birdpix

Not even going to mention the jack snipe that come getting dark time ,having lost the use of my extra pink hands,had not appeared at  Pleasley pit this afternoon.The several hundred gulls had departed from the main pond ,off to roost (kingsmill res? ,River Meden?) A green woodpecker seemed surprised to see me and rapidly dissapeared,as did three grey partridge.Whilst staring at a reed bed for several hours ,out popped a kingfisher,who perched on a post for a few seconds,a few moments later it flew ,low across the water,they always look like they are in a great hurry too.Ive got a collection of rubbish kingfisher pictures ,Im sure that you dont want to see another here.

On the way to work a couple of days ago ,a female merlin flew out in front of the car ,I almost crashed,getting as good  a look as possible .Wow what was all that about I wondered , actually  I uttered the words fuck me! despite the fact that I was the only one in the car.If theres anyone at all who has been paying attention ,in my blog last week I told tales of not seeing jack snipe at William Thorpe ,depite knowing that they were in a reed bed that I was staring at .This is mentioned as my wife ,yesterday strolled up to Pleasley pit ,our local patch and saw a jack snipe...In the garden she had ben watching a greater spotted woodpecker ,before seeing a a pair of green woodys at the pit.When she toId me,I swore again ,in jealousy ,Iam of course glad that she got this elusive bird ,even better locally.

        Today at Old Moor ,I was fully thermalled and waterproofed and looked a twat in my wellies ,rain and wind ,bring it on I thought .I rather smugly watched many people ill prepared getting a good soaking .Watched a little grebe flying and the thought occurted that you dont often see these little beauties fly ,I dont anyway,a rare treat then.The star of the show bird for me ,being the beautiful golden plover ,counted a few hundred of these special birds,last year in october the numbers were in their thousands.Plenty of waterfowl about at this time of year as can be expected the drakes of teal and wigeon looking superb during the blasts of sunshine between showers and near torrential downpours.Got an extreme close up of a wren who was apparently unconcerned or oblivious to my being there.Similarly in the garden this morning ,a collared dove was watching me from a tree just a few feet away ,I thought he will fly away in a moment -he didnt .The tree sparrows at Old Moor are always a pleasure,some of them having the indignity of wearing pink rings.The squizzers were doing their best to wreck the feeders that are supposed to be squirrel proof.Under the feeders were pheasants pottering around ,have you ever noticed how gorgeous a pheasants eyes are?how anyone could look into these eyes before pulling a trigger and blowing away an exquisite creature ,I will never understand.The golden plover and lapwing were extremely skittish ,up and down more often than a slappers knickers,could have been the wind,could have been the peregrine that was about .The Highland Cattle are very inquiitive when you open a hide window ,they come right up to you and see what you are doing ,well at the time I was trying to get a picture of a pied wagtail ,not easy when theres a big shaggy brown chap staring at you.Wondered why Im still pissing around digiscoping when I was shown some pictures a guy had taken on his nice digital SLR (of a grey waggie),oh yes I ve remembered now ,I cant afford one.The best things in life are free,mind you this crap website was free.Most off putting when photographing wagtails (pictured below)

It could be described as being a wee bit chilly out ,we have had some marvelous sunshine today to compensate.Been to Sutton Lawns to look for the bramblings that werent there again.Met a woman there who interegated me about pied wagtails ,apparently she wrote a poem about a pied wagtail that was in her garden that got published in the local newspaper.It would be fair to say that Sutton lawns was absolutely teeming with birds, large and small this morning ,it was lovely and peaceful until the dog walkers started arriving and I departed,before watching mistle thrushes chasing each other around and starlings that like poking their heads into a crevice in a tree to name but two.

At William Thorpe ponds ,yesterday ten whooper swans had been seen .I could hear water rails squeeling from the reed beds ,seeing them was another matter though-in other words I stared into a reed bed for longer than usual before not seeing them.Talking of which ,the local council  ranger  was telling me that  a couple of jack snipe had been ringed here this morning .This would explain the two guys walking through the reed beds ,they were taking down the nets when I was there.I watched ,anticipating a couple of jack snipe to be flushed in dramatic fashion ,instead three common snipe casually wandered out of the reed bed into the open and proceeded to impersonate a sewing machine .Emm a sewing machine that has a big beak and pipes mud ,oh never mind.The ringers did scare a bunny (who ran off)Glimpsed a kingfisher.

