Wednesday 27 November 2013

Patching Things Up...

As you may have remembered I posted a few days ago that my patch had re-opened.  And I'm sure you remember why it closed.  And yes, my worries were to some extent confirmed.  You see I was curious whether a 3 week absence of people in a usually busy park would affect the wildlife at all.  It did.  Nothing major and definitely nothing lasting long.  If only it had lasted longer.  You see on the first day that the patch reopened a Little Egret turned up.  Yes I know nothing too exciting, but on my patch, pretty mega and when I found out it was too late to even bother trying to tick it.  And naturally it wasn't reported again.  Just fantastic.
 The disappointment didn't last long though.  It seemed that the patch wanted to make it up to me.  First with this....



Although I won't deny a little bit of light wouldn't have gone amiss here.  But it's always nice to get close to one of these.

I've visited twice since it has re-opened.  On the first visit I had the Woodpecker, and on the second it was a lake bird which made my day.  Well not just one bird but five.  You see on my patch I've never seen more than two Little Grebes at any given time, so to have two at one side and three at the other....well, everyone's patch is different.  To many this may seem trivial but I've been coming to the park for nearly two years birdwatching, and this is the first time I've seen that many Little Grebes.  So quite a day in my patching history.
 I'm now almost over the Little Egret, but it' still lurking there at the back of my mind, one day I will see one here.

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Monday 18 November 2013

G.I. Blues

I'm afraid that I may have broken my rule.  You remember the one about twitching?  How I wasn't a twitcher.  Well of course I stand by the fact I am not, but I have to get this off my chest.  I twitched, no, worse. I dipped.  The embarrassment.
 What did I dip?  One of the many Glossy Ibis around at the moment, this particular individual being at Bowers Marsh.  And as I should have known from previous twitching (cough cough) experiences it wasn't there.  I should have learnt my lesson already.  But no, I have to add another dip to my ever growing list.  Well honestly it's not that big, but it outnumbers successful twitches.  Which isn't many.  Because of course I don't do that kind of thing do I?
 These more than made up for the G.I's absence....


To me, seeing the Corn Bunting means much more than the Glossy Ibis, you see, where they come from they're not rare.  Over here they are, yes.  Corn Buntings however are much rarer, they are declining at an incredible rate.  So seeing nearly half-a-dozen flying together means a lot more than a singular Glossy Ibis.  Though I'm not saying I would say no to seeing one.
 But Corn Buntings, this Corn Bunting, just fantastic to see.


According to the map of the place there were three hides, these turned out to be non-existent.  Unless they're that camouflaged.  But surely they can't have developed hides that good yet, especially ones big enough for more than two people.

 We had a couple of Kestrels, a Marsh Harrier, Stonechat and Skylark of note, but not too much to photograph, so I'm terribly sorry to say the two Corn Buntings are all I have for you.  But then again they are Corn Buntings.
 So no Ibis, but not a disappointing day at all.
 The G.I blues didn't last for long...

Thursday 7 November 2013

Slightly Late Storm Damage

My patch is closed.  It has been for seven days now, one whole week.  Can you guess why?  Well remember that storm eleven days ago? That's who's to blame.  Strangely, I visited the park about twice after the storm before the park closed.  So I have no idea why they waited so long.  While I was there I did see a couple of fallen trees, and there was a lot of branches everywhere.  But why keep it open a couple of days before closing it if there was any danger? Personally, I would have thought the park should have been checked out the day after the storm.  That would be more logical.  Right?  Oh well there is nothing I can do but wait.
 Recently I've been working on photographing Grey Wagtails. surprisingly  they seem to be tolerant of my presence (at last), so it doesn't go too well with me to be away from photographing them for so long.    It's just so nice to spend time with a particular species.
I may have taken a few shots of them so far.  One day I did take about 400 images of one bird.  So I do need more, and I do have more. But for now this is all  you can have of my collection.  Once I've got more shots I will do a full write up, but until then that's it.  Just to keep you in suspense, they do come close...


So I am hoping they get their gear together over in the parks department, the park has been closed way too long.  Surely it won't take any longer to clear up?  Only time will tell.  But I live in hope...
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