Long-eared Owls are notorious for roosting in dense shrubbery, thus leading to less than spectacular views. The two at Deeping Lakes this afternoon were no exception, leading to the above photo, just to show you how hard they are to pick out. Imagine trying to view something that is camouflaged, dead still and at a distance of at least 200 metres, then you begin to get the idea. As I said, there were two of these birds roosting on the same island that hosted a pair last year, presumably the same birds.
Is this any better? This was taken as a digiscoped effort with Chris's camera through my scope. I suppose that it's closer, if nothing else.
This post may cause a few cross words aimed at yours truly, indeed I have already had some words passed to me on other sites, but I will still go ahead and post it.
A small goose has been present on the Norfolk coast since November, a bird that courts controversy when it appears in this country, especially the south half. This bird is the Lesser Canada Goose, or to be more precise, the Richardson's sub-species of Lesser Canada Goose, Branta hutchinsii hutchinsii. This bird has recently been split from its larger cousin, the Greater Canada Goose (or just Canada Goose to you and me), something I was unaware of and so I hadn't bothered going to see the bird in Norfolk as I didn't think that it was a viable tick. After looking through a few websites and books I discovered the split and after a conversation with Chris Orders, decided to make the trip.
All seems fine, so far. The reason for the controversy is that the Lesser Canada Goose is a pretty rare wild bird in this country, most accepted records are in Scotland, although there has been one in Norfolk in 1999, but is a bird that is kept in wildfowl collections and sometimes escapes. We were worried that this bird wasn't wild, but Chris spoke to a friend who is 'up' on this sort of thing who said that the bird was showing good credentials, so we thought, what the hell.
We arrived at the birds preferred area, but no Richardson's/Lesser Canada Goose, great, another wild goose chase! After two hours of walking along some rather unforgiving shingle we decided to drive back towards Cley to see if we could see any 'little' geese. We stopped in a laybay and scanned a flock of Brent Geese, no Richardson's. A person we had met previously saw us looking and pulled over to tell us that there were several birders looking at a flock of Brents and Canada Geese on the East Bank, very kind of him, so we went there. On arrival several birders were on the little blighter and so we got our first view. A small goose, about two-thirds of the size of a Canada Goose, with a shorter bill, steep forehead and 'flat' appearance of the top of the head. The breast is also slightly darker. We walked along the bank to see if we could get any nearer for some shots, with the geese always moving that bit further away in front of us, they seemed pretty jumpy. Chris digiscoped, I took some with my camera at full zoom and tried a bit of digiscoping, but mine were all rubbish. The results are below.
My efforts are above, which hopefully show the goose well. The smaller bird in the top two photos with the bottom photo showing the bird with its wings open.
Chris's digiscoped shot shows the bird far better.
copyright Chris Orders
Lots of birders were there looking at this bird, all happy in 'ticking' it as a wild bird. I think the debate will carry on as to whether it is a wild bird or not, with the final say going to the BOU. An interesting article about this bird and other Lesser Canada Geese can be found HERE, just scroll down to the section referring to this bird, you may find it interesting reading. Whatever the outcome, it was good to see the bird and until otherwise notified, it's on my list! (Sorry if this offends anyone) A short video (using my camera) of the bird swimming is below.
Whilst we were in Norfolk we visited Titchwell, although on a windy, cold day with squally showers, it wasn't the greatest place on earth. We saw a rather strange Golden Plover amongst the flock, almost completely white and an adult Yellow-legged Gull, but other than that, just the normal waders and Marsh Harriers.
I haven't visited Grummit's Scrape, a small site close to the village of Baston just over the border in Lincolnshire, but still in the PBC recording area, for a long time, but yesterday I made amends.
On arrival, I noted that the sun was shining right in my face, not ideal for seeing anything much, but I persevered. There wasn't an awful lot present, a few Coot having a tussle, some Mallard, Mute Swans and a couple of dozen Wigeon were all seen and duly noted. The most numerous bird present were the geese, Greylags, with a farmyard goose moulting from white to grey and a rather strange looking Canada Goose. Whilst scanning the flock a couple of smaller looking geese appeared from behind a bank and revealed themselves to be Pink-footed Geese, not a major rarity, but nice to see in a land-locked area like ours. After a while a third appeared, very nice.
Below are a couple of shots, digiscoped and hand-held with the bridge camera, but as I have already said, the light was not ideal. (What is the saying about a bad workman blaming his tools?!)
Digiscoped effort
Above and below the bridge camera efforts. The picture above shows one of the geese with a potato stuck on its's bill.
