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

In an Island garden (1 Viewer)

delia todd said:
Building nicely Quercus.

You had a right culture shock heading into civilisation after months out of it, didn't you.

D

PS haven't you got your keyboard sorted yet?
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"Civilisation..." in my books is wandering down to the shops on a Saturday afternoon, walking in the middle of the road, not seeing a moving vehicle. Everyone I passed, (including small children playing unsupervised on their bikes), looked me in the eye wished me a cheery "Hello", or "HiYa!".

It might be like living on the set of a Miss Marples... but it's far more civilised than the car obsessed culture everone else lives in!
 
Quercus said:
"Civilisation..." in my books is wandering down to the shops on a Saturday afternoon, walking in the middle of the road, not seeing a moving vehicle. Everyone I passed, (including small children playing unsupervised on their bikes), looked me in the eye wished me a cheery "Hello", or "HiYa!".

It might be like living on the set of a Miss Marples... but it's far more civilised than the car obsessed culture everone else lives in!
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Oh I do so agree with you - it sounds idyllic and I really envy you.

Have you really got more than one shop:-O

D
 
there's been a few Lesser blabck-backed gulls in the last week.. they've not been around all winter... my only other sighting was on my initial journey over here on November the 1st.

I'm not very good with gulls...they don't rock my boat!

There are always lots of Black headed gulls over on Guernsey.. but I'm yet to see one here
 
I think it must be amazing to live in a place with no cars. It must be so peaceful, the pace of life that little bit slower, and the reduction in pollution (both noise and exhaust) must be fantastic.

I've got a car, but I sometimes want to sneak out at night and put up some cones at either end of my street with Road Closed signs so we get some peace for one night!

The closest I've come to a road-free place was Corrour in the Highlands. You can only get there by train or by a long walk, and it was very peaceful sitting waiting on the train after a walk up a Munro, with no sounds other than the wind, birds and occasional chatter from the cafe in the train station.
 
Quercus said:
A fanfare of trumpets.. the assembled crowd cheer enthusiastically, throwing their hats into the air with gay abandon.... The rumours are true... Sark has (57,) Dartford warblers.I'd heard they used to be here... and they could still be here... I was told where to look... and have spent three months looking... and today I found them... somewhere else!

They're not a bird I know well, I've not seen one for eight years... mainly because i was in Argyll!.. Lovely wee things, nice churring noise and long floppy tails when they fly!

Other highlights today were Chiffchaffs, Firecrests, Stonechats, Redwings and 3 skylarks
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Sounds as if Sark has the whole population of the Devon Dartford Warblers.:-O
If they are migrants from here & I don't say they are, hopefully they faired better there, in the milder climate than they would staying here this Winter. If they are Sarks own population then at least a few have been spared to breed again, coz I doubt ours have.
 
palval147 said:
Sounds as if Sark has the whole population of the Devon Dartford Warblers.:-O
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The 57, was the number on the Sark list... not number of Dartford warblers!

They breed in small numbers on all the main Channel Islands, we haven't had anything like the harsh weather on the other side of the Channel... or in Mainland France, so they should be OK here!
 
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Quercus said:
The 57, was the number on the Sark list... not number of Dartford warblers!

They breed in small numbers on all the main Channel Islands, we haven't had anything like the harsh weather on the other side of the Channel... or in Mainland France, so they should be OK here!
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Whoops! Got that wrong.:smoke:
I'm glad they will be OK there, with the milder weather you get.
 
It's all a wee bit quiet!.... there's still loads of Meadow pipits around, a few more Auks, fulmars and gannets off shore... and the lesser black-backed gulls have returned in force.. but nothing really moving yet. I'm looking out in the likely Wheatear places... watch this space.

I'm keeping an eye on the websites for sightings on both sides of the Channel.. and it seems a wee bit early!

...But there's baby baa-lambs skipping around in the fields!
 
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Quercus said:
.... but nothing really moving yet. I'm looking out in the likely Wheatear places... watch this space.
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I'm looking out for anything that resembles spring. After a very long white winter, temperatures rose above zero for the first time in months last week and snow began to melt (but was still thick). However, temperatures have dropped again, snow has returned and winter is back! Minus 16 C on the cards for the week's end. No Wheatears heading this way anytime soon!
 
I haven't been over to the Dartford Warbler location recently.. but next time I go, I'll report back!
 
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Just catching up, Querks. You have a lovely list there, many of which I have never seen.
 
I've had a lovely weekend's birding... I've been deasperately looking for Wheatears and White Wagtails.. and found neither!... both have been seen on Guernsey... and should start migrating through now..... but....

I flushed a snipe.. almost trod on it before it flew... slilently... in a straight line.. it looked small... I'm putting that down as 61, Jack snipe also had good views of a Peregrine and a Raven.

I went up to check up on the Dartford Warblers... but some baffoon was up there on an off road motorbike... so I didn't see one, not surprisingly!

The cliffs are getting busy with gulls, mostly Herring gulls, with a few Greater black-backs, and numbers of Lesser black-backs are still rising (There should be 300 pairs nesting here).

I took a walk over to the North West Coast to where the Cliff path looks down on the Stack called Les Autelets .... which I assume is Sercquiaise for the Auks..(see attatched pics) this id the site of the largest breding colony of guillemots in the Channel Islands.. ther were none on the stack itself but there were two pairs of 62, Guillemots on the water. There's a good vantage point on the cliif path that I'm sure I'll be frequenting as the season progresses.

During the week there were large flocks of 50 or so Meadow pipits throughout the Island.. but these seemed to have disappeared by Friday... at the same time as the Portland bird website was reporting them coming in off the sea ( http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk/aa_latestnews.htm ) they were also reporting Pied/white wagtails, But I've seen none here.. although Guernsey has had flocks of 20+.

Other Highlights were a couple of Stonechats.. in different places. And a lovely Cormorant with lots of white on the head.
 

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