tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75636705215508793272024-02-19T07:07:18.989+00:00Stithians Reservoir Birding Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-25905238167188454222015-11-10T00:17:00.001+00:002015-11-10T00:23:59.054+00:00Work Party and Water Rail<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>Saturday 7th November</u></b><br />
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Well, it certainly feels a bit more autumnal now after that particularly mild end to October and the start of November ... the ringing demonstration was of course rained off, but a few of us hardy souls braved the elements and spent the better half of the day getting stuck in (not literally) to various bits and bobs up at Stithians. And although it started off wet (more low cloud and buffeting wind than actual rain for the most part), the day turned out nice, improving to bright sunshine even after midday.<br />
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Tasks for the day included attempting to drain the car parking area (it was in danger of becoming a lake in its own right), tidying and working on the access to the hides (strimming the footpath and moving leaf litter and soil) and more scrape work - clearing the willow scrub and lowering the soil level out in front of the Southern Hide.<br />
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I arrived nice and early, and took the time to check out the birds from the two hides whilst waiting for the others to arrive - rewarded with a nice Firecrest with two Goldcrest, just outside the Southern Hide. A good start to the day!<br />
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The four of us hardy souls, Greg, John, Beth and myself obviously had a great time, nothing better we'd rather be doing on a wet Saturday morning than getting wetter and muddier than a wet muddy thing (actually it was fine as we were mostly suitably attired). Tea break time and retiring to the feeder hide we were treated to a cameo performance from the Water Rail ('the' as in 'the same one as last year', perhaps?), with Coal Tit performing very nicely just outside the hide window, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers chasing around and (albeit a bit distant) a smart azure blue Kingfisher perched out in the middle.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Water Rail - perhaps looking slightly out of habitat (although wet woodland a known haunt), but certainly not complaining!</span></div>
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Carrying on with the scrape attempt (there's a lot to be done unfortunately, but every little helps in this situation (oh for that mechanical digger!)), for an hour or two our numbers slowly dwindled until it was just myself and Beth putting in some brief kingfisher perching posts on the main reservoir side, and then it was just me (Beth going off to go running - total madness?!) - I'd put off cleaning and filling the feeders till last. The feeders were fairly full, but unfortunately the bottom half of each was a fairly solid mass of congealed seeds, fortunately not yet too obviously mouldy, result of all the recent rain. Took me a while to sort them out (had brought a water container of hot, now still nice and warm, water for the job fortunately). Was beginning to regret having left this to last and all on my lonesome when a Magpie calling lifted my head, and then me out of my reverie, as it came into view tailing an ethereal floaty white thing - a smart wide-eyed Barn Owl. I stayed stock still as it floated across the gap in front of the hide twenty feet or so away and then towards the causeway. Certainly made my day, just a shame the others had gone already.</div>
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Stithians work party list -<br />
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<u>Southern Hide</u> -<br />
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Firecrest<br />
Water Rail<br />
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker<br />
Coal Tit<br />
Barn Owl - 3pm, past the Southern Hide<br />
Little Egret<br />
Grey Heron<br />
Kingfisher<br />
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2 Goldcrest, 4+ Long-tailed Tit, 6 Goldfinch, Buzzard distantly etc etc<br />
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Coal Tit. On a branch. Get in!</div>
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<u>Stuart Hutchings Hide</u> -<br />
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1 Pochard, drake - new in?<br />
12 Tufted Duck - highest number this autumn so far<br />
20 Wigeon<br />
40 Mallard<br />
78 Teal<br />
2 Shoveler, both male<br />
87 Lapwing<br />
5 Snipe<br />
2 Med Gulls (ad and 2nd winter)<br />
140 BH Gull<br />
60+ LBBGull - a good number dropping in on passage presumably<br />
150+ Herring Gull<br />
1 Peregrine - 1 in flight, and then perched on a distant telegraph pole.<br />
7+ Cormorants etc etc<br />
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A good haul in the end. A couple of Stithians year/season ticks in there too (eg caught up with Coal Tit eventually!), and some nice birds for the birthday too ;)<br />
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Thanks to all, after a bit of a break during the autumn, good to get down to some much needed work and maintenance again.<br />
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Volunteers hard at work</div>
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You tell them to work harder as you want to get some more action shots for the blog and they go and do this!!!</div>
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<b><u>Sunday 8th November</u></b><br />
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I had an unscheduled return first thing in the morning (well 10am) as I realised I'd left my coat in one of the hides! The weather seemed fairly dire driving in, but visibility was surprisingly good once ensconced inside. Even before entering the hide, and peering through the screen at the side I was treated to the aforementioned Water Rail, Coal Tit and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, this time also managing to count 10 Chaffinch at once.<br />
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The approach to the Stuart Hutchings Hide revealed 10 Snipe up and over the causeway in flight , and good numbers of Black-headed Gull again, with a Mediterranean Gull again - this one in lots of active flight though, dipping and swooping down to the surface. Fifty or so Fieldfare in flight over against the fields and woods were nice, and slightly bizarrely the same number of Redwing swirling in and down around the side of the hide briefly too. Ducks seemed in short supply, with only one Lapwing too, but then a small flock flew in from further up the reservoir - a dozen or so Mallard, with the two Shoveler, and a bit more special, the female Pintail that had been recorded in the week before. I left Daniel Eva in the hide, and carried on my way.<br />
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Pintail - photographic evidence it was there!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-12762437319995864462015-11-02T01:19:00.001+00:002015-11-02T01:19:29.188+00:006 months later ...<br />
... slight exaggeration - it's been about 5 and three quarter months since the last blog post, oops, so much for regular updates. Excuses mainly revolve around being too busy - too busy to upload photos, post, or even do much birding (or sort the computer out when it was playing up). Once you miss doing it one week it becomes a matter of catch-up, then the weeks simply become months.<br />
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Stithians Reservoir stayed there throughout this period.<br />
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It is still there. The birds were still there, and many/different ones still are. I'll probably post up a summary or two of the highlights at some stage. For now, however, I'll post up the results of last months WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) count, and mention a CBWPS/ Cornwall Ringing Group event this Saturday -<br />
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<b>Bird Ringing Demonstration at Stithians</b></div>
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<i>Saturday November 7th 0800 -1200 Leader: Mark Grantham
Text 07818 497470
Bird Ringing. Stithians feeding station Finches and Tits (meet at
8 am by the southern cut-off) The session is very weather dependent,
so if it looks windy or wet then please check if running. </i><br />
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Basically if the weather isn't calm/nice enough the event is unlikely to go ahead - to minimise stress to the little feathered bundles of joy whilst they await their shiny new bling. I'll try and post up confirmation/news either way the evening before.<br />
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<b>October WeBS Count</b></div>
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Haven't seen the Golden Plover, Dunlin or Shoveler recently, and Teal and Lapwing numbers have continued to rise, but this snapshot gives a fair indication of the birds about at the moment.<br />
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This Saturday gone there were 3 vocal Green Sandpipers together from the Stuart Hutchings hide, which was nice, and a week or so ago a nice flock of c200 Fieldfare were kicking about. The feeders are still there and attracting birds, although nothing that especial at the moment that I'm aware of.<br />
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Roll on the next blog post ... ;)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-82477668132788022792015-05-09T23:38:00.001+01:002015-05-09T23:40:55.941+01:00Striking Gold! <br />
Blog posts seem to be as rare as gold dust hereabouts at the moment, time to try and put that to rights a little I guess. Work, Spring and Life unfortunately all partially to blame - still coming to grips with all three. Oh, and Netflix too ...<br />
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The last post (which was itself a late post) started off with a nice list of birds which <i>hadn't </i>been seen recently at Stithians, and to be perfectly honest, probably wouldn't get seen. Of course this spring then saw an almost unprecedented influx of Hoopoes to south western Cornwall and Southern Ireland, along with a host of other southern goodies in ideal migrant influx conditions; none of which I saw (I probably should have made the effort to at least try and see the Woodchat Shrike over at Camborne, but I didn't).<br />
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Would Stithians be completely left out ... ?<br />
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... Keen followers of local bird news, or persons with excellent rep at guessing blog content from corny blog title headings may guess at what is coming. Local mining history aficionados will however probably remain a touch disappointed .... others will just have to keep reading (or just scrolling down and pretending to read.)<br />
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So, with further ado, to the important events of the date in question -<br />
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<u>Sunday 26th April</u><br />
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Myself and Samuel Perfect had arranged to meet Daniel Eva to assist with the nestbox monitoring which he is carrying out this season around 11am on this fine sunday (it was meant to be a worse day, meteorologically speaking, than transpired).<br />
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Meeting Daniel by the southern hides there wasn't an awful lot of unusual activity to get excited about - there may have been a singing Garden Warbler in addition to the Blackcap which did show itself, yesterday's Sedge Warbler wasn't even heard, but some birds were definitely about ...<br />
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At the southern end -<br />
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2 Great Crested Grebe<br />
2 Coot<br />
5 Tufted Duck<br />
Little Egret<br />
4+ Cormorant<br />
Sparrowhawk, male<br />
Great Spotted Woodpecker over<br />
3+ Buzzard etc<br />
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Around the feeders -<br />
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3 Greenfinch<br />
Reed Bunting etc,<br />
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And on the southern cutoff -<br />
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2 Coot,<br />
2 Little Grebe<br />
Grey Heron, Canada Goose etc<br />
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Having checked the hides out properly, we then did some proper work, as it were, and surreptitiously and in an entirely and consummately professional manner monitored some nests and nestboxes, no little birdies were put out too much hopefully in our scientific quest for knowledge.<br />
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So to the real highlight of the day (aside Daniel Eva sinking nearly waist deep into a wet muddy hole whilst attempting to give Samuel (who didn't have wellies on) a helpful piggyback across a damp looking bit) was a rather nice and completely unexpected addition to the day - a cracking adult male<b> GOLDEN ORIOLE</b> which flew across the road ahead of us as we trudged along having finished the nestboxes in the southern area. A real bonus, it perched up briefly in the treetops before taking flight again northwards (despite some hopes we didn't encounter it again as we checked nestboxes at that end).<br />
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This was a lifer for Samuel, a Cornwall tick for me, and the first for Daniel for some years. And probably a Self-Found tick for all too, in accordance with the official Girls Aloud Self-Finding rules.<br />
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2 Stock Dove over at around this juncture probably would otherwise have been a major highlight (Stithians yeartick and all that).<br />
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A cracking male Golden Oriole!</div>
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It perched briefly in full view, albeit a little distantly, before heading on north ...</div>
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Other birds encountered later included a calling Little Grebe and a third pair of Coot on the west side, with c.100 'large' gulls at the north end.<br />
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Butterflies included Speckled Wood, Small White and Peacock - more evidence of spring!<br />
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And the nest-monitoring itself?<br />
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Obviously some caution has to be exercised in this area, but currently (as of 26th April) - 7+ species proven nesting; Dunnock with 3 young, 3 Crow nests with eggs/young, Magpies, Buzzard, Long-tailed Tits, Song Thrush and the two common tit species all started or on eggs.<br />
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Stithians being inland, and rather exposed, the tits, especially, are not as advanced as other parts of the country (including various parks and gardens); all change soon presumably, as leaf unfold occurs and insect numbers take off (both the flightless and flighted ones).<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-47494581687573885012015-04-18T00:53:00.001+01:002015-04-18T00:53:25.124+01:00Spring is on the way ... late March update.<br />
A couple of Hoopoe, Black Kites over, an Osprey tracking north, what's that buzzing cheery little song emanating from the conifers? Ah yes, a smart little Serin of course ... if only these had been at Stithians. But nothing to get excited about as they weren't.<br />