An early morning stroll along Central Drove, The Nene Washes in freezing, but dry conditions gave me a chance to photograph this obliging Kestrel and even try to to see if my digiscoping gear was still still useful. The images above are all taken with the new(ish) camera and the one below shows the digiscoped effort.
The scene when I reached the end of the drove after the sun had risen at the start of a cold, but perfect winters' day.
This juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper has been present at a site called Kelling Water Meadows for about 10 days now, sticking loyally to the one pool present. On my arrival at the site, however, the bird was not present. Typical, I thought, but I was informed by a couple of local birders that in the mornings the bird is sometimes elsewhere and will fly in at some point. Half an hour went by and then, on cue the Pectoral Sandpiper flew in and proceeded to feed and show very well.
The photos show very nicely the white 'braces' on the back of the bird and the neat 'scaly' pattern of the upper feathers, which identify it as a juvenile. The adult bird is less 'scaly' and the 'braces' are either more faint or absent altogether. This bird has not been hatched and raised in this country, it will have been blown off course whilst on migration in America. The Pectoral Sandpiper is the most common of all American vagrants to Britain and Ireland and September to October is the prime time of the year for them to visit.
The Common Crane used to be quite abundant in Britain, several hundred years ago they appeared as part of the menu at royal banquets, but a couple of hundred years ago they became extinct as breeding birds. Until 1981 they were a scarce visitor, less than 50 birds per year were recorded, but in that year they bred in the east of England and have continued to do so since. They have been successful in most years since 1990, but some years produce no young, with predation from foxes and Marsh Harriers being blamed. In 2007 several pairs bred in various parts of the country, including Suffolk, Yorkshire and possibly Lincolnshire.
This year a pair have bred in my local area for the third year on the trot. They have raised one young and all three are now regularly appearing at the Nene Washes in various parts of this site. These birds have done this of their own accord, they have not been introduced, they just saw this part of East Anglia as an ideal place to start a family. They are closely monitored at all times.
Taken with Canon Powershot SX40 HS
Digiscoped
The juvenile in the above pictures is the 'all' grey bird, the two adults have black, white and red markings on their head and neck. An extremely tall bird, Britains' tallest, standing at over 4 feet and if seen well cannot be confused with anything else. They have a loud, clanging, trumpeting or 'bugling' call that is given when on the ground and in the air, as the video below shows;
A truly magnificent sight on the flatlands of Peterborough.
The Osprey is making a welcome comeback in the British Isles. After being persecuted to extinction as a breeding bird by 1916, this bird started to re-colonise itself with a pair breeding in 1954. After a faltering start due to egg collecting and continued persecution, the numbers of this bird have gradually grown to number over 150 pairs, still a very small number when you consider that Golden Eagles number over 450 pairs. These birds are still persecuted with individuals being shot or 'disappearing' from breeding areas. One individual at Rutland Water 'disappeared' last year after having mated and started to raise young, it was feared that he was shot.
In the Peterborough area the sighting of these birds is pretty much an annual event, with birds passing overhead in the Spring and Autumn. Some even hang around for a while, favouring a lake from which it fishes before moving on. This is in part due to the close proximity of Rutland Water, one of the sites where a re-introduction programme was started in 1996. The bird in the photos below show an individual that has been hanging around for a while now and was seen by myself at Maxey GP on Sunday. I thought that I would get some shots using my new camera and some using my trusted digiscoping method. You can see the difference in results for yourself. The first two are with the Canon Powershot SX40 HS with the other two being digiscoped.
The shots with the new camera were taken with the lens at full 35x zoom, with the digiscoped images using my scopes 30x eyepiece. I am happier with the 'camera' photos, but to be honest, not truly happy with any of them! The bird was a bit distant and the heat haze was pretty horrible, but then again I am not complaining about a bit of heat haze!
I paid another visit to Baston & Langtoft gravel pits today to see if the Black-necked Grebe was still present and also if I could get some slightly better shots of it.
The bird was present, but frustratingly elusive, constantly diving and `going missing` for 15-20 minutes at a time. I did manage to get a few reasonable digiscoped images of the bird, but am still not 100% happy!
The Black-necked Grebe is a smallish bird, smaller than a Moorhen. An extremely scarce breeder in the British Isles, with only about 50 pairs breeding here, they are specially protected at all times with their breeding sites permanently monitored. A stunningly beautiful bird in breeding plumage, although in Winter the bird loses the gold `ear tufts` and brown on the side and becomes basically black and white. They still have that piercing red eye though.
It has been a while since I have added anything to my PBC year list, but with the finding of a splendid Black-necked Grebe in almost full breeding plumage yesterday I have hit the 170 mark, 1 more than my full total for last year.
