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

Griswold’s UK Birding List 2024 (1 Viewer)

I’m only using them until the Home charger is fitted KB. Though I am taking the car to Norfolk in a few weeks so I might try and plan the charging schedule around Charge Point chargers. “Only” 65p p/ kWh and just as easy to use.

Or, as is likely the case, I’ll drive as far as I can just to get there, and pay whatever rip off charge I get. 2 of us in the car so that halves the bill. Still not seeing too many fast chargers near Wells Next the Sea which might be a slight problem. Particularly if the two chargers (22KW) in the car park there aren’t working.

Rich
 
I’m only using them until the Home charger is fitted KB. Though I am taking the car to Norfolk in a few weeks so I might try and plan the charging schedule around Charge Point chargers. “Only” 65p p/ kWh and just as easy to use.

Or, as is likely the case, I’ll drive as far as I can just to get there, and pay whatever rip off charge I get. 2 of us in the car so that halves the bill. Still not seeing too many fast chargers near Wells Next the Sea which might be a slight problem. Particularly if the two chargers (22KW) in the car park there aren’t working.

Rich
Slow chargers that you can plug in overnight are the obvious solution, if you can get them to work - I had a slightly worrying experience driving up to Ballater from my son's place near Edinburgh, and finding my car refused to communicate with the chargers in the local carpark - despite having both an RFID card and app which should've worked. Fortunately the range was good enough to get around rural Aberdeenshire and top up at a fast charger near Perth. The same type of slow charger used to work fine with my previous lease car - a BMW 2 series plug-in hybrid - so some of these problems appear specific to the car manufacturer.
 
Absolutely brilliant day out with Owen, Amy and Rob yesterday.

Dipped on the Sociable Lapwing. But good to bump into Dave and Paul from South Wales there. Headed over to the Hayle Estuary for the gulls and actually enjoyed going through them all. Amy and I picked out a couple of Yellow Legged Gulls. Owen found a white winger - Kumlien’s Gull! and after a lot of searching, Amy found the Ring-billed Gull. Great to be birding with birders who know their gulls. And the bill on it was so different to the Commons around it. So many thanks all for the advice on the ID thread about the Strathclyde Common I posted recently. This old dog maybe learning new tricks😂

Dropped Amy off at Barry on the way home. (Big thanks to Owen for driving) and got to meet her 6 month old black Labrador. Absolutely beautiful girl. The Zoe predicted a range of 8 miles on getting home so I tried Eco mode. Ended up getting home with 15 miles range so appears to have helped. Really dulls the throttle response though. At 6% battery a yellow light came on to suggest I go into eco mode. So no drama at all. Will plug it in when I go shopping later.

137. Mediterranean Gull
138. Kumlien’s Gull
139. Yellow-legged Gull
140. Ring-Billed Gull
141. Bar-tailed Godwit
142. Whimbrel

Still no Skylark!😂
 
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Headed down to Y Pwll Glas today. Couldn’t find Miss Shields (unfortunately) but did year tick Lesser Scaup (definite this time🤞at Penberry Reservoir), Rock Pipit and Fulmar. Managed to get caught in the Farmers protest on the way home. Hope they get what they’re after.

Finished off the day with some absolutely delicious Laver. 😋😋😋


143. Lesser Scaup
144. Fulmar
145. Rock Pipit
 

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Wanted to test the Zoe properly today prior to a trip to Norfolk in a few weeks. Covered c270 miles. Temp between 9 and 12 degrees. Averaged 3.7 miles p/ kWh. Had one charge in Bridgewater KFC whilst having a vegan Chicken sandwich. Car went amazingly well. Have no concerns about taking it to Norfolk now👍

Started off at Barrow Gurney for Rob to year tick the Long tailed Duck. Next it was off to Cheddar Reservoir. The Little Gull was showing brilliantly well. A cracking little bird.

Now down to Greylake. The Teal had been flushed prior to arrival. A shortish wait and another Marsh Harrier came through moving the birds around again. And the birder next to me got on the Teal. A pretty decent view before it was spooked again. Good to see a couple of Cranes there as well.

Over to Stolford and annoyingly Rob got onto a Cirl and I didn’t. He didn’t let me forget either😂 Year ticked ChiffChaff and Skylark. And good to bump into Karen and Dean again. Next it was off to Steart. Very quiet there. Best we could manage were 3 Sponnbills. Off for a quick charge and then home. Stroll on Norfolk.

