Coo-eeee!

I have been to Norfolk this week, and haven't even had the time to write about it before disappearing elsewhere. Such are the demands of running a zoo.


Spent a very pleasant couple of days around Norwich/the broads with the boy, and managed to grab a couple of life ticks in between various zoo-based commitments (lesser-spotted woodpecker, common crane, tree pipit, eider and stone curlew).

For today though, I am in the Lake District en-route to Mull, and very nice it is too...

Birding quandry...

To tick or not to tick?

Somewhere in here is probably a dartford warbler...

The other week at Minsmere me and the boy saw a dark passerine with a long tail fly between three different gorse bushes along the seafront before hiding in that bush. After circling at it and staring for about 15 minutes we had to give up and walk away from the magical disappearing bird.

The problem is, if it WAS dartford warbler this would be a lifetime first for me, despite spending many an hour looking for the things before. So where you'd be happy to year tick a blue tit etc by it's call alone, or by a glimpse flying in front of you, for a first record this doesn't feel like enough.

We have since looked at the "recent sightings" leaflet given to us at Minsmere, and it included a dartford warbler along the seafront, so this is most likely what we saw. Still doesn't sit comfortably and throws up the question of what contitutes a good enough view to be sure what you've seen. Does anybody have any suggestions what else it could have been?

I think I might put a light mark on this one in pencil, and make it my mission to see a better one before the year's out. Dartford warblers are still annoying in 2010 it seems.

All was not lost though, I got a life first in the form of a very entertaining group of marsh tits. The boy took the photos as I was putting all my effort into carrying the scope and that. As such there is only one identifiable photo in circulation. Enjoy...

Scope Initiation

After last weekend I think I can consider my scope broken in now. After buying a shiny (and too expensive) tripod in Rainham on the Saturday to complete my kit, me and the boy headed to Minsmere on the sunday, for our first proper big trip of the year. Having never been to Minsmere before, this trip is probably a bit overdue, but I don't think we really saw it at it's best. Bit late for winter stuff, bit early for spring stuff. Oh well.

The scope successfully passed it's initiation ceremony though. Bushes dropped in- 2, puddles stood in- 12, hide roofs smashed into- 3, birds seen- 5ish, Sea spray covering- thorough.


I might tell you more about this trip later, if I get the time...

Just When You Never Thought This Day Would Come...

Birding Upgrade 2.0 in progress. Oh Yes.

Birding Upgrade

I feel like I have been somewhat betrayed by the weather forecasters this weekend. They lied to me, promising monsoon-like conditions, so as a result I spent most of this morning sleeping/lying around in pyjamas drinking tea and eating croissants, resigned to the fact that my planned exciting weekend walk would be pointless. But this rain never really materialised... I think the best we got all day was a light shower, and most of the time it was little more than a drizzle. Poor effort really...

All in all this was a bit of a shame, as I'm generally stuck behind a desk/on a train during the week, so I look forwards to getting out and about on the weekend, regardless of whether I see very much. I'll just have to make sure I go somewhere particularly awesome next week to make up for it.

Anyway, all was not lost this weekend- I have upgraded my birding potential this weekend. In preparation for a trip to Scotland later this year, I decided it was time to buy myself a scope. I've always scoffed at the idea of getting a scope, and never really fancied the idea of having to lug one around with me, plus I'm generally always out with the other half who lets me steal his if there's anything interesting worth looking at. However, with sites like Hanningfield and Abberton it would be a definite advantage, and seeing as how I'm going out more regularly now, it's not like I wouldn't get my moneys worth out of the "investment".

So after some deliberation I went for the angled mighty midget m2, with a 12-36x zoom lens. I opted for this scope for the obvious reason of being a tiny woman, who would crumple under the weight of a "proper" scope, and knew that I'd be less likely to use it regularly if it turned my outings into a weight-lifting exercise. I just need to find a tripod that's light enough and short enough for me and I'm sorted. Photos will be included when I have the time and the inclination...