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Just standard garden fare from my brief sojourn in France unfortunately. Not complaining, and possibly worth dragging myself, kicking and screaming away from the Falmouth area for ...<br />
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All good practise for when they do turn up ...<br />
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So to the (reasonably damp) reality that is Cornwall again - paid another flying visit en route from Falmouth to London and environs (for another family related visiting exercise) on the last Monday of the month. Getting up, packing, picking Samuel up (he'd somehow managed to cadge a lift back that way too), a touch of shopping and dropping some seed off and it was half one in the afternoon before we finally managed to arrive.<br />
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And unfortunately for the girlfriend waiting (im)patiently in the car, the visit wasn't actually that flying from then on in either - these things can't be rushed, and it was gone 3pm before we were to finally leave for our long drive east. In the meantime ...<br />
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... the feeders got filled, the waters were scrutinised and a nice bit of birding was enjoyed. Priorities! Sorry Suzi ... ;)<br />
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Apart from the feeders being practically empty (the usual state of affairs - think the birds, especially the Great Tits do it on purpose - throw all the seeds they don't like to the ground within the first half an hour of filling them up I reckon ... ), there was a noisy and excitable flock of 21 Tufted Ducks cruising around outside on the Southern Cutoff. Very nice, and perhaps the main flock from the Reservoir paying a visit, or numbers swelling from elsewhere. Nice.<br />
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Some of the excitable Tufted Ducks</div>
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A pair of Canada Geese also hove into view, and then proceeded to upend for our viewing pleasure.<br />
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The Canadas arriving. It would be rude to show them upending.</div>
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Other birds from the hide included 2 Mallard, 3 Teal and a Little Grebe on the water side, with reasonable numbers of passerines on/by the feeders as follows -</div>
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4 Reed Bunting (2 m 2f)</div>
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12+ Chaffinch</div>
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4 Dunnock</div>
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1 Blackbird</div>
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1 Robin</div>
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5 Blue Tit</div>
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2 Great Tit</div>
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2 Long-tailed Tit</div>
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2 Greenfinch</div>
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2 Goldfinch</div>
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6 House Sparrow</div>
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No Water Rail! This could well be because it has now moved on as the Zugunruhe* filling its little hollow air-filled bones led it inexorably up and away northwards ...</div>
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With six House Sparrow being a new record! Have only seen two at once prior to this, but have suspected more for weeks now, given the degree and volume of cheeky chirping coming from the bramble scrub further back beyond the feeders.</div>
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Male Chaffinch. Nice bird actually.</div>
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Male Reed Bunting. Full dress now.</div>
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Across to the other side and visibility was just about ok - birds were there and identifiable, but it was really quite closing on by the time we came to leave (and face the prospect of driving up to Kent in it, but that, as they say, is another story ... )</div>
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Didn't manage to see any Grey Herons on this visit, although the birder in the hide (from Porth way) did say he'd seen a Little Egret not long before we arrived.</div>
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What we did see were 2 Goldeneye (female type of course - and we'd actually seen them earlier as we drove across the causeway), a Great Crested Grebe (numbers seem sadly down on the high of 7 a few weeks back, although I'm sure it is about time a proper survey was carried out), the Slavonian Grebe still and 7 Little Grebes, many in dapper summer plumage now. Two Mallard, 3 Coot and a further 9 Tufted Ducks completing the line-up.</div>
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(* Zugunruhe - a German word describing the 'migratory urge' which takes over all migratory creatures when the time arrives.)</div>
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Selected March highlights -<br />
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Probably the major one would be the arrival of the first spring migrants proper with Wheatear (male) and Sand Martins (6) on the 19th (J St Ledger).<br />
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Bittern again - 22nd March showing opposite the Southern Hide, 4pm, R Menari<br />
12 Magpies<br />
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Intermittent cloud closing in, southern arm.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-8058744780313337612015-04-03T20:13:00.000+01:002015-04-03T20:15:22.656+01:00Once Bittern ...<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>Wednesday 18th March</u> -</b></span></span><br />
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Due to be away for the week to the parents in France, so my regular Friday visit swapped for the Wednesday, and a little later in the day ...<br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From the Stuart Hutchings hide -</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">11 Little Grebe</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1 Slavonian Grebe (looking a little smarter perhaps)</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2 female Goldeneye</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2 Tufted Duck</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From the Southern hide -</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4 Wigeon</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2 Moorhen</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2 Little Grebe</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3 Grey Heron</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1 Canada Goose flew through</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;">The seed feeders were already empty - but birds still kicking around, including a Reed Bunting and 3 Dunnock. One Blue Tit rather startled itself by flying towards the feeders whilst I was still filling them without seeing me until the last moment - if Blue Tits can look </span></span><span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;">embarrassed</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"> this one would have looked very surprised and sheepish as it made a hasty mid-air about-turn when realising there was a big human only three feet away as it was about to land.</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.6666660308838px;">Hung around a little - checking out by the causeway in the hope of Woodcock starting to stir and checking the margins in the hope of the weekends Bittern, but no luck.</span><br />
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The south west corner from the Southern Causeway</div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I couldn't be bothered to wait until actual dark (sundown was 18:25, and it was getting chilly), so at a quarter to seven called it a day. Turned the car around and was driving over the causeway to see a familiar shape flying over the road ahead - a real actual Bittern! Managed to track it's direction (whilst staying on the road myself), and pulled up half way across the causeway (in the pull in bit, but still left the lights and hazards on) - managed to pick it up stalking along the edge of the water. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An unexpected car tick (don't actually recall whether I have previously picked one up whilst driving before), but very nice to see up at Stithians even if the views were not the best.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Managed to get some <strike>excruciatingly awful</strike> nice record shots of the Bittern - well worth sharing as ever. The bird may even be recognisable in some!</span></span><br />
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There's a Bittern on the other side somewhere!</div>
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And there it is ... zooming in with camera </div>
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And after a bit of basic processing ...</div>
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... it really is one ... !</div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.6666660308838px;">Would have been directly opposite the hide had I been there, but the light was continuously fading and I was hungry so left it at that ...</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-66040215505963404602015-04-03T10:40:00.001+01:002015-04-03T10:41:04.040+01:00Brief update - disturbance to hides this Saturday morning.Running behind again and better to post something up ... perhaps. Will update this post properly later on today.<br />
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Just to mention that there is a volunteer day organised for this Saturday and that there will be some disturbance around the hides - quite possibly to the extent that the hides will be unavailable to visitors at times in the morning.<br />
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Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause - hopefully the bright sparkly new nature of the hides in the ensuing weeks will be well worth the sacrifices made. I won't be present unfortunately - currently halfway across the country on familial duties but I'm sure The Team will cope well without me. Will be back soon ...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-42476434296903452842015-03-17T01:11:00.000+00:002015-03-17T01:11:04.030+00:00Friday 13th - lucky moving day. Again.As luck/chance/fate, or none of the above would have it, it is exactly a month since the feeders were last moved - hence the title. It has a slight oriental ring to it, to my mind, and would have course been amply completed with a nice Chinese Pond Heron or something similar on site, but alas it was not to be. After a hard mornings graft (cleaning holiday lodges as the latest exciting task visited upon me by the agency), and it was over to Stithians with some more poles in order to refill the feeders and move to them a new spot within the area.<br />
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A couple of Blue Tits and some near empty feeders - if only they'd stop eating all the food!</div>
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As mentioned previously, the feeders need moving on a regular basis - this time it was back the way they came, but a little closer (hopefully to still give half-decent views for the pesky humans), hence the poles (ex-willow branches, not ex-agency staff from foreign lands of course). I didn't quite have enough, so a minor bit of cannibalism of the contraption t'other side was required, and the end result even more Heath Robinsy than before (or 'Rustic' to be more precise) but as long as the birds like it and it doesn't fall over<i> too</i> soon it's all ok as far as I'm concerned.</div>
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Mr Heath Robinson would've been proud ...</div>
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The Southern Hide and closest feeders</div>
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A nice red fungus (not it's real scientific name) from below the feeders</div>
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The feeders, despite being nigh-on emptied by the voracious hordes of winged guzzlers, were still as popular as ever.</div>
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Birds present -</div>
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1 Moorhen (showing well for once)</div>
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6+ Blue Tit</div>
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3 Great Tit</div>
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4 Dunnock</div>
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17+ Chaffinch</div>
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2 House Sparrow</div>
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6 Goldfinch (actually they were just flyovers - probably as a protest the nyger seed had all been consumed)</div>
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1 Magpie</div>
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1 Blackbird </div>
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and 3+ Reed Bunting</div>
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Out on the water, 9 Wigeon still were nice, 2 Mallard proportionately less so, with 50+ Starling over being interesting, and one Muscovy Duck being of almost unmentionable and unparalleled beauty ... perhaps. </div>
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A duck of superlative beauty? Hmmm ....</div>
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The waters on the main reservoir were pretty bleak and underwhelming, but there were still birds out there -</div>
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2 Great Crested Grebe</div>
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1 Grey Heron</div>
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1 Little Egret</div>
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1 Coot (it's crossed over!)</div>
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2 Cormorant</div>
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8 Little Grebe</div>
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4 Mallard</div>
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12 Canada Geese in the distant green field</div>
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with 1 Buzzard and 3 Carrion Crows over.</div>
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So no spring migrants yet ... and no sign of the Slavonian Grebe either. Perhaps it (and hopefully some more Great Cresteds were hiding in a sheltered bay, or perhaps my brief sweep of the waters failed to reveal them amongst all the wavelets.</div>
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Bit choppy and a nearly full reservoir</div>
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Other recent sightings -</div>
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Sometimes almost an afterthought, or tagged on the end but bird of the week at any rate in this portion (if you exclude the Muscovy Duck of course), and almost breaking news - a <b>Bittern</b> at Stithians for one lucky observer (Julie Martin) from the Southern Cutoff Hide on Sunday the 15th - only report this winter as far as I'm aware. Also -</div>
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Kingfisher, Water Rail and GSW on the 8th (J and F Rice)</div>
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Slavonian Grebe, 3 f type Goldeneye, 2 Snipe and 6 Reed Bunting on the 14th (J St Ledger)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-51067825011323123792015-03-11T23:17:00.000+00:002015-03-11T23:22:59.249+00:00Grebe City - 6th March 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Big news on the bird front from the weekend was the sudden arrival of a bunch of Great Crested Grebes - seven to be precise.<br />
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Myself and Samuel had turned up on the Friday 6th March on the way back from carrying out the WeBS count at a few sites on the Lizard to finally meet one of the regulars (Farleigh Rice - nice to meet you), and news that there were a pair showing outside the Stuart Hutchings hide. Being the non-twitcher that I am though, went to the Southern Hide first to check and fill the feeders, of course ...<br />
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The usual suspects were on show here of course, although a Raven in flight and the large white Muscovy Duck (readily confusable for a Mute Swan or even a Snow Gooses, with enough imagination?) were more unusual perhaps.<br />
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Raven in flight</div>
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Coot, Snipe, a bunch of Wigeon, and two Little Grebes - one of the latter appearing to be in full breeding dress were on show outside. I also managed to see my second newt of the year (presumably the commoner Palmate Newt) - as the one of the grebes swimming across the water was carrying one - a little sadly perhaps (for me; the grebe was quite a bit happier, and the newt probably really rather upset with the whole situation.)<br />
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Crossing over to the other side and it soon became apparent an influx of Great Crested Grebes had occurred - 3 pairs, two of which were showing varying degrees of amorous display and a further single. Along with at least another ten Little Grebes and the Slavonian also showing well at times it was a veritable grebe-fest! Interesting to wonder were they had all come from - the WeBS count on the Lizard had revealed there were still 11 on Loe Pool. Not checked Argal Reservoir yet where 7 or so have been hanging out all winter, but will get back on that one. Certainly they seem to be on the slight increase in the county of late.<br />
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Great Crested Grebes engaging in varying degrees of their iconic pair bonding ritual</div>
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And a relatively dowdy Little Grebe 'scurrying' past</div>
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Ten distant Tufted Ducks, a quartet of closer Goldeneye (including the first smart male in quite a while), plus one other distant bird, and a handful of Wigeon, Mallard and Teal helped complete the lineup.<br />
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Goldeneye - smart birds those drakes</div>
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Enjoying the grebes and their displaying in the shifting waters we were also treated to a brief flight and sortie into the scrape (now wholly integrated into the waters of the reservoir, but you can still just about make out the outline of the bank from the ripples/wavelets/vegetation) from the long-staying Slavonian Grebe - nice. Still pretty much in winter plumage though, unfortunately.<br />
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Slavonian Grebe showing a nice bit of underwing</div>
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At least one Little Egret was still present (perhaps one day we'll suddenly notice they've gone for the season, and then be a little sad?), and our grebe-induced reverie was interrupted by a distant raptor over the far side - a Peregrine which landed on one of the distant fence posts bordering the lakeside footway. Excitingly, it then took off and headed our way, before repositioning into one of the scrubby windswept trees on our side.<br />
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Peregrine Falcon in flight. Rubbish shots of course, but just too exciting not to.</div>
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They always get the pulse racing a little ...</div>
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I returned the following day as a meeting had been arranged to discuss the proposed scrape from the Southern Hide. Tony B plus two offspring, and Greg were also present - it was good to get more of a handle on the score and meet on site. Unfortunately the morning's sun had disappeared long since.<br />
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The feeders were of course still dripping - 3 Blackbirds a new maximum, but 3 each of Long-tailed Tit, Reed Bunting, and wholesome numbers of the other regulars too of course. Three House Sparrow too! A Kingfisher on the far side was good (hadn't been reported for a while now). The Boring Old Water Rail present of course.<br />
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GSW - still playing hard to get</div>
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Checking out possible digger access, I inadvertently flushed two Woodcock from the woodland near the waters edge, exploding up from the ground near my feet, heavy chunky birds, rusty rump and tail and a side glimpse of the stout wooden bill ... they are always great birds to see. And if only I'd seen them before they'd seen me ...<br />
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As with any wooded site in Cornwall, it may be possible to catch up with these beasties around or after dusk as they move between daytime roosts in the more sheltered woods and feeding areas in damp fields for the night - a stakeout another time may well be in order.<br />
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Checking out the hide with Greg after, we picked up slightly lower numbers of Great Cresteds and Goldeneye - down to 5 and 3 (no male) respectively. What we did spot distantly in the fields beyond, however, was a group of feeding Canada Geese (ultimately c.40) with what appeared to be 2 Greylag in amongst them. Hot-footing it over there before the light completely failed I was able to confirm they were indeed Greylag Geese and not <i>obviously</i> escaped farmyard geese - although one did have some odd paler feathers where it perhaps shouldn't have - bah! (Admittedly the whiteness of the feathers may be accentuated in post-processing, in the gloomy light this was not readily apparent at the time).<br />
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Greylags - the odd white feathers perhaps indicating some untoward influences at least ...</div>
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I also encountered my first Stithians Common Toad of the season along the way on the pathway itself ...<br />
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<i>Bufo bufo</i>, probably a male</div>
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Highlights from previous visits - still 7 Long-tailed Tits together back on the 27th Feb, 3 Fieldfare also over on the workparty monday (as I was carrying the tea tray back up t' track), and a few other bits and bobs.<br />
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No Weasels yet (see <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31711446" target="_blank">here</a> if you have managed to as yet remain immune from this nationally breaking and very important story, are now a little intrigued and wish to be just a little amazed (with more on the internet at large of course, including various slightly funny/unfunny/hilarious memes (spoofs) on the subject)).<br />
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Looking forward to the first spring migrants of the year - the first Wheatears, Sand Martins and others have now been hitting the UK for a while now. Of course it will take a while before the main arrivals and the floodgates open, but eyes to the skies (and the bushes, waterways and other random scrubby habitats wherever a stray migrant may possibly be lurking ... )<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-14937074638493102412015-03-08T00:35:00.000+00:002015-03-08T00:38:18.767+00:00Changes ...A million David Bowies can't be wrong ... or maybe they can?<br />
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Afraid that the past few weeks have been a bit busy for myself, apologies that the blog is only just now being updated ...<br />
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Change can only be a good thing, so they say. Not necessarily true ... but some is good. A few things have changed ...<br />
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Spring is moving onward apace ... buds swelling, bumblebees and butterflies emerging ... but not at Stithians yet much (to my knowledge), and a touch of wind and cloud cover and it would seem we are still in the icy grip of winter. But the first frogspawn can now be seen, and the sun does come out occasionally.<br />
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Frogspawn (the sun is yellower and a bit bigger, no photo, sorry).</div>
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So what else has been going on? - Well, firstly we <i>didn't</i> have a visit from the infamous BikingBirder (he did call by in 2010, before my time) - weather and running late in the Penzance area (boo hiss shame!) and the nearest he came to visiting the reserve was a brief sojourn in Falmouth (a bed for the night and the King Eider at Maenporth for second breakfast). Nice to meet, and good luck for the rest of the year.<br />
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(BikingBirder aka Gary Prescott, aiming to break the UK record which he jointly holds at 251 from his 2010 effort, and visit every single RSPB and WWT reserve in the UK in 2015 for charity. Both aims slightly, but not quite totally mutually exclusive.)<br />
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More here - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bikingbirder2015">https://www.facebook.com/bikingbirder2015</a><br />
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Possibly more relevant to most visitors (we also didn't have a visit from Elton John, JLS OR Chris Packham) was the first inaugural 2015 CBWPS volunteer work party on the Monday 2nd March. This was an official event featuring the hardcore team of myself, Dave Bray, John St Ledger and Greg Adams (the change gang?). Various tools, machines and misc. other items were wielded, a welcome flask of tea and biscuit selection was miraculously provided by some friendly neighbours (friends for life when cookies are the currency?!), weather was endured (I even experienced my first snow of the winter!) with several interesting wintry showers, and Fluorescent yellow jackets were even involved. (Most unfortunately, our official volunteer badges didn't make it in time).<br />
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Stuart Hutchings hide (with some evidence of Work Carried Out).</div>
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Overall it was a rather productive session (not sure if it was actually 'fun', admittedly) - more graffiti was wiped out (it would have been more if the battery had been more alive), the feeders were taken down and given a <i>proper</i> clean, a general tidy-up occurred, and work carried on in a rather serious fashion on the car parking front with involvement of multiple wheelbarrows and shovels - with the later addition of some surfacing there is now sufficient parking for a good quartet of visiting motor vehicles - indeed, a whole cavalcade, if one were to turn up.<br />
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One car - and room for more!!!</div>
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(I must be a rubbish Event Organiser - apart from failing to provide any Ginger Nuts or Chocolate Hobnobs for the Willing Participants I completely failed to get any axe-wielding volunteer shots or similar. Probably a good thing though in many respects ...)</div>
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There has been some discussion in the hide logbook concerning the position of the feeding station having been changed. The long and the short of it is that recommended advice from 'the authorities' (BTO/RSPB) is that feeders are moved on a regular basis (eg monthly) to minimise the buildup of infectious diseases on the ground and general area - some species (eg Chaffinch and Greenfinch) are particularly susceptible to some pretty nasty fungal and virus infections which can rapidly spread between birds in sites where birds congregate. More here -<br />
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<a href="http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=67323">http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=67323</a><br />
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(From the Hallowed pages of BF, sorry couldn't find the actual correct and original official links this time around)<br />
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At the end of the day the welfare of the birds comes first (and human visitors second, sorry!)<br />
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And just to confuse and possibly upset a different set of everyone (!), and taking on board the recommendations, the feeders will shortly be moving back in the direction they came from to give the ground below their current location a bit of respite ... however they should be able to be positioned a little closer and we'll see what we can do about a slight positional change ...<br />
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(In previous years I believe feeding has ceased as winter ends and the breeding season starts - I see no reason why we can't continue with the peanut feeders at least throughout the year (dependant on stock remaining) to maintain interest on site ... we'll see how it goes anyway.)<br />
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Not much on the birds this time I'm afraid - will hopefully remedy that soon (early this coming week) with exciting bird news and photos from the last week or two.<br />
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Some recent sightings from the logbook (Feb) -<br />
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27th Feb - Sparrowhawk from Southern Hide (Chris and Lindy)<br />
28th Feb - Goldcrest, 6 Lapwing, 29 Wigeon, 4 Goldeneye (f) (D Eva)<br />
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These Wigeon wanted to be on the cover of Abbey Road, but their agent said No.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-14206234276767670812015-02-21T12:12:00.001+00:002015-02-21T16:55:34.513+00:00Friday the 20th February - Wigeon and co.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Important breaking news!! - The scrape wall in front of the Stuart Hutchings Hide has been breached! Well, not exactly, but the water level in the reservoir as a whole has risen enough that it has been overtopped, and birds and water can now flow freely between the two ...</div>
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What better sight (and sound) to cheer up a winter's day birding than a flock of wiffling Wigeon?</div>
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Two Teal within the scrape (and another 10 elsewhere, mostly seemingly paired up), 40 Wigeon (some of whom ventured within the soon-to-be-subsumed scrape) and 3 Mallard were on view from the Southern Hide, with 15 Lapwing resting on one of the islets and 6 Little Grebe dotting the bays. A female Goldeneye was also out on the water, with the <b>Slavonian Grebe</b> still present, but both really requiring the use of a scope for anything other than preliminary identification. </div>
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Other birds included 3 Meadow Pipit and a Pied Wagtail, 3 Carrion Crow, a Little Egret (later 2), the odd Herring Gull and flyby Magpie, and a little later on, 2 Raven down near the shoreline and 2 Buzzard over. </div>
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Crossing the road and on to the Southern Hide, and we could see, even before we reached the hide that a couple of Grey Heron were resting along the shores; 3 in total along with a Little Egret could be seen upon entering the hide.</div>
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3 Herons and an Egret</div>
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Other birds out on the marsh included a handful of Teal, a trio of Wigeon, and the lonesome Coot.<br />
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It was good to see the feeders, nearly empty from hungry bird-related ravaging, proving popular in their new location. Too popular perhaps?!<br />
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The usual suspects were present, it was good to see the Water Rail and Great Spotted Woodpecker (a male this time) putting in appearances. More shy was the Moorhen - lurking in the undergrowth, and 2 Woodpigeon further into the woods.<br />
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The full roundup included -<br />
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15+ Chaffinch<br />
4 Reed Bunting<br />
1 Greenfinch,<br />
2 Goldfinch<br />
2 House Sparrow (mf)<br />
3+ Blue Tit<br />
1 Great Tit<br />
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Water Rail, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Moorhen as mentioned,<br />
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with Blackbird, Dunnocks and Robins all present and correct<br />
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A selection of happy customers - Water Rail, Greenfinch and Blackbird.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Have a suspicion more than just the maxima of 5 Reed Bunting noted last weekend are present/passing through - different plumages, whether the bird is ringed or not may be clues, but it is hard to tell, without making more of an effort to look at them all properly!</span></div>
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At any rate, none of the birds today appeared ringed, and didn't notice the rather more advanced adult male this visit - last weekend it (or possibly another) was even in full song in the warm February sunshine!</div>
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Great Tit with a nutritious snack pilfered from the feeders</div>
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<u>Reserve News:</u><br />
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There are a couple of CBWPS work parties in the offing - the hides need re-staining externally, with ongoing general spruce up required (not saying that they are made of spruce ... although they could well be), finishing the grafitti removal (thanks Dave for making further inroads + sorting the noticeboard) and other odd jobs around the general area.<br />
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Made some minor adjustments to the feeders - raising the far peanut feeder a little for example.<br />
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Exciting news is that the plan for the proposed scrape outside the Southern Hide from a few years back is being looked into again - if this goes ahead (dependent on finance proposals etc going through, largely out of the hands of the society as such) this will hopefully bring more permanent standing water nearer to the edge of the hide (and hence waterbirds, hopefully), and at the same time eliminate the encroaching willow stands which have been a problem in the past.<br />
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Fingers crossed!<br />
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<u>Other Bird News:</u><br />
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15/02/15 - 4 Common Buzzard, 3 Pochard, 2 Grey Wagtail, 90+ Black-headed Gull, 2 Common Gull (D Bray)<br />
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16/02/15 - 2 Bullfinch, Water Rail etc (J and F Rice)<br />
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Male Reed Bunting</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-58144474710355900592015-02-14T00:37:00.000+00:002015-02-16T23:43:17.492+00:00Friday 13th Feb - Lucky Moving Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: left;">Back up to Stithians on the weekend - a planned morning visit on Friday became an afternoon visit, but it ended up being as successful as could have been hoped for (no limbs lost, achieved mostly what we wanted to really quite smoothly and efficiently, saw some things with wings etc).</span></div>
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I had big (relatively speaking) plans, and stopping en route first for Samuel P, and then again for the required materials, and being hit by one horrendously wintry shower at just the wrong time along the way, arrived on site and decided to quickly check out the Stuart Hutchings Hide before starting any other proceedings. Highlight here was the Slavonian Grebe - showing nicely, along with a sprinkling selection of the other regular fare, including -</div>
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1 Cormorant</div>
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4 Meadow Pipit</div>
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1 Pied Wagtail</div>
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2 Carrion Crows</div>
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1 each of Little Egret and Grey Heron</div>
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A handful of Teal and Mallard</div>
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8+ Little Grebe</div>
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c10 Wigeon</div>
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And some gulls.</div>
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Slavonian Grebe - probably the closest I've seen it to the hide yet</div>
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Little and Large - Meadow Pipit and Cormorant</div>
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Samuel also reported there being a Goldeneye out there, and there were a few more Wigeon and a Coot off in the distance. An interesting looking female Teal then caught Samuel's attention, so I quickly left to pursue more practical pursuits ...</div>
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So the plans; apart from briefly looking into a minor access issue with regard to the Southern Hide, the main activity this visit was to relocate the feeders from over one side of the hide to the other. Recommended advice (RSPB/BTO etc) is to move the feeders in one's garden every month or so to a different spot in order to stop the build up of bird faeces, mouldy bird food ... and hence disease (one can also disinfect the ground as well, something to look into too perhaps).</div>
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It's been a while now (and it isn't a garden), but apart from one decidedly off-looking Chaffinch the other week, we've probably gotten away with it thus far, but it's much better to be cautious and avoid potential problems before they occur ...</div>
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So with some previously cut alder and willow poles, some other bits of wood and a few stones and fixing materials, it didn't take too long before a new feeding station had suddenly materialised just outside the right hand side of the hide ...</div>
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The new feeding area! </div>
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Any worries that the birds wouldn't take to it were rapidly dissipated as within a couple of minutes of turning our backs on it and hanging the newly filled feeders up a Robin and a Long-tailed Tit were <i>there</i>. Five minutes and a bundle of Long-tailed Tits were hanging off the feeders, Great and Blue Tits were investigating, and it wasn't long before almost the full range of feeder addicts were present and going for it.</div>
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... and the first bird on the feeder prize goes to - the Long-tailed Tit</div>
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Shortly followed by a Blue Tit. Cute or wot?</div>
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Female Reed Bunting</div>
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Goldfinch - there's gold in them thar wings ...</div>
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The birds are now less than half the distance they were before - this should please most human visitors, but there may be issues with some of the shyer birds getting used to the idea, and there may be a need for slightly more care to be taken in the hide (noise levels etc), but the birds generally didn't seem all that bothered by our presence when we were there.</div>
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Thinking about it, perhaps hanging a feeder or two a little further back may help; a few extra bits of timber might be required and not quite finished yet, but nearly there.</div>
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Can't be bothered to type everything out on this occasion when I've already gone and written it down in the notebook - additionally there were two Moorhen under the old feeder - but as shy as ever. Nice to see 5 different Reed Bunting - one male in particular will be looking quite smart pretty soon if it's appearance now is anything to go by ...</div>
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Back to the car with considerably less stuff, and continuing on with another little practical project - the regaining of the car parking situation - the local farmer has widened his farm gateway to an enormoooous width - so the visitors to the hide have suddenly found themselves with precious little parking. Verging on the ridiculous - quite literally. Anyway, as if by magic, car parking spaces should be gradually appearing before our very eyes as we speak...</div>
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A quick look from the SH Hide again, probably most of the 93 Lapwing which had apparently dropped in earlier still present, with a scattering of gulls, including c40 Black-headed, and time to scoot again ...</div>
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A couple of exciting gulls - Herring and Black-headed.</div>
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This week gone (7th -14th Feb) was National Nestbox Week apparently (<a href="http://www.bto.org/about-birds/nnbw" target="_blank">link here</a>). </div>
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(Part of the service we provide on this blog is to report important events like this as, when, or shortly after they've happened ...)</div>
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I'm not involved with the nestboxes on site at the moment (although perhaps I should be at some stage later in the season), but been reminded now that I do have a couple of nestboxes of my own I really ought to be putting up one of these years ... this one might do.</div>
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The obligatory view on a nice winters day showing how the water levels are progressing nicely</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-53507340533250056762015-02-11T23:22:00.000+00:002015-02-12T18:27:48.739+00:00 Weds Feb 11th update - WeBS and Events<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: left;">This months WeBS count is in - still really rather quiet, probably good to get the Slavonian Grebe on for another month and a quartet of Goldeneye, but that is mostly it ... The hoped for evidence of cold weather movement little in evidence - Wigeon numbers much as they have been, not much else has really changed. Hoped for additions such as Goosander or Gadwall (may have been a bit of a minor influx to the region the last week or so of the latter) sadly still being awaited.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWiyNZWlRuWEEiepkNycOe0jyzrcB1-5BO8CDR-EsnzWITkrFItgGJEUHYJ8-LBfSYhU70Eep8NSfgfRxFLK111ZIFE7asm-DJIqdIJ8MV_HqVPP3vWBGMOsGaw9bNqCw_SVx3q2f9IOM/s1600/VerticalSpeciesListPDF-page-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWiyNZWlRuWEEiepkNycOe0jyzrcB1-5BO8CDR-EsnzWITkrFItgGJEUHYJ8-LBfSYhU70Eep8NSfgfRxFLK111ZIFE7asm-DJIqdIJ8MV_HqVPP3vWBGMOsGaw9bNqCw_SVx3q2f9IOM/s1600/VerticalSpeciesListPDF-page-001.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's only been 3 weeks or so since the last WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey in case anyone was still wondering, a long-running count of the nation's waterbirds organised by the BTO, see link in the right hand taskbar for further info) was carried out, another month until the next ... we'll see what changes, if any, that brings ... here's hoping? (Thanks to S Taylor for the count and data.)<br />
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<b>Other Exciting News</b></div>
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There is a new section added in the 'taskbar' at the top of the page - 'News and Events' . (Or click below to open in a new window) -<br />
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<a href="http://stithiansreservoirbirding.blogspot.co.uk/p/news-and-events.html" target="_blank">News and Events</a></div>
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Basically added to the blog in keeping with my hope it will be useful as a resource and not just me wittering on and on about some birds I've seen (!), as there are two Stithians-related events happening this weekend - CBWPS ringing event at Stithians, and a SWLT walk at College Reservoir (less than 3 miles distant as the Wigeon or rare duck flies, so still pretty relevant to proceedings here). </div>
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Not personally involved in any official capacity with either - contact details are given, and myself, this blog, the Duchy and any ducks around and about cannot be held responsible in any way for anything untoward or exciting happening, weatherwise or other. Both open to the public, but please do see the link for further details.<br />
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Now that it is 'on the blog' I will add future events and happenings (hopefully with a little more notice) as I become aware of them, keep an eye on that section if you're local (or even if you're not, perhaps!), although important announcements will be referred to here in these normal (if that is the correct word to use) blog pages as, when and if I feel like it (or remember).<br />
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Other notable bird news in the week -<br />
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Tues 10th Feb - 6 female/immature Goldeneye (C Barnard)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8C-uPDwxvWqML9XplGPAjRqmO_w4q3unKdZOGme4h_XBO593icQY9jRQnfKoewsmHwxp_oYk6JvGChQqeiPECOyQfzoJC8ieQZ1xQNxeBjNOMS6k7CyRmMvuB0RkWF6SEMP2qXT6_TI/s1600/100_5395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8C-uPDwxvWqML9XplGPAjRqmO_w4q3unKdZOGme4h_XBO593icQY9jRQnfKoewsmHwxp_oYk6JvGChQqeiPECOyQfzoJC8ieQZ1xQNxeBjNOMS6k7CyRmMvuB0RkWF6SEMP2qXT6_TI/s1600/100_5395.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Back of Beyond ...</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-74334354218671773582015-02-10T02:30:00.000+00:002015-02-10T02:57:47.518+00:00Monday 9th Feb - Pre-amble and Peregrine.<br />
And so to some more birdy blog reporting. First the pre-birdamble though ...<br />
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I was actually up at Stithians on this Wednesday past, along with most of the rest of 'the team', for our induction meeting with SWLT as volunteers - we are now able, trained and ready to wield a paintbrush, screwdriver AND a flask, know which end is which, <i>and</i> roughly know what each one is for.<br />
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Actually we don't, at least any more than we did before.<br />
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On a more serious/sensible note, it was a useful morning all round, with hopefully much positive working in partnership to look forward to as we work towards maintaining and improving the habitat and area for the birds (alongside of course some maintenance of the hides etc allowing our visitors to enjoy and appreciate the birds).<br />
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Continuing on a slightly serious note there are a few practical bits and bobs I've been holding off doing and we will now look into - nothing major or requiring any expense to speak off for now, so please don't get too excited. For example, the installation of those heated armchairs for the hide will have to wait a little longer ... (along with the hot drinks machine and automatic snipe finder 2000)<br />
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So that was all good.<br />
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I was up at Stithians, but unfortunately inside, a place normally fairly devoid of birds; I did have a very brief scan of the water after we'd parked up by the Watersports Centre near the north end but sadly saw only a few Tufted Duck ...<br />
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I did manage to photograph the board showing the Reservoir though;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnbAJZbHuu5ukvmBPL6iB4NJGVt1Q5XcA5jCFnY55zS6ZhzPNnsfmsoH4v8b94BIXPr1FPABdKNCqaIMEZoStLb7mzqfc_n1512cSr-_0IiyVzdCiOALSaAKqELeXBKbBUnY2BDjan4M/s1600/100_5204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnbAJZbHuu5ukvmBPL6iB4NJGVt1Q5XcA5jCFnY55zS6ZhzPNnsfmsoH4v8b94BIXPr1FPABdKNCqaIMEZoStLb7mzqfc_n1512cSr-_0IiyVzdCiOALSaAKqELeXBKbBUnY2BDjan4M/s1600/100_5204.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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It should be noted that it actually appears like this -<br />
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on the OS map (and most other maps probably - if ever Australia take over the world (unlikely perhaps?), rotate it through another 180 degrees and everyone'll be happy). Note the remarkable resemblance to a mutant seahorse ...<br />
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I was also up on Friday ... but again, not so much birding was to be enjoyed. This was mostly due to be being a bit rushed for time on my weekly feeder visit - the car wouldn't start, and in asking the landlord for a quick look to see if he could figure anything out, it turned out he was heading up that way anyway - so I leapt (well more kind of shuffled) at the chance - the birds would be happy and fed.<br />
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Notable highlights - 2 Little Egret from the Southern Hide and 2 Goldcrests in the Pines outside the Stuart Hutchings Hide, with most of the normal stuff around the feeders. A quick scan of the waters but still no Slav ...<br />
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A potential visit on Saturday was postponed until Sunday, and then didn't happen at all, which brings us to ...<br />
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Monday 9th February</h3>
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Attempts to remove the graffiti are still ongoing. The internet lied when it said cheap hairspray (the cheaper the better) was great at removing felt tip/marker pen from wood. White Spirit was so ethereal as to have almost no effect whatsoever either. The cheap sandpaper I have now seems like the best way forward, although I have a feeling some less cheap sandpaper (or an electric sander or perhaps a water buffalo or two) will do the trick better. The last two perhaps equally impractical or unlikely. Still do have the slightly unlikely trick up my sleeve of toothpaste (from a different internet site) to try.<br />
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Oh yes - birds -<br />
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The weather was positively balmy - bright sunshine, temperatures hovering only slightly below double figures - it seemed until I entered the hide and spent five minutes without a coat.<br />
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Birds seen initially -<br />
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4 Lapwing on the bank in front of us<br />
Little Grebes (eventually totalling 11)<br />
A couple of Herring Gull<br />
Lots of Wigeon - c80 I reckon, but they all flew up the reservoir and out of sight shortly after first being seen.<br />
Samuel saw the Slavonian Grebe.<br />
I saw some Mallard, some Teal (about 8 of each), a Grey Heron and a Little Egret.<br />
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Then I saw a ... Peregrine Falcon. Not far out on one of the islets.<br />
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It saw us (or more likely, it had seen us all along).<br />
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Peregrine Falcon</div>
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Still a Peregrine </div>
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Perhaps some Lapwings saw it too - they took off, joined by a further 6. The Peregrine balefully glared at us, despite us being in the hide, and a good way off - and after a few moments, rather awkwardly shuffled off to the other side of the small islet it was on. A last look at us and then it ducked down out of sight.<br />
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If looks could kill we wouldn't want to be a small waterbird</div>
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And then we saw it (presumably same again) in one of the scrubby trees bordering the reserve area - although it did look small initially, and neither of us had actually seen a Peregrine in a tree before (apparently most don't sit it trees - the last one I saw in a tree turned out to be an Eleonora's Falcon). Partially obscured by branches, the immature falcon took our full attention for quite some while.<br />
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Peregrine perched in a tree. </div>
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It actually flew between 3 different scrubby trees - but never showing that well unfortunately. The above is really just a record shot to prove it actually was in the tree.<br />
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There were also 5 Meadow Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail flirting with the shorelines - running and chasing, checking out the different islets and each others feeding spots; always mobile.<br />
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A bit of a surprise (well shock to be honest) was suddenly noticing a cock Pheasant strutting out on the open waterside not far out below us whilst we had been preoccupied with the Peregrine.<br />
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Male Pheasant. Very smart - in one sense of the word.</div>
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We eventually dragged ourselves away and to the Southern Hide, the feeders mostly running on nearly empty by now but still with the regular assortment of birds - a maximum of 20 Chaffinch, 4 Goldfinch and a single Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Water Rail and a male and female Reed Bunting. 4 Great Tits, 3 Long-tailed and the other minor players present. Both Great Spotted Woodpecker and Jay were heard - the latter so fleetingly I don't really think I can bring myself to add it to the yearlist, to be honest. We'll see - I'm sure we won't get that desperate, but you never know.<br />
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Out on the marsh, 17 or 20 Teal could be seen doing Teal type stuff, 4 Snipe were hidden in the long grass, another Grey Heron and a Little Egret too, and that was just about it, the odd other corvid, a couple of Buzzard wheeling about and a couple of Redwing over.<br />
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Male Reed Bunting</div>
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Water Rail - showing rather well ...</div>
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We (myself ably assisted by Samuel) were able to sweep both hides out and give the remaining feeders a proper clean before hanging back out with fresh food, and a few other minor practical bits and bobs, but the time still flew and I realised we would have to be back home soon because the girlfriend would be finishing work soon and I had the only key (hers - I'd lost mine whilst attending the breakdown guy) and I didn't want to incur any possible wrath.<br />
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One quick stop at the end of the causeway revealed a skulking Song Thrush near our feet and 2 female Goldeneye out on the water. A scan further up finally revealed the Slavonian Grebe hanging out with the two Tufted Duck, and a large expanse of choppy water which didn't really look like it held anything else, so we scooted. Hopefully the scars will heal soon.<br />
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Other noteworthy sightings, not quite so recent, but from the notebooks -<br />
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30th Jan - 20 Curlew near Menherion<br />
31st Jan - 2 Peregrine Falcon (J St Ledger)<br />
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Southern cutoff - another view. Blue skies!</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-64700570487827369912015-02-06T00:44:00.000+00:002015-02-06T22:13:18.898+00:00Stithians List - JanuaryNot totally sure what a 'good' year should bring in terms of species numbers (I have an inkling 120+ have been reported as a year total in a previous year - at some point I will try and work out what 2014 brought), but not a bad start to the year list - undoubtedly some common/regular winter species still to come. Slavonian Grebe the only really 'unusual' species, visiting Shoveler, wintering Goldeneye and Pochard good. Little Egret, Common Gull and Mediterranean Gulls are 'interesting' in an inland water body context, and the feeding station is undoubtably a good site locally to see and enjoy Water Rail and Reed Bunting - the latter especially tricky otherwise.<br />
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The ongoing 'Stithians Yearlist' is accessible from the tab below the main photo at the top of the page, this will be updated regularly through the year in date order as new species are seen.<br />
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(or here- <a href="http://stithiansreservoirbirding.blogspot.co.uk/p/yearlist-for-2015-all-records-as-noted.html" target="_blank">Stithians Bird List 2015</a> )<br />
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1<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Canada Goose<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
2<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wigeon<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Teal<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mallard<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Shoveler<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
6<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pochard<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
7<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Tufted Duck<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
8<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Goldeneye<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
9<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cormorant<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
10<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Little Egret<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
11<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Grey Heron<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
12<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Little Grebe<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
13<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Slavonian Grebe</b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> - possibly the returning bird from last year?</span><br />
14<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sparrowhawk<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
15<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Buzzard<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
16<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Kestrel<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
17<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Peregrine<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
18<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Water Rail<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
19<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Moorhen<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
20<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Coot<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
21<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lapwing<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
22<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ringed Plover<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
23<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Curlew<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
24<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Snipe<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
25<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Black-headed Gull<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
26<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mediterranean Gull<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
27<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Common Gull<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
28<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lesser Black-backed Gull<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
29<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Herring Gull<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
30<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Great Black-backed Gull<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
31<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Woodpigeon<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
32<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Kingfisher<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
33<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Great Spotted Woodpecker<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
34<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Magpie<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
35<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jackdaw<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
36<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rook<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
37<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Carrion Crow<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
38<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Raven<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
39<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Goldcrest<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
40<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Blue Tit<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
41<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Great Tit<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
42<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Long-tailed Tit<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
43<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Chiffchaff<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
44<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wren<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
45<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Starling<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
46<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Blackbird<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
47<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fieldfare<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
48<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Song Thrush<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
49<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Redwing<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
50<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Robin<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
51<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Stonechat<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
52<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dunnock<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
53<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>House Sparrow<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
54<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Grey Wagtail<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
55<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pied Wagtail<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
56<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Meadow Pipit<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
57<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Chaffinch<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
58<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Greenfinch<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
59<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Goldfinch<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
60<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bullfinch<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
61<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Reed Bunting<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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Additionally, Muscovy Duck and hybrid Canada/Greylag Goose, and on the mammal front, Red Fox and Rabbit.<br />
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Records from the hide notebooks, internet bird reports (eg cbwps sightings) and my own and others' sightings. If you've seen anything at the reservoir this year not on the list let us know!<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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No sightings have been reported elsewhere this week that I'm aware of, so nothing new to report bird wise.<br />
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You may remember this stunning image from earlier last month (23rd) and the question posed as to how many birds were present ... well I can now reveal the answer (at least I think I can - a quivering leaf in the background may yet turn out to be yet another camera shy avian fiend, but probably not) to be ... 18. Anyway, 16 Chaffinch, 1 Greenfinch and 1 Reed Bunting ... the birds may look attractive and bright to us when perched on a bird table or out on a twig, but they are superbly cryptically camouflaged when against the leaf litter of the forest floor ...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-24751957698832886842015-01-31T15:09:00.000+00:002015-01-31T16:35:51.300+00:00Friday 30th January<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The week flies. Admittedly Saturday to Friday isn't quite a full week, and only 6 days, but still ...<br />
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At first glance the view from the hide wasn't that enthralling - a handful of gulls and distant Cormorants, but sure enough the birds were out there.<br />
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The total roundup from the SH hide included 12 Little Grebe, c. 90 Canada Geese and 80 Wigeon, 30 Mallard, 30 Teal, 10 Tufted Duck and 4 rather distant female type Goldeneye.<br />
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The gulls were represented by a dozen or so each of Black-headed and Herring, with single Lesser Black-back and 2 Great Black Backed Gulls. A Grey Heron was hanging about, as was a Little Egret with interesting legs - a greenish grey as opposed to the normal black - but only interesting in that it was most probably a young bird rather than being a rare transatlantic Snowy Egret ... 5 Cormorant in total could be seen.<br />
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Synchronised Cormorants - the next olympic event?</div>
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Lean to the left ... ok, not quite that synchronised then.</div>
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... and stretch. </div>
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Not the only Cormorant to ever have done this by a long stretch.<br />
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Two each of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail and a single Lapwing roosting on the nearest islet suddenly became 60 or more, although 5 minutes later all the ducks and assorted small birds took flight (presumably an unseen raptor or other scary bird flew over - unfortunately not seen by me), and suddenly we were back to 2 Lapwings. But they had been there.<br />
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Lapwings looking a bit worried</div>
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Naughty young gulls. Always begging for more ...<br />
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(It can be seen from this photo that there was also a Carrion Crow present; other birds included two distant Buzzard, but that really was just about it.)</div>
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The Southern cut-off held another 20 or so Teal and a single Coot - a Southern cut-off site year tick. Exciting stuff. The feeders were almost depleted, but the birds weren't. No snow here yet (probably won't be), but it has gone cold again - if I'm feeling it the birds most certainly will be.</div>
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16 or so Chaffinch, 6 Blue Tit, 3 Great Tit, 4 Dunnock and 3 Robin, with 2 each of House Sparrow, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Reed Bunting. Goldfinches, single Greenfinch and Blackbird and the Water Rail probably completed the line-up.</div>
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The couple who had been in the hide before my arrival and left whilst I was finishing the feeders had mentioned the woodpeckers hadn't been down to the feeders; upon filling them of course they suddenly were. A Goldcrest flew past, and that was mostly it.</div>
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First winter Blackbird, 'ouzing' charm- note the pale neck band</div>
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Woodpecker acrobatics - finally on camera.</div>
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Two Ravens wheeling and cronking over the farm buildings were a pleasant addition to the days proceedings - once upon a time would have been a very exciting addition. Now a species almost to be guaranteed in the wilder farmed stretches hereabouts.<br />
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A short walk along the eastern side as far as the dam produced nothing more exciting than better views of some of the aforementioned waterfowl, an extra half dozen Little Grebe-esque blobs, a couple of Wren buzzing from almost underfoot, and a Buzzard. And a Fox. The bitter wind had abated somewhat (or I'd toughened up slightly) as I made the return and enjoyed better views of 3 of the Goldeneye as they gathered ready for the night.<br />
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Goldeneye, 003 </div>
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No sign of the Slavonian Grebe, but that doesn't mean it isn't there, somewhere ... Reported as still present on the 29th Jan (Birdguides). Grey Wagtail reported on the 26th ( F Rice).<br />
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Looking back</div>
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Southern Cut-off from the Carnmenellis Causeway</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-42945518746369031772015-01-25T15:50:00.000+00:002015-01-31T15:09:53.219+00:00Big Garden StithiansWatch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">... or something like that.</span></div>
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Our garden in town isn't really our own, and with 9+ cats in the immediate vicinity and no bird feeding going on (if we did it should then probably be called 'cat feeding' instead) we headed up to the Stithians feeding station for an hour's vigil this Saturday morning.</div>
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Our* timed hour (10:40 - 11:40) resulted in the following species totals<i>. </i>(ie the maximum number recorded occurring together at once) -</div>
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Water Rail 1</div>
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Moorhen 1</div>
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Woodpigeon 1</div>
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Great Spotted Woodpecker 2</div>
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Blackbird 2</div>
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Robin 4</div>
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Dunnock 4</div>
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Wren 1</div>
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Long-tailed Tit 9</div>
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Great Tit 4</div>
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Blue Tit 2</div>
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House Sparrow 2</div>
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Goldfinch 6</div>
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Greenfinch 2</div>
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Chaffinch 16</div>
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Reed Bunting 3</div>
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Magpie 2</div>
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(All on, or in the immediate vicinity of the feeders themselves)</div>
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Lots of lotties (Long-tailed Tits)</div>
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Worth a closer look? ... Awww ...</div>
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There were also c.14 Teal, 1 Grey Heron and 4 Snipe on the Southern Cut-off (but we didn't really count them, as they aren't really 'garden birds' and they weren't that close by) and after the hour was up, 12 or so Redwing also flew into the trees behind the feeders.<br />
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Great Spotted Woodpecker playing coy.</div>
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The Magpie. Innocence personified ...</div>
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A brief look at the main reservoir also revealed the following -<br />
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102 Canada Goose<br />
62 Wigeon<br />
19 Teal<br />
17 Mallard<br />
6 Tufted Duck<br />
2 Goldeneye<br />
7 Little Grebe<br />
1 Slavonian Grebe<br />
2 Grey Heron<br />
1 Little Egret<br />
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(Didn't carry out the counts ourselves, we almost certainly saw mostly the same birds though; numbers from the notebook immediately prior to our arrival as reported by D Eva (nice to meet you again btw!))<br />
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Other notable sightings from the week past include -<br />
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17/01/15 - 150 Herring Gull, 50 Black-headed Gull, 2 Common Gull, 1 Mediterrnaean Gull (J and F Rice)<br />
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24/01/15 - 70 Lapwing from the SH hide (Simon Van Hear)<br />
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Thanks also to Simon for the bird seed contribution.<br />
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Slavonian Grebe. (Full zoom, then cropped some .. )</div>
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(* 'We' being myself and girlfriend Suzi, and S Perfect, also currently of Falmouth)</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-16073789905388179432015-01-23T10:50:00.000+00:002015-01-23T22:59:40.403+00:00Friday 23rd Jan - the week so farBeen passing by a few times in the week - including one day of blustery wind and one of glorious sunshine.<br />
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To start, a few more pics of last weeks Ringed Plover (I'm working on the assumption it's the same bird, encountered a couple of times) near the watersports centre.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XMfAS1B1yFaPZTi3XOde8RTkX86p1KfpH4zlXopp9iMWl_6dsSXBCu-IwSO8QBStWlhMJ4fUobVSij0STORGzHIAjidyYaVgXV9K_mLZH9dLK9ElyLaCgTUtAvKUOerhSY6XsfZtZWg/s1600/100_4378-crop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XMfAS1B1yFaPZTi3XOde8RTkX86p1KfpH4zlXopp9iMWl_6dsSXBCu-IwSO8QBStWlhMJ4fUobVSij0STORGzHIAjidyYaVgXV9K_mLZH9dLK9ElyLaCgTUtAvKUOerhSY6XsfZtZWg/s1600/100_4378-crop.JPG" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Monday - most of the usual suspects at the feeders including the Water Rail and Reed Buntings, but the highlight was probably a record count of 22 Chaffinch. House Sparrows now on the feeders. Downside was finding half the hide windows left open by a previous visitor on my arrival - a Grey Heron flushed off the near bank of the waterside as the daylight 'flashing' from the hide disturbed it as opened the door.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Highlights of Wednesdays visit were 7 Shoveler (all sleeping, unfortunately), 70 Wigeon, 95 Canada Geese, 39 Teal, 1 Goldeneye etc (it was pretty choppy and I couldn't really tell if the Slavonian Grebe was present or not with my current optics (the scope having recently suffered an unfortunate mishap)). Great Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Reed Bunting from the Southern Hide, and Goldcrest by the Stuart Hutchings hide.</span><br />
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1 drake and 2 female Shoveler</div>
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Male Reed Bunting</div>
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Swung by, yet again, on Thursday - passing by and so a quick check. Usual suspects at the feeders - Water Rail, Great Spotted Woodpecker flyby (it had been using the peanut feeders earlier according to the birder couple already in the hide before my arrival), Greenfiches, Goldfinches and Long-tailed Tits (using the fat ball feeders also). Quick check and clean of the feeders and I left them to it (the birds, and their observers). The distinctive 'chacking' of a Fieldfare overhead impinged upon my consciousness as I walked out of the scrub woodland, but by the time I'd registered and started looking in the direction it (or they) had been going I didn't catch a sighting.</div>