At Carr Vale a couple of weeks ago ,I had been watching pinkfooted geese on visible migration and had admired golden plover.Today I was highly amused to watch  a squirrel ,with a mouth full of leaves ,pop into the little owls nestbox ,right under the nose of the little owl.On emerging from the nestbox ,the squirrel attempted to depart ,but not before the little owl had karate chopped him around the head,flying through the air ,talons first to deliver a well placed blow to the cheeky squizzers boat race.I was quite happily watching a cormorant wrestling with a huge fish ,when annoying person number two of the day appeared.Incidently the first pillock was at William Thorpe ponds ,made the mistake of moaning to me about the fact that cormorants steal all the fishermans fish.The fish belong to you do they? I asked .No its artificially stocked isnt it so you can play your fish injuring/killing game isnt it? The cormorant isnt eating fun ,he is doing it in order to survive.No hint was taken and the dullard droned on ,while my stomach rumbled in need of sustanance ,so I just walked away wishing him good luck with whatever he was hoping to achieve.Anyway I digress,bufoon number twos wife felt the need to tell me that she only liked robins in the winter(?) ,and that her mother felt the same way ,Im not making any of this up by the way.The straight man of this particular comedy duo piped up with a tale about how having left a pub in the wee small hours on a freezing cold winter day ,heard a  amazing bird song ,that he couldnt identify it before coming to the conclusion that it could only have been a thrush nightingale.Hmmm,not a blackbird then I offerd .Then he had to tell me about the time that he caught a lanner falcon in his garden (whatever)and how the RSPB werent interested.I ignored them long enough for their tiny attention span to be exhausted and carried on looking at (some more ) snipe and a nice drake goosander.The willow tit seen in the carpark brought a smile ,the mistle thrushes were just afew feet away from me as I sat in the car getting warmed up.An enjoyable days birding ,no matter the lack of bramblings /other invisible birds,I enjoyed it and thats the bottom line( that some of these ultra serious birders seem to forget)

As  the Nottingham Anglers' Association bailiff on King's Mill Reservoir, I must say something about the amount of bread being fed to the ducks, geese and swans. I, for one, know what pleasure grown-ups and children get from feeding the birds, but please try to feed wheat or corn instead of bread, particularly white, which is unnatural food and is really quite harmful to the birds. The bread also has effects on water quality, plus it attracts vermin if any is left lying around. I hope that consideration and a little thought for the welfare of the birds will be used. PAM HALLAM,

This letter (above)appeared in the Mansfield Chad newspaper.The one below ,written by  my nice wife will hopefully be appearing soon

Dear Madam,

Many people enjoy feeding bread to ducks, swans and geese at our local parksand reservoirs and like to encourage their children to do so as itbrings them closer to some of our most common forms of wildlife. Although it is well intentioned, I wonder how many people realise thatthey are doing more harm than good? Kingsmill Reservoir attracts alotof wildfowl such as mallards, tufted ducks, canada and greylag geese with numbers increasing during the winter months when the birds are looking for food. However, feeding bread to birds causes many problems not only to the birds themselves but also adversely affects the ecology of the water.

Modern manufactured white bread contains bleached flour and artificial preservatives, making it unsuitable for small animals and birds. It causes malnutrition in birds by swelling up in their stomachs making them feel full and preventing them from eating a natural healthy diet. It also creates a vitamin E deficiency and a build up of protein resulting in an excessive growth of feathers in the wings of geese. This is a condition known as 'Angel wing'where the bird's wings droop and turn outwards, eventually preventingthe bird from flying. Imagine then, the scale of the problem if everyone visiting the reservoir decidesto bring one or more loaves of bread to feed the ducks and geese.Walking around Kingsmill I have often seen an excess of uneaten bread,sometimes whole unbroken loaves left to rot. Rotten bread causesenteritis in ducks and one single outbreak can kill all the birds inone area. Bread can also cause serious impaction in the bird's crop(gullet) If this were not bad enough, a build up of uneaten breadfloating about on the surface of the reservoir causes a type of water pollution called eutrophication. 

Thisis when an excessive amount of nutrients in the water creates thegrowth of poisonous algae, dangerous to both humans and animals. Thistoxic algae reduces the oxygen levels in the water resulting in thedeath of fish and a reduction in the number of insects. The algal bloomsmay also potentially block sunlight and prevent the photosynthesis of plants below the water. I'm sure your readers will agree that none of this is good for our wildlife.

So what should we feed the birds?  

In the wild, swans, ducks and geese will eat a variety of plants, seeds, grains and  insects.

If you feel you must supplement their natural diet then the kindest thing to do is to feed them corn, wheat, pearl barley or sunflower seeds.There are small bags of waterfowl seed  on sale in the Strawberry Fayrecafe at Kingsmill reservoir exactly for this purpose. Not only is thisa more environmentally friendly way of feeding the birds, but by buyingthis seed you will also be supporting the work of The Friends ofKingsmill Res. Please also think aboutfeeding locations and consider other users of the reservoir. There arefeeding stages situated at various points around the reservoir soplease do use them. Boat jetties are nota suitable place for throwing food to the birds. Sutton In AshfieldSailing Club have politely requested that the public do not throwbirdfood onto the jetties for health and safety reasons. 

TheRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds does not advocate the feedingof bread to wild birds. If you require further advice or information onany aspect of feeding wildbirds then there are a series of leafletsavailable which can be obtained from the RSPB Mansfield Local Group. We can be contacted online at www.rspb.org.uk/groups/mansfield

Anne Sommerville RSPB Mansfield Local Group

So whats this got to do with Frankie Boyle ? Well nothing really ,he is an extremelely funny guy ,recently on the telly,on  Mock the week to be precise ,he took the piss out of Mansfield Munter Rebecca Adlington,I remember it amusing me at the time.The Chad has published an arcticle about how offended Rebbecas mum is by Frankie Boyles comments about her daughters appearance.Rebbecca is a local hero ,when she won her gold medals at the Olympics ,I thought fantastic ,Mansfield can be rightly  proud of her .Im afraid Frankie was right however when he made reference to her having a face like  a bulldog chewing a wasp  (or whatever it was he said) Fair enough.The Chad by the way ,while I am libeling people is usually a thoroughly depressing read ,a typical edition will be highlighting the woefully inept non league football teams latest defeat at the hands of modest opposition.The rest of the newspaper is basically a list of local crime or adverts for tat that any right minded person wouldnt give house room to.The most hillarious section being the local jobs that are available ,both of them and one of them is at Macdonalds .Next weeks blog: why you should boycott Macdonalds.

Oh hang on ,Ive remembered that this is meant to  be about birds and stuff.Today at Pleasley Pit ,I watched several green woodpeckers ,while a kestel hovered in mid air, a huge charm of goldfinch floated by .This years charm ,being about 100 strong at present ,hopefully some siskin will join them again.Lots of Mippits about .

This life sized model of a Royal Albertross ,was kindly loaned to me for a week by Alan Bailey from the Mansfield RSPB group.Thanks Alan ,Im sure you will agree ,Alans creation is something special.I made as many members of the public aware through out the week of the ongoing RSPB campaign working in partnership with Birdlife International to Save the Albertross.Some of the stuff I was telling people included that 100,000 Albertross s around the globe are killed needlessly annually.At least they were .What are the RSPB doing about it ? I would ask before mentioning that for example in Argentina this time last year aproximately 1500 Albratross s drowned in longline fishing nets ,due to a simple measure like working with the local fishermen to redesign the fishing hook that is getting caught in their beaks and drowning them ,before adding that the deaths have been reduced in South Africa by 84% .Of the 23 species of Albie around the world ,21 are threatened with extinction -they would almost definately become extinct were it not for the RSPB/Birdlife International intiative.are you collecting stamps for the Save the Albatross appeal? Hassle everyone you know to do this please,pass them onto your local RSPB group.I thank you.

Anyone that knows the horrible dump that is Sutton In Ashfield  town Centre,will know where Asda is ,this evening in their car park ,a blackbird wassinging beautifully from a tree in this spot.Earliest I have heard them sing before is in december .

My ten year old niece, Megan  is showing encouraging signs of becoming a bird watcher.We were on a bike ride and she wanted to go to the river Meden from the village to see the ducks,after we had done that she wanted to ride (my wifes) bike to Pleasley Pit to see some more birds (who was I to argue) We stopped at the park on the way there where she was interested enough to ask me about the sparrows in the hedges.At the pit a skein of geese landed close by on a small pond ,she loved this and when I told her there is a bird hide nearby ,she was keen to go.In the hide ,she asked me if she should write down on a list of the birds that she had seen ,yes what a good idea I agreed!The leader of the Pleasley Pit Nature Study Group looked on ,She is going to be  a member of the new Wildlife Exploreres group thats starting locally soon I offered.I wish that my parents had been interested in wildlife ,they taught me nothing about natural history ,shocking parenting,if in the unlikely event that my mother reads this ,I hope that she gets the message ,that she severely effected the size of my bird list...

At work ,I watched a sparrowhawk lunge at and miss a house sparrow,the day before in the garden another sprawk had given a blackbird the fright of its life.Talking of blackbirds cant help but wondering about the early singer,is it sedentry and resisted the temptation to go to Ireland ? or has it come from a Scandanavian or Eastern European country ?Either way its keen to stake a claim to that tree as a territory in a grotty part of Sutton.Redwings are definately getting more numerous now ,seen over our garden a couple of times recently .At work again ,there were some Mistle Thrushes about and I heard a Kestrel ,making a peculiar squeeking noise in flight and whilst hunting ,hovering and squeeking! Later on again unusually ,two kestrels hunted mid air just a few feet apart,opposite each other mid hover.Is one of these birds a fledgling from this year? asked  apal who offered this theory ,to be honest ,I was puzzled by it .Have in the past seen occasionally two kestrels hunting nearby ,but not like these two...On the way to work today ,a cock pheasant flew out in front of me ,beautiful looking bird ,lousy flier though and desperately unfair that some one is likely to blow him away .We have on the one hand ,organisations like the RSPB for example doing vital conservation work meanwhile about 35 million innocent so called game birds pay with their lives to amuse posh people.Its high time that this barbaric slaughter is made illegal -permanently.

Talking of the RSPB ,theHarapan forest ,according to the most recent estimate has only 25 tigers .Its desperately important that these magical creatures are protected.There have been horrendous forest fires in Sumatra recently.More and more orangutang habitat is being lost for palm oil plantations.Support the RSPB in this venture-you  know it makes sense.

