Stand By Your Patch

This week's round up from Hartpury Orchard Centre:

Sunday: a brief visit. I spent most of the time watching Redwings and Fieldfares streaming across the sky. A quiet day bird-wise: the Kingfisher was the highlight again. 

Mind you, sometimes you have to sit back and enjoy the mundane. I'm talking Moorhens here of course. Not the most exciting of water fowl but they are as reliable as a Volkswagen Golf. What is it about those faces though? Those beady eyes and that vacant expression? They put you in mind of Louis Walsh.

Louis Walsh

A Moorhen

There was even a little family gathering on the waters edge today:

"Louis, get out of the water. Your tea's going cold!"

I made a second visit on Friday evening as another birder had said he had heard a Water Rail there at dusk. Now there's a bird on my wish list!

I arrived at 4:30pm and sat it out in the cold, windy hide until it got quite dark. In fact almost too dark to find my way back to the car. Truth be told, I'm not supposed to be out on my own after dark.

No Water Rails I'm afraid but two Tawny Owls put my patch list up to 72. 

On Saturday I made a lunchtime visit during a brief spell of sunshine. A walk along the reed bed flushed 18, yes count 'em, 18 Snipe. I fancied that one of them flew lower and looked a bit smaller. Jack Snipe? No, just my over active imagination I think.......

There was certainly more birds about today:

4 Mallards, 2 Teal, a Green Woodpecker, a Kestrel, 2 Mute Swans, 4 Moorhens (of course), a Yellowhammer, several Mistle Thrushes, a Bullfinch, 6 Goldfinches and a constant trickle of Redwings and Fieldfares overhead.

Then as if by magic my local patch birding buddy Alan (and his snazzy new binoculars) turned up just as the Kingfisher paid a visit.

Oh, how we indulged! What a treat to watch this little beauty taking fish right in front of the hide:

Down the hatch!

Kingfisher - what a gorgeous bird

Seriously, no matter how many times you see it, you cannot tire of this bird.

We then had a couple of Ravens overhead and 7 of the Snipe flew back into the reed bed.

A most satisfying day but we are still waiting for that big tick!

Just a quick shufty.......

....... said the actress to the bishop.

Time was at a premium today (some long overdue decorating to do), so I could only afford half an hour birding at my favourite site.
And the sun was shining too! Life's a bitch, sometimes.
I arrived in the hide at exactly the same time that the Kingfisher turned up. She alighted on one of the perches on the waters edge so I grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots, but really needn't have bothered. Shooting into the sun, the bird was nothing more than a dark blue silhouette. However, she treated me to one of those awesome "hovering like a hummingbird" moments and then dived in to retrieve a small fish.
Ain't nature wonderful?
There was nothing else on the water other than a couple of Mute Swans and some nervous Moorhens.
A good day for buntings though. Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings kept fliting overhead. At least 6 Yellowhammers and the same for Reed Buntings.
Once again, one paused for a moment behind the hide:

Yellowhammer

8 Snipe rose from the reed bird and zig zagged across the tree tops.

A walk back to the car yielded 2 Jays, a Green Woodpecker, a Pied Wagtail and a few overhead Fieldfares and Redwings.
The sun had even brought out a late Red Admiral to feast on some rotting apples.

Red Admiral

Ah well, where's me paintbrush? 

Nice weather for Ducks

When you've got some time off work you have got to make the most of it.
Regardless of the weather.
At least that's what I told myself as I sat in the cold, damp hide watching the rain come down.
Where does that phrase come from? "Nice weather for ducks"?
Well, they didn't seem to be enjoying it much today. Skulking in the undergrowth, peering out at me through the sheets of rain. Wimps.
No matter. On the upside there was still a migratory feel to proceedings.
84 Wood Pigeon, 200+ Redwing and at long last some decent size flocks of Fieldfares. In total around 150. A few of which rested up briefly in the trees on the edge of the orchard. The photo was a bit of a long shot but I managed to capture a few of the birds.

They're back

Other birds seen today included: 

26 (skulking) Teal, a Kestrel, 8 Stock Doves, 3 Moorhen, a Grey Heron, 24 Goldfinch, a Kingfisher, 3 Jays, 3 Green Woodpeckers,  2 Mute Swan, 2 Mallards, 70 Starling, a Herring Gull and a Little Grebe.

