Butterbumps

Our visit to Minsmere last Saturday was in warm, sunny weather and it really felt like the first day of Spring. The birds seemed to agree. A flock of Bearded Tits in reeds along the North Bank were ‘pinging’ to each other and flying around, and there were dozens of Divers on the sea (mainly Red-throated, but also some Black-throated and at least one Great Northern), all heading north – presumably to breeding grounds.

In the afternoon we divided our time between the Bittern and Island Mere hides. Later in the afternoon when we went back to the Bittern hide for a second visit, it certainly lived up to its name. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one day – or had such good views of them. Each time one appeared  a call went up and a buzz of excitement went round everyone in the hide. It made me think about how highly we value these birds these days - just to see one, whereas for centuries their only value to humans was as a food item [hence the old fashioned name of Butterbump - because the flesh was considered so tasty]. How times change!

Several birds were in flight but there were also occasions when one walked across the channel in front of the hide...

An unexpected visitor was this Red Deer hind who obviously found the water vegetation very much to her liking...

So much for New Year resolutions

Less than three months into the year and I’m already falling behind with my blog posts – eek! Skipping the excuses, without further ado here are some photos from my birding travels over the last few weekends...

Pagham Harbour – 19 Feb

A trip with the RSPB Bedford local group found us visiting Pagham Harbour and Selsey Bill on a chilly February day. I enjoyed seeing several Mediterranean Gulls in varying stages of summer plumage on the shore at Selsey Bill...

Mind you, if I were a Mediterranean Gull, in weather like that I’d have made sure I was in the Mediterranean!

Holkham (and Titchwell) - 25 Feb

Following a perfect morning at RSPB Titchwell during which we saw Arctic Redpolls, Velvet Scoters and Lapland Buntings, we spent the afternoon at Holkham. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the Shore Larks which were the reason for our visit, but this Barn Owl out in the afternoon sunshine was a treat...

Red Kites - 03 March

One of the reasons I bought my new camera was to be able to get shots of birds in flight – something I can’t do with my little Sony compact. My favourite large raptor is the Red Kite so it was fitting that my first attempt at capturing a raptor overhead involved one of those – last Saturday on the way back from Rutland Water...

Not a brilliant photo I know [although you can always click to zoom in] – but much better than anything I could have managed before. Anyway, practice makes perfect [I hope].

Watch this space...

It's winter...

Our long weekend in the Solway this year [3-6 Feb] coincided with a spell of very cold weather, when temperatures struggled to get above freezing. It was cold, often windy, and one day vey wet - but we didn’t get any snow, and fortunately found plenty of good birds to compensate for our frozen fingers and toes.

One thing that took my mind off the weather was trying out my new camera. It’s a ‘bridge’ camera – in between a compact and a DSLR. I decided I needed one because sometimes conditions just aren’t suitable for digi-scoping. It’s going to take me a while to use it properly but my first efforts suggest it’s going to be useful. This shot of Turnstones on the beach just outside Stranraer was taken at a fair distance, and not in particularly good light conditions. To the naked eye the birds were really just tiny brown shapes, but the camera picked them up clearly (try clicking on the photo to zoom in even more)...

It also seems to reproduce colour well – this glowing sunrise, taken from Port Beg Cottage, was spectacular...

The Panasonic was in use again last Sunday [12 Feb] at Pitsford Reservoir. The thaw still hadn't set in and much of the water was frozen...

...but that encouraged birds to congregate around the relatively small areas of open water, this pair of Goldeneye for example...

Happy though I am with my new camera, I still love digi-scoping with my super little Sony Compact – which comes into its own when you want to take video...

Further round on Pitsford we found this Mallard [I think!] with unusual blonde plumage. My first thought was that it's a hybrid, but I later wondered if might be a leucistic bird (i.e. lacks the pigment melanin) – but whatever, an attractive bird.

Nearby was a pair of Smew, both sleeping on the water when we first spotted them. Eventually the female decided to get out onto the ice...

After which the devoted little drake took to patrolling up and down in the water in front of her, occasionally displaying, and keeping guard while she rested...

Water Birds Weekend

Frost and ice dominated the weather this weekend [14-15 Jan] when most of my birding involved water birds of one sort or another.

On Saturday I took part in Beds Bird Club’s ‘Great Duck Hunt’ which is an annual county-wide survey of birds found on or near water - this being the third year that I had volunteered to check sites in the Flitwick area. I have to admit, I never see a great number of water birds to record but it makes a very pleasant walk, especially when it’s a bright, frosty morning – as was the case this year.  Carolyn kindly offered to help me with the survey and we started by walking along the millstream, then into Flitwick Moor, on to Flitton Moor, and finished with a visit to Hollington Basin - a seasonal flooded area north of Flitton.

Along the path from Flitwick Moor to Flitton Moor we passed a field holding the flock of Soay Sheep used by the local Wildlife Trust for habitat management on nature reserves...

Best birds of the walk overall were a singing Goldcrest in conifers in a Flitwick garden, a pair of Bullfinches feeding on frosted seed heads along the path to Flitton Moor, and two Little Egrets flying over Flitton Moor.

On Sunday I went out with the Bedford RSPB Local Group. The morning was spent at the Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire where the wildfowl were having to cope with large areas of frozen water. Some were quite comical as they struggled to stay upright on the ice but this pair of Pintails looked as elegant as ever, despite the slippery conditions.

At WWT Welney in the afternoon we were able to catch up with both species of Winter Swan – Whooper and Bewick’s. The more numerous of the two species were the Whoopers...

Generally the Bewick’s Swans kept a reasonable distance from their larger cousins, but I managed one photo showing birds of both species [below] In the foreground are two Whooper Swans, with the yellow patch on their bills ending in a sharp point; while the three Bewick’s behind have blunt, rounded yellow bill patches.

In March the Winter Swans will set off on their long journey back to breeding grounds in Iceland, so it was good to have an opportunity to see them once more before they leave and hear their bugling calls as they flew in to the reserve.

Sun Arise

I don't think I've mentioned that I love clouds, but I do - always have. I was reminded why when I drove into the car park at work this morning and glanced up at the sky. The sun was rising and the sky was a breathtaking palette of rose and gold and violet grey...

The glowing clouds spread across the sky...

and then gradually softened into more pastel shades...

What a lovely start to the day.