Ginger cat  that  I know ,murdered a wren yesterday ,the wife prised his jaws open to spit out the wriggling wren ,who sadly died a traumatic death .Ever looked at a  wren in minute detail? They are a work of art, not bad for Britains most common bird ,and what a song for its size!Surely ,in the winter at least ,blackbirds become our most numerous bird? If not ,how about woodpigeons ,I think that someone should do a quick count and get back to me .

Watching corvids get out of a tree in their hundreds had me fascinated ,they had seen a couple of buzzards and a ridiculas number of them immediately mobbed the offending raptor.Then the wiffling kicked in and they were back to their lofty perch again ,many corvid conversations going on at once,they were probably saying to each other something along the lines of: did you see that bloody buzzard ,thinks he can fly past us without regreting it? oh I know what a liberty,Id hate to be as stupid as a buzzard.The buzzard was probably thinking ,neurotic rooks ,I was quite happily riding the thermals day dreaming about rabbits when these psychos appear from nowhere....anyway

A quick blast around Sutton Lawns failed to uncover any bramblings,there was a greater spotted woodpecker in the trees where if you are lucky there are bramblings.

At Carr vale the previous day there had been a cattle egret ,not today however.Cattle egrets are breeding in Dorset ,they look likely to colonise in the same way that little egrets have( and hopefully glossy ibis too) trouble is ,Ive never actually seen one in this country before.Last time I clapped eyes on a cattle egret it was in Egypt ,where it would be fair to say that they are common along the Nile Delta.The pink footed geese more than made up for a lack of cattle egrets .Before I had got to the viewing platform ,several people had told me that two huge skeins of PFs had been over .I saw the third huge skein -and the forth.There were lots of twitcher types around ,between the half dozen of them ,they counted over 400 each time.I started counting them ,but gave up and instead enjoyed watching them -something the twitchers apparently forgot to do .Its magical witnessing migration en masse ,as its in progress,its right up there as one of my most enjoyable moments bird watching this year ,even competing with the 60 000 puffins on Farne.The kingfisher sat on a post seemed an anti climax ,almost un noticed were the buzzard and huge flock of two my favourites golden plover and lapwings sharing a field to feed in before getting into the air together.And of course Ive always got my first UK Cattle Egret to look forward to preferably hanging around  with some spoonbills , which would be nice...

Keep seeing green woodpeckers -which is good ,not just on my home patch either.

        At Carsington today the water fowl were reaching rather large numbers with many duck species present including goldeneye,pintail,scaup and most notably as many wigeon to look at as you would  want.An injured  mute swan was being hassled mercilessly by a crow ,the Rangers were informed.The barnacle geese are building in numbers ,they are as my wife would say a dainty goose.One of those days when nothing unusual was about ,but was none the less enjoyable watching familiar birds.A rumoured marsh harrier ,eluded me as did the great northern diver and the scoters that have recently been seen here.A kestrel landed on a dead tree ,regulars at the sheepwash hide will know this particular tree,anyway two magpies immediately hassled the kestrel ,who dived into the hollow trunk persued by the pied corvids before admiting defeat and taking off in a huff.The lapwings looked absolutely splendid in the sunshine ,each time I get a good view ,close up of one of these beauties I think the same thing that they are delightful,I enjoyed watching their acrobatic ariel displays and listening to them making their unique peewit noise ,their restlessness always provides a spectacle as they launch themselves into the air en masse before circling and landing again in more or less the same spot ,maybe  a leave had fallen off a tree a few miles away and spooked them ,ironically they stayed put when a sparrowhawk swooped down onto  a nearby spit of land.Missed a kingfisher ,too busy yaking.

                 On the way to work this morning a magpie lunged at  a squirrel on a grassy bank that I was driving past at the time ,the squirrel shot into the air in a comedy fashion.Noticable is the number of buzzards around ,some of them give you cracking views.

Its true,the sun was shining today ,in fact it was almost warm at one point . A good day then to have a stroll around the local patch ,having worked seven days in a row and going slightly mad.A bullfinch shot out of a tree and flew over my head while I was thinking that would make a nice picture .A male kestrel sat on the pit buildings chimney.A solitary redwing whoosed past A charm of goldfinch numbered about a hundred,I watched some of them drinking from a puddle.In the surrounding  fields  amongst the many lapwing were about a dozen golden plover ,they took flight while I was watching half a dozen yellowhammers feeding in a nearer field.Another kestrel had landed in a tree a few feet away from where we had been standing,when it took off a black headed gull persued him ,mobbing the kestrel relentlessly.A sparrowhawk put in an apperance,before I headed up the path known as longhedge locally ,where I stopped and watched a dunnock taking a bath in another puddle.a green wood pecker shot by , a song thrush apparently surprised to see me flew out of a bush and past me -twice.I could hear a jay ,one took flight from a tree that I didnt realise he was in ,quickly followed by another jay.The stock doves and jackdaws proved that sometimes they leave the roof of the pit building.Another green woodpecker flew by in undulating flight.From the hide I was admiring some teal and could see movement in the reeds behind one of them ,snipe? looked more like jack snipe ,too small for snipe ,watched it preen breifly ,partially obscured by the reeds ,the beak too looked too short for snipe,before I could decide for certain ,it dissapeared into the reed bed.