PS- Don't think that this means I'll start going out seawatching or anything silly, I haven't changed that much.

I has had a holiday :)

I've had a nice week in the sun with my family, trying to catch up on a ridiculous amount of sleep, and generally try to relax after the crappyness of last year. Yes that is a word.

Specifically, I spent the last week in Taba Heights, Egypt. It's very nice, as long as you are happy not doing too much, which seemed to fit our needs. Would have liked to have seen the pyramids etc and the nile but it's a long way from Taba, so will have to add that to the long list of hypothetical holidays I'd like to have...


All very nice, but I'm sure you're wondering WHAT BIRDS DID I SEE? Well, there is a severe lack of vegetation of any kind, so the place was hardly abundant with a variety of birds, but the palm trees etc around where we stayed ensured an impressive population of sparrows, some house crows, white spectacled bulbuls, one very pretty dark blue sunbird, and some really cute laughing doves.


I want some of these, they do laugh (sounds like a chuckle), they like to eat chips and they're pocket sized. What's not to like?




Of course, the birds weren't really the main attraction, as it turns out the Red Sea is pretty much full of fish, and our hotel was right on top of a coral reef. We went out on a boat trip one day to go snorkeling (with an underwater camera- try to contain your excitement for a later post), but did a fair bit from the beach, and saw quite a lot just by walking along the jetty on calm days. Here are a few attempts at capturing the scene...

octopus

butterfly fish of some kind, I'm not sure which as there are loads.

cornetfish, and a marbled parrotfish I think. These are both pretty big, hard to tell though from this...

The dreaded lion fish, one of which caught me by surprise. As one of the most venomous fish, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with one...

All in all I had a nice holiday, and will try to be a bit more descriptive once I've got the underwater pics. Some more local trips are pending...

Rainham Can Be Good Sometimes (and Other Stories)

As the boy has probably already told you, we finally got round to a proper Rainham trip this weekend, and very nice it was too. Despite the cold, it was clear and fairly pleasant, and I managed to see some stuff that I would have seen earlier had it not been for the snow, like snipe, pintail and cetti's warbler. More exciting things included water rail squeeling from the reeds, picking out one golden plover amongst a sea of lapwings, and finally getting those bean geese just before we were about to leave the site. I always complain about going to the serin mound, because contrary to it's name, I don't think it has any serins. Or dartford warblers. Or whatever it is we ever go there to find. However today was an exception, offering up a big old flock of linnets, then revealing a previously-concealed slavonian grebe and a finale of a barn owl quartering over the fields in front. They're always my favourites, a site can always win me over with a bit of strigiformes... short eared owls would be nice too.

I would add some photos but the boy still has the camera, and although I copied some photos, they're not really too impressive...

This all puts the year list at a rather respectable 92 for the year so far, with Norfolk and Mull trips both looking more likely over the next few months. I think I'm getting better at this birding thing too, it's good to find your own stuff rather than wait for things to be pointed out (although my bird call knowledge is woefully inadequate).

In other news, I have some new additions to my tank... Topped up my corys with three very cute julii, and got some grassy type plants for the guppys to hang around in and look mysterious.


Some even more exciting additions didn't cost any money though...


AWESOME.

Birds in Essex- the Far-Away Bits

Me and the boy skipped off across the county this weekend in an effort to go see some birds, and were pretty successful (albeit not as much as he might have hoped).

Considering the hangover and general sneering attitude towards my identification skills, I was glad to spot the pair of smew and a goosander on Abberton Reservoir while the company failed miserably. Hah. Was a bit miffed that after having being sold on a nice trip to Abberton and then to see the sea, I was then informed that the reserve was actually closed... So no barn owls for me but I at least managed to catch up on most of my waterfowl for the year.

