09/09/09 and 11/09/09

On Wednesday the 9th I went out with Crammy Birder, I had the Grandma's car so we could run around. We just stayed local be firstly visiting West Hartford, although this produced relatively little but the mud is looking good.

Next we headed down to Rocky Island to check for Roseate Terns, we weren't disappointed, there was quite a large number of terns present on the rocks just by the water, counting up there was 14 Roseate, 5 Artic and 11 Sandwich, regarding waders, 4 Sanderling, 3 Knot, 2 Juv Ringed Plover, Curlew, Oystercatcher, and Redshank were feeding on the shoreline amongst the rocks and weed. Also about Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Eiders off shore with 3 Juv Gannet and Cormorant, Feral pigeon, Rock pipit, Linnet, a lone Wheatear and 20+ Golden Plover overhead. Quite a few Peacock and Painted Lady butterflies were present on the island.

We moved onto Deleval Ices to give Crammy a taste of the best ice cream in the county, if not country, if not world. Beehive Flash was our next stop, 1 Male Eclipse Shoveler, Pair Mute Swans, Moorhen and Mallard were on the water, with 10 Curlew, Redshank and 2 Stock Dove amongst the grass. The water level is still pretty high at the flash, hopefully this warm weather will dry it up a bit, exposing some mud. In the field East of the flash was a large flock of Lapwing, joined by another Stock Dove and a few Starling.

The Briardene car park was checked although the Med Gull was not present.




11/09/09 Sunny with Light Breeze

I had to a walk to Holywell yesterday saying that the weather was nice. Birds of note on my walk to the pond included, a Pair of Red Legged Partridge at the Beehive Dene, and 2 Curlew in the horse/cow field just further along by the backtrack.


There was quite a few butterflies at the bottom end of the car boot field feeding on the thistles, I noted 4 Small Tortoiseshell, 4 Painted Lady and 1 Red Admiral.


Painted Lady Vanessa cardui

Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae

It was 14:00 when I arrived at the hide, on the pond, 17 Coot, 13 Mallard, 4 Shoveler, 7 Teal, 14 Little Grebe, 13 Greylag, 14 Tufted, 2 Female Ruddy Duck, 2 Pochard (male and female), Black Headed Gull, 1 Lesser Black Backed Gull, 1 Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, 1 Common Gull, and 2 Juv Grey Heron. Also present was a small flock of Tits, compromising of Blue Tit, Great Tit, and Long-Tailed Tit, scanning through them didn't produce any further species. A male Kestrel was hunting by the obelisk, the House Sparrow flock by the track has decreased by birds are still present, along with a large number of Hirundines building up on the telephone wires. 2 Red Admiral were also noted.

Walking back via the backtrack I came across a male Bullfinch feeding amongst the Willow Herb, further along a Wall Brown was sunning on the track.



I had the job of walking the dog tonight saying parents are on holiday, I took her out as soon as I got back, and headed straight for the car boot, just as I entered the field a heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker looked up and found it flying overhead into Red House Farm, normally I only find this species at Red House Farm when it begins to get colder, it must move in to make use of the residents feeders. It seemed to have come from Earsdon direction, although I am not familiar with any breeding sites in Earsdon, wouldn't be surprised if there was though.

Today 12/09/09, walking to CW Tents, I past Eccles Hall in Earsdon to find 8 Tree Sparrows on the fence line opposite, possibly some of SP's flock which he found near to the tip.

I'm due to leave for uni a week on Sunday (20th), really really looking forward to it, I will be studying Wildlife and Media for 3 years at the University of Cumbria's Penrith Campus, I will be hoping to get home at weekends although this may not be practical at times, therefore I will keep this blog up and running although the majority will consist of my adventures in Cumbria but will also be updated with sightings from Holywell when I'm home.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped keep my passion alight, and have allowed me to gain lots of experiences and develop skills related to the natural world which will no doubt help me in later life and my university course. Thank You, Cain.