It was strange to see a couple of Swallows over the river Meden ,then a few haundred yards later in sunny Pleasley to see some redwings.The temperature first thing in the morning  definately felt Autumna,its only a small village but its a twenty minute walk to Pleasley hill.Pleasley Hill hopefully will be demolished soon-they could put something useful ints place.The usual grey wagtail was by the dam ,no sign of the dipper...Highlight of this RSPB local group trip to Spurn point for me at least was the Kestrels.Yes we did  get a not very good view of  an Arctic Skua out at sea and a distant Hobby,some Whimbrel,and the usual assortment of waders,the Kestrels I could have watched all day.A female in hovering mode ,swooped ,went for and got a weazel,which she scooped up in her talons and flew off with the wriggling, writhing & protesting weazel.I watched this drama unfold wondering if she could handle prey that large.The weazel somehow wriggled free of her grip and dropped about eight foot in the air,promptly running into a bush and hiding.A few seconds later and the kestrel was hovering over the same spot again ,almost unbelievably the weazel emerged from the bush to run past again ,did a u turn and ran instead in the opposite direction ,clearly in a state of distressbut other wise unharmed?A little later in another spot ,I watched a male kestrel this time hunting ,he saw a vole ,dived ,swooped and scooped .Successfully apparently as he flew into some cover to polish off the unfortunate vole .I love watching these birds (see a previous Carr Vale blog for my picture of a Kestrel with a vole hanging out of his chops) .There were good numbers of Admirals about still ,it was nice to see them feeding on some windfall apples ,hopefully they were getting  a buzz from the fermenting fruit.Im not going to mention the snow buntings that we walked about twelfty miles to not see,never mind we got great views of snobs earlier in the year.Im not mentioning either the hawfinch or the lapland bunting that were similarly invisible.Good to see so many tree sparrows .Last time we did Spurn a guy came running up to me shouting have you seen it? What the wryneck? I asked him ,no the honey buzzard (therewas a tiny speck in the sky that we never counted).Spurn is always good.

Call me a sentimental old fool ,call me me  a big girls blouse call me what you will ,but I was saddened by the death of two collared doves in our garden.We have been down this road many times ,sparrowhawks have demolised them ,this I can accept as a part of nature ,I can rationalise this ,it needs to happen .Sparrowhawks are great to see anywhere and their killing prey dosent even scratch the surface of for example collared dove populations ,nature has of course allowed for this.Ok you may argue that collared doves are an alien species have only colonised the British Isles very recently (1955) It would be fair to say that they are doing extrremely well and are welcome in our garden ,anyway I digress.Cats killing them annoys me ,many instances of this in our garden.What I felt guilty about was that these two ,on consequetive days had flown into a window ,the penny dropped when I noticed the collared dove shaped splodges on the  windows upstairs.At the time I wondered ,dove number one was festering under the bird table ,I walked up to him and he made no attemot to fly off,I picked him up gently ,it was obvious that something was seriously wrong -see the picture ,its not digiscoped. I put the poor fellow in a box and placed him in the garage where its quiet and dark. He looked into my eyes and he was asking me help me , Im not going to make it .When we returned home a few hours later that evening he had sadly died.The following day we found another -no teeth marks from a cat ,very dead only later I figured out how they had both died.Doent matter how many times this happens ,I still feel saddened.

At Blacktoft Sands it would be fair to say that it was quiet from three of the six hides there was literaly nothing to be seen ,notable abscence of some of the taken for granted birds like swans and geese for example ,(no coots! ,there was a water rail though) Caught up with some curlew sandpipers ,trying to hide in amongst the superficially similar dunlin .A welcome year tick then ,missed them at Cley earlier in the month ,they too were probabaly hiding in amongst the vast numbers of dunlin there that day.Spotted redshank seven of ,nice to see.Barny the owl was sat in his box with his back to us ,he doesnt realise that I have been collecting his pellets that are full of vole skeletons ,found some of his feathers lying around too,even individual feathers from a  barn owl are beautiful.Star of the show as always at Blacktoft were the marsh harriers,bird watchers tend to get kind of blase about them in recent years ,what with their numbers being at 250 year high.Anyone remember 1971? there was only one pair of marsh harriers in the entire British Isles in that year .Can the RSPB turn around  the fortunes of Hen Harriers  in the Peak District? Theres a joint RSPB/National Trust 10 year stewardship scheme forthcoming , june next year to be precise to take over 6000 acres of prime peak habitat for these birds in case that you werent aware.Thats one scheme that I want tosee succeed.Good on the RSPB too for doing an apparent u turn on the proposed reintroduction of white tailed eagles in Norfolk -they opposed it .Now the scheme is to go ahead in Suffolk instead ,involving the RSPB.Count me in ,going to Suffolk instead of Mull to see these amazing birds,I should add it wont put me off going to Mull again! The WWF have a similar scheme to the RSPBs letter to the future (Ive signed both) Have you? Both involve an open letter to the government pleading the case for neglecting conservation and cutting carbon emissions at their peril.Excellent stuff.Talking of u turns...However we may as well send it to the Fascist Dictator in waiting Tory boy Cameron -wanker,as the spineless Brown is obviously doomed politically.I cant say the word Cameron without saying wanker by the way.Even when Cameron -wanker appears on the telly each time his name is mentioned I feel the need to say the word wanker -even if there is no one in the room at the time.My wife gets quiet irritated by this ,she just thinks Cameron is a wanker and doesnt feel the same need to say it out loud.A breathe of fresh air was the young man from Buxton  that I was chatting to yesterday ,who wants to volunteer to do some hands on conservation work as a volunteer.If you are reading this ,youre a good un,hopefully you can get to do something rewarding soon as you  are the opposite of the Cameron wanker .

Buzzards are seemingly everywhere ,for example the wife just said to me, looking out of the window at home: come and look at these two Buzzards-I did.Yesterday I saw four of them in the air at once-not uncommon ,in fact Ive seen Buzzards everyday this week.It doesnt seem that long ago that you were more likely to see a kestrel hanging the air than a soaring Buzzard,they eat rabbits ,theyre breeding like rabbits more like,not cpmplaining ,they are great to watch.Now that Red kites are breeding again in Derbyshire after hundreds of years ,can we hope tht it will become like Wales ,where Red Kites are actually common nowadays?.In the garden ysterday evening there was a tawny owl ,calling to another ,I had opend the back door having heard its call ,to see a hedgehog running away and a pipestrelle whizzing about ,earlier there had been a squirrel nibbling nuts -surprizingly uncommon in our garden at least.At Pleasley pit on a couple of recent visits ,nothing remarkable ,still some Admirals and specklled woods about ,warblers abscent.An accidentally flushed greenwood pecker crossed paths with a charm of goldfinch in bright sunlight gainst a bright blue and partially angry looking clouded sky -would have been an amazing picture had I been quick enough in pointing the camera in the appropriate direction.Ah well ,fly agaric always make a nice picture ,despite thir name they cant fly off .

Going to work the other day ,driving down the section of dual carriageway on the way to Chesterfield,I watched a Buzzard and a Kestrel cross each others paths in mid air-which was nice.

At Carsington ,we watched the gull roost build up on alovely sunny evening ,Im left wondering weather they were Herring gulls in amongst the Lesser Black backed gulls or were they the recently reported seven yellow legged gulls? The problem being that their legs were out of sight -under water....

Not many waders about at Carsington ,water level still too high? All became clear when I asked the nice wife what it was that was making her titter in amusement -she had seen this sign ,redshanks and snipe have apparently seen it too.

Where do you go for a day out on your wedding anniversary? Bird watching of course.I count myself lucky in that my wife is a keen bird watcher,its not like I was taking her somewhere that she didnt want to go on our special day.Every year since we got married the day before has been  a cracking day ,weather wise and september the 14th ropey in comparison ,this year being no exception!

               In the past couple of weeks ,Cley has had buff breasted sandpipers,curlew sandpipers,icterine warblers,spoonbills to name but a few ,out at sea have been shearwaters ,skuas ,divers,gannets etc.Worth a look then.

               Following the long boring drive down tediously straight roads through flat as a pancake landscape ,we finally arrived at Cley.I discovered that my wifes tripod ,was missing one of its handles ,so it couldnt be used today -the offending missing part being in a drawer at home.Worse still the butterfly screw to adjust the mount onto my tripod snapped clean off in my hand ,meaning that I couldnt adjust my scope to go up or down and it was consequently decidely wobbly -just what you need on a windy day .To add to my optics woes ,I had brought a pair of bins that could best be described as knackered .Wifes bins were ok........

                   A Marsh Harrier gave wonderful close views ,nice anniversary wife remarking that she did think the Harrier had seen us.The one bird that we wanted  to see was any of the 13 spoonbills seen here recently .Every distant white blob proved to be either a little egret or a mute swan.Out the11 wader species ,there were some crackers ,little stint,wood sandpiper ,ruff,dunlin,snipe,redshank,lapwing ringed plover hang on a minute ,havent I seen all of these on my local patch earlier in the year ?Fraid so.Spotted redshanks were in good numbers as were black tailed godwits.Ruff are a beautiful bird.Curlews have got to be my favourite wader,wife pointed one out to me ,landing on the east bank.It soon became clear that the sea was too choppy to watch  because of the wind ,which blew rain into your face from the only available shelter .I have been to Cley in far worse weather conditions of course.Wife spotted some gannets coming off the sea ,from the comfort of a hide,a hide with a thatched roof that is .Cleys magic ,but today wasnt exactly enjoyable , a year tick would have been nice.This cricket was in the hide .

