Went around the patch yesterday searching for an LSW, Bullfinch, Hawfinch or anything new. Nothing came of it although it was still a decent day.
I managed to flush a hen Lady Amherst's Pheasant, the first evidence I have had that there is a pair in the area. I continued to look for it for half an hour but there was no further sign. Elsewhere, a visiting birder told me that he'd had six Tree Sparrow up on the Airfield. I was keen to finally get a photo of these birds so headed up there quickly. I found all six promptly, this is the highest count on record for WALBOC, but they wouldn't stay still for a photo. I did manage to get some pics but they aren't worth posting. Also in the sparrow flock was an albino House Sparrow which was very nearly completely white.
I am still missing a few common species from my list which I am eager to get before the migrants come.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Nothing Doing
Another long and lonely vigil looking for Woodcock and anything else that turned up. 2 Tufties west, 4 Mallards west (twice) and 1 Mandarin west was all that was on offer. I may already be too late so unless I hear anthing else soon this will be my last go until November.
Swallows on the south coast so it won't be too long now.
Swallows on the south coast so it won't be too long now.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Bit Better
One day closer to my next year tick.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Same Again
Spent another day not seeing any Lady As or Mandarins and I got caught in a small rainstorm in the middle of the Airfield as well.
Some good news however, as our Buzzard has started re-visiting last year's nest site and at least three of the fifty or so boxes dotted around the whole site have been occupied by hibernating Harvest Mice this winter which is always good.
Some good news however, as our Buzzard has started re-visiting last year's nest site and at least three of the fifty or so boxes dotted around the whole site have been occupied by hibernating Harvest Mice this winter which is always good.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Picture Imperfect
Spent the day trying to catch up with some of the better birds I'd seen whilst without my camera. However, as you can probably tell by the lack of photos, it didn't go too well.
Uneventful today so I just told myself its only thirty days to go until the first migrants arrive...
Uneventful today so I just told myself its only thirty days to go until the first migrants arrive...
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Ducks At Dusk
Don't get your hopes up - these pictures are of joy at having my camera back and show an out of focus non-panoramic view of a fraction of the Yellow Marshes and a Song Thrush that can't be distinguished as a bird. You're welcome
Having been bed-bound by the flu for four days, I was itching to get out birding. It seemed I had recovered by the afternoon so I made plans for a visit to see a WALBOC specialty. At the Yellow Marshes in late-January and February, for an unknown reason, ducks and woodcock (and presumably Snipe though I've never seen one) fly from west to east. Where they come from or where they go is anybody's guess but for the time being I'll just enjoy it.
Having been bed-bound by the flu for four days, I was itching to get out birding. It seemed I had recovered by the afternoon so I made plans for a visit to see a WALBOC specialty. At the Yellow Marshes in late-January and February, for an unknown reason, ducks and woodcock (and presumably Snipe though I've never seen one) fly from west to east. Where they come from or where they go is anybody's guess but for the time being I'll just enjoy it.
There was lots on view from the start, plenty of small things and countless thrushes but nothing new. My camera, primed for action after over a year on the sidelines (ten months on and off; two months of being terrible; a month of not working; and then two months being fixed) so I fiddled around with it.
As darkness fell I realised how many mammals there were at WALBOC, I had no less than four different foxes, a roe deer, loads of rabbits and a weasel. The problem with birding in the dark is wishful thinking - I started to turn everything into a Woodcock in my head. Pigeons, redwings, reed bunts, foxes and the roe deer but it wasn't happening.
Soon ducks started to appear, I was particularly looking for Teal for my year list. Four Mallards went over but then the light made it hard to identify anything else. The bins became useless for the next three groups. The first I'd say were Mandarin and the third Wigeon but the second looked very odd indeed. From a shockng sketch and notes I made at the time they best resembled Barrow's Goldeneye! However, barring this miracle I put it down to an aberrant or escaped Mallard or the terrible light conditions.
I'll have another crack in the same spot soon.
WALBOC Patchlist: 88
WALBOC Yearlist: 68
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Duck, Duck, Goose
Yearticks just keep turning up, it seems like every time I do the patch I'll get a year tick. That's the way it should be.
