I awoke this morning with my throat feeling like I had been swallowing rusty razor blades! What a stupid time of year to get a cold virus! Consequently I was up late, and didn't get out till 07:30, which I then realised I had to put my watch forward an hour for British summer time, so that made it 08:30, half the morning gone already :-(
Feeling unwell and sorry for myself, I didn't do a full patch walk, and only took myself for a circuit of the fields and paddocks of Migrant Alley, where in overcast skies and a very chilly northerly wind I felt even worse! Add to that I didn't find a newly arrived migrant it made for a frustrating time. I stopped when I reached my skywatching seat, and hunkered down against the cold wind, looking out for the distinctive shape of my first Swallow against the greyness, but one never showed up in the two hours I spent there.
It did however brighten up, with some good sunny spells towards the end of my vigil, the short walk, from home, around Migrant Alley, through the Greenhouse Complex and watching the sky had actually brought me quite a good tally of bird species, nothing like as good as the 53 seen yesterday, but 38 was surprising. These were mostly the common resident species, WRENS, ROBINS, DUNNOCKS, PIED WAGTAILS, finches, tits,Corvids plus WOODPECKERS GREEN and GREAT SPOTTED, as well as the SONGTHRUSH, MISTLETHRUSH and BLACKBIRDS.
Flyovers were had from four Gull species, HERRING, BLACK HEADED, LESSER BLACK BACKED and COMMON, plus the two raptors species of SPARROWHAWK and KESTREL, two single LESSER REDPOLLS flew over half singing half calling and a SKYLARK sang from high up, a species I didn't find yesterday. A MEADOW PIPIT was heard, then picked up as it flew NW, and 8 CANADA GEESE flew towards the lakes.
As you can see not a very full report today, bare with me during my suffering of this cold virus :-) At least I did find the enthusiasm for a couple of photographs :-)
This Great Spotted Woodpecker was taken first thing this morning, through the double glazing, so its a bit grainy looking, I took some more of it later in the day, i'll post them tomorrow.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| The Kestrel doesn't allow close approach, but this is as close as I have ever got to it! |
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| The female Blackbird around the Greenhouse Complex normally obliges with a photo |
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| Female Blackbird |
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| Dunnock |
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| Dunnock |
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| I visited the ''Goldcrest Conifer'' and today there was a pair there, not as nice photo's as Fridays efforts, they kept to the shady part of the tree, but nice none-the-less |
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| Goldcrest |
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Goldcrest
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7 comments:
Nice shots Warren. I reckon if you run those Dunnock shots through Neat Image, it will take out a lot of the noise in the backround. It a free download.
Cheers Marc,
Ive got neat Image, but use it sparingly as it sometimes ''smudges out'' detail in the birds plumage.
Does the trick on the Dunnocks though, much better without the noisey bakground :-)
Sorry you're not feeling too bright Warren, what a silly time of year to get a cold! ;-)
The photos are lovely, I particularly like the second one of the Dunnock.
I'm having intermittent Wi-Fi problems at the moment. The service provider says it's not them and the router people say it's not them :-( So if I disappear for a while you'll know why.
Hope you feel much better soon!
Hi Songbird
Thanks for your kind coments again :-)
Yes, a very stupid time to get a cold Grrrrr.........
Sorry about the cold again Warren they seem to haunt you at times don't they. More great pics here again.
Smart shots again, Warren. And here`s hoping you feel better soon.
Nice Goldcrest shots good to be able to see them in a regular tree, but then you do put in the hours on you patch!
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