After a quick pub lunch we then moved on to Mersea, which I've never been to before but thought was quite nice (despite the millions of dog walkers). Not a great amount on the sea other than piles of wigeon and the occasional bunch of knots. About 20 common scoter, 2 red-breasted mergansers and some brent geese were among the highlights. Well that and the incredibly rubbish and unfeasibly small dog which ran onto my lap with a "please help me it hurts to live" look in it's eyes while the owner giggled uncontrollably. Stop laughing and pick up your ratdog! Breeding animals that crap is just cruel, you could see it knew it was an embarassment to it's lupine cousins.

Not sure what the year list is after this trip, I'll update you when I can be bothered to count.

Good Riddance 2009

I never profess to be a "proper" birder and am rubbish at keeping track of what I have actually seen, but what with the other half going on about falling short of 200 this year, I thought I'd sit down and work out my bird list for 2009.

2009 total: 173

life list: 182

Not too bad really considering the general lack of outings in the second half of this year, and that I missed out on my big autumn holiday. Generally 2009 has been totally shit, so 2010 doesn't have to try too hard to be an improvement really.
Highlights for 2009 include a pair of montagu's harrier, barn owls, penduline tits, a bittern flying right over our heads, and spoonbills (which are always awesome). Oh, and the robin in Hanningfield attacking Parus. My favourite birds of 2009 had to be the white storks in France, but due to their frenchness don't count to my total. They are just ridiculously big...
Birds missing from my list that really shouldn't be include whooper/berwicks swans, eider, garganey, any exciting herons, golden eagle, osprey, red kite, dipper, lesser spotted woodpecker, dartford warbler, tree sparrow.... loads basically.
The aim for 2010 will be to make the big 200, and if the trip to Mull goes ahead this should be easily achieveable. I would also like to get a decent sight of a kingfisher, to make more of an effort with seabirds, and to finally work out whether or not brambling are a myth. More importantly, I would like to see this "smart looking black and red bird" that my mum claims to have seen in our garden. If we have a bullfinch here i want evidence!

The target zoo-wise will be to try to get away from my desk a bit more and take some photos of all the awesome stuff that lives there. We have a new male gorilla that is shaping up to be a handsome chap, and have had plenty of very cute babies of late. Personally I have my fingers crossed for mini aardvarks.


So here is to a better 2010...

In Which I Actually Went Outside And Saw Some Birds...

Conscious of the fact that I haven't really had much to blog about of late, I figured it's about time I posted something a little more topical (as nice as christmas biscuits are of course).

I saw some birds today. More specifically I saw a really big, dark and mean-looking gull sitting on the Thames in Rainham...


Tempted by the offer of lots of tea and a panini, me and the boy headed to Rainham for lunch, and got some pretty good views of a great skua floating downriver and flying back up a few times while we were there. Having very little patience for things like sea watching, seeing birds like this is always nice for me. Especially when I'm inside a nice heated visitor centre with a cup of tea. Awesome :) I don't think I'd pick a fight with this bird, he looks pretty mean and I'm told that they like to pick on gannets for fun.

It was cold and miserable, and I currently have a cold and was feeling a bit miserable, so didn't bother going onto the reserve but it looked good and wintery. Plenty of ducks, gulls and waders everywhere including at least 6 pintail on Purfleet pools. This is where you think I'd put a photograph of said pintail, but what with all of the cups of tea and the panini I forgot to take one. Instead, have a photo taken of a blue tit at Abberton in October which I don't think I bothered to write about because this person beat me to it. Also I was upset about the squirrel.


I went to Swanage for a couple of days after Christmas with the family, but hardly left the flat really so no news there. It was lovely and sunny the whole time though, so had a nice walk along the seafront. Just need to figure out a way of making money then I'm moving to the sea...


I'll try to make more of an effort to tell you more about birds and zoos in the new year. A trip to Thrigby Hall and Norfolk in January will help with this...

Of mulled wine, dinosaurs and traffic jams...