I was up on the Airfield when I heard a cry I love to hear from the nearby Aaron Walker 'GEEEEEEESE!!' Instantly my thoughts turned to Lesser Whitefronts or Taiga Beans. I clapped my bins onto the distant birds. Too far to tell. I was following them, trying to get ID when they disappeared behind the tree-line. No! however, I stayed and prayed and soon enough they'd emerged out the other side. There were six of them, six Canada Geese. Quite honestly, I didn't mind a jot. We really struggle with geese and waders at WALBOC because Boldermere is far too deep too quickly with no marshes or muddy fringes so any geese are good.
Other than Boldermere, there are three small ponds that provide the rest of the water at WALBOC. One pond is in the Yellow Marshes and two are at Blackmoor (I'm trying to get a patch map up soon so then you'll know where I'm on about). I was trying for Firecrest without luck in Hookwood when I decided to go have a look for anything at all at one of these ponds. I was in position and could see something moving which turned out to be a Moorhen. They really should be more common but this one will do for now. I moved round to get a better perspective on the pond and bizzarely, endless Mandarins started flying up! I counted 23 in total and was utterly amazed that there were so many in such a small pond. They are stunning ducks and I'll be back with my camera soon.
WALBOC Patchlist: 88
WALBOC Yearlist: 68
I was up on the Airfield when I heard a cry I love to hear from the nearby Aaron Walker 'GEEEEEEESE!!' Instantly my thoughts turned to Lesser Whitefronts or Taiga Beans. I clapped my bins onto the distant birds. Too far to tell. I was following them, trying to get ID when they disappeared behind the tree-line. No! however, I stayed and prayed and soon enough they'd emerged out the other side. There were six of them, six Canada Geese. Quite honestly, I didn't mind a jot. We really struggle with geese and waders at WALBOC because Boldermere is far too deep too quickly with no marshes or muddy fringes so any geese are good.
Other than Boldermere, there are three small ponds that provide the rest of the water at WALBOC. One pond is in the Yellow Marshes and two are at Blackmoor (I'm trying to get a patch map up soon so then you'll know where I'm on about). I was trying for Firecrest without luck in Hookwood when I decided to go have a look for anything at all at one of these ponds. I was in position and could see something moving which turned out to be a Moorhen. They really should be more common but this one will do for now. I moved round to get a better perspective on the pond and bizzarely, endless Mandarins started flying up! I counted 23 in total and was utterly amazed that there were so many in such a small pond. They are stunning ducks and I'll be back with my camera soon.
WALBOC Patchlist: 88
WALBOC Yearlist: 68
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Lady Luck Shows Golden Smile
Listen. Cup your ear and listen. Very faintly, you may just hear the sound of crying. That crying? Me. Tears of joy. A day of birding to make Titchwell tremor, Slimbridge shake, and Minsmere marvel. History has produced some very special days - 6th June 1944 (D Day), 20th July 1969 (Moon landing), 6th February 2011 (WALBOC Wonders).
Today was the day of the 'tour de force'. This is when myself and another local birder of such vast knowledge it is untrue, explore the entire patch south of Wisley Airfield. Every blade of grass is covered. The area south of Wisley Airfield is jam-packed with birds. It is possibly the best area in Surrey for some species. However, due to the sensitivity and size of it we try to avoid it as much as possible. Furthermore, it is private land that we are only allowed access to ten or so times a year. Last year o the equivalent, we enjoyed Woodlark, Barn Owl, Hawfinch, and Firecrest.
We set off very early in the hope of finding a recently discovered and incredibly rare denizen of Hookwoods. As far as I know, WALBOC has the last two left in Surrey. We had been given a tip off by the finder (the local gamekeeper) and scoured the area to no avail. We scanned the leaf litter and looked under Rhododendron bushes for some time before our searching paid off and we were rewarded with outstanding views of an absolutely stunning male Lady Amherst's Pheasant. Superb. I was able to get some decent footage of the bird but I have no clue how to upload it to this blog (if you know please e-mail me). Now obviously this is quite a contentious bird and there will be some debate as to whether it is countable or not. From the information I have been given and having seen the bird in action etc. I have decided to count it although others may disagree. It seems to have come from a self-supporting population (none have been bred by the gamekeeper) and it is fully-winged etc. What a stunning, stunningbird. Exceptionally rare and I urge any readers NOT to go out and look for it as it is deep in private land. Thanks.
Satisfied by this stunning find, we continued looking through the woods and soon found several Marsh Tit feeding busily. A yeartick and good to see that they are still thriving in the area.