Saw a weazel on my way to work this morning ,it darted out in the road in front of me ,I was having a de ja vu .Absolutely gutted at having run over a tiny rabbit the other evening on the same road ,earlier in the  same evening ,I had braked sharply to let some grey partridges cross the road .The poor bunny had no chance ,it was dark ,he appeared at precisely the wrong moment ,couldnt do anything.Every day ,on this road ,I am ready to brake ,its usually sparrows by a farm who dont know the green cross code or pheasants that are the ones to watch out for on this road.

      We had been to see a presentation by Mike McKavett , a wildlife photographer ,his pictures are excellent.The slide show was on migration in North America and Canada ,he had visited these two countries ten times ,taking stunning picture after another,his research was maticulas -thoroughly recommended then.He mentioned a bar tailed godwit that had been fitted with a satelite tracker ,it had flown the 7000 miles from Alaska to New Zealand in 11 days .The remarkable thing here being, revealed via the technology is that this bird flew non stop for 11 days until reaching its destination!

               At Beeley triangle today there was no sign of any montagues harriers or hen harriers,we did watch a  female peregrine in flight ,getting a good view At one point ,she changed up a gear -her accelation absolutely phenonenal.A closer view of a low flying buzzard was great but didnt have the same excitement as the peregrine. Pretty quiet here again ,watched a couple of kestrels hovering in mid air , a Raven sitting in a tree in the distance ,I wanted him to get up and put on a show of  ariel acrobatics .Lots of Mippits and a solitary swallow.Lovely hot day ,felt more like the height of summer.Weather has been good all week now in fact ,are we pushing our luck now? Is it going to snow tommorow?

 I was talking to chap recently ,who liked Magpies coming into his garden as they ate snails and his plants didnt suffer.He liked the way there is no need to use chemicals or feel bad about killing slugs and snails ,he liked the way it is natural ,recyling, or part of a food chain .I shook the guys hand ,I felt we had connected.All beings ,especially creatures as inteligent as Magpies are sentient ,they express emotions and have a wide range of what we would call feelings. Magpies are very capable of showing fear against  for example mankind ,this has been proven conclusively and scientifically ,many times.I talk to people on a daily basis ,usually the older generation ,who apparently blinkered to the beauty and intelligence ,hate Magpies .These people talk of Magpies being vermin ,something to shoot ,thats in the way of other more worthy birds in their gardens.There is more than a hint of irony here ,the earths human population has more than doubled in the past eighty years and will do so again in my lifetife time should I reach the average life expectancy ,is this attitude not a tad hypocritical ,after all the Magpie population has not exploded proportionally.Around five million years before the first people on this planet ,there were Magpies ,so it isnt a case of Magpies invading our terriotory ,it is in fact the opposite way around.Its legal to shoot and kill a Magpie,its ok in the UK to persecute an innocent creature in the eyes of the law.This I feel is definately wrong .Going back to the older genearation for a moment ,they justify their Magpie hate by citing ill informed things like they are the reason for the decline in song birds.This is nonsense,yes Magpies take eggs from amongst others  songbirds ,nature has bargained for this ,it no way effects song bird numbers.(to digress try looking at pollution and loss of habitat to partly  adress this problem )

             In his book The Emotional lives of Animals ,Mark Berkoff recalls an incident where he came across four Magpies around the corpse of another Magpie ,he watched their behaviour ,each adult Magpie ,gently pecked the dead body ,then in turn covered the dead Magpie in grass.In other words they were grieving for the dead ,giving one of their number what we would call a funeral.

             Its well documented how intelligent the crow family are ,they can use tools,plan things in advance ,anticipate outcomes of sitiations.In her book Corvus ,Esther Woolfson ,kept a Magpie as an indoor pet -it had fallen from the nest at an early age and couldnt be released back into the wild.Her Magpie could not only talk ,but went one better than a parrot and talked in the authors own accent! It was amusing to her friends on the phone who on hearing the Magpie talking in this  accent swore blind that it was her.

        In our garden ,we are lucky enough to be visited by Magpies ,they are very welcome ,they are worthy of our respect .I enjoy watching them ,they are fascinating and beautiful.

We went on an RSPB local group trip to the mysterious Penington Flash.The bus driver was entertaining ,he took an unfeasibly long route route to actually get there.On the way back ,he had trouble getting out of the car park ,to be fair it was a tight manouveour ,he still managed to dent the side of the bus before getting lost again on the way back .I looked up and wondered why we were in the middle of Stoke City centre,we hadnt gone this way on the outward leg.