This is a bit if a disjointed blog post, so I've attempted to pull it together with a title. I don't think it worked but oh well :)

This weekend I went to Tollesbury with the boy, and despite only being a short walk we saw quite a lot. There were ridiculous numbers of waders flying past in huge flocks (for essex at least), including dunlin, knot, golden plover, grey plover, ringed plover, curlew, oystercatchers.. probably many more I can't remember. We got there pretty much at high tide (more by luck and by careful planning), so we were hoping for some interesting seabirds and weren't disappointed. I found myself a pair of scoter (read: two black blobs which vaguely resembled cold looking ducks- tick) and a diver which I'm assured is a great northern diver. It certainly had a stripey rump and a big head, so I'm happy with that. A seal popped up and had a good look at us looking at him. Of course I didn't have my camera, but didn't worry as the boy captured the moment with yet another stunning display of professional-standard photography.
For a much more in depth and useful summary, you might want to check his blog instead :)

Sunday was spent trying to find a decent German christmas market in London with a uni friend of mine who spent a year in Germany. The market on the Southbank was pretty poor, and the one in Hyde Park was even worse, unless you want a funfair and then it's good. A cup of mulled wine, some caramelised almonds and some overpriced chips later, and we found outselves in Kensington with more time on our hands than we expected. What else is in Kensington? Dinosaurs of course.





Love the use of shadows by the way. Oooooh scary teeeeeth.....

What? They're related to birds at least, and you can't really resist popping in when you're walking right past the building. We went into the new Darwin wing too, with the Cocoon. Very impressive and good use of interactive interpretation, but possibly a bit too gimmicky and not enough good old fashioned labels for my liking. Still, worth a look round if you have a spare half hour or so. As I was being a tourist for the day, we also had a wander round the foodhall in Harrods, which is always good to see how the other half live. They have GIANT fruit there.

Today was spent much in the same way as the last few weeks- trudging to and from work through Regent's Park in the pouring rain. Really, I think it would be nice to have at least a couple of dry, crisp winter days please. At the tail end of my commute home, I was sitting in a traffic jam leading up to my good friend the a128 when a big pale bird with broad wings flew slow and low right past my car. Of course I didn't get a photo as I was being a responsible driver, so you'll have to use your imagination here. I am never that great at identifying birds on my own when I am going out looking for them, so it's particularly unusual for me to find something interesting when I'm not expecting it. So I have to say, I'm quite proud of this one :) A barn owl! (Nearly) In Thurrock! Owls are always great to see, and it's nice to know there's more than I knew about near where I live. That means there's now a tawny owl in my road, at least two little owls at my nan's house, and a barn owl up the road. Roll on the short-eared owls... :)

Update 2: Dorset

I can't be bothered to write up a proper post about our trip to Dorset a couple of weeks ago with the Boy, so have some nice pictures...

When it wasn't raining we managed to find some time to go to Portland Bill, Abbotsbury and to the interesting side of Brownsea Island.








But kids, don't forget. Nature is dangerous. Mind the sharp edges...


Or this guy will get you.

Me again

Hello, remember me? Not really been out and about chasing wildlife as much as usual of late, and so haven't had much to tell you about. Add that to the fact when I get home I generally just fall asleep, what I have had to tell you never quite made it online.

I went to Dorset a couple of weeks ago with my mum, and it was pretty good really. Didn't do much birding to speak of, but we did walk from Swanage to Corfe along that big Chalkhill ridge which eventually turns into Old Harry Rocks/ the Needles.

Corfe Castle is a bit cool really...

Poole Harbour as seen from just outside Swanage.

There were a fair few swallows and martins zipping around the fields as we walked along. Plenty of stonechats and many other birds that I didn't stop for long enough to identify. Dorset also has big flocks of rooks/jackdaws, all of which seemed to take off in the air simultaneously at one point. Pretty impressive if slightly scary thing to witness... From being at such a relatively high vantage point we were able to see loads of kestrels, sparrowhawks and peregrines hunting below us. Oh and this guy sitting in a tree being very vocal.