Bar Heads and Hybrids

I was dissapointed that I didn't get any shots of the Bar Headed Goose at Ashleworth Ham yesterday, due to the appalling weather conditions, so I took another trip down there this morning for a second attempt.
As luck would have it he was still there, mingling with a large flock of Canada (c650) and Greylag (c40) geese.
That said, the bird was still a good way off from the hide so no luck with a detailed close-up.

He's in there somewhere!

There he is!

"What are you looking at chum?"

As I was leaving I noticed half a dozen odd looking geese waddling to the waters edge. I had a brief moment of knee trembling excitement, imagining that I had discovered some rare migrants before it dawned on me that these were simply hybrids. Yes indeed, here was a little family of Canlags (apparently the recognised name for Canada X Greylag hybrids).

Canlags!

Now then, the question is: can I add them to my Year list? Oh, go on then.

Of Mist and Moorhens

I thought, I've got a lot on today so I'll nip out at first light and see what's cracking off on the local patch.
That was a bad idea.
I arrived at the Orchard Centre as the sun was breaking the horizon but visibility was atrocious due to the swirling mists!
Don't get me wrong: it was very pretty. Just not good birding conditions. I got a couple of low quality Iphone photos but I think they capture the mood:

Dawn at the Orchard Centre

Ah well, I thought.  I'll chance me arm and have a shufty down at the hide.
Crumbs! It was even worse there by the waters edge. Peering through the gloom I could make out 4 or 5 Moorhens carrying out their morning ablutions. And then - diddly squat.
To be fair there may well have been the twitch of the year somewhere out there but there was no chance of seeing it!
So I went for a walk.
The mist began to clear and I clocked plenty of hedgerow birds: Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-Tailed Tits, a Chiffchaff, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Jays and good numbers of Redwings, Robins and Blackbirds. Nothing that would prompt a text to Rare Bird Alert!
A Red Fox trotted along the hedgerow in front of me and then as I passed one of the ponds on the way back to the car a Reed Bunting alighted on a bullrush. I took some snaps but the lighting was still poor and they're not great (they certainly won't stand being cropped!). Nice bullrushes though!

Reed Bunting

I thought I'd round off the trip with a run down to Ashleworth Ham where a Bar Headed Goose had been seen the day before.
Met a very nice chap down there - Hello Martin! (bit of a legend - saw a Dartford Warbler yesterday!) The Bar Headed Goose was still there, in a huge throng of nearly 1000 Canada Geese. Again, lighting too poor for a good photo (check http://www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk for photos from yesterday) but what a stunning bird it is.

This time next year, Rodney........

........ we'll be millionaires. At least in birding terms.
Sunday afternoon was gloriously sunny, if a lttle windy.
I sat in that hide and gazed out on my little patch with a real sense of contentment. This place is really turning into something special. I'm in for some real treats soon.

BUT in the meantime!
Not a bad setlist today:
14 Snipe  (that's a stunning number), 26 Teal, a Kingfisher, 145 Redwing, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Mute Swan, a Green woodpecker, A Great Spotted Woodpecker, 15 Long Tailed Tits, 6 Blue Tits, 124 Herring Gulls, 2 Buzzards, 4 Moorhens and a female Kestrel.
A huge Brown Hare bounded past the hide. The first one I've seen here for a couple of months and certainly the biggest. I thought it was a dog at first. In fact I'm embarrassed to say it was actually bigger than my dog!
Not much luck with photos today. Just this rather grainy snap of a Teal:

"Grainy" the Teal

Look in next week for another rivetting update. ;-)

Welcome to my World

So the brother in law (and school best friend) is over from France, regaling me with tales of his local patch birds. Bee Eater, Rock Sparrow, Black Woodpecker, Golden Oriole, blah, blah, blah, Yeah, whatever.
The smug bastard has got 37 more birds than me on his Year List.
So I said, "Look here chum, you've been over there too long. Bloody foreign birds. Let's get you back down to earth and get some proper English birding done".
So I took him to the Orchard Centre.
Where else?
Of course this basically qualifies as extreme birding for a soft lad from Carcasonne.
By the time he'd put his wellies on, made a flask of hot tea and wrapped up in three layers of thermals we'd missed half the morning.
To be fair, the thermals came in handy. It's like a bloody wind tunnel in that hide some days.