We continued to a site back on the Airfield where we knew there to be big numbers of Lapwing. Sure enough there were, up to 200 of them! Very pleasingly, having scanned them back and forth a fair few times, a solitary Golden Plover gave itself up. Then another, and another until eight were counted in total. They seem to have thankfully called time on their personal vendetta against me and I can now breathe a sigh of relief at having caught up with them.
My camera was not fixed properly the first time and is back being fixed again. When it is I'll have another crack at these birds and try to get some pictures of them.
WALBOC Patchlist: 87
WALBOC Yearlist: 65
After an almighty wrestle with every bit of software anybody ever created I have finally got the footage up. Unfortunately, it is the worst footage of anything ever known to man because the only way to upload it was to compress the file from HD to SD and use the worst format possible. I will try and take a couple of stills from the original video and put them up so it is actually distinguishable as an object of some kind.
Today was the day of the 'tour de force'. This is when myself and another local birder of such vast knowledge it is untrue, explore the entire patch south of Wisley Airfield. Every blade of grass is covered. The area south of Wisley Airfield is jam-packed with birds. It is possibly the best area in Surrey for some species. However, due to the sensitivity and size of it we try to avoid it as much as possible. Furthermore, it is private land that we are only allowed access to ten or so times a year. Last year o the equivalent, we enjoyed Woodlark, Barn Owl, Hawfinch, and Firecrest.
We set off very early in the hope of finding a recently discovered and incredibly rare denizen of Hookwoods. As far as I know, WALBOC has the last two left in Surrey. We had been given a tip off by the finder (the local gamekeeper) and scoured the area to no avail. We scanned the leaf litter and looked under Rhododendron bushes for some time before our searching paid off and we were rewarded with outstanding views of an absolutely stunning male Lady Amherst's Pheasant. Superb. I was able to get some decent footage of the bird but I have no clue how to upload it to this blog (if you know please e-mail me). Now obviously this is quite a contentious bird and there will be some debate as to whether it is countable or not. From the information I have been given and having seen the bird in action etc. I have decided to count it although others may disagree. It seems to have come from a self-supporting population (none have been bred by the gamekeeper) and it is fully-winged etc. What a stunning, stunningbird. Exceptionally rare and I urge any readers NOT to go out and look for it as it is deep in private land. Thanks.
Satisfied by this stunning find, we continued looking through the woods and soon found several Marsh Tit feeding busily. A yeartick and good to see that they are still thriving in the area.
We continued to a site back on the Airfield where we knew there to be big numbers of Lapwing. Sure enough there were, up to 200 of them! Very pleasingly, having scanned them back and forth a fair few times, a solitary Golden Plover gave itself up. Then another, and another until eight were counted in total. They seem to have thankfully called time on their personal vendetta against me and I can now breathe a sigh of relief at having caught up with them.
My camera was not fixed properly the first time and is back being fixed again. When it is I'll have another crack at these birds and try to get some pictures of them.
WALBOC Patchlist: 87
WALBOC Yearlist: 65
After an almighty wrestle with every bit of software anybody ever created I have finally got the footage up. Unfortunately, it is the worst footage of anything ever known to man because the only way to upload it was to compress the file from HD to SD and use the worst format possible. I will try and take a couple of stills from the original video and put them up so it is actually distinguishable as an object of some kind.
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Captain Rook
The day started badly, as just as I was leaving I noticed there was a puddle around my bag. Or rather, there was a bag in the puddle. Bollocks. My water had leaked all over cameras, phones, scopes, birdguides and my trip. Half an hour of towelling later I was off.
Lots of birds about today, I had a couple of Brambling early on which was a good sign as I hadn't had any for a month or so. Boldermere had a fair selection of waterfowl with a couple of GCGs starting to develop their head crests.
I was on my way home, checking some corvids overhead. I always check flyover corvids just in case...Rook!!! They are, somewhat laughably, not common at all round here although I was expecting at one at some point in the year.
Big day tomorrow. Watch this space.
WALBOC Patchlist: 85
WALBOC Yearlist: 62
Lots of birds about today, I had a couple of Brambling early on which was a good sign as I hadn't had any for a month or so. Boldermere had a fair selection of waterfowl with a couple of GCGs starting to develop their head crests.
I was on my way home, checking some corvids overhead. I always check flyover corvids just in case...Rook!!! They are, somewhat laughably, not common at all round here although I was expecting at one at some point in the year.
Big day tomorrow. Watch this space.
WALBOC Patchlist: 85
WALBOC Yearlist: 62
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