RNBWS Weekend in Portland!!!

Chiffchaff

Coot

Cuckoo ( Shocking Image, but bad light, so not enough shutter )

Egyptian Goose

Great Crested Grebe

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler

Grey Heron

Guillemot

Kittiwake

Linnet

Little Owl

Long Tail Tit

Common Redstart

Rock Pipit

Sandwich Tern

Stonechat

Swallow's Arrival at Radipole

Swallow

Tufted duck

Wheatear

Wheatear

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Yellow Wagtail, Distance Shot!!

Whimbrel

These are some of the images taken from the Royal Navy bird watching weekend at Portland Bill at the end of April. Throughout the weekend we saw an array of bird species totalling 109, not bad going for three days birding..
On one day we saw in excess of 1000 Wheatears land, and the numbers were probably greater, all in all a superb weekend with some great friends.........

New Forest Weekend Wildlife!!!

Fallow Deer ( New Forest )

FireCrest ( ISO 800)

Singing Firecrest

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A Silhouette Shot of a Marsh Tit!! I THINK??

Nuthatch in the Woods

Ringed Plover

Siskin Male

Siskin Female

Sarah came up from Cornwall to take me on a surprise weekend to the New Forest, and what a wonderful weekend it was. It's nice to see some different wildlife, with the extensive cover of the new forest species like the siskin, Nuthatch, Firecrest and Marsh tits not usually seen around the Lizard..
The Ringed plover was taken near Port Solent Marina..
The Firecrest is the second/third smallest bird in the UK, such a beautiful little thing, when alarmed it's crown streak flares up, in a fiery red/Orange!!

Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

Today's quick walk around Lizard Village revealed a few surprises!! Tony and I heard a Yellow Wagtail call overhead, then it landed in a field of Red Devon Cows.  On closer inspection through the Bins, it turned out to be a Blue-Headed Wagtail, a first for me.
They are a Sub specie of the Yellow wagtail, a lovely looking bird with a rather secretive nature. Thanks Tony Blunden...
Couldn't help taking a nice little shot of a Dunnock calling with some beautiful diffused gorse behind.

A Selection of Local Specialist Meat Eaters!!

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

Kestrel on the hunt for a Slow Worm

Buzzard on Watch from a decent vantage point!

A pair of Merlins, not often seen, especially two!!
( Falco columbarius)

My Resident Sparrow Hawk
( Accipiter nisus)

A Young Peregrine Falcon
(Falco peregrinus)

Buzzard on bits of a young Rabbit
( Buteo buteo)

A Lovely Hobby Resting after dismembering Dragonflies
( Falco subbuteo)

The weathers been a little on the wet and windy side, so I thought I might brighten up the mood with a few old pictures of some local raptors.

Signs of Spring, New arrivals and Some just passing through!!

Wheatear

Ring Quzel

Hen Harrier at Dusk

An Early Morning Chiff

A few birds from around my local patch over the Easter period. The Hen Harrier picture is of poor quality, due to light and distance. But it's nice just to see one, they always elude me!! One day i will get a decent picture. A bold Wheatear, we are now starting to see quite a number making there way in, this one was rather confident and let me get close. A Ring Quzel, not something we see very often but what a lovely Thrush it is, I think it's a Juv or Female?? And Finally a little ChiffChaff, great to see them arriving in greater numbers despite the wheather conditions, this one was singing it's charming song, a sure sign of spring.

A rather brisk walk on the Lizard!!

On a rather windy Sunday morning at 0700 Sarah and I headed off to the Lizard point to take part in our Volunteer work for the RSPB on the Cornish Chough watch. On route we spotted at full adult Hen harrier whilst crossing Goonhilly. On arrival at the point the wind was a rather cheeky 15-20 Mph, gusting 25 from South, South East straight at us, so for four hours it was rather emotional. We witnessed lots of Red-Billed-Chough activity around the point, followed by a male Kestrel attacking a Fulmar nest which was rather unexpected, the Fulmars saw it off rather swiftly. The resident Ravens were out in force with varying aeriel displays, always a pleasure to watch. Other Birds: Peregrine Falcon, Common Tern, Great Black Back, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Shag, Cormorants, and lots of Gannets diving for fish out at sea. Just in the last 30 minutes of our shift a little inquisitive stoat came out in search of a tasty rabbit and gave us a fun five minutes!! A first sighting for Sarah, all in all a successful mornings work.

Birding with Some of the Amigo's!!

I decided to Stay in Portsmouth for the weekend to save on the travel expenses, but unfortunately due to lack of wheels I had nowhere to go!! So two friends of mine Slash and Copsey kindly asked me if i wanted to do a couple of hours birding on their local patch, so i jumped at the chance. Although the weather was terrible we saw a break and decided to give it a go. We heard reports of a Glossy Ibis in the Area and decided to go take a look, after a walk through a churchyard we came across this lone chap in a field happily feeding, we didn't want to get to close as to flush it, so just admired it from a distance, my second Ibis, a bird which should be in Africa for Winter. After seeing the Ibis we heard of the local Celeb a "Spotted Redshank" so decided to go take a look, I have never seen one so good Spot for me. We arrived after a short wet walk through some fields, and there it was just happily feeding some 12 feet away, it showed it's winter coat, different from it's breeding colours, when that becomes a beautiful black. The weather Closed in so we headed back to the safe confines of Copsey's car, a great mornings birding. We did see Long Tail tits, Reed Buntings, Brent geese, Green Shank, the list goes on. Also great to see a large number of windfall chiffs from over the water. Thanks to Slash and Steve C for a good morning!!

A Sunday Walk in Feb, Spring is Coming!!

The day started quite nice so we headed off to our local patch, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Daff's, Snow Drops and Primroses were all around, signs of spring approaching. We saw a Black tail and low and behold a Stoat racing across the path right in front of us, to quick for a picture but great to see it, Maybe next time? Although the pictures are of the common species, it's still nice to see, Enjoy :-)