As always, it was a slow start.
A couple of Mute Swans, a Moorhen, some Jackdaws.........
Then the Redwings started to stream across the sky. 40, 50, 60.......they kept coming.
Oh, what's that French Boy? No Redwings down your way? Better tick that one off then!
A Raven flew over, followed by a couple of Jays. Then something startled the Teals who were feeding across the far side of the ponds. Around 40 flew up and then settled further along the reed bed.
No Teal on your list yet chum? Go on then, note that down!
The resident female Sparrowhawk made a flypast. Then a couple of Mistle Thrushes and a Green Woodpecker.
After just 25 minutes the female Kingfisher flew right in front of the hide and just hovered for maybe 5 or more seconds in what seemed like a specially orchestrated display just for my croissant loving chum.
How do you like them apples garçon?!
There's certainly a bit of migration going on. Small flocks of finches and buntings kept drifting over the hide. At least 7 Yellowhammers in one group.
One of the little fellas even alighted by the hide to have his photo taken.

Say cheese!

Of course you've got Yellowhammer on your list haven't you chum? BECAUSE I SHOWED YOU ONE THE LAST TIME YOU WERE HERE! Not much call for 'em in Southern France?
A walk along the reed bed yielded 7 Snipe (Ooh, there's another one for you, Froggy!) and 4 Reed Buntings (add that to your year list too!).
So we finished the morning with mixed blessings.
I was rather pleased at being able to offer up four new birds from my undervalued little corner of Gloucestershire. On the down side I had just helped to widen the gap in out year lists! Hmmm, a trip to Carcasonne beckons perhaps.......?

All I want for Christmas is........

So I was sitting in the hide down at the Orchard Centre, sucking on a Werther's Original and musing on life when I got to thinking, "It's about time we had some new birds at this place".
To be fair a patch list of 71 in this tiny morsel of Gloucestershire is not bad at all, but as the site matures it gets you thinking "What next?".
So rather than a bit of fantasy football I thought I'd have a game of Fantasy Patchlist and come up with the ten birds than just might make an apperance before Christmas.

So, in no particular order:
Garganey
Pintail
Great Crested Grebe
Water Rail
Jack Snipe
Red Kite
Hen Harrier
Waxwing
Great White Egret
Bittern  (anything's possible!)

So there's my top ten. If I had to put money on one it would be the Pintail but I've got a feeling in my water (again) about Water Rail.

Hen(ry) Harrier, come on down!

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.........

........is the first line of "Ode to Autumn" by John Keats.
There's also a line that goes, "The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft".
For me, it is not the melancholy song of the Robin red breast that ushers in Autumn but rather the shrill overhead "whistle" of the Redwing, "Seez! Seez!" which simply says that our little Scandinavian chums have arrived.

By Thursday (16th October) I was getting impatient to see the first Redwing of the season. Plenty of Mistle Thrushes were gathering in the orchards but no sign of their smaller cousins.
But I had a feeling in my water and I was sure it wasn't just that pesky bladder infection again.
It turns out that Thursday wasn't a bad day at all.
Good company in the hide (Ay up Alan!) and a good selection of birds: great views of the Kingfisher (including a bit of a scrap when she chased off an intruder to her patch),  3 Jays, 2 Green Woodpeckers, a Kestrel, 7 Snipe (best number yet), and a Grey Heron.
Then slowly but surely they started to stream across the skies, with a few birds pausing to rest in the hedges and trees.
Oh yes, the Eagle has landed! Well, not literally of course..... but Redwings. Lots of lovely Redwings. The first of the season.
Autumn has arrived.

I returned to the hide on Saturday with my daughter, hopeful that we could get some photographs. A few Redwing were lurking in the distant trees but too far away for a good photograph.
A handful of Goldfinches flew close to the hide and feasted on the thistle patch:

That can't be comfortable

We had to wait a full half hour before this little beauty turned up:

Female Kingfisher

Other birds on the patch: 20 Mistle Thrushes, 2 Little Grebes, 3 jays, A Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzards, 2 Mute Swan, 7 Moorhen, 5 Mallards, 6 Stock Dove and a single Meadow Pipit.