146. ChiffChaff
147. Little Gull
148. Baikal Teal
149. Skylark
 

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Decent weather here today so I headed out with the pup. Initially thought about going to Kidwelly but was a little pushed for time. Didn’t want the OH ruining the Sunday dinner so I needed to get back👍

So it was off to the North Gower. Walked out to Dalton Point. Usual selection of waders and also a good number of Brent Geese. Now it was down to Wernffrwd. Third time lucky and I got on to the Pallid virtually straight away. Watched it for a while with a birder from Morriston. Looked great in the sun.

Back now and I’m pleased to say the dinner was delicious 😂😋

150. Pallid Harrier
151. Brent Goose
 

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Wanted to test the Zoe properly today prior to a trip to Norfolk in a few weeks. Covered c270 miles. Temp between 9 and 12 degrees. Averaged 3.7 miles p/ kWh. Had one charge in Bridgewater KFC whilst having a vegan Chicken sandwich. Car went amazingly well. Have no concerns about taking it to Norfolk now👍

Started off at Barrow Gurney for Rob to year tick the Long tailed Duck. Next it was off to Cheddar Reservoir. The Little Gull was showing brilliantly well. A cracking little bird.

Now down to Greylake. The Teal had been flushed prior to arrival. A shortish wait and another Marsh Harrier came through moving the birds around again. And the birder next to me got on the Teal. A pretty decent view before it was spooked again. Good to see a couple of Cranes there as well.

Over to Stolford and annoyingly Rob got onto a Cirl and I didn’t. He didn’t let me forget either😂 Year ticked ChiffChaff and Skylark. And good to bump into Karen and Dean again. Next it was off to Steart. Very quiet there. Best we could manage were 3 Sponnbills. Off for a quick charge and then home. Stroll on Norfolk.

146. ChiffChaff
147. Little Gull
148. Baikal Teal
149. Skylark

If you're getting 3.7mi/kWh in those temperatures, you can look forward to 4 or more in the summer. My leased Kona used to do 3.8-3.9 in winter and up to 4.2-4.3 in optimal summer conditions. I had it in Eco mode all the time - even that was sufficient to leave rubber on the road if I was too heavy on the throttle from a standing start, so I didn't dare try Normal or Sport :oops:
 
If you're getting 3.7mi/kWh in those temperatures, you can look forward to 4 or more in the summer. My leased Kona used to do 3.8-3.9 in winter and up to 4.2-4.3 in optimal summer conditions. I had it in Eco mode all the time - even that was sufficient to leave rubber on the road if I was too heavy on the throttle from a standing start, so I didn't dare try Normal or Sport :oops:
Cheers KB. I’ve only tried Eco mode once. And that was when it predicted I’d get home with 8 miles of range coming back from Cardiff/ Barry.
 
Beautiful day with my oldest today. He turns 17 next week so we went out for a meal - can totally recommend The Sheppey just outside of Glastonbury. The vegan Thai Laksa with Bao Bun and chilli sambal was amazing.

The water levels were pretty high. I’ve attached a few photos from Tealham Moor.

At Ham Wall there was a good flock of Siskin. A few Marsh Harriers and Bitterns were booming. Dipped the Cirl Buntings (again) but it was still a great day.

Heaps of Cattle Egrets and Little Egrets around Westhay. And a few Great White Egrets mixed in.


Over 260 miles the car returned 3.6 miles p/kwh. Quite pleased as it lashed it down all the way to Somerset. And temperatures were between 3 and 7 Celsius. Also had an issue with the motorway charger. Stopped working after only adding 20%. Luckily Os noticed so we only lost about 15 minutes. Stopped at IONITY outside of Newport and that worked fine.

152. Bittern
 

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Nothing new to add. Just wanted to say it’s been a pleasure having conversations with the majority of BirdForum members.

Good luck to everyone with their year/ world lists. Thanks for sharing some amazing photos. And thanks for all the ID hints and tips, as well as all the location ideas.

I have requested my account be closed/ deleted.

All the best,

Rich
 
Nothing new to add. Just wanted to say it’s been a pleasure having conversations with the majority of BirdForum members.

Good luck to everyone with their year/ world lists. Thanks for sharing some amazing photos. And thanks for all the ID hints and tips, as well as all the location ideas.

I have requested my account be closed/ deleted.

All the best,

Rich

Sorry to see you go Rich. Hope to see you in the field at some point.

All the best

Paul
 

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