A little bit more snow

The Safari left the sick bed today and trudged back in to work but not before taking Frank round a cold and very dark Patch 1.
On the way out we counted the Magpies, in fives again, and got 80 but there could have been more Again they were skittish getting flustered and moving around as we walked beneath them looking up.
Nothing else was stirring; it was so quiet not even a Robin broke the pre-dawn silence. That is until we got to the line of large conifers where we heard two Collared Doves singing at each other, one a baritone the other a tenor, two very different coos.
It was far to dark to get out before work on Patch 2 and by mid morning snow was falling heavily.
At lunchtime the snow had eased off but it was still cold and very grey. A good number of gulls rested on the gentle swell of the high tide. Only Common, Black Headed and Herring Gulls were present until a Great Black Back came swooping over head and disturbed them all.
A little further out was a flock of around 300 Common Scoters stretched out in a long thin line and over them first one then two more Razorbills (67) flew south. To the south beyond the scoters were a few Red Throated Divers, moving about a bit but probably no more than five or six; with them was a single Great Crested Grebe (68). Only one Cormorant today so no feeding frenzy and no cetaceans out there either.
So just two year birds this session but we should be able to get close to the ton by the end of the month with a bit of luck; last year we got 101 by close of play on 31st of January, which if we got the same this month would be half way to the difficult target of 200.
Where to next? We should be able to get out on safari over the weekend, man-flu permitting, and if so the Iceland Gull and Waxwings had better still be at the dock. Some farmland safari-ing is also in the sights.
In the meantime let us know who’s getting their voice in your outback.

Still ill

The Safari is still bedridden and with neighbours doing some noisy fence repairs illness was an unpleasant experience. No chance of any small birds in the garden today with the workmen bashing and crashing only inches from Base Camp's garden.

Looking out of the bedroom window we hoped for a fly over Lesser Black Backed Gull or a distant speck that could be scoped as a Goldfinch for the year. We got neither but mid morning the Peregrine appeared on its ledge; Scoped at an angle through a dirty double glazed window and the dull grey skies made for a very poor pic.

An hour or so later the sun tried to come out and the resulting shot slightly better, at least it looks sort of falconoid rather than being a dirty smudge on the double glazing.

At one point a Magpie landed on the overhang above it and peered over. A few moments later it fluttered down and we thought "Here we go - a bit of mobbing coming up", but no nothing of the sort. We think the Magpie was checking if there were any titbits going abegging as it landed on the ledge and started to eat something, looked like a bone.
Later, after the Peregrine had flown off, a Carrion Crow landed on the ledge picked a large lump of something up and flew off with it...looks like the Peregrine is providing a flap-in fast food eat-in or take-away service!

Where to next? Hopefully Patch 2 will be back in play tomorrow, viruses (should that be viri?) permitting. We sort of admire viruses - they are so evolutionarily advanced they have lost the need to be 'alive'; a bit like the vestigial wings on island birds that no longer need to fly , eg the Dodo, or the tiny internal rear 'legs' of a Python but on a much more serious scale - clever things getting us mere mortals to do all their dirty work for them.

In the meantime let us know who's eating who in your outback.

The dreaded manflu

The Safari has been stuck at Base Camp today trying to shrug off hoarseness, aches and pains by overdosing on Lemsip..

With nothing else to do other than stare out of the bedroom window we set the scope up and waited for that lifer to fly past - it didn't!

We did get a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the only large tree left in our field of view, but that is well outside our 'Garden' recording area. also in the very top of that tree was a flock of nine Greenfinches with a nice male Chaffinch making double figures.

A Carrion Crow managed to creep in to the recording area and adds one to the garden list. Gull were represented by Herring and Black Heads only while Collared Doves, Wood and Feral Pigeons wheeled around with monotonous regularity but failed to draw in the Peregrine.

In the depths of the shrubbery we could hear a Blackbird clacking away from time to time but now that the weather has warmed up it seems that most of the small birds have moved on, in fact we only saw one Blue Tit and that was searching through the tips of Silver Birch tree rather than taking advantage of those tasty sunflower hearts in our feeder.