Josh Jones found this bird on his local patch of Baston & Langtoft gravel pits yesterday evening, although with other commitments I was unable to get there until today. The bird was showing very well, but the light was awful, giving the `black and white` images below.
If the bird is still present tomorrow I may go back as the forecast is slightly better. Meanwhile, click on Josh`s blog above for some better shots of this splendid bird.
Another dragonfly post I am afraid. This time of year does see the `disappearance` of birds as they start their moult after the wearing business of breeding and so I am only really on the look out for insects when I go anywhere. There have been very few butterflies of any note so far this year, this may change, but I have seen a few dragonflies with the Black-tailed Skimmer being another species in good numbers at my local gravel pits at Maxey.
The photos below show the male form of this skimmer. The blue abdomen with a black tip has yellow spots along the side, the female has a yellow abdomen with two prominent longitudinal black bands on the upper surface. Males of this species can have territories of over 50metres and can be very aggressive towards other males, indeed I saw the individual pictured `chase` at least one other Black-tailed Skimmer, a couple of Four-spotted Chasers and even an Emperor! A dragonfly that is normally on the wing until early August.
The most abundant dragonfly at the moment at Maxey gravel pits is the Four-spotted Chaser. They are everywhere, which is quite pleasing considering the downpours that are becoming the `norm` this summer. This rainfall must be having an affect on the wildlife, especially the insects. The number of butterflies in this country is in free-fall anyway, but this awful summer could see numbers of some species fall perilously low. Dragonflies, too must be feeling the effects of all this wet stuff!
I digress. The images below are all digiscoped as I can`t really get that close with my little hand-held camera, dragonflies are extremely wary and seem to fly at the merest hint of approach.
This species of dragonfly is widespread through most of Britain and fairly common throughout most of its range. It is found throughout Europe and there is no threat to its conservation in Britain, although where sites become over shaded the species seems to have a fall in numbers.
Their flight period lasts from late May until mid-August, with sexually active males being very aggressive and easy to see on the wing as they tend to fly and attack most things that go near them. They are seen perched on emergent vegetation and tend to return to this perch after partaking in a sortie after an intruder has entered their territory and been `seen off`.
I have been trying to get a photo of a Reed Warbler for a while now, but due the birds` skulking habits it has proven a little difficult. The digiscoped images above were managed by just waiting by a reedbed where I had heard a Reed Warbler singing and eventually the bird showed itself for a couple of minutes. There was a metal type of fence that the bird was perched behind, hence the blurry silver line over his feet, but beggars can`t be choosers!
The Reed Warbler is a common summer migrant to Britain, numbering between 40,000 and 80,000 pairs, although this number is lower than it was a few years ago. Drainage of reedbeds has had an effect on the bird, but they have started to colonise new habitats such as gravel pits which may help in the future.
A plain, unstreaked warbler that has brown upper-parts and a reddish brown rump. The underneath is buff, leading to white on the throat. A bird that you are more likely to hear before you see it, the `song` is a noisy, unmusical, repetitive chatter and churring with frequent changes in pitch that is very similar to the Sedge Warbler, although it is lower pitched and less varied than this bird. The nests of this bird are frequently parasitised by Cuckoos.
A couple more species of dragonfly that were present at Maxey gravel pits the other day were the Black-tailed Skimmer and the Hairy Dragonfly.
The photos above were taken using my Canon Powershot A640 `hand-held`
The Hairy Dragonfly is the first hawker dragonfly of the year on the wing. Males (the blue one above) are usually seen during May and early June, but I think with the lovely weather we have been having this has been delayed somewhat. The pair above were seen flying in the position you see them in, before landing in long grass, allowing me to get these hand-held shots. The duration of this copulation is variable, but can last up to 40 minutes. A dragonfly that is only on the wing for a short time, lasting from mid-May to late June or early July, so catch them while you can! They have a noticeably downy (hairy) thorax, unlike other hawker species, with the male having blue pear-shaped spots along the abdomen and the female yellow.
Both photos above were digiscoped using my normal set-up
The Black-tailed Skimmer is a fast, low-flying species, which is often observed perching on open ground or on muddy banks, stones and even roads. The species seemed to be pretty common at Maxey, with numerous individuals noted, although I only saw the yellow version of the species which is the immature male or female (I don`t know which I have photographed, any pointers would be gladly accepted). The adult male has a blue abdomen with a black tip. Another fairly common species in the southern half of the country that has a flight season lasting from late May until early August. I may get a photo or even just a glimpse of a blue male in that time! One can hope.
