Sunday 16 October 2011

Misty mizzle drops some rares

The Safari lost all the script so this has now become edited highlights from our low vantage point at the kitchen door with a restricted view of the sky.

04.38 - rain started
05.56 - idiot began letting off fireworks - - why? What possessed him/her???
07.20 - started watching at kitchen door
Several gounded Blackbirds
10 Lapwings - Patch tick!!!
Song Thrush - first for ages
Fieldfares grounded in our Silver Birch tree
Redwings over

A male House Sparrow - first this year! with Long Tailed and other tits - almost better than a 'Yellow Browed Warbler'

Goldcrest, again in the Silver Birch

Small Tortoiseshell - fast south

Grey Wagtail bucking the trend and going west.

Red Admiral - the usual local one probably.

10.00 all over

Mid-morning we were allowed a short sojourn at the nature reserve on route to getting some rations in for Frank.

Still no 200th but we did find a Common Snipe - Jack Snipe would have been better.

About 75 Teal were on the scrape and a Cetti's Warbler sang close by.

Not a lot else and scans through the gulls only gave us Black Headed and a few Common Gulls.

Great to be out in the big wide world again, even if only for half an hour.

Where to next? Cast comes off tomorrow -hurrah - but that also means the stitches are coming out; how many d'ya reckon? 10-20, 20-3-, 30-40 or 40+ ......uuugghhhh
In the meantime let us know what the weather dropped out of the sky in your outback.

5 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Enjoyed the edited highlights Davo, a patch tick! well done, you should do some more house watching :-)

cliff said...

That's remarkable that you've just got your 1st 2011 male House Sparrow, 1/4 of a mile down the road here @ Cliff Castle we have 20-30 House Sparrows visiting on a daily basis. You can have some on a free transfer if you want, or better still I'll trade you for a Goldcrest, I've not seen one in the garden for a few years.

Lancs and Lakes Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Thanks Cliff - it'll be a few years before I get another goldcrest to trade for some of your spuggies!
Worst of it is as soon as I leave the house I can hear them calling from the corner of Warley Rd 100yards away but they rarely cross the road.

Btw was your 2nd marshy a different bird - I only saw about 7 or 8 there in 15 years of almost daily visits

cliff said...

Evening Dave - I'm pretty sure the M. Harrier was a different bird - although I didn't actually see it - let me explain.

I was in the FBC hide when everything went up. To try & see what had spooked them I checked everywhere the letterbox hide windows would let me, whilst at the same time trying to snap the disturbed wildfowl(I got some decent inflight Gadwall btw), anyhow - I never did see a raptor, but a minute later 2 guys (birders on a day out from Accrington), came into the hide asking if I'd managed to photo the Marsh Harrier that had flown right over the hide, I told 'em I never saw it. One of the duo had got some good photos of it taken just moments before. Looking at the photos it didn't have the distinct white crown/throat that the one I photo'd had, so i'd say it was a different bird, I think maybe an adult male. Don't suppose you know where folk from Accrington discuss their sightings & post their photos on the interweb at do you, I wouldn't mind another look at those photos.

Cheers

Fylde Amphibian & Reptile Group said...

Might appear here Cliff
http://www.eastlancsornithologists.org.uk/
Depends if they were members nor not perhaps
Cheers
D