fleece and gloves required.<br />
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A walk up the path into the forest quickly added the coal tit to the list. A particularly smart looking bird with its extensive black throat extends down onto the upper breast. The white head stripe seemed much reduced too.<br />
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Good views were had of short toed treecreeper, Cyprus wheatear and a male masked shrike. We also added wren, chaffinch and blackbird to the trip list. An unexpected surprise was a feeding family of crossbill.<br />
Lunch stop didn't produce any birds but we did find some nice orchids. The power of social media identified them as giant orchid.<br />
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What I thought was going to be a random stop in the vineyards at a lower level on the way back turned into a bit of a surprise when I recognised the route. It turned out that I had visited the same place when out here with work a couple of years ago. We didn't get black headed bunting this time.<br />
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Final addition to the list was a group of beeeaters heading east over the villa late in the afternoon.<br />
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Trip list now on 92<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-464200118589983722017-04-17T16:07:00.001+01:002017-04-17T16:07:34.548+01:00Cyprus day 5 - Paphos and inlandStarting to venture a bit further afield with a first proper visit to Paphos Headland. This time is wasn't quite a rammed as the other day!<br />
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The first thing that strikes you as soon as you get inside the complex is the impressive show of wildflowers. The place is completely awash with yellow, red and pink making it a rather pleasant place to spend a few hours.<br />
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Although largely quiet for birds there was a nice selection. An eastern olivacuous warbler showed well just inside the main gates followed by the first of 7 hoopoe we saw.<br />
The bushes held 6 nightingale, 3 collared fly, 2 wood warbler, sedge warbler and a nice female masked shrike. 5 ortolan and black eared wheatear were the best of the rest.<br />
A quick look around the ruins before escaping the growing crowds.<br />
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The area inland of Mandria and Asprokremmos Dam was largely disappointing. We did get at least 6 lesser kestrel and a nice little owl in the Anarita Park area but little else. Nata Ford added little ringed plover to the trip list and nice views of red rumped swallows collecting nest material from the river bed.<br />
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The scrubby picnic area near the dam held a few migrants. Several female 'black & white' flycatchers were difficult to pin down but a male collared was much easier. Good numbers of blackcap were present along with a male golden oriole and our first bonellis warblers. Even bumped into someone who knew me from work!!<br />
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Mandria fields were quiet and the irrigating had stopped near Paphos SF so the birds from the other day had moved on.<br />
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4 new species added today taking the list to 83<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-60548496199363807692017-04-16T17:37:00.001+01:002017-04-16T17:37:14.814+01:00Cyprus day 4 - Easter SundayWe didn't pick mum and dad up until the early hours of the moring so there were no early starts today.<br />
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The morning was spent looking around the area local to the villa before have an easter Sunday meal of BBQ chicken and lamb at a local taverna. We still managed to add a few birds to the list with 3 purple heron over and a shag past offshore.<br />
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Slightly random moment when one of the local policemen who were also having lunch wanted to try out our bins! Apparently the Viking 8x30 are better that my Swaro EL's.<br />
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After relaxing by the pool for a bit we had another look at Mavrokolympos Dan. Cuckoo and a smart male subalpine warbler were added to the list.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-26413861010382853652017-04-15T17:17:00.002+01:002017-04-15T17:17:56.957+01:00Cyprus day 3 - relaxed pace<div dir="ltr">
Decided to take things a bit easier this morning with a stroll around the local area. There is a nice bit of scrubby habitat along the coast with bare fields, banana plantations and garden just inland.</div>
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Most of the yellow wagtails from yesterday had moved on but there was still plenty of other stuff. A fine red throated pipit near the villa followed by a quail flushed from under a bush. Although the wagtails had moved on, nightingales had certainly moved in. At least 9 birds were logged on the walk. <br />
A flyby flock of 19 little and 2 cattle egrets were added to the list along with a female marsh harrier in/off the sea. 2 common sand on the rocky shoreline and a spur winged plover were added too.</div>
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Heading just inland produced several whinchat along a fenceline. It paid to check the whole field as it produced a stone curlew and a scrub-singing great reed warbler! Further up the road a magpie was mobbing a great spotted cuckoo giving nice scope views. Not far from the villa we picked up our first Woodchat of the trip, a smart singing male.</div>
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The rest of the morning was spent relaxing with great reed warbler and nightingale singing in the background.</div>
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Checking out Paphos Headland on a warm sunny Easter Saturday wasn't the best idea, the place was MOBBED with nowhere to park. Early morning visit I think.</div>
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Check out the Paphos sewage works area which was rather disappointing apart from one irrigated field. The whole SF is now covered so has no attraction for birds now. However, just close to the SF was a field that was being irrigated with a small wet area in the corner. When we arrived there was at least 100 yellow wagtails bathing along with 4 wood sand, ruff and a gloas ibis. The rest of the field was stuffed with wagtails although the crop was too high to see them but in flight there mus have been at least 1000 birds. A spectacular sight. Overhead we had 2 alpine swift and a smart pair of red footed falcons.</div>
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A look around the fields at Madria produced 9 squacco heron in an irrigated field, a nice fall of northern wheatears and a single male black eared, hoopoe and 2 stone curlew.</div>
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We didn't get Cyprus warbler on a quick stop on the way home but there were good numbers of Cyprus wheatear. Ticked off little owl and chukar for the list too.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7235003646240064193.post-37349533692436840832017-04-14T20:24:00.001+01:002017-04-14T20:24:04.629+01:00Pics<p dir="ltr">A few pics from ringing this morning </p>
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<p dir="ltr">Despite breezy conditions we managed to process 104 birds in just a few hours.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Blackcap made up the bulk of the catch but there was a nice supporting cast including wood, sardinian, reed and sedge warblers, corn bunting, whinchat, lesser and common whitethroats and pied fly.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There was even time for a short ringing demo for a group of Dutch birdwatchers who turned up halfway through the morning </p>
<p dir="ltr">Around the site were a couple of ortolan bunting, golden oriole, hoopoe, lots of serin and tree pipit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A great morning and massive thanks to Richard and Mike for their help. </p>
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