Your local Patch/Reserve. (1 Viewer)

[palval147]

I think I would have tackled him there & then, Fozzy.
I did once when I was at Slapton, slightly different situation though. A couple with an unruly dog charging about, off the lead in an area even the public weren't allowed to go. It frightened off all the birds my friend & I were trying to identify. I really laid into those thoughtless people. They must have thought I was a warden, because they put the dog on it's lead & hastily retreated.:-O:-O

 

[Fozzybear]

It was only after I left that I really thought I should have, but I really don't do confrontations at all and it's a bit different for blokes to berate another guy like that as you're rather more likely to get punched in the face than a woman telling off a man is! |8.| I'm quite surprised that none of the other people commented actually!

Saw a male Blackcap today (my first of the year), a flock of about 40 Fieldfares, some Linnets, Green Woodpeckers, a pair of Gadwall, lots of Skylarks and Reed Buntings and heard a Willow Warbler singing just around the corner from my house when walking home! :t:

 

[Fozzybear]

The Ibis is still here... walked over there after work and couldn't see anything but hung about watching the pair of Gadwall on the pool then after a little while the Ibis flew in and landed near them and started feeding like mad. Surprised really to see it still here but really good news that it is still finding plenty to feed on in the pools, suggests it's a spot I should keep a closer eye on than I have up to now - I sometimes see Herons there too. The Gadwall pair were still feeding on that same pool too, which really was good to see as I do like Gadwall a lot.

 

[Fozzybear]

Took a long walk along the river out to Little Baddow and back this morning, detouring to Asda on the way back so probably about 8-9 miles. My sprained big toe was griping on the way home from the shop, but nice to get out for a good long walk after feeling so lacking in energy over the last few months.

I saw quite a lot, though no Cuckoos (there have been reports from the village to the other side of the town) and not many spring migrants other than quite a lot of Chiffchaffs. Surprised to see a Redwing though! I posted a report to the local RSPB group sightings page:

1 Redwing, 7+ Yellowhammer, 10+ Linnet, 2 Gadwall, 10+ Red-legged Partridge, 4 Jay, 2 Kestrel, 1 Mistle Thrush, 4+ Song Thrush, 7 Mute Swan, 1 Pied Wagtail, 75+ Starling.

Other species seen but numbers not noted: Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Coot, Dunnock, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker (drumming near Great Graces), Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Robin, Skylark, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Wren.

 

[Wendy Morris]

Back to the reservoir this afternoon. Good news is that the water level is virtually back to normal now, bad news is that there was a torrential shower, including hail, when I got there!

Anyway, that soon cleared and the usual suspects were on the water or wing. A couple of Great Crested Grebes were circling round each other and doing a lot of head shaking, but it rained on their parade and they disappeared from view.

 

[palval147]

You can see the water is much higher now, Wendy, in your first photo.
I do like duck photo's.

 

[Fozzybear]

Nice lot of birds there Wendy. Looks like you can get very close too. :t:

 

[Wendy Morris]

Hi Paul....next time I go, I shall take a pic of where I get these photos where the birds seem so close! Yes, it is close, but there is a barbed wire topped, open wired fence between us! Very easy to lean over, especially when someone else is feeding the little darlings!

 

[Fozzybear]

Probably a little like the area along the road at Hanningfield Reservoir south of here, there's a long section with chainlink fencing where birds often gather, though with the size of that reservoir the birds can be dots even through a spotting scope if they decide to go to another part of the reservoir.

 

[Fozzybear]

Extremely boggy in places after the rain and flooding (water nearly over my boots in places) but I managed to get out onto my patch this morning and though it was rainy I had a great walk and saw lots of birds, including my first Swallows and Sedge Warblers of the year. Took my new little camcorder with me and shot this footage when the rain eased off a bit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X5o4fpjtV0

excuse the wobbly camerawork, it was handheld at very long zoooooooms.

 

[palval147]

Lovely, Fozzy & a super area to walk around too.

 

[Fozzybear]

Thanks Val, yes it's a good area. The bit where I panned around the meadow/paddock is where the flock of Linnets hang out and where I see quite a bit of action from the Kestrels, Mistle Thrushes, Green Woodpeckers, Meadow Pipits and where I saw a Barn Owl hunting last autumn.

 

[Wendy Morris]

Not my real local patch, but from a wander along the coast near Burton Bradstock this morning. A Stonechat and a Whitethroat in the gorse. Dozens of very mobile Swallows and House Martins skimming through, most coming in from the sea.

 

[Wendy Morris]

From Sutton Bingham this morning. The chain link fence along the causeway that gives easy access to taking photos. Two male Mallard having a right dust up, but very short lived. Mr and Mrs Mallard surveying the scene!

 

[Wendy Morris]

A general view of the reservoir and the meadow on the west side.

 

[palval147]

You don't often see ducks perched on fences, Wendy. I like the reflection of the cloud in the water. Nice photo's.

 

[Wendy Morris]

A slightly different local patch today, very close by, just half a mile down the lane out of the village. I wandered down there before the world and his dog woke up and sat on the bench by the stream for nearly an hour.

I was rewarded by seeing and/or hearing the following, in no particular order:

Blackbird
Great Tit
Great Black-backed Gull
Robin
Song Thrush
Buzzard
Wood Pigeon
Chaffinch
Blue Tit
Swallow
House Martin
Magpie
House Sparrow
Starling
Great Spotted Woodpecker

and, best of all two Cuckoos, one of which I actually saw! That is the first time that I have seen one for years, heard them, but never seen.

As it got warmer, there were Brimstone, Meadow Brown, Orange Tip and Small Tortoiseshell on the wing.

I'm certain that if I had walked for the whole hour, I would not have seen as much as I did. There's definitely a lot to be said for watching the world go by!

 

[Fozzybear]

That sounds wonderful Wendy, I agree about sitting and watching... imagining that spot makes me want to be there right now! :t:

 

[Peewit]

Extremely boggy in places after the rain and flooding (water nearly over my boots in places) but I managed to get out onto my patch this morning and though it was rainy I had a great walk and saw lots of birds, including my first Swallows and Sedge Warblers of the year. Took my new little camcorder with me and shot this footage when the rain eased off a bit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X5o4fpjtV0

excuse the wobbly camerawork, it was handheld at very long zoooooooms.

Hi Fozzy

Great to see all of your adventures, and your camera work is fine by me.

It gets so exciting when you see birds that you want to video/photograph you will get the unsteady feeling about your subject - only human nature after all when we want to get our subject - first class.

Thank you for sharing your love of your subject as it is very infectious to all on here. :t:

Regards
Kathy
x

 

[Fozzybear]

Thanks Kathy - the camerawork is definitely better than when I first got my old camcorder! :-O

Looking at that vid again I'm really pleased with it, especially for the Sedge Warbler. I think they're little stars and along with the Reed Buntings I'm always excited when they arrive back on my patch in the spring. :t:

Have been walking across the meadow on my way home from work this week but it's been somewhat lacking in activity as mid-to-late afternoon this time of year can be very quiet indeed. I have heard the odd Skylark singing from the long grass though (which is nearly waist-high in places now!) and the Starling flock is growing in size.