Anything About?

I promised my daughter I'd take her to see the kingfisher this weekend, so being the dutiful dad that I am I dragged her out of bed (at a "ridiculously early" hour - must of been at least 10:30!) and marched her, at gunpoint, down to the Orchard Centre hide.
"Right, you're in charge of the camera", I told her. Bit of a no-brainer really. She takes far better photographs than me.
Entering the hide we made enough noise to flush a small flock of Mallards and 4 Snipe before settling down in anticipation (photo from a visit last week).

A pre-flushed Snipe.

I have had a couple of brief glimpses of a Grey Wagtail over the last week or so but it's never settled for a photograph.
Until today:

Grey Wagtail

2 Grey Herons were on site, one close enough for a shot for which my young photographic assistant allowed me to use the camera:

Grey Heron

and then....
"Dad! Dad! It's here!".
Get some photos then, girl!

One thing is for sure. You could never get bored of seeing a Kingfisher. What a beauty.

There were a few other birds around today: 8 Teal (in flight), 5 Buzzards soaring together on the thermals, a Kestrel, a Common Sandpiper, 2 Jays, a handful of Meadow Pipits, 2 Pied Wagtail, a Mistle Thrush, 2 Mute Swans, 27 Stock Dove and 4 Robins.
There are still quite a few dragonfly around as well, mainly Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters.

Female Migrant Hawker

All in all - a jolly satisfactory morning, with some good shots (none of which are mine!) and a great experience to share with my daughter.

Shades of Grey

Now, I like to think of myself as enthusiastic and reasonably competent birder but I am by no means an expert. I struggle with identification at times - especially with some warblers and gulls. In fact, at times I have made a complete arse of myself.  I spent an hour once tracking a skulking bird through the scrub - convinced it was a Dartford Warbler, only to discover I had been wasting my energies following a ruffled and somewhat irritated Dunnock. I don't know who was more disappointed - him or me.
So, forgive me for what is about to come.
Yesterday at the Orchard Centre I lazily snapped off some photos of 3 Pied Wagtails perched on one of the fences. When I looked through the photos later it was clear that there was a marked difference in colour between the birds.

One was a particularly handsome defined black and white individual while the other two were quite grey and indistinct by comparison. Females? Young birds?
Then I got thinking..... speculating.....dreaming....fantasising...getting carried away (Dartford Warbler moment coming up). Could they be the alba (White Wagtail) birds that are often reported.
I've checked the books, trawled the Web. I'm still clueless. I'm really struggling to see the differences between female pied and white wagtails.
Best guess is the grey birds are female Pieds, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
All answers on a postcard to the Lone Birder, Hartpury Orchard Centre, Glos...........

All Hail the Fisher King

So, I'd caught elusive glimpses of the little fella on a couple of previous occasions but he was always too fast for a photograph.
Patience is a virtue though.
On the morning of the 5th October a Kingfisher flew past the hide, pausing momentarily to hover above the reed bed. I managed a shot. Not a great one but I was chuffed I got a photo at last:

First photo of the Kingfisher

I went away feeling reasonably pleased with myself but not quite satisfied with the shots I had got.
I returned to the hide late afternoon in the hope that the bird might return. It had clouded over however and the light was failing so if I was to get anything decent he better turn up soon.
As if on cue, I heard the unmistakable call of a Kingfisher and he alighted on ( a somewhat strategically placed) stick on the banks of the pond in front of the hide.
Bingo!
I got a little snap happy but these are the best of the bunch. Despite the poor lighting I'm actually reasonably satisfied!:

But of course, a photographer is never satisfied (or is that just me?).
I went back the following day as there was a bit of sunshine and I fancied the conditions were better if it came back again.
Once more I was treated to a marvelous display and the bird sat happily for plenty of photos.
It's interesting to note that the Kingfisher looks much greener in this session. This was probably the strong sunlight but I did wonder if it was a different bird. Young Kingfishers tend to be much greener in hue than the adults. On balance, it's likely to be the same bird - and a female too (red on the underside of beak) so I better stop calling it the "little fella":

Kingfisher with dragonfly larvae

I just found this - which kind of explains the colour variation: http://qi.com/infocloud/kingfishers

What a stunning bird though, eh?

