Eagle
Well-known member
Was working from home today....too sunny so about lunch time I thought ..time for fresh air a walk and some birding. Where to local patch or Barnes Wetland Centre?????
Ring Ouzel, Caspian Gulls and whitethroat reported at Barnes on 19/20 think I'll go there ...need some seed for the feeders too.
Local patch will wait til w/e ( as I'll have to mark coursework then instead of this afternoon!) no long jaunts for me this w/e!
Arrive in time for lunch! Vegetable Bake and Green Leaf Salad. Cappachino!
To the hides.....in first the one with the windows.....plate glass actually...
Caspian Gulls two juveniles.(year tick 161)..then a discussion was that a Yellow legged gull as a separate species....I don't know ....cant help there....the third gull looked different not such a flat head...well the caspians had flatter heads than the other gulls and this one was in between!! No real help to anyone!!
Tufties sunning themselves looked like they were all set for the duration!!
Lots of Gulls...Greater Black Backed, Herring and Common.....No Arctic Terns..
they were on the recently seen list for yesterday along with Blue Headed Wagtails.(?) Usual suspects...
On wards to the Kingfisher Hide (headley???) Ring Ouzel spotted near here apparently...on route no sign and none there either..but Reed Buntings...
and a Ruddy Duck......
(usual suspects...Mallard, Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans, Cormorants, Crows, Starlings, Lapwings, C Geese)
On to the next hide....Sand Martins zipping up and down....year tick!! 162!!
Usual suspects on the water...same as before ...each hide overlooks a different water area...
Decide to go around to the Tower Hide....better here can see the Wader scrape...and Redshank!! Greylag Geese, Jackdaws,Blackbirds (not an ouzel in sight!!)
Come out and hear a tapping(sort of) sound with lots of splashing and there was a male Ruddy duck diplaying for all his worth to his intended. A very drab looking female who didn't seem at all impressed. I hadn't seen this before so it was very interesting.
This area you could hear garden bird song..Robin, Chaffinch, Wren, and a burst of really loud and lovely song from a round brown bird!!
I thought warbler...but couldn't recognise it...now I'm at home I saw what I think was a wren...and the other bird must have been behind it and I couldn't see it. The song was beatiful...not a Blackbird...but nearer to that!!
Good excuse to go again!!
Grey Herons flying. Return to the first hide...go around corner to the trees and cover where a couple tell me they had seen a Ring Ouzel earlier.
It is there as the guys who work there confirmed it when I talked to them about the Mallard and her tiny weeny babies...11 two days old , there were 16 originally...wonder how many she will raise? They were sunning themselves right next to the path...their nest a scrape in the ground with half and egg shell in it!! They were between me and the Kingfisher hide...so they were walked quickly away from me and I was going very slowly..til they went into the water...I don't remember seeing such tiny babies before!!
See House Sparrows (lovely)and pigeons...no Ouzel...Starlings mimiking..
Dip on the Ring Ouzel!!
Buy half the shop....no just get lots of food for the feeders and buy a new squirrel proof one for nuts!!
A lovely sunny day!! Strangely not as many different birds as I had expected but then I did ignore in this report all the collection birds....
I could have done without the infant school that was there...too noisy and I had a day away from School today!! Oh well cant have everything!!
My day was interrupted by texts from PeteDuxon....Purple Sandpiper...160 Tree Pipits......Bad night for you.....(ref to footie team)....and a refernce to his local patch (he is away birding!!) Wont say more I'm sure he will report it himself!! Still at least today I was out birding too!! Yesterday it was irksome...just like he must have felt when I text from Hungary!!
Ring Ouzel, Caspian Gulls and whitethroat reported at Barnes on 19/20 think I'll go there ...need some seed for the feeders too.
Local patch will wait til w/e ( as I'll have to mark coursework then instead of this afternoon!) no long jaunts for me this w/e!
Arrive in time for lunch! Vegetable Bake and Green Leaf Salad. Cappachino!
To the hides.....in first the one with the windows.....plate glass actually...
Caspian Gulls two juveniles.(year tick 161)..then a discussion was that a Yellow legged gull as a separate species....I don't know ....cant help there....the third gull looked different not such a flat head...well the caspians had flatter heads than the other gulls and this one was in between!! No real help to anyone!!
Tufties sunning themselves looked like they were all set for the duration!!
Lots of Gulls...Greater Black Backed, Herring and Common.....No Arctic Terns..
they were on the recently seen list for yesterday along with Blue Headed Wagtails.(?) Usual suspects...
On wards to the Kingfisher Hide (headley???) Ring Ouzel spotted near here apparently...on route no sign and none there either..but Reed Buntings...
and a Ruddy Duck......
(usual suspects...Mallard, Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans, Cormorants, Crows, Starlings, Lapwings, C Geese)
On to the next hide....Sand Martins zipping up and down....year tick!! 162!!
Usual suspects on the water...same as before ...each hide overlooks a different water area...
Decide to go around to the Tower Hide....better here can see the Wader scrape...and Redshank!! Greylag Geese, Jackdaws,Blackbirds (not an ouzel in sight!!)
Come out and hear a tapping(sort of) sound with lots of splashing and there was a male Ruddy duck diplaying for all his worth to his intended. A very drab looking female who didn't seem at all impressed. I hadn't seen this before so it was very interesting.
This area you could hear garden bird song..Robin, Chaffinch, Wren, and a burst of really loud and lovely song from a round brown bird!!
I thought warbler...but couldn't recognise it...now I'm at home I saw what I think was a wren...and the other bird must have been behind it and I couldn't see it. The song was beatiful...not a Blackbird...but nearer to that!!
Good excuse to go again!!
Grey Herons flying. Return to the first hide...go around corner to the trees and cover where a couple tell me they had seen a Ring Ouzel earlier.
It is there as the guys who work there confirmed it when I talked to them about the Mallard and her tiny weeny babies...11 two days old , there were 16 originally...wonder how many she will raise? They were sunning themselves right next to the path...their nest a scrape in the ground with half and egg shell in it!! They were between me and the Kingfisher hide...so they were walked quickly away from me and I was going very slowly..til they went into the water...I don't remember seeing such tiny babies before!!
See House Sparrows (lovely)and pigeons...no Ouzel...Starlings mimiking..
Dip on the Ring Ouzel!!
Buy half the shop....no just get lots of food for the feeders and buy a new squirrel proof one for nuts!!
A lovely sunny day!! Strangely not as many different birds as I had expected but then I did ignore in this report all the collection birds....
I could have done without the infant school that was there...too noisy and I had a day away from School today!! Oh well cant have everything!!
My day was interrupted by texts from PeteDuxon....Purple Sandpiper...160 Tree Pipits......Bad night for you.....(ref to footie team)....and a refernce to his local patch (he is away birding!!) Wont say more I'm sure he will report it himself!! Still at least today I was out birding too!! Yesterday it was irksome...just like he must have felt when I text from Hungary!!