Rargh I am loud Buzzard

On setting out on our walk, mum mentioned that she never really saw any butterflies anywhere anymore. Just to prove her wrong, I had a ridiculously productive lepidopterrific walk, especially considering that I didn't even have my book with me. Large white, small white, green-veined white, speckled wood, painted lady, gatekeeper and peacock butterflies made welcome usual appearances, but there were also hundreds of small heaths flitting around our feet, and loads of different blue butterflies that I couldn't really tell apart on my own.

Butterflies everywhere...

Small heath really are very very small...

Most exciting of all was one particularly pretty bright blue butterfly that was very obliging when I pointed my camera at it. I later checked it out in my book and am pretty certain it's an Adonis Blue. Now this is a pretty rare spot but everything seems to add up. The black marks around the edge of the wings together with the underwing pattern don't really point to anything else, plus the shade of blue is completely different to the usual purplish-hues of common blues. Plus the habitat requirement "short herb-rich turf on sunny south-facing downland slopes", with a distribution limited to pockets of south central England. Awesome.

Adonis Blue being very blue and adonis-like

We were a bit tired after our walk and big ploughmans pub lunch, so just took the train back home :)

off to the woods

I meant to make a post at some point in the week, but seemed to be busy every evening as tends to happen. The boy and I were hoping to go out for a walk somewhere today, but am currently waiting for the rain to subside. It means I get to catch up with some blogging though, so lucky you :P

Last weekend we went for a walk in the woods at South Weald, hoping to find some bluebells and possibly some black kites (maybe a bit hopeful there)...

Said hi to the chav deer before heading around the lake at South Weald and away from the 25493 other people that seem to accumulate around the car park. Weird group of deer, as they've been penned in as part of the original group of the estate, but must be sooo inbred by now. Can't say they're the finest specimens but nice for people to see I suppose.

I think I can safely say that the bluebell mission for this spring has been safely achieved... Very pretty stuff and I've even thrown in a bonus caterpillar there for your perusal (identifications please :) )

Must head off, the sun is beginning to poke out through the clouds and boy is looking a bit bored...

Of birds and butterflies

So Norfolk is quite good isn't it?


We saw loads of stuff, including some life firsts (bearded tits, long tailed duck, bittern, various warblers, and a certain amazing bird of prey) , but just as impressive as the fact that Norfolk has so many birds that you practically trip over them, we also racked up an impressive mammal and butterfly list. So in light of the fact we found a veritable shitload of biodiversity, here are some very edited highlights...

orange tip butterfly

speckled wood butterfly

a common cockchafer, which seemed to not be very good at staying the right way up

early purple orchid? (maiden is welcome to correct me on this )

A muntjac that lept in front of our car

An obvious highlight of our Norfolk trip was a boat trip to Blakeney Point, and saw plenty of common seals, a grey seal, all four tern species, piles of oystercatcher and more suprisingly brent geese, and a sing female long tailed duck flying over our heads and landing on the water as we landed on the shore.

Common seal trying not to float away apparently

four sandwich terns (copyright Parus for this one)

One of the most entertaining birds we saw wasn't massively rare, but was absolutely stunning. I think Parus has a video of this sedge warbler somewhere, I'm hoping that he will be putting it up for us to share :)

sedge warblers are awesome :)

Other highlights included barn owls and tawny owls keeping us up in the night, loads of cuckoos, bearded tits pinging over the reeds at Titchwell, a little ringed plover at Cley, and a bittern flying out of the reeds at Lakenheath on the way home.

This is the best barn owl picture I have out of about 20. Oh well :)

ahh, East Anglia how I love thee...

I am sure we will be visiting again in the not too distant future, and camping was good fun. As long as we don't have a screaming 18 month old in the tent next time I'm definitely up for a revisit.

One day I might tell you about how I lost my mobile phone somewhere in a forest for a day, and the adventure we went on to recover it...