Thur 21st March............
Compared to what is about to befall us ystdas weather was benign by comparison. Still depressing but at least there's food on the table!
I got to
Stourbridge Ring Road, was about to go under the subway and thought i would look skyward, a 360 degree view revealed
not a single bird in flight......
The silence was broken by a noisy roost, or pre-roost gathering, of an unknown number of
Greenfinches in the Yew on he corner of the Church by
Waitrose.
Mary Stevens Park at about 1630 held a single female
Goosander and a pair of Tufties, BHGull at about 150 with many more birds sporting full Summer breeding plumage (easy, boys it's going to snow this weekend) and a solitary adult LBB Gull to top things off.
I had to smile at a male Goldfinch
'jingling' like the clappers - best of luck mate:t:
It's at times like this that i seek solace in other peoples birding via the Blogosphere - thank God for the Internet. I am a keen follower of
Martin Garners 'Frontiers of Birding'. Martin is one of the
'Ten Rare Men' and as such is absorbed by all things identifiable including a particular interest of mine........subspecies. Below is a link to his blog.
http://birdingfrontiers.com/
He is, at present, along with like-minded souls, ensconsed in Arctic Norway at this years ID-related gathering of
'Gullfest 2013'. Link below.
http://www.biotope.no/
I'm a North African/Med man myself but there's some good stuff up there that is just not obtainable elsewhere.......
And you get this sort of stuff......
Aurora's, the visual display of the power of the Earths magnetic field protecting us from the destructive Solar 'winds'.
Arctic Redpoll - might be one on the bird feeders this weekend?
And the native
Huskies, who
does'nt like dogs? Oh the birder top left in Blue is top bloke and illustrator
Ian Lewington who i had the pleasure of stopping with on Honeymoon on the Scillies in 1987 (me and the bride slept on his floor)......
Halycon days.............another birding term!
More from the BDT over the weekend.
Laurie :t: