HUMMER OF A DAY

Beautiful bright and sunny start to this morning, feet were really itching to get up and get walking. But sadly had to stay at home as I was expecting a delivery.
So around sun up I spent around 45 mins scanning the trees around the back of the house, just the usual common stuff Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Magpies, and Jackdaws, Rooks and Blue and Great Tits. Took a few Photo's then guess what? (The Battery Pack ran out), so now it was back to work. Brushed up the leaves along the front path, ran the hoe over the borders,then put on some thick gloves and pruned the Roses. In the front of the house I have a small paved area with a Garden Seat and some plant pots which still have a good display of Non Stop Begonias. It was by one of these that I was cutting up the Rose Prunings into a refuse sack when somthing flicked near my left hand. "WOW" I could not believe it, two inches from my fingers was a HUMMING BIRD HAWK MOTH its long tongue dipping into the flowers to take the Necter. Where was the camera? In the house having the batteries charged!!!! so I just stood there for a couple of minutes and admired the beautiful sight as it worked its way around the plants and then flew off into the nieghbours gardens. So sorry to say folks no shots of  a great Migrant Moth this time, hope you can make do with a few commoner species.
Finally I would like to say Hello to Mary in Florida for finding and taking a look at the blog, Thank you and I hope you come back again.

DIGGING AROUND THE PATCH

So woke up this morning and it was dry and clear, had a few jobs to finish off got through them about 08.40, then it was time to grab the cameras and head for the hills. My home in the village of Lanner is in a valley with  hills 500 ft high from North through West and to the South, with gently rising ground to the East. To do a circular walk around the tops is 4 3/4 miles, And I want to make this my home birding patch. This morning I only had about 1 1/4 hours to play with, so took a walk up the lane at the back of the house to the farm and then up the narrow footpath towards Carn Marth. What a change from the weekend, the sunny conditions had certainly brought the bird population to life. Got the first Redwings of the winter on the ground, lot of Woodies around Magpies, Thrushes, Blackbirds, and a few Finch flocks. On the way back down I suddenly thought I should take some Pics of the area I am going around, so the first two are coming back down to the village from my walk. The rest are a few of the birds I saw this morning, and with more time I am sure there will be a lot more to follow. One thing I am going to try for is Tawny Owl as we have two or three calling every night, and I want to try and find a daylight resting area and get some Photo's. The Blue Tit was as I walked out of my back door it was picking insects off my Radio Antenna.

AUTUMN TURNS TO WINTER

So Into the first week of November and we really have seen a change in the weather. Strong North Westerlys with a lot of heavy rain driving through. Not much chance to get out and about. I did manage an hour yesterday morning along Buller Downs, but it was blowing hard and the bird life was non existant. Only thing of note was this little chap in the first pic sheltering under a hedge out of the wind.

So it was back home where I managed to get this House Sparrow doing exactly the same thing in a Privot Bush.

So this morning Rememberance Sunday it was down West where I met up with my Pal Mark and we went to Marazion but very little around in the strong wind. So it was off over the High Moors looking for Owls and Harriers, went across Men-An -Tol and Trewey Common, could hardly stand up in the wind at times. Sad to say hardly a bird to be seen except for 1 Common Buzzard, and a flock of between 300-500 Golden Plover which were to distant and twitchy to Photograph. I think I have a flight shot of Golden Plover last winter at Trewey Common, so if I can dig it out I will add them to the bottom just for the record.

ST LEVEN CHURCH & THE RADDE'S WARBLER

Had a little lie in this morning, got up at around 06.45 looked out of the window to see a dull overcast morning, but at least it was dry. So decisions decisions today as there were two birds I wanted to go for, one was the Green or Greenish Warbler out on the Lizard Peninsula or the Radde's Warbler which was at St Leven Church near Lands End. So after a bit of deliberation and throwing grass into the air to check the wind direction St Leven won. So drove down and on arriving in the car park the first people I saw were JR & SUE and their other birding companion Chris. First thing was to take a photo of the beautiful old church to give you some idea of the area,then walked with the others up to where the bird was seen. As soon as we arrived we got onto it for about five seconds then it disappeared over a hedge, about 1 1/2 hours later it was rediscovered in some trees down the lane it showed well on occasions tho very mobile so only managed to get a couple of shots, one of which I have added below but this did not detract from seeing a really nice visitor. So that was about all for the morning so drove back home where my family were waiting to welcome a gentleman of lesuire as I retired from work yesterday, and it was my birthday today. Wow no more being penned up in work when rareites occur and can please myself when I want to do my own thing, as long as the wife agrees.
PS Welcome to Donaldthebirder as a follower, Thanks and hope you enjoy the blog.

