Update from past 2 weeks!

So sorry about the lack of posting. Been extremely busy with school GCSE's, a weekend in Derby and birding trips. Here is an update from the last 2 weeks.

On Sunday 30th November, a good friend of ours David Walsh took us down to do a 3-ish mile walk around Gedgrave Marshes and Butley area. It was a great walk, well worth the 4 hour walk! We got the ringtail Hen Harrier that had been present there for sometime (and still present there now!) with 2 Short-eared Owls on Havergate Island, with a second Hen Harrier. It was a great afternoon after a nice lay in!

The following weekend, I was really excited as we were going up to Swanwick in Derbyshire to take part in the annual BTO Conference 2014. It was the first time I had been, so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was definitely worth going!

Friday evening, we eventually arrived at 6:05, 2 hours after the sat nav predicted our arrival! However, it was great! I caught up with my young birding buddies which I hadn't seen since April I think: Ellis Lucas, Toby Carter, Abby and Evie Miller, Findlay and Harley Wilde and Josie Hewitt!

We had a great dinner (Lasagne!), and then enjoyed the first talk, which was by  Helen MacDonald, where she talked about the history of hawks and humans. It was then a quiz where the young birders and I got together to form a team, where we came 4th I think out of about 9, so not bad considering the in-experience!

Saturday morning dawned, and the BTO Director, Andy Clements, kicked of the conference with a warm welcoming. We then listed to several talks, but it was then James Pearce-Higgins talk which I found particularly intersting about birds and climate change.

It was then lunch with Andy Clements (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), Chris Packham, (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and the other young birders (! lol). It was great to talk to Chris about the challenges he has done this year, including the illegal persecution of birds in Malta. We all also got a signed book from Chris about his "100 Things That Caught My Eye". 

We then had other talks, the highlights being Dave Leech's talk about nest recording (brilliant) and Mark Thomas about the illegal persecution of raptors, which was really inspiring! We then had dinner where I had Salmon - delicious!

Sunday morning was when all of the young birders, including myself, had to give a talk of how we got inspired by birds. All of the talks went really well, and I got a lot of positive feedback afterwards.

We then had our final lunch, before leaving - We had a brilliant time, and thank you to the BTO and Lucy McRobert for inviting us to the conference, Mum, Dad and I really appreciated it! 

Stour Estuary - Birds by Barge boat trip - 14th Dec 2014

The day started off well with a Peregrine on the first light ship, after setting out from Harwich towards Mistley early in the morning...

We then clocked on to a cracking Red-throated Diver on the way west, and then presumably the same bird at Mistley...

Mark Nowers, the guide of the tour, then clocked on to the Surf Scoter that has been wintering on the River Stour, where it showed really well, but we only had the little camera to hand, so hence the quality of the pictures.

On the way back, I picked up a cracking Great Northern Diver, which came really close, but again, only the little camera was around! Could've had some cracking pictures in the end, but hey ho!

Overall, we saw 38 different species which I've just added to BirdTrack! Here they are:

1. Surf Scoter
2. Herring Gull
3. Sanderling
4. Marsh Harrier
5. Buzzard
6. Turnstone
7. Wigeon
8. Teal
9. Great Black-backed Gull
10. Redshank
11. Black-headed Gull
12. Great Crested Grebe
13. Brent Goose
14. Mute Swan
15. Cormorant
16. Dunlin
17. Knot
18. Red-throated Diver
19. Goldeneye
20. Common Scoter
21. Lapwing
22. Shelduck
23. Gadwall
24. Woodpigeon
25. Lesser Black-backed Gull
26. Bar-tailed Godwit
27. Avocet
28. Great Northern Diver
29. Little Grebe
30. Black-tailed Godwit
31. Curlew
32. Peregrine
33. Red-breasted Merganser
34. Common Gull
35. Jackdaw
36. Carrion Crow
37. Rook
38. Oystercatcher

Happy Birding!!!!

Isle of Mull - Day 4

Every year we have come to the Isle of Mull, we have always gone on Bryan's Wild About Mull tour, (see link http://begbits.blogspot.com) and his tours have never failed us with a good day of birdwatching, and once again, it didn't this time. 7 of us went on his tour, and while collecting the rest of the visitors, Siskin, Buzzard and the regular White-tailed Eagle chicks were all visible. We started actually waiting for one of the adult Eagles to come into the nest with some food for their young, and after an hour of waiting, we were rewarded. Another good bird at a regular stopping point were Golden Eagle, showing well in the mountainside hills. All of the commoner species were available, like Stonechat, Wheatear, Hooded Crows and Wader species. Being close to Pennyghael - where we stayed - were regular points to view the Short-eared Owls, with also the occasional Hen Harrier. 

Plenty of "Hoodies" were sitting on rocks and posts.

Also, Short-eared Owls were on the hunt during the morning

Getting towards lunch time, we headed to Beak. With all the great sightings we'd seen, it was time to view a reptile which is not easy to locate in some parts of the UK, the Adder. Bryan and I had our sandwiches, and he knows where their bathing areas are amongst the heather, and I had a rough idea where they were from the previous years, so we went looking. Only steping into the heather about 10 meters, already a couple of Adders were slithering out from under my shoes, incredible. After everyone finished eating, we grouped everyone up to show them, and with some luck everyone saw them, but not as close as they may have liked to of been. Well, walking out of the heather, you couldn't get much closer than this.....

This is actually a younger Adder, but if you look closely to the bottom left, you may be able to see that it is eating a newt, fantastic.

Going back to some of the birds at Beak, about 3 Hen Harriers were flying about, a Golden Eagle, and a couple of Cuckoos. Driving out of Beak, this caught the corner of Bryans eye..... 

An adult Adder

Another incredible day, only one thing left to find for this week is an Otter!

Isle Of Mull 2012 - Day 1

Our 3rd consecutive year on this wildlife spectacled, Isle of Mull. This place is literally a dream come true, especially in the south of the Island. Based on the Western Isles of Scotland, it gets its rarities, as well as its beautiful scenery, incredible. You don't need to be a bird or nature lover to come here, its just incredible! Anyway, enough of the persuading, lets got on with the actual holiday.

First trip on the first day was down to Grasspoint, and it was a great couple of hours to spend the day after getting off form the ferry crossing. Plenty of Auks were visible from the ferry, all that was missing was a Puffin. Guilemot, Black Guilemot, Razorbill and Rock Dove were all visible. Grasspoint is a bit isolated on the island in the south-east corner, so its a bit of a drive. on the way through Glen More mountain range, a pair of Golden Eagle were on the lookout. A Wheatear in Pennyghael was an intriguing site, but they definitely breed here. Also on the list were plenty of Hooded Crows (Hoodys), a brief Redstart, Stonechat, Willow Warbler in good numbers, Lesser Redpoll and Common Sandpiper. A great number of Short-tailed Voles bring back breeding Hen Harriers, and Short-eared Owls. Only Hen Harrier were seen today, but Shorties were seen most other days. Another nice sighting was a male Whinchat, which are also breeding here in good numbers. Back in Pennyghael, a male Cuckoo was singing from a fence post, and remained settled for a while, and allowed photographs to be taken. All three resident Pipits here were present at Grasspoint, and not surprisingly, Water Pipit is not seen here.

Wheatear in Pennyghael.

Golden Eagle at Glen More

TOTAL OF BIRD SPECIES FOR 2012 = 176