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The Shoveler were still asleep in exactly the same spot (or so it seemed), scattered Herring Gulls (60), the Little Egret and a few Meadow Pipit, along with the normal numbers and range of waterfowl. Checking briefly from the eastern end of the causeway I finally picked up the Slavonian Grebe, not too far off the south western corner, and a more distant female Goldeneye.</div>
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Somnolent Canada Geese</div>
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Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend!!!! - our garden is generally not that great and so I will probably be up to the reservoir feeders for an hours session to see what we can see ... check out the link below for more information ...</div>
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<a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/</span></a></div>
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Count the birdies - how many can <i>you</i> see?! (Click to enlarge)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-27694865021043597992015-01-17T22:22:00.004+00:002015-01-17T23:30:00.367+00:00Saturday 17th January - West Side StoryThought it was high time I took a bit of a longer explore around the lake - not a full days bird race, more a quarter days bird explore-the-place-at-a-reasonably-slowish-pace.<br />
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Or something like that. Schedule, roughly - Stuart Hutchings Hide briefly, Southern Hide for the feeders, SH again for a quick double check, explore the west side a bit more properly from the watersports centre on down, and a very quick double check back at the hides.<br />
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The water levels are now up a lot higher after only a few nights of heavy wintery rain, but our first glance out of the hide windows revealed disappointingly few birds. Many of the usual suspects were present on or around the feeders from the hide on our arrival on the other side of the road however, although not all - the Water Rail was doing his/her stuff, but no Greenfinch or Goldfinch, House Sparrow or Great Spotted Woodpecker. Numbers also a bit on the low side - aside 2 Reed Bunting, numbers a little depressed for everything else (maybe it was too early in the day). There were also 7 roosting Snipe on the marsh.<br />
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The view from the Stuart Hutchings hide - becoming a lot wetter</div>
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In contrast, things had picked up a lot on our return to the main hide overlooking the southern end of the reservoir - the Slavonian Grebe showing well along with 10 of its smaller brethren (the Littles), 40+ Wigeon, a quartet of smart wing hanging Cormorants, 15 Meadow Pipits and so on. Many of the birds were starting to show better and at closer range, now that the water was lapping a lot closer to the hide itself. Small flotilla after flotilla were gently appearing now, presumably as the watersports function of the reservoir to our north started kicking in on this fine Saturday morning. The best ducks were saved till last - 4 Goldeneye become 6, although all female type, and fairly distant (so not actually that exciting really, if we're going to be totally honest). Even a large fox and a rabbit (not both in the same time and place) kickstarted the mammalian side of the experience. A fly over Peregrine sadly eluded me however - too many trees in my way and an armful of feeding paraphernalia I should have just dropped largely to blame. <br />
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A feeding duck is a happy duck - male and female Wigeon</div>
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Cormorants now in 'summer' plumage</div>
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The excitement continued on exiting the hide as a couple of small passerines eventually revealed themselves as 2 each of Chiffchaff and Goldcrests tumbling in and out of the pines outside the hides- tail flicking and darting, gravity defying bounces between the close knit needles very entertaining but not good for trying to get a record shot. (In the end I put the camera away and just enjoyed them instead, which was really the sensible thing to be doing.)<br />
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A Pheasant hopping up out of the road and into someone's garden was a personal yeartick but probably too far from the reservoir itself to sensibly make it onto the Stithians yearlist. A few Rooks around the perimeter, probably were close enough however, as were a grand total of 3 Song Thrushes in the field adjacent to the 'parking' at the southern end.<br />
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And so to the north. We ended up driving and parking at the Watersports Centre, and not too long after passing through the thronging watersports devotees kitting up and lugging wet sail things into and around the waters edge, we came upon one of Wednesdays Ringed Plovers, longer views this time, and a nice bird for the visit (along with many of their family, they certainly have the 'cute' factor). Carrying on around, worries about walking into the sun dissipated a little as the clouds started to come out now and then. We could still see. Highlights in brief (ish) would be the flock of 90 Canada Geese lingering offshore, a Little Egret, a smart Grey Wagtail, an inlet of the lake with a small Cover of 15 Coots (the collective noun for a group of Coots - although I am rather liking the alternative suggestion of a 'Quarrel of Coots) and so on ...<br />
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Ringed Plover</div>
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It wasn't long before we'd picked up our first Stonechat for the year, perhaps a little oddly standing in the middle of a short-grassed field - they typically like a perch to survey from, and this one was a long way from anything at all perchlike or even vaguely vertiginously perpendicular to the general plane of its field, but perhaps he (it was a male) was just copying the rest of the Meadow Pipits, thrushes and Starlings also about. The thrushes consisting of 30+ Redwing and a fair few Blackbird. Continuing around and there were then 3 Stonechat on the remaining exposed shoreline, another Reed Bunting and 4 Bullfinch in a hedgerow tree. Waterfowl weren't featuring too strongly any more, with more Little Grebes adding up to 25 in total for the lake, and the odd Tufted Duck, but this was really of no consequence at all in terms of our enjoyment. One bird that should of course never be forgotten (he says, ever so slightly tongue in cheek) is the magnificent Feral Pigeon - a flock of c20 wheeling over towards the village almost instantly forgettable (I just about remembered to include them in this account).<br />
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That typical waterside species, the Stonechat</div>
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A Redwing - quite smart birds to be honest</div>
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On our return north and to the car, the northern cutoff contained one perching Common Buzzard on its perimeter, and one overhead, Grey Heron, Little Egret (presumably the same as earlier?), a bunch of Mallard and another 6 roosting Snipe (which Samuel insisted on trying to check for Wilson's Snipe, the N American equivalent to ours - well, you never know ... )<br />
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Three Curlew in the curlew field on our way back weren't that exciting, a last check before we totally left revealed an impressively tightly bunched 160 or so Herring Gull and 4 Common Gulls on two of the remaining exposed muddy islets (I would have tried to capture the exciting scene, but my camera battery had now died), and so we continued on our way.<br />
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View of some Coot and distant Watersports Centre</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-30430527363219875392015-01-17T00:23:00.000+00:002015-01-17T00:27:50.282+00:00January 2015 WeBS CountThe WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) count for this weekends January count, carried out by Simon Taylor.<br />
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20 WeBS species recorded (waterfowl and waders, gulls and raptors) - variety and numbers relatively poor, presumably due to the generally mild weather further afield.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-66035170083999531582015-01-14T22:57:00.001+00:002015-01-14T23:14:46.652+00:00Weds 14th January. The race is on ...A bright day beckoned and the day was spent out birding ... probably too much birding, but with local birder Samuel Perfect back at Falmouth Uni after the hols, a new year to bird in, and sunshine(!), it was all too much to resist. A circuit around the local area (starting from Falmouth, and all within 7 miles of the reservoir) netted 88 species by days end - some good birds and a few surprises (most surprising probably being a Sandwich Tern at Devoran, and a couple of Scaup, at College Res and Swanpool). Just a shame the rain came out and the birds went in for the latter half of the afternoon.<br />
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We hit Stithians only slightly later than planned, at around 2pm, and managed to visit both main hides and fill the feeders before the rain really got going.<br />
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Four Magpies flying up from the feeders upon our approach were the only feeder tick, but as usual the place was fairly brimming with birds. Selected maxima -<br />
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Chaffinch 14<br />
Great Tit 7<br />
Blue Tit 5<br />
Dunnock 7 (!) Can't think I've ever seen more in one place before ...<br />
Goldfinch 3<br />
Greenfinch 2<br />
Reed Bunting 1<br />
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Actually, may as well post everything up. So, everything else maxima -<br />
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Robin 3<br />
House Sparrow 2<br />
Water Rail 1<br />
Blackbird 4<br />
Magpie 4<br />
Woodpigeon 1<br />
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With a Chiffchaff nearby, a Great Spotted Woodpecker (GSW) flying into the copse, although immediately landing out of sight and so eluding Samuel totally, and out on the marsh, 9 roosting Snipe and 14+ Teal.<br />
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Chaffinch, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Water Rail, and yet more Chaffinch ...</div>
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A small contingent of gulls from the Stuart Hutchings hide included 2 Lesser Back-backs, with the Slavonian Grebe showing well, along with 5 Little Grebe in a tight bunch nearby. Very little in the way of wildfowl to see in a perfunctory scan.<br />
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We next headed to the northern end in the hope of catching up with more ducky goodness unimpeded by the small wavelets causing slight issues at the southern end; as it turned out the wind and surface were even rougher here; but we persisted anyway.<br />
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25 Mallard and 1 Little Egret were in the northern cutoff, with more Little Grebe offshore (15+ total for the reservoir as a whole, probaby many missed due to the conditions.) Moving on to the sailing club road to try and find a Goldeneye or Pochard for the day list, we instead managed to add 15 Lapwing as they and 40+ Curlew took to the skies distantly from the fields alongside the western side of the reservoir. Scanning for raptors which might have caused the upheaval was without success, although shortly after a Kestrel overflying the water may well have not been a coincidence. The culprit. Possibly. A Peregrine would have been nicer. <br />
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A surprise (because we'd thought them long gone) were 2 Ringed Plover on the shoreline - nice, although views were all too brief as they flew around the corner - time was of the essence and we didn't follow them. 3 Common Gulls battled the winds overhead, and that was about it.<br />
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Except it wasn't quite over yet - on our return to the southern end on our way out we stopped at the end of the causeway to find ducks had vastly multiplied in our absence - in addition to a hundred or more Canada Goose out on the waters, the southern end now held 35 Mallard, 60+ Wigeon, 20+ Tufted Duck, and finally, and most satisfactorily, 2 female Goldeneye diving alongside the shore.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQM_KqWtp0Vac-JvRxT_I1kGvLWsL83s0KCb3Ua9nEozNOIbl4F8hoM-4Bsc6hqjQs4ppfwBYyfSnQISgGbn7W2dSW-BdkkagsBQvSZtKTkYc3HUSVygES1f3HLCHDkhhwI7_3Vv-9y8/s1600/100_4278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQM_KqWtp0Vac-JvRxT_I1kGvLWsL83s0KCb3Ua9nEozNOIbl4F8hoM-4Bsc6hqjQs4ppfwBYyfSnQISgGbn7W2dSW-BdkkagsBQvSZtKTkYc3HUSVygES1f3HLCHDkhhwI7_3Vv-9y8/s1600/100_4278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a>In terms of our impromptu 'bird race' we had Stithians to thank for a handy 7 or so new species - Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Snipe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lapwing, Kestrel and Goldeneye, not all of which would have been easy to find otherwise. Unfortunately those were to be the last new species of the day.<br />
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Maybe should try and see what a full circuit of the reservoir on its own can produce in a day, one day perhaps ...<br />
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A nice picture of some brambles. I had been hoping it would be a nice picture of a Chiffchaff.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-32261408288203964212015-01-11T23:32:00.001+00:002015-01-11T23:32:27.798+00:009th January 2015That Friday feeling again ... feeder time. Fairly typical weather of late too, if not a little worse (but of course as nothing compared to 113 mph winds as experienced up in Scotland recently)<br />
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Anyway, enjoyed the usual buzz of activity from the Southern Hide, totals as follows -<br />
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Chaffinch 16<br />
Greenfinch 4<br />
Goldfinch 3<br />
Reed Bunting 2<br />
Blue Tit 7<br />
Great Tit 4<br />
Water Rail 1<br />
Blackbird 2<br />
Robin 2<br />
Dunnock 2<br />
House Sparrow 2 (not <i>actually</i> feeding, but looking shyly from the undergrowth as if they wanted to)<br />
Water Rail 1<br />
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So fairly buzzing at times!<br />
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There were also 22+ Teal out on the marsh and 1 Carrion Crow looking a little forlorn in the approach copse.<br />
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A bit of activity - Great Tit, Goldfinches, Blue Tits</div>
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Three grumpy old men - Greenfinches</div>
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The view from the Stuart Hutchings hide was particularly bleak at times, driving rain and the surface buffeted by strong winds as the odd squall passed through; no grebes that I could discern (perhaps they were further around the res in a more sheltered spot, or just hidden in the troughs), but 40+ Wigeon and 10 Mallard were working the margins around the causeway end, and c.150 Herring Gull, 5 each of Black-headed Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull, and single Greater Black-backed Gull and Common Gulls were sheltering in the lee of the bank in front of the hide. Three Cormorant and 3 Meadow Pipit completed the line-up.<br />