The star of the show, were the many kingfishers to be seen ,I said to my wife oh look theres a post in the water ,that would be handy for kingfishers ,no sooner had those words left my mouth then what should whoosh by ?  a kingfisher of course,giving the impression that I had a rough idea of what I was talking about ,rather pleasingly in a smug kind of way.Most group members saw about fifty species of bird.We missed the black tern and greenshank ,but thats the way it goes.The most entertaining hide was the bunting hide ,where you could watch vast numbers of small birds whizzing around and filling their wellies.There were willow tits ,so I was happy watching these little beauties.Lots of very scruffy bullfinches and  a magpie with a dodgy eye and a far too lethargic for his own good greenfinch fledgling.What I have difficulty understanding is why I apparently cant get a decent picture of a moorhen, a very common bird,there was one in bright sunlight ,posing for me ,comedy feed and all on proud display ,too far away for ordinary lens and too close to digiscope.I opted for the latter and cut off his funky feet .Never mind, I like these birds and will get a warm tingly feeling when I get a decent shot of one ,I will be showing it to you ,provided that is that you havent died of boredom.

The speaker at last nights local RSPB groups indoor meeting ,Gerald Hall was the most self important dullard that I have ever had the misfortune to see and hear do a presentation.He started the slide show by spending a good five minutes to tell us exactly what the letters after his name meant,they all related to his excellence in the field as a wildlife photographer.Brilliant I thought ,we are in for a treat here then.Ten minutes later we were still looking at pictures of areoplanes that took him to the Gambia.Are you some sort of plane spotter I was wondering ,I was also thinking I hope your wildlife photography is of a better standard as these areoplane pictures werent even of decent quality.He was already irritating me at this point ,when he started making racist comments about people from the Gambia he began pissing me off.Irrelevent ,uninteresting picture after picture appeared for example one shot of himself lounging around on some aircraft seats.When the bird pictures finally came ,there were shots of redshank ,greenshank,common sandpiper -all excellent pictures ,but they did tend to remind me of my trip to Potteric Carr the week before last.The Gambia ,how many fantastic bird species does it have? Far more than the UK ,having been there three times ,I was wondering why there wasnt more variety in his photographs.Some of the bird shots simply should not have been included for the simple reason that they were poor quality and this from a man with letters after his name for his photographic skills,he had several attempts to justify their inclusion citing that he considered it better to have a poor record shot that nothing at all.Taht maybe ,but you cant then pass these poor pictures off onto a paying audience.We saw pictures of a toilet ,several of them in fact we saw pictures of the irritating Mr Hall wearing nothing but his National Coal Board underpants -Why? There were pictures of his underpants hanging up to dry in a hotel ,Im not making this up by the way.He made constant reference to the fact that he was bemused by the fact that the locals werent keen to be photographed by him (because you are a racist bigot perhaps?) Some of the things he said simply didnt make any sense ,for example his handy hints on photographic composition.He fell into a pond full of pig muck ,Karma at work here ?Another offensive thing for myself was when he boasted about hitting a vervet monkey around the back of the head with his tripod.What had the poor creature done to deserve this? Well nothing ,this rationalisation being that it was stopping him from photographing a bird.I wanted to remind him that the monkey he assaulted was meant to be there -he was not,however the annoying prick droned on for so long that there was no time at the end of the show for  the customary questions from the audience.Heres my handy photographic tip for Gerald Hall -get a digital camera ,I think you will find that they are quite popular nowadays.My friend my so offended by Mr Hall ,that he didnt bother coming back after the interval.I desperately wanted to heckle him when he showed us pictures of the imported meat that he was eating -it looked disgusting ,I wanted to ask him if he thought that these needless food air miles were justified ,he was a pampered tourist in a developing country.

I am going to stop now as most of what he said irriatated me ,boycott this twat if you have the opportunity.

A day without bird watching?We visited a Donkey santuary in the High Peak,there are no opening times on their website ,we arrived at 11.00 assuming that the place would be open,only to be shouted  at from a rather unfriendly woman 12! Oh I take that to mean we open at 12 then .To fill in time we went to an Otter and Owl santuary that was fairly nearby they also have deer there ,hence the appaling pun in the title of this blog.We soon found ourselves looking at birds in the form of the recent robin pictured above .In an otter enclosure where Eurasian otters should have been we watched a grey wagtail busy catching flies.We admired the owls ,in one enclosure there was a short eared owl  along with a long eared owl ,another had a tawny ,another a barn owl and even a buzzard,hmmm,we have watched all of these in the wild in Derbyshire.I wanted to liberate them all.There were also some exotic owls including a burrowing owl that looked like a little owl on stilts,a snowy owl and Eagle owls to name just a few.Eagle owls have bred in yorkshire...The Eurasian otters never did put in an appearance,the giant otters ,North American were awesome .Managed to avoid the rain before admiring three deer species and heading back to the Donkey santuary .A female stonechat was flying along in front of us for several hundred yards ,bobbing from side to side in flight rather amusingly.Rather less amusing was that the Donkey santuary  at 3.00 was now closed! Rather fed up ,we headed back ,deciding on a whim to get a bakewell pudding to take to the mother in laws,drove through Chatsworth en route and saw some more deer.Avoided another soaking in Bakewell where the usual ducks geese swans and coots were on the river ,watched from above by jackdaws ,but we werent bird watching.....