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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Upton Warren (15 Viewers)

The discussion at the work party on Sunday suggested it takes about 20 years dedicated watching to get to the magical 200 mark so you may reach it at a younger age than any of us!

maybe longer..Got to get to 150 first, then the real hard work starts I would imagine..still, that's what appeals to me, knowing there is plenty of birding ahead to look forward too, which will encompass those ticks gradually. :t:
 
maybe longer..Got to get to 150 first, then the real hard work starts I would imagine..still, that's what appeals to me, knowing there is plenty of birding ahead to look forward too, which will encompass those ticks gradually. :t:

The clue is in dedicated watching ie Walker-esque dawn until dusk marathons so nothing passes you by (except Black Redstarts ;)).
 
Woah! Just seen Earthflight on BBC1 - the best one yet - absolutely stunning! For anyone who missed it it'll probably be on iplayer.
 
Yes, Gail and I sat agog watching it. Truly first-class entertainment.

It was interesting that some of the German villagers had encouraged the return of the storks by providing a support framework for the nests on their rooves. At first I was going to comment that it put nest-boxes in the shade but then I considered the tern-rafts, shingle islands and indeed the whole habitat management at UW ... Much for the working-parties to be proud of.

Peter
 
Spent a very pleasant 'spring like' afternoon, in the East hide at the Moors.
I had forgotten how good the 'scrape' at Amy's Marsh is.
All around it on the grassy banks and the vegetated island were at least 40 snipe, with 10 below the hide. at one time there were curlews, snipe, lapwing and teal feeding 10 yards away on the sloping grassy bank. The whole of the curlew and lapwing flock were in or on periphery of the scrape as well as the majority of the teal flock. Tucked away in the southern corner were more snipe, teal, shelduck and shoveler as well as a few foraging reed bunting. All in all a great afternoon basking in the sun.
Species counts
GCG 8, Little Grebe 1, Cormorant 27, Mute swan pr, Canada geese 100+( many are now holding territory), Shoveler 24, Teal, 60, Shelduck 2 males, Mallard c50, Tufted 24 min, Pochard female, Coot 100+, Water rail 2, Snipe 40+, Curlew 17, Lapwing 200, BHG 300+, LBBG 5, Grey heron 3, Buzzard,Green wood pecker, stock dove,iRedwing 1, Fieldfare 1, Bullfinch, chaffinch in broadmeadow (unusual at this time of year), reed bunting c10
B :)John
 
Today had a practise with my bridge camera, Fine pix HS20. I have had to resize the photos down from 4M bytes to c300k bytes, to download to this forum.

The 1st pic shows the grassy bank below the East hide this is where all the waders were photographed. This is the scrape area of Amy's marsh at the Moors pool section of the reserve.
 

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Here are the second batch
B :)john
 

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A lot of the lads have gone to Hampshire on a twitch, so if anyone has been today to the Mecca, could you post your sightings please. Duck numbers etc.:t:
8-PJohn
 
A lot of the lads have gone to Hampshire on a twitch, so if anyone has been today to the Mecca, could you post your sightings please. Duck numbers etc.:t:
8-PJohn

I was tempted, for 2 seconds!

At Moors for a couple of hours round lunchtime. Approx 30 Snipe, 21 Greylags, 14 Curlew, Great Crested Grebes displaying, Shelduck, but didn't count the ducks8-P
Highlight was a Sparrowhawk taking one of the Snipe and flying past the hide with it !
 
I was tempted, for 2 seconds!

At Moors for a couple of hours round lunchtime. Approx 30 Snipe, 21 Greylags, 14 Curlew, Great Crested Grebes displaying, Shelduck, but didn't count the ducks8-P
Highlight was a Sparrowhawk taking one of the Snipe and flying past the hide with it !
Gert
funny enough I thought yesterday how vulnerable they looked feeding in the open in bright sunlight, most un-snipe like.
B :)John
 
In hindsight I made a judgement error yesterday. Whilst getting down to the Moors pre-sunrise had the benefits of watching the roost dissipate, witnessing a prolonged but ultimately unsuccessful attack by a Peregrine on a Lapwing and seeing another large Dace become a Heron's breakfast (all before 08:00), by the time there was any even remotely usable light I was absolutely frozen solid!
Here are a few shots of the usual suspects. First off the Heron and his breakfast.
Heron_filtered_resized.jpg
This Canada Goose that landed on the ice (expecting water) made a complete balls of the process then wandered off all aloof as if nothing had happened, only to fall through the ice and get stuck for 10 minutes or so!
CG_filtered_resized.jpg
There were lots of birds looking very cold earlier on with this Lapwing next to the clump of Purple Loosestrife still showing frost on his mantle at 09:00!
Lapwing_filtered_resized.jpg
It was only by about 09:30 that the light became friendly and by this time I was really feeling the chill so I finished off having a go at the obligingly close Curlews...
Curlew_filtered_resized.jpg
and Teal.
Teal_filtered_resized.jpg
Species numbers to follow (when I get my notebook out of my the Landie).
 
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