Today was just as cold, but with sunny spells.
Quoile Pondage - magpie, coot, teal, tufted duck, mallard, mute swan, lapwing, cormorant, pheasant, pochard, wigeon, whooper swan, heron, herring gull, black headed gull, jackdaw.
Golden plover at the causeway.
Long-tailed tits at the Quoile Countryside Centre.
Castle Espie - mallard, moorhen, goldeneye (3 drakes), greylag, brent geese, shelduck (I stopped counting at 300!), oystercatcher, redshank, dunlin, tufted duck, pintail, pochard, bewick swan (my first of the winter), heron, mute swan, black headed gull, whooper swan.
I was able to take photos of the pintail and pochard. I still haven't worked out how to upload photos, but will try again tomorrow.
Weather wasn't good, nor was visibility.
Portmore Lough - bluetit, collared dove, robin, greenfinch, chaffich, magpie, pheasant, mistle thrush, blackbird, coal-tit, dunnock, tree sparrow, gt tit, wren, sparrowhawk, bullfinch (male feeding on rosehips), redwing (feeding on haws), greylag, fieldfare, woodpigeon
Oxford Island - whooper swans, mute swans, little grebe, coot, moorhen, mallard, tufted duck, gt crestd grebe, scaup, pochard
Cold day, overcast but good light, no wind.
Curlew, oystercatcher, reed bunting, linnet, greenfich, magpie, black-tailed godwits, teal, moorhen, lapwing, grey heron, water rail (very good views), golden plover, black-headed gulls, wigeon, robin, blackbird, mallard, herring gull, shoveler, buzzard, lessr black-backed gull
14/11/04
Cold day, low winter sun came out later in the day.
1coot, 18 whooper swans (4 family groups), greylag geese, shoveller, mallard, teal, dunlin, lapwing, cormorant, mute swans, long-tailed tits on road outside road, black-tailed godwits at causeway. Highlight was a buzzard on the ground eating a rabbit, surrounded by magpies and hooded crows trying to intimidate it. The buzzard just kept on eating.
I've discovered that I cannot get an adapter for my camera and telescope so I am experimenting on trying to take photos without one. I'll see how it goes.
I returned from Scotland on Saturday night. Talking to my aunt on Sunday she had watched 5 whooper swans eating potatoes in the field behind her house. The main crop of potatoes had already been harvested, and these were potatoes that were lying on the ground. I must admit that I have never heard of this before. What other strange things do swans eat?
My aunt and I spent 4 very enjoyable days at Caerlaverock last week. For those of you who are not familiar with Caerlaverock it is a WWT reserve on the Solway Firth and famous for its overwintering barnacle geese. The barnacle geese count had reached 12000 just before we arrived. A barn owl had laid a late clutch and a webcam had been set up featuring the sole surviving chick. We had a few sightings of the mother hunting in the night. In addition we also saw greylag, canada and pink-footed geese with a barnacle/greylag hybrid, whooper and mute swans, mallard, wigeon, shelduck, curlew, shoveler, teal, golden plover, moorhen, snipe, tufted ducks, greenfinch, goldfinch, pied wagtail, bluetit, fieldfare, chaffinch, house sparrow, kestrel, collared dove, long tailed tits, robin, meadow pipit, short-eared owl, dunnock, great tit, coal tit, carrion crow, starling, jackdaw, wren, redwing, stock dove, goldcrest, grey heron, buzzard, gadwell, black tailed godwits, treecreeper, pheasant, feral pigeon, song thrush, pintail, red-breasted merganiser, lapwing, great black backed gull, linnet, skylark, dunlin, oystercatcher, ringed plover, common sandpiper, tree sparrow, mistle thrush.
The WWT staff also set out peanuts and honey for badgers. We reaped the benefit of this in the evening as we watched the badgers' antics. Also seen from time to time were roe deer. In all we had a wonderful time.
We made a short visit to the RSPB reserve at Mersehead, but bad light and a bitter wind curtailed the visit. Definitely on our list to visit again.
I'm just back from a week in the Scottish Borders. Part of the time was spent at Caerlaverock and I will submit a separate entry. Weather was mainly dry, some sunshine and some cold winds. Birds seen -coal tit, blue tit, mistle thrush, jackdaw, blackbird, pheasant, robin, house sparrow, dunnock, greenfinch, black-headed gull, wren, crows, rooks, pied wagtail, grey heron, starlings, kingfisher, mute swan, mallard, goosander, wigeon, goldeneye, morrhen, long-tailed tits, buzzard, goldfinch, snipe, fieldfare, greylag geese, pink-fotted geese, white fronted geese, lapwing, kestrel, yellowhammer, collared dove, woodpigeon, chaffinch, feral pigeon, grey partridge, great tit, sparrowhawk, willow tit, great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, tree creeper, song thrush, meadow pipit, redwing, red legged partridge, ruddy duck, ferruginous duck, little grebe, black swan, lesser black-backed gull, rock pipit, redshank, grey plover, great crested grebe, bar-tailed godwits, purple sandpiper, knot, sanderling, spotted redshank, greenshank, turnstone, brent geese (both bernicla and hrota) and coot.