MARAZION MARSH 25-10-09

Spent the morning at Marazion Marsh it was bright and sunny  with moderate wind coming in from the South West. Started off on the East side by the Standing Stone, nothing special just Little Egret, Grey Heron, Waterail and Kingfisher flitting up and down the reeds. I was joined by another local birder John and we were stood having a quiet chat when this big Black Labrador ran between us and jumped onto the bank and onto the reserve. I turned to look for the owner and this woman was strolling along about 50 metres away with a lead hanging around her neck. I shouted to her and told her to get her dog off the reserve and put it on the lead. At this request she got quite abusive, to cut it short heated words followed. The point I am trying to make is here were two people quietly enjoying a few moments of  bird watching,this spot is well known as a watching point so why could the dog not have been kept on a lead until past the area. I can respect her right to walk her dog, but why do so many of them not respect others enjoying their hobby as well, as this happens so often at Marazion and other places. Anyway after this I took  a walk along the path through the reeds hoping to maybe find a Goldcrest or Firecrest to finish the morning off. Did not find any, so I have just posted a few of the species I happened across.

MEDITERRANEAN GULL

Had a day of work today, last of my Holiday,so dropped the wife at work this morning and took the short drive down to Hayle.
First stop was the hide on Ryan's Field just about daybreak, not a lot to report about 9 Lapwings,3 Redshank, Grey Heron, Little Egret ,Grey Wagtail ,Peregrine Falcon,12 Curlews and a brief flash of Kingfisher. Took a few shots of the Grey Wag but nothing good enough to post.

So it Was then across to the Causeway to scan the Main Estuary, The tide was just starting to ebb so every thing was pretty far out. Good numbers of Teal and Widgeon building, plus plenty of gulls and a few common waders. I managed to see the bird I came down for the Spoonbill was on the far side resting. Did manage to get a few shot's of a Mediterranean Gull two of which I have posted tonight. I took them using the 1x4 converter on the 400mm Lens giving me about 560mm but I still had to crop them qiute a bit. The second shot gives a good comparison with the Black Headed Gull in the foreground.

NEW BLOGGER ON THE BLOCK

Hi Everyone just a text post tonight to let you all know that my Birding Pal Mark has just gone online with his blog in the last few days. the link is as follows http :// mark's wild thyme birding.com  Take a look as he will be putting up some great birding images over the coming Days & Month.s. If the link does not work, you should be able to access it from blogs I follow on the left hand side.

CHESTER, LIVERPOOL AND THE PEAK DISTRICT

Hi to evereyone and firstly may I say sorry for not putting up a post for just over a week. This is because my wife and myself were away for a week enjoying the beautiful North of England and the Peak District. As it was a Package  Holiday I did not have to do any driving, which was a pleasant change for me as I could sit back and enjoy the scenery. Sadly the down side it was not a trip for nature Photography. Still we saw some beautiful sights, had a good hotel and fine food, so it had its bonuses. So tonight I have put up a few images of some of the places we visited just to give a flavour of our trip. Hopefully next weekend it will be back to Mother Nature.

NANQUIDNO ROUNDUP

Spent the morning at Nanquidno Valley again yesterday, and it was very quiet on the bird front with very few Migrants in evidence. Had a good look for the Woodchat Shrike but no luck, so had to make do with a few Chiffchaff's, and Wagtails. On the way back we stopped at the top of the valley and had some great views of the Snow Bunting.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP

Well it turned out to be a very uneventfull Weekend, Saturday morning started dull and overcast with the prospect of rain. So best bet was Stithians Res in the hides, there was a Wood Sandpiper that I needed for my year list, and it was located on the far bank but to far away for any pics. Then it was accross to the Southern Cutoff Hide where I found a few locals Having breakfast on the feeders. So that was the best of Saturday Mornings outing.

On Sunday met up with my pal Mark at 06.50am and set off for Nanquidno Valley near St Just, this can be a good place for Autum Migrants. Guess what it was absolutly dead, Just a few Chiffchaffs, Long Tailed Tits, One Willow Warbler briefly, and a couple of Grey Wagtails + one female Pheasant. The light was reasonable, so took a few pics, GUESS WHAT nearly everyone had Camera shake when I put them up on the PC, in hindsight I knew I should have used a support as my lens is not IS, so being old and thinking I'm smart is not the way to go.Still things can only get better next time : Never to old to learn!!!