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.