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And I think that was about it. I had wanted to take a bit of a walk along the east side, but not the greatest idea in the conditions, so I didn't.<br />
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Common and Herring Gulls</div>
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Two Cormorants having a breather</div>
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Other recent sightings of note -<br />
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10/01/15 - Slavonian Grebe, 2 Pochard, 6 Common Gull (4 1stw), 3 Lapwing (J St Ledger)<br />
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11/01/15 - 2 Mediterranean Gull, Little Egret, Muscovy Duck (!) (SVH)<br />
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Finally, spot the Meadow Pipits (2)</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-64287170459514611822015-01-10T14:36:00.000+00:002015-01-10T22:47:18.027+00:00Friday 2nd January - A belated New Year<br />
The holiday period is probably well and truly over for most, dinners have now been fully walked off, resolution lists safely mislaid and diminishing sales bargains increasingly ignored.<br />
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But trust all enjoyed an enjoyable christmas, and best wishes for 2015, birding and otherwise!<br />
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For the birds of course, life carries on pretty much the same, albeit possibly with a little more (or a lot, depending on location) disturbance. The usual worry (inasmuch as birds 'worry') over next meal, predator avoidance and keeping warm the ongoing concerns for our feathered friends, as opposed to heating bills, credit cards, year lists and the like.<br />
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The feeding station from the hide window ... blue skies!</div>
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Many of the usual suspects were present upon my arrival at the Southern Hide, with a few notable additions - four Woodpigeons blasting up from under the feeders as I approached the hide. I guess they belong as much as any other species, but not usually amongst the most welcomed bird feeder visitors, it has to be said.</div>
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Not having to worry over any possible favouritisms on this one, a dazzling Kingfisher brightly arraigned on a branch in front of the hide was much more of a pleasant surprise - guilty only perhaps of being too bright on a typical winter's day (various small fry may well argue otherwise).</div>
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Twenty plus Teal were scattered about (there could have been twice that number hidden), and the Great Spotted Woodpecker flew past. Didn't see the Water Rail myself on this occasion, but it was reported in the notebook from earlier in the day.</div>
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The view from the main hide was strangely devoid of birds - a few distant gulls and the regular Little Egret the only birds to be seen ... Hmmm, I think. Fair enough weather and holiday time? - yep, most probably down to human disturbance again. And of course, on returning from the feeders and checking it out properly it almost undoubtably was - one young fellow down near the shoreline with two tripods, and all the Canada Geese and other waterfowl on the water halfway up the lake. He wasn't actually inside the nature area, and I don't actually believe there is any such thing as 'common' sense, but he must have been aware that his presence wasn't doing the birds any good, surely, standing there in the open? They do say fieldcraft is a lost art ....<br />
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There were still a few Little Grebes and the Slavonian down at the southern end (the latter perhaps why our 'friend' was away from all cover and near the waters edge, at a guess?), but most birds had shifted well north. Halfway to the dam and I was able to count a reasonable variety of waterfowl - c130 Canada Goose (including the two (presumed Greylag/Canada) hybrids), 60+ Wigeon and 50+ Mallard. Highlight however was a party of 4 Shoveler - 1 male and 3 female types (didn't get around to ascertaining exactly - the light was fading and I wanted to scan a little further ahead). Certainly a 2014/2015 winter tick for myself.<br />
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Shoveler party (looking a little hungover, perhaps? )</div>
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A Buzzard (aka Worm-eating Eagle) looking as regal as ever broke the skyline to my right, and towards the northern end of the lake a group of 6 female (type) Goldeneye bobbed and dived . 2 Pochard (a male and a female) completed the line up with a Cormorant and uncounted numbers of Tufted Duck and Coot (there weren't that many; I just didn't count them).<br />
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Common Buzzard</div>
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Little Grebe numbers that I was aware of crept up to 16 in number, and that was mostly it. Darkness didn't fall, but it was getting decidedly gloomier as the day crept towards its end.<br />
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The view north from the east side, showing whence all the birds had gone.</div>
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Other recent sightings of note;</div>
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<u>28/12/14</u> - 6 Redwing, 70+ Woodpigeon, 2 Little Egret (J and F Rice)</div>
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<u>31/12/14</u> - Bullfinch (S Martin)</div>
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<u>01/01/2015</u> -1 male Goldeneye, Slavonian Grebe and 10 Pochard from the SH hide (G Adams)</div>
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Thanks to S and J Martin for the donated seed and other bird food!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-57678114240173119682015-01-02T23:03:00.000+00:002015-01-02T23:47:42.774+00:00Friday 26th DecemberA miserable morning (weather-wise), but headed up to the reservoir to check the feeders after lunch. Weather still not great, but gradually cleared by the end, birds present - always great, and as usual something new to see.<br />
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The feeders were, as to be expected, fairly heaving, with the following maxima counted -<br />
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Greenfinch 7<br />
Chaffinch 12+<br />
Dunnock 4<br />
Reed Bunting 3<br />
Great Tit 2<br />
Blue Tit 4 <br />
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with singles of Robin, Blackbird, Water Rail and a couple of Long-tailed Tits.<br />
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Slightly further into the woods, a Great Spotted Woodpecker investigated the mossy trunks, a Moorhen meandered through the undergrowth, and a flock of 8 Long-tailed Tits bounced between the trees either side of the hide; as mentioned a couple decided to briefly hang off and try their luck at the peanut feeders. Two tiny Goldcrest with them were also nice; a bird seen in flight across the hide appeared to be a Firecrest, but in-flight views not really good enough for a positive claim unfortunately (the head looked good, but hey). Will have to keep an eye out ... <br />
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We can still see you ... Long-tailed Tit</div>
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Further still and 15 Snipe and 22 Teal resting up on the marsh were good, with a Grey Heron stalking the shallows and a Buzzard in the field beyond completing the line-up from the Southern Hide.<br />
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Snipe and Teal</div>
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The Stuart Hutchings hide produced fairly distant views of most of the usual suspects, a little depleted perhaps;<br />
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16 Herring Gull<br />
5 Black-headed Gull<br />
50 Mallard<br />
19 Tufted Duck<br />
5 Pochard <br />
7 Little Grebe<br />
1 <b>Slavonian Grebe</b> (still worth putting in bold?!)<br />
1 Little Egret<br />
2 Pied Wagtail <br />
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Main interest, aside the Little Egret in active mode, was seeing an immature Herring Gull still begging for food (not quite sure if it was totally successful as was attempting to get a pic). A late bird? Wonder when this behaviour finally ends? - until the adults finally persuade them they won't get anything, or are some more 'gullible' than others?<br />
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Herring Gull begging for food</div>
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Little Egret - always nice</div>
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(By the way - I haven't gotten around to re-learning how to crop images yet to give more of a close-up of the bird in question. Clicking on the image should enlarge the image (and even lead to a slideshow if you're really lucky), although I like having a bit of scenery around the bird sometimes to be honest. However, I am varying the size of images to try and avoid the need for persons viewing to have to zoom in as a matter of course - I'm sure that could quickly become a tiresome chore. (And I can't absolutely guarantee that all the images are worth a closer look!))<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-16634338488278842822014-12-19T23:41:00.001+00:002014-12-19T23:43:24.892+00:0019th December 2014 - of hybrids and stinkhornsHeaded up to the reservoir again today on feeder duty and had a bit of a look around ...<br />
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Numbers and variety from the Stuart Hutchings hide seemed a little down; no waders for example and only 3 Tufted Duck. Mallard were still up around the 70 mark however, with lesser numbers of Wigeon and Teal, and a couple of Grey Heron and a Little Egret. The Slavonian Grebe was showing nicely (distantly of course), actively diving, along with 10 or so Little Grebes and a female Pochard.<br />
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Heading off to the Southern Hide and the feeders, it was nice to see most of the usual subjects present - Water Rail below and 2 (male and female) Reed Buntings on, in addition to the more common garden species. Nothing on the water of course - water levels still really rather low. A couple of Buzzard and the odd Magpie past.<br />
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Male Reed Bunting on the feeders</div>
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Stinkhorn Mushroom just outside the Southern Hide </div>
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Returning back to the SH hide and it looked as if something had spooked
the wildfowl - they were all out in the open water but no obvious
raptors (ie Peregrines) to be seen ... but then a Grey Heron had just flown over ... perhaps that had caused the alarm?</div>
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I took the path along the east side half way to the dam and back to finish the day off whilst the light was still with me. A small group of Canada Geese in one of the first fields to the right quickly swelled in numbers as they were joined by their noisy congeners from over the water. A quick count resulted in 153 going in the notebook, with 2 hybrids amidst their ranks. Exciting stuff! A Kestrel entertained against the sullen sky, a Sparrowhawk shot surreptitiously through the sallows, and another Reed Bunting flickered nervously alongside me.<br />
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Canada Geese - the supreme highlight of any birding day ... ?!</div>
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A quick scan of the waters beyond the exposed sandy shore revealed another dozen or so Tufted Duck up at the north end with a second Pochard, and 2 Goldeneye furiously diving slightly closer beyond the dam bay.<br />
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Back along the muddy path and 3 large, long-tailed thrushes flew up from the fieldside thorns and towards the road ... hmmm, I know what they should be I think. Nearly back to the car, and the skyline again broken by a set of plump berry-stealing silhouettes - a better angle and a pleasant group of 9 Fieldfare finish the afternoon off.<br />
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Who's a pretty boy then? - one of the hybrid geese </div>
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Stithians Reservoir from the southern causeway</div>
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Kestrel ... doing what Kestrels do best</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205456863069188014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563670521550879327.post-14766907571480797932014-12-12T23:07:00.002+00:002014-12-13T00:21:31.878+00:00Pintail and PeregrinesSpent an hour or two up at Stithians this afternoon with Samuel P, it wasn't actually raining or particularly windy for a minor change. From the Stuart Hutchings hide/south side -<br />
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c140 Canada Goose<br />
1 hybrid Canada/Greylag (?)<br />
50+ Teal<br />
40+ Wigeon<br />
60+ Mallard<br />
15+ Tufted Duck <br />
2 <b>Pintail</b> (mf)<br />
1 Goldeneye<br />
20+ Little Grebe<br />
4 Little Egret<br />
6 Common Gull <br />
147 Lapwing (in flight only)<br />
3 <b>Peregrine Falcon</b> (1 with a Coot kill, a pair later in flight and on the shore.)<br />
1 Kestrel<br />
2 Buzzard<br />
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1 <b>Slavonian Grebe</b> in the first inlet north of the southern nature reserve area on the west side, and 3 Pochard from the northern cutoff. Also around the western side were 4 Stonechat and 3+ Bullfinch, 30 Starling and a few Redwing and Meadow Pipits.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnDm_XMwgZqhywzQyzZ3kC7ybYMC07VV70kSllaJw5Pz4N-7FWyWnHj3OMBK9PiDhu-8DgffKrlkqNXeyVYOcqllaRR8MQCEx3lxXmjsBXj0tQxpQR7gNLzDES6iMsh-kADP2aUDIeyQc/s1600/100_3509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnDm_XMwgZqhywzQyzZ3kC7ybYMC07VV70kSllaJw5Pz4N-7FWyWnHj3OMBK9PiDhu-8DgffKrlkqNXeyVYOcqllaRR8MQCEx3lxXmjsBXj0tQxpQR7gNLzDES6iMsh-kADP2aUDIeyQc/s1600/100_3509.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Peregrine on its kill</div>
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Slavonian Grebe</div>
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Attempted to count the birds at the feeders -<br />
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2 Reed Bunting<br />
12+ Chaffinch<br />
1 Goldfinch<br />
3 Greenfinch <br />
3 Great Tit<br />
3 Blue Tit<br />
5 Dunnock<br />
2 Blackbird<br />
1 Robin <br />
1 Water Rail <br />
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and in the vicinity<br />
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1 Great Spotted Woodpecker<br />
1 Chiffchaff calling<br />
1 Red Fox (asleep in the sedges on the far side).<br />
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Some nice birds today - good to see the Slavonian Grebe still present and with half decent views, and the cracking drake Pintail - Stithians tick for me (going to be a few more of those to come). Just arrived too late to see the Peregrine in action but always pretty awesome to see these raptors well.<br />
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Reed Bunting and Chaffinch<br />
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