Raptor Rapture

Well, October is getting off to a good start.
The 1st was a nice fine day. Glorious sunshine, no wind, lots of singing birds......... what more could the heart of man desire?
Not much happening around the hide (well, ok.... nice couple of Mute Swans) so I took a walk along the footpath leading to the fields behind Collier's Brook.

Mute Swan

A large flock of Meadow Pipits (35+) were lazily making their way up the hill only to be first bombarded by a Kestrel (who obviously decided these were a bit on the large side for dinner and moved on) and then by a Sparrowhawk.
I missed the Kestrel but got a couple of half decent shots of the Sparrowhawk:

Sparrowhawk

No sooner had the sparrowhawk moved on when a Buzzard made a low fly past, as if to say, "Never mind that pair of jokers, I'm King Raptor around these parts".  I didn't want to offend him so I took his photo too:

Buzzard

Well the thrill of all these airborne killers was getting too much for me. It's more excitement than a man of my age can stand for one day.
I made my way back along the footpath where 5 Chiffchaff had joined a group of 24 Long-tailed Tits to clear the hedgerow of bugs.
Not quite the same excitement of watching a hunting Sparrowhawk, but just take a look at the blood thirsty glint in this little chaps eye. It make your blood curdle..........

Long-tailed Tit

September Round Up

It's been a busy month.

Such a busy month that a chap can barely find time to update his blog.

So here's a photographic round up of some of this months highlights at Hartpury Orchard Centre:

First up, a Little Grebe. A patch first and No. 71 on the list:

Little Grebe

Next up..... Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a wasp?

No, it's a hornet. Just the one. Quite a handsome little "dude" though, as my daughter would say. With the exception of dragonflies I haven't been keeping an insect tally. Perhaps it's time to start?

Hornet

There were still good numbers of Chiffchaffs to be seen most days:

Chiffchaff

There are usually a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers on site and Green Woodpeckers have been feeding in the orchard grass most days:

Green Woodpecker

A nice Small Copper turned up on the 28th and there have been good numbers of dragonflies and damselflies all month:

Small Copper

Common Hawker

So, I'm beginning to think that, with a fair wind, October could turn out to be a very good month indeed.

It's like buses........

.....you wait all day for one and then 2 come along at once!
Or in this case - you wait all year.
So on Sunday morning I had to make a visit to the tip. Whoops, sorry.... Recyling Centre. I really must learn to stop calling it that. Anyway, on the way back I thought, "Well me binoculars are in the car, it would be rude not to pop into the Orchard Centre for 5 minutes and see if there's anything about".
So I swung by, parked up and scuttled down to the hide as fast as my little legs would carry me. No sooner had I sat down when a flash of blue shot by. Would you Adam and Eve it! (I'm not a cockney but I'm given to regionally accented outbursts from time to time, A Kingfisher! A bloody Kingfisher! Two years I've waited to see one here. And what does the little blighter do? He alights on a bulrush in good view of the hide and I swear to god I could hear him laughing. Okay, it was the voices in my head again..... "Shame you forgot your camera Steve. Ha ha ha.". Go on, rub it in.

Nevertheless, number 69 is in the bag!

I figured all was not lost and decided to head off home to collect the camera. Surely the little fella would make another appearance. I coaxed my curious, though somewhat unenthusiastic, teenage daughter to accompany me. In truth, she's a much better photographer than me so I put her in charge of "the kit" to leave me free to find the bird.

Alas, 'twas not to be. An hour of fruitless searching and lolling around in a draughty hide produced nothing. It looked as though our little blue chum had moved along. Drat.

Once again there was a large flock of Goldfinches feeding on the thistles around the hide. My daughter snapped off a few shots and then pointed out an LBJ ("Little Brown Job" to the uninitiated) perched on the top of a hedge, partially obscured by the swirling cloud of finches. 

With binoculars sharply focused, I was able to excitedly announce that it was a Whinchat. I think I must have repeated  that about 10 times to my (still) somewhat unenthusiastic daughter. " I'll take some photos shall I dad?" Oh yeah, right. I knew you were here for a good reason. Left to me I would have missed the moment.

A Whinchat. That's quite a big deal for my little patch. Oh, and let's not forget, it's also number 70. 

Whinchat

Whinchat and Goldfinch

Goldfinches in flight