Wednesday 16 September 2009

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).

Sunday 6 September 2009

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.

Wednesday 2 September 2009

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.