None of the few Starlings flying over could be turned into anything remotely resembling a Waxwing.

Talking of trees it appears they have been fooled by mildness, or less coldness; the Copper Beech in next door's garden has opening buds, Base Camp's Bird Cherry has swollen buds as has the ferociously hacked Sycamore which the Carrion Crow landed in. Methinks they could be in for a shock!

In an attempt to get some more gull pics we threw a bit of stale bread on the garage roof and legged it back upstairs another Lemsip in hand, in our haste we sort of tripped/stumbled on the stairs and said Lemsip was nearly having to be wiped off walls and dabbed out of carpet! We needn't have rushed it was ages before anything appeared...eventually three Feral Pigeons dropped on to the bread, now they should attract any passing gulls...they didn't, even a small flock of Starlings flew over them without a second glance...is something wrong with Sainsbury's organic cob? Those three pigeons didn't seem to think so!

After what seemed like an age a few Black Headed Gulls managed to avoid the tree, the wind was in a tricky direction for them to be able to get the angle for a touch-down.

The next pi shows the white tips of the greater coverts rather nicely as well as the now 'smudged and shadowy' carpal bar.

In this pic it's difficult to tell if the underwing is smokey grey or just in shadow. If it were pure white then the American Bonapart's Gull might be an option but the upperwing tip and trailing edge are wrong for that species, as is the bill which would be shorter and all dark.

In all plumages Black Headed Gulls can be easily recognised by the obvious white 'stripe' leading edge of the outer wing.

We missed getting a pic of a nice first winter Common Gull, which are not common at all on the garage roof!

The gulls left some meagre pickings for this Woodpigeon.

And we certainly weren't expecting the reappearance of the Grey Wagtail, nor were we expecting it to start pecking at the crumbs the larger birds had left behind.

Where to next? Judging by the soreness of the throat it could well be Base Camp again tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know what's diseased in your outback.

Late edit:- whilst faffing around editing these pics for you the Pererine came in and landed on its ledge. Dunno which way it came from so can't put on the garden list, which currently stands at 18.

68 Magpies roosted at Magpie Wood last night, still can't work out if it's a counting effect or if there are very different numbers each night. One thing you couldn't do is shine a light on them to make it easier cos they'd all skidaddle off in a clatter or wings and cackles.

Red neck heaven

The Safari noted the Peregrine was on the ledge again this morning on Patch 1. Magpie Wood contained only 38 roosting Magpies but last night we had heard one in a large conifer in one of the nearby gardens so that’s where some may go when they’re not in the main roost.
On the way back we watched a Song Thrush (61) feeding on the now fully thawed grass with a couple of Blackbirds at the top of the field.
It was far too dark and rainy to visit Patch 2 before work so we had to wait until lunchtime. It was useless for cetaceans as a westerly wind was making large waves. There was a feeding flock of distant Cormorants (62) with their attendant Great Black Backed Gulls, there could have been Harbour Porpoises with them but it was far too rough to have any chance of seeing them. Out there too was a Red Throated Diver (63) flying south though mostly hidden in the troughs. Much closer in were several small flocks of Common Scoters (64).
The tide was still up to the wall and we were intending to wait for it to drop a bit and watch the waders come back in. However, while we were scanning we got a text from CR (many thanks - gotta be worth a pint or a bottle of £3.99 plonk!) letting us know us there was a Red Necked Grebe just down the road so that was enough for us to dart back to the office grab the Land Rover keys and head off...so much for not twitching cos diesel’s hit six quid a gallon! (It went to £1 a gallon 20 years ago forcing us to ditch the old Series IIa Land Rover for commuting and get a Lada instead, which turned out to be the best car we’ve ever had until some numpty decided to drive in to it – needless to say our wages HAVE NOT gone up six fold, in fact we’ve just been told we’re getting a 1.1% pay cut whether we like it or not, at a time when everything is going up; anyone know whether ketchup or brown sauce goes better with tree bark!) A few minutes later we pulled up at the lake and saw a few scopes and camera lenses pointing out towards the middle. Hot on the heels of the Red Necked Phalarope, Fairhaven Lake gives us a Red Necked Grebe (65). What next? Go for the triple and pull in a Red Necked Stint? Well they do say things come in threes! What a cracking New Year bonus bird and of all the grebes the one we see the least and don’t really expect to see in any given year. Note that this bird is following the 2011 weirdness ‘tradition’ of Peregrine first bird seen and almost getting the Tree Sparrows before any House Sparrows. We have yet to see either of the common grebe species, not even had a Goldfinch yet! The first one we ever saw was at a certain Hollingworth Lake, host to the recent Pied Billed Grebe.

