Buckton

A trip to Buckton with Mark Thomas last weekend was good but was missing a lot of migrant birds. In the end it was too windy & the wind direction wasn't quite right. We had only a handful of migrants all weekend so we did some sea watching on Sunday.



Above & Below: Gannets. There are a lot of Gannets on the cliffs here (way too many to count). Also seen Fulmar & Kittiwakes (at a distance).



We did get some ringing in on Friday & Saturday.



Above: Not a new species for me (I have ringed 1 before) but a new species for the blog. Linnet.



Above: A new species ringed for me and there were two of them. 2 migrant siskins added themselves to my tick list and ringing record. Smashing!



Above: Another ringing tick - Tree Sparrow. Cracking! We caught 7 in total, one of which Mark ringed as a juvenile earlier on in the year (he has ringed over 100 juveniles this year).

Trip to Paxton Pits

Saturday 5th September 09, saw me take BTCV volunteers on our annual Summer Jolly. This year we decided to go for a walk around Paxton Pits Nature Reserve.

I was worried a little about the weather but it turned out well. The sun had a hat on and surprisingly, the wind had dropped dramatically from previous days!

It was a nice day for all of us. I took a few photographs.



Above: A bracket fungus



Above: I'm stumped for a way to describe this one!



Above: Hiding from the birds! Out there were: Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks, Cormorants (plenty of), Gadwall (plenty of), coot, moorhen, at least two kingfishers (I have never observed them 'hovering' before but did here), pochard & 2 red crested pochard (I've never seen this species before). Elsewhere on the site we saw lots of great tits & blue tits at the visitor centre feeder & watched a sparrowhawk alongside the river searching for potential food sources.



Above: A birds eye view! This is what I imagine a goldfinch would see whilst feeding on teasels.



Above: A speckled wood flutterby.

Ringing Demo

A while back now, I helped Mark Thomas on a Ringing Demo in Willington where we caught this beauty.



Above: A Jay

There were several (at least 3) more making a racket nearby but were not caught.

My cousin's baby and me

The official photographs from my brothers wedding have been received.



Above & below: Me with my Cousin Vicky's 2nd baby (Oliver). Easy handling as he's going to sleep!



Having already posted the best man speach:



Above: Delivering the speach



Above: The mother of the bride laughing at one of my jokes. I know this because the photographs were received in sequence and I am seen before & after (below) the above photo giving my speach. You know this because you believe I am honest .... hopefully!



Above: Again, I am delivering the best man's speach.