Queensbury South

1025-1140 hrs Sporadic but interesting overall.

Common Gull, 1/2c Herring Gull, adult Herring Gull & Rook lined up together.

5 BHgs in with c49 Lapwing.

Nuthatch, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Grey Wagtail, c60 Starling, Woodpigs, 1 Kestrel. 3/4 LTT moving through tree tops in the afternoon.

Quiet Walk Rewarded

A really pleasant walk with few birds to report culminating in a acceptable ending.

Few Lapwing and small gulls at Raggalds.

Herring Gull & usual on Ogden Res. 2 Mistle Thrush elsewhere.

Mixenden Res coughed up 1 each LBBG & Tufted Duck m plus hordes of smaller Gulls. 

Then I picked up 3 Wigeon that displayed heavy duty nerves before nailing the unexpected Dipper!

Usual Route Episode MXIIV

Kicked off by showing DW the Tawny Owl site with the bird duly obliging for a few minutes. Also here were a few Blackbird & a Jay. Dave then dropped me off at Raggalds where numerous small gulls were present.

Nothing on the Hellish Hill with Ogden producing 1 each Cormorant & Mistle Thrush, 2 f Reed Bunting, several small Dulls & a Robin or three.

I finally encountered Autumn Fieldfare c37 of them at Mixenden which had 1 each Cormorant & Tufted drake plus a load of lounging Laridae. on the drink.

A Productive Session

I was taken aback, nay amazed by the decent birds I got this morning twixt 0930-1100 hrs; how will I pay for this I wonder?

Tawny Owl, 9 LTT, Blue & Gt Tit, singles Goldcrest, GSW, Redwing, Kestrel, couple Blackbird ditto Chaffinch.

1 Herring Gull being totally ignored by a nearby creeping cat. Just a couple of BH & Common gull. 4 Meadow Pipit.

c32 Lapwing, c100 Starling & Woodpiggies.

Stainland Dean

Courtesy of DW along with DM on a bright sunny morning.

c14 Redwing, 4 Jay 1 Kestrel, 6 Cormorant overhead at Ringstone. Couple Pied Wagtail, many small Gull sp.

Activity was sporadic throughout the long walk with the odd Chaffinch & Robin popping up now and then but DW picked up a Brambling before he and DM nabbed a female Blackcap. Needless to say I played my part by actually seeing the Tree and Bushes they were in.

Improvement On The Usual Route

Few Meadow Pipit.

Moving Tit Flock contained a few Goldcrest, Jay. 1 LBBG & usual small Dulls. 

Got my first Dipper in a hundred years.

Pr Stonechat, 1 Blackbird, 1 f Goosander, ditto Moorhen & Grey Wagtail. 4 Cormorant, 3 Tufted Duck (1 m, 2 f). Small dulls.

More Less Birds

What a downer this am's walk around Queensbury South was; so far this Autumn's migration is the worst I've ever known.
The Park was like a cemetery (which it soon will be if The Council have their way) no Thrushes save one Blackbird with just a few Tit sp. for support.

A surprise bird and therefore probably bird of the day was a briefly singing Skylark. Otherwise it was down to 4 Meadow Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail, c90 Starling, c75  small dull sp. 1 LBBG over & c34 Lapwing.

Roll on Armageddon 🙇

PS as I was leaving Madame Bigelow's Health Spa for distressed Gentlemen last night at 2130 hours I heard the contact calls of a couple of  Redwing. Appropriately there was an E'ly breeze operating 😀.

Usual Route Clangs

I was ahead on points bird wise this am but then rather foolishly I left the house. The first half of the slog did produce a few birds but the second leg was abysmal even by my own skeptical standards.

Raggalds: 10 Lapwing & c90 small Gull sp on the sports field.

Soil Hill: c28 Lapwing & c100 small Gull sp. 1 Skylark ditto Pied Wagtail & 2/3 Meadow Pipit.

Ogden Res: about as near to a birding vacuum it's possible to get; usual Gulls.
I found this ginger nut on the golf course, the first I've ever seen. I believe it is the caterpillar of the Ruby Tiger Moth.

From then on to Poxenden it was so dire I started to think that Magpies actually count as birds!#@?¥!

Just 1 Cormorant & 7 BHG on the water.

Low Moor Dams

Yet another low key visit in keeping with my previous ones this year. Harold Park Lake hardly worth a mention but it did have 3 Mute Swan whereas Park Dam had zilch. 1 Cormorant here which may have flown over to Park as there was one high up on the wires.

Park Dam had 3 Little Grebe & 2 GCG plus c16 Tufted Duck.

A few Small gulls were knocking around. One Pied Wagtail there and usual Coot & Moorhen.

At Cock Hill a GSW kindly stayed perched in a conifer and in the surrounding bushes were 5/6 Blackbird.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

SH At 1005 hrs a small party of Pink-footed Geese flew over, they probably thought they were in hell. They are my first Autumn/Winter migrants; no other migrants seen. or heard.
Several Meadow Pipit were also seen, mainly floating around generally. I can't be sure but at one stage I thought I had a single Swallow fly past - too fast as it happens.

Ogden Res had a drake Tufted Duck and a fair number of small gulls. Also Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, GSW & a small sampling of expected woodland types.

From then on it was a question of is there a pulse or isn't there? I did meet DP at Mixenden Res who reports 2 Goosander that appeared to have been frightened off by people but 2 Cormorant were still present.

Torrid Tuesday

The hottest day of the trip endorsed by the lack of avian activity with just the hardcore few seen when I could face the heat until...

evening when not one but three White-tailed Eagles started cruising round the  distant mountains enabling me to get below par photos from my hotel balcony.

