South Stack and the Menai Strait

I have really enjoyed this weekend away as I have enjoyed playing with my friends and of course birdwatching. Having a field next to the cottage meant my friends and I got to jump on top of the bales.

Due to all the rain we have had, the river has next to the cottage was flowing really fast. The are high mud banks further down the river which are perfect for Kingfishers, but I never even got a glimps of one.

The first full day of the holiday was when I visited South Stack and unfortunately, because the colonies of birds have pretty much finished breeding, the cliff ledges were empty.

The views were as spectacular as ever though. I did see a Meadow Pipit and a grassy field full of Oyster Catchers.

The one bird that was good that I did see was the rarest bird in the crow family in this country, a Chough. Richard, I did look in the fields off the minor road, but they weren't there. There were quite a few flying over the cliffs though.

Here is a picture of the view from the top of South Stack, a great shot for Sky Watch Friday.

After SouthStack I visited the Menai Straits where I saw loads (mostly Ostercatchers) of waders such as Curlews, 1 Whimbrel, a single Redshank, plenty of Litttle Egrets and other stuff as well (which I will mention in my blog tommorow).

As you can see in this picture the Oyster catcher had caught a mussel. Oyster Catchers are my Dad's favourite birds.

There were some lovely little bays near South Stack.

 And the after a warm sunny day, I was very surprised in the night when it was white over!!!!!!!!!!  

RSPB Conwy Nature Reserve blog to follow tomorrow. A brilliant weekend.

Our World Tuesday

Be Back Soon

I just wanted to let you know that I am going to Caernarfon for a small holiday, I think we are near the Menai Strait so I will look out for a few waders. Thank you for making the effort to comment on my blog I really appreciate it.

Hopefully we will fit in a trip to South Stack on Anglesey and then RSPB Conwy on the way home.  School now, but I am finishing at lunchtime today.  Yes.

Birding and Being A Goal Keeper!

You know Blue Tits, they are really wonderful birds you see, so I can't help taking pictures of them all the time. 

I play in goal for a local football team every Saturday morning. When I go and have a game of football it's always hard to concentrate when you see a Bullfinch fly over you or a Kestrel hovering just above the goal (and normally it costs me).

The Buzzards are still doing really well. They are getting quite brave and are coming right up to the fence at the moment.  I'm not going to encourage them though, they need to stay wary of people.

This is the first time I have got a picture of the adult and juvenille Buzzards standing together. I apologise for the picture being blurred, but I wanted to keep it for my records.

Starlings are really thriving at the moment and look, it's been framed!

I'm not sure I've mentioned this before but here in Moulton we have got a growing Starling roost. They line up on the power lines every evening.

The grass is really sprouting now, which makes a nicer view than potatos!

The Great Spotted Woodpecker just can't keep away at the moment. This has given me chance to get some better pictures.  I have learnt not to zoom in so much to get a much clearer picture.

Here's a shot of the pattern on it's back.

And finally a very, very rare bird - the Lesser Headed Collared Dove.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Burton Mere

This morning I took a first time visit to Burton Mere on the Wirral which has loads of waders, some I haven't even seen before.

I did indeed enjoy watching the birds feeding off their feeders, especially the Chaffinch. As I continued walking I arrived at reception and when I looked out of the window there was a group of feeding Black Tailed Godwits. I also met a very kind and helpful man called Austin, who gave me loads of help and plenty of advice of what was lurking around at the moment.

When I arrrived at the last hide to visit, I noticed a wader wich had an extremely long bill. And so when it turned around I noticed that it was not a Black tailed Godwit it was infact a Bar Tailed Godwit, a first for me.

Closely followed by a beautiful Ruff.

And then after ten or so minutes they joined together and had a massive feed. The brightest white birds I saw today was a lovely pair of little Egrets, but sadly I could not get a picture. I also noticed a few Snipe roosting in the newly cut reed beds.

On the way back to the car I spotted from the corner of my eye a female Merlin sitting happily on a fence post - I managed to get a picture. The Hen Harrier was also there. I did get a picture of that too, but it was terrible (really the picture was just a brown blob). 

When I looked up into the sky there was a Buzzard being tormented by Carrion Crows.

There was even one Buzzard waiting for me just behind the fence when I got home, which I got a splendid picture of.

A very interesting day of birds, with some nice new ones to study and enjoy.  There are lots of great pictures on the Burton Mere facebook page (we promised Austin we would put a link on).

Wild Bird Wednesday

Brown to Green

When I peered out of my window yesterday morning I noticed a female Great Spotted Woodpecker had finally returned to feed in my garden. I knew it was a female because it didn't have red on it's head.



It likes to hang around in my next door neighbour's tree and then swoop down to my fat ball, seed, nut or suet block feeder.

In this picture it's gently creeping along the branch towards my garden.

The Great Tit numbers in my garden are much better than I expected this year so hopefully I might have some nesting in my bird boxes next year.  The holes in the nesting boxes were a bit too small last year, so I am going to make them a bit bigger over winter.

The Wood Pigeons are enjoying the last few grass seeds that havn't started growing yet. You may remember the field was ploughed a free weeks ago, but the grass is growing really well now, however I am a bit worried that the Redpolls, Fieldfare and Brambling won't return this year because there's 2 years of grass ahead of us. They seemed to like the bare earth and the potato plants over the last few years.

The Buzzard family were back in the field this morning enjoying some early sun.  They are looking  very healthy so they should have a good future.

Sky Watch Friday

Delicate Little Jackdaw

When I look out of my bedroom window I normally see some big, burly Jackdaws hanging around in the field.  But this morning one decided to show his elegant side and try hanging off the seed feeder.



The Jackdaws only hang from the feeders for a few seconds because they don't have very good balance.

The Tits, especially the Great Tits were not impressed with the Jackdaws efforts.  They had to wait patiently for their turn.

Same with the Blue Tits. A queue was forming.

The Robin came in to feed on my wooden tray which Dad built which is attached to my fence.

Jura desperately wanted to go outside for a game of chase but had to make do with watching through the window with me.

My BTO berry survey pack has arrived so that will keep me busy this week, as well as way too much homework.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Orange You Glad It's Friday

Buzzards

Yesterday I noticed all the sparrows in my garden acting a bit unusual, but when I looked up into the sky there wasn't anything up there that could be spooking them.

So then I took a glance into the field and there I noticed a parent Buzzard training a young Buzzard to hunt rather close to my fence.  The youngster was just sitting lazily in the field while the adult was nearby.

The youngster then flew into the next field so I shouted mum and we went on a walk to follow them. My dog Jura managed to sneak out of the door too, so he ended up coming with us. This always ends in disaster though.  Every time we get the camera out, he thinks it's a toy and starts barking for us to throw it - not good for bird watching and definitely not good for the camera.

We got a great view of the River Weaver from the top of the hill.  It was still really full after all the rain last week.

And then I saw them again, wheeling in the skies like vultures.  I could hear them calling to each other.

They were quite high so the pictures arent the best, but it gives you an idea of just how magnificient these birds are.

When we got home the male Sparrow was still sitting in his lookout tower.

We got home just in time to see about 7-8 Long Tailed Tits passing through the garden.  This was the best picture I could manage as they were just too quick and flighty.  They returned again this morning.

A great walk, especially following the Buzzards and them following us!