Whilst watching the Red Necked Grebe and chatting to the birders there news broke of a Mediterranean Gull a mile or so down the road. Well it would have been churlish not to go, wouldn’t it? We twitched the extra mile but the bird wasn’t there, we could only find a small flock of Black Headed Gulls being fed bread near one of the shelters. However, a quick scan of the marshes and river gave us a flock of about 100 Linnets flitting about the marsh and plenty of Pintail (66) on the mud banks of the river. Sadly we didn’t have enough lunchtime left to go a further couple of miles and see if the Bewick’s Swans were in the same fields as we saw them last winter, they have been reported from there this week, maybe tomorrow. We'll need plenty of nearby twitchable bonus birds if we're to get close to the 200 target set for this year.
Where to next? The tide looks better for shore birds so Patch 2 will come in to play.
In the meantime let us know what bonuses your outback has provided.

In training?

The Safari got a year mammal this morning on Patch 1, the Fox was making its way home down towards the Golden triangle. No sign of the Peregrine this morning.

After a morning around the house but nothing new spotted in the garden we set of for the estuary. as with the other day there was disturbance a-plenty from the local dog-a-razzi who were wandering all over the saltmarsh as usual. Consequently stuff was hard to come by. We got just another eight species for the year list, Golden Plover being pick of the bunch. As the tide receded a large mud bank attracted a fair number of Black Headed Gulls but we couldn't pull a Mediterranean Gull from amongst them.

Total now is 60 for the year.

Frank had a bash at running and jumping...just off the path well away from any birds we hasten to add. D'yer think he's worth a place in next year's Olympic team?

Late news - the Peregrine was back on the ledge when we went out at tea-time; Frank even took his ball again but after few kicks decided he was cream crackered after his afternoon exertions and gave up.
Where to next? back to the dreaded birding stopper, work, tomorrow but it will be our first visit to Patch 2 of 2011 so there should be a few more additions to this year's list.
In the meantime let us know who's training for what in your outback

First fullish day in the field

The Safari had a full Patch 1 walk in the dark this morning. The Peregrine wasn't there today but counting in 'fives' we got our highest ever number of Magpies at Magpie Wood - 80 ish. On the way back we heard a Mistle Thrush singing from the school grounds.

Back at Base Camp the garden produced a good bird, two fly-over Jackdaws. Then another good garden bird, a Grey Wagtail - don't know if it was down on the pond or a fly-over but it briefly landed on next door's roof.

An errand to get a new windscreen wiper for Wifey's car resulted in us getting House Sparrow,which if we hadn't have needed to go to the motor spares shop would have meant we'd somewhat bizarrely have got Tree Sparrow before House Sparrow.

Looking out of the bedroom window at Base Camp we had another Jackdaw! and a flock of 21 Fieldfares.

Then it was out to the nature reserve for a full afternoon session.

A comprehensive count of the waterfowl gave us 110 Wigeon (109 and then later one came in from a great height), 547 Teal, three male and a female Gadwall, 39 Shoveler, 24 Tufted Ducks, 15 Pochards, 77 Coot (no colour ringed birds noticed although many were diving in the water) and two Whooper Swans, one on the frozen mere and one down the dyke which at dusk walked over the embankment and across the ice to join its chum - we don't think they are particularly fit and healthy and either or both of them could end up as lunch for the lurking Buzzard.