A Falcon flew past at an acute angle but I got it in the bins for about 7/8 seconds and it showed clearly. I thought it a bit slender for Peregrine leaving the only other contender, an Amur. Now I know what I want it to be but the reality is I'll really have to get down to the nitty gritty on this one.🤢

Also from said viewpoint: Brown Shrike, Indian Roller, fast flying unid Bulbul type and a Tree Sparrow that's really pushing it's luck dancing around my plates of meat.

Monday's Random News

I have just finished bashing my socks against a metal railing after this morning's session - stops 'em from crawling away y'know.

Not much doing apart from a good sighting of a marsh dweller in short flight that enabled me to confirm the same bird I saw yesterday afternoon thrice briefly as a brillo Black Bittern mmmm tasty.

Yesterday (Sunday) late afternoon proved more interesting than dreaded, er I mean anticipated. The pr Magpie Robin were playing out which enabled me to grab a couple of decent photos. 3 Javan Pond Herons and a Little Egret were in proximity and I managed another 2 new rather flighty birds for the trip.
However due to my skill at contre jour photography I won't be able to stand any chance of identification until I get the shots processed with the reliable software on my home Laptop.

Worth a mention I feel is the fact that I am near the shoreline of a large  tropical sea with another suchlike stretch of sea not a hundred miles away. In all this time and effort I have not seen one seabird be it Gull, Tern or how's yer father.

Oh I say how fortuitous I just had Black-naped Oriole flyby from this here balcony 😎🤑

Fun and Games

Friday was laid back compared to today Saturday when I finally got some decent photos of a Brown Shrike and got my phone working and made another successful transfer of photos from Camera to Tablet to Drive (I think) via the magic of WiFi. What will I do with all my cables I wonder (don't dare suggest strangulation).

The WB Sea Eagle did another circuit on Friday afternoon and I was happy to get shots of very obliging Barn Swallows.
Back to this morning, Saturday. I undertook another long hike to no avail, there being no new birds save one. A Swift species of a good size flew around giving good views but I still can only say I know what it wasn't.

No matter for to my heart's delight I found a couple more roadside rubbish dumps and both Common Tailorbird and Magpie Robin were encountered. Then later as a manifestation of the dumps scenario I photographed a Common Myna down to 3 yards desperately trying to rid itself of a piece of cellophane wrapped around it's beak. 150 yards away from this sighting there is a dangling dead Myna suspended from a tree branch by what appears to be fishing line.

On the bright side back on the hotel balcony I took an opportunistic snapshot of a large circling raptor which came and left abruptly. From a cursory inspection of the image I think it's one I will have to spend a little time on.

Thursday Turd October

The smokin hot WB Sea Eagle put on a flying extravaganza this morning as I drooled saliva from my hotel balcony 😋. It was undershadowed by another smaller eagle possibly Changeable Hawk but that is questionable. I had another Asian Glossy Starling by the swimming pool also.

I chose to go to a Bird Park to see some birds and justify the expense of coming out here to sweat lbs of gut fat off. The moral issue  isn't too burdensome forsooth; the birds have been captive since young so releasing them would be a death sentence. However because the park is for entertainment value and has no captive breeding program I hope that as the birds die the government forces the place to close. Now that is the pinnacle of naivety in wishful thinking given the fact that there will always be a queue of families waiting to show their children the pretty birds and fill the coffers of the commercial and subsequently government bodies.

A Great Hornbill espied me with cocked camera and promptly flew over and shoved all of it's huge bill through the cage at eyeball 👀 height. Turned out he/she didn't want a snack, the bird wanted it's beak stroking! So I did just that and was delighted to see the bird close its eyes apparently in rapture. Good to achieve a rapport with a fellow creature ain't it? (my next venture involves King Cobras...)

Wet Wednesday Partially

Went round the lake earlier and walked away happy as I managed to get shots of both Javan Pond Heron and Little Egret in the same frame 😁. Then it got better as a wader crept out from a couple of feet behind the Egret allowing me a couple more same frame scenarios 🤗.
Don't yer just love Spotted Redshank? I do, always have, always will.

Both Kingfisher species again, Brown Shrike and a large raptor flying away that didn't give up any features.

After munch I visited the same area and saw the large wren tail like bird from a day or three back creating like Joe Buggery. It showed a bit more detail so all I have to do now is trawl the 'net guides for photos and descriptions. Great!

It got better as I was leaving, a large Acrocephaline warbler flew up from some reeds into a tree and showed well if briefly. I know it ain't Great Reed or suchlike but a bonus came when it started yelling. I have checked Clamorous Reed which does sound good but I should check Thick-billed and Blyth's before I even start on the other 2/3.

Have I finally encountered migration? I wonder.

PS The noisy sod with the long tail was a Common Tailorbird.

Torrid Tuesday

Woyasus it sure was a roaster today ensuring that a poor birding venue would be really chronic. And so it came to pass but luckily I didn't pass out.

Wait! Two sentences in and I haven't mentioned the lifetime avian adventure? Silly me!
In was returning from the mornings session which was humdrum when a massive nay ginormous bird flew over my crumpet and casually flew around the lake three times. I managed to get 1 acceptable photo and two below par shots of a...

WHITE-BELLIED SEA EAGLE.  I'm unsure whether it's a lifer and I couldn't give a dog's breath as all others I've seen of similar ilk were at distance.

Down hill all the way after that but hell I got to enjoy some more pollution in the waterways. 💀