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. ;-)