The gulls were disappointing with just a third winter Great Black Back breaking the monotony.

At the feeding Station there had been reports of Brambling and Siskin but try as we might we didn't see either. We did see a real site rarity, this Grey Squirrel, as weird as it may sound we have had more sightings of Otter than Grey Squirrel at the reserve over the last 20 years!!!Six Tree Sparrows were counted but once again we didn't see the ringed one - so are all these the same ones as first turned up?

A wander round the back to see the Long Eared Owls was next on the cards. We met up with a lad who'd seen seven earlier but now could only find six. The pair of us scanned and searched and looked again and eventually yours truly found the seventh...just a wing tip showing behind one of the others and some dense twigs. In the scrubby areas Blackbirds were uber-numerous, not sure how many we saw but it could have been getting up for triple figures, several Fieldfares but only two Redwings all day. Out in the fields we could only find about 50 Linnets this arvo was a good many less than a few days ago, later we found a few more of the missing 200 but nothing like last weeks flock. Only one Stock Dove was seen in the field too.

On our return to the hide the gulls had flown off which was annoying. however, a Cetti's Warbler sang and was answered immediately by another to our left. We struggled with Wrens and Water Rails but had two of each within minutes of each other as the gloom got deeper. A little later we got stonking views of a Water Rail down to about 10 feet (3m). but better was to come; a small posse had gathered on the embankment - think East Bank at Cley but (slightly) warmer - they were wainting for a Bittern to show nd as we had a few miniutes left before it was time to head home we decided to join them and boy are we glad we did. When we met up with them MMcG told us the Little Owl was on its usual place on the barn roof - we say usual as we haven't seen it there for about 10 years and not even heard of any reports of it for at least half that...great spot and many thanks. If that beat the Water Rail it was about to be blown out of the water...a Bittern flew half the length of the mere then flushed a second - they ended up having a 'dog-fight' over the frozen mere right in front of us - spectacular! Once they had broken off the engagement the first one came back towards us landed on the ice at the edge of the reeds and pointed skywards for a few minutes before skulking into the reeds...safari-ing doesn't get much better than that!

So after Day Two where are we? Well, Year - 52; Garden - 15; Patch 1 - 20; nature reserve - 45 and Patch 2 - 0 (no visit until Tuesday). we did hear of pods of 10 and five Harbour Porpoises offshore this morning so lets hope they stick around.

Where to next? With those numbers off Cetaceans about Chat Alley could come in to play tomorrow and/or a trip to the farmland feeding stations over the river perhaps.

In the meantime let us know what's skulking in your outback.

Posh nosh

The safari's list for 2011 got off to a slow start today but not to worry there's plenty of time...first bird on the list was a Blackbird heard at 06.10; first bird seen was the Peregrine, wonder how many other people around the world will be able to match that! You've got to admit it is a bit of a bizarre one it's almost a shame that the Blackbird clucked a few paces too soon.

Thirteen other species hit the spreadsheet.

The reason for the shortage of the list was that we had an afternoon at a big family event at a really posh gaff - you know the type of place - the chips are served like Jenga blocks and the gravy is neatly drizzled around the edge of the rest of the scram. what a great afternoon with some very special friends and we can deffo recommend posh nosh, bludy luverly it is a cut above the 'average' restaurant fare but 40 quid for a bottle of wine (can't call it plonk) is a tad excessive needless to say we didn't try it.

The menu included:-

Halibut with cauliflower in a tempura batter served with the best cheese sauce we've ever had!

Suckling pig served with pak choi, braised celeriac, quince puree (double yum) and mash!

Desert was the fluffiest chocolate souflee we've ever had by a mile...and a half.

Having said that there's still plenty of place on our menu for a large helping of quality fish n chips or a tasty savoury pie of some description, meat 'n' tater always goes down a treat.

Sorry no pics - numpty here forgot to take the camera...

Where to next? At least Patch 1 tomorrow and maybe elsewhere perhaps too.

In the meantime let us know what's tickling the taste buds in your outback.