Migrants!

It didn't take a genius to work out that the freezing temperatures a couple of weeks ago were holding up all the migrants and it furthermore didn't take a genius to predict that there would be a literal horde of migrants storming their way North once the cold weather cleared but its been jolly well received all the same!
Over the course of the week I've picked up my first Common Terns, Willow Warblers, Sedge Warblers, Blackcaps, Wheatear, White Wagtails and Yellow Wagtails of the year on the reserve, along with scarcer migrants such as Sandwich Tern, Med Gull,  Bar-tailed Godwit and a gorgeous Blue-headed Wagtail thingy at the dam on Tuesday evening. The wagtail passage has been particularly impressive this week, I've never seen anything like it!
Other goodies that have passed through without me seeing them have included Redstart, Grey Plover, Avocet and a Ring-billed Gull yesterday evening whilst the first Whitethroat was heard yesterday morning I believe. Wintering birds such as the Great Northern Diver and Long-tailed Duck were both reported during the week too which has made for an excellent mixed bag of birding to be had at Rutland.

Now be prepared for some dodgy shots of migrants!

Two Barwits....honest

cracking bird

as was this.

 

 

 

Edit: Just got back from a jolly up to Charley Mill where such goodies as Redstart, Ring Ouzel and Pied Flycatcher had been reported over the last few days. I saw none of the above but did manage to tally 16 Wheatear with Dave Gray before the heavens opened. 3 Golden Plover were also spotted resting in one of the fields before flying strongly northeast inbetween showers. Unfortunately no shots of the Wheatear as they were truly miles away but the Plovers were closer...

 



A turn for the worse....

The Leicestershire drought conditions have taken a big turn for the worse since my last blog post (well, in the eyes of the Environment Agency's PR department at least) with the Soar at Jubilee having well and truly burst its banks. A quick trip to Jubilee an hour ago to ease the pain of revising palynology discovered this fact with the patch well and truly underwater. I went round to Clarence road in the end to see if anything had dropped into the flooded meadows near the packhorse bridge but there wasn't much about (its because I brought the camera out today of course).

View from Jubilee carpark

View from roadbridge looking at Jubilee

Bridges

Looking towards Narborough Bog

After all this flood related excitement I thought I'd go and see if any Wheatear were still lingering at Grove Park. I did wonder whether the brighter weather today might have cleared them out but they were still present in force. At least ten were confirmed (8 males) but I suspect the true total might have been a touch higher than that.


The good, the bad and the ugly

Yesterday I had a pretty miserable day on the birding front. I dipped Skevs Wheatear at Jubilee and then, eschewing the chance to go and see the Ring Ouzels at Timberwood Hill, I made the choice to go and find my own Ring Ouzel at Croft Hill instead. I did this because of previous urges to find my own birds and Croft Hill is a good shout for one at this time of year. Too bad I didn't drag myself up there until mid afternoon when the hordes of dog walkers had turned the place into a birdless wasteland.
So that brings me to today

The good (or should it be bad?): After not seeing any Ouzels yesterday I quickly settled for looking at other peoples today and so pootled off to Thornton res. where three birds had been reported a couple of hours previously. But they were nowhere to be found upon arrival. Bugger, I checked the whole Markfield arm too.... twice! The visit was rescued (cue the good bit) from being a total washout by a lovely close encounter with a pair of Goldcrest which just occasionally sat still long enough for a couple of images to be taken:

The bad (or should it be good?):
After this It would have been rude not to carry onto the Timberwood Hills area to actually try and see some Ring Ouzel this time as these birds had been present for a couple of days and happily they were quickly found once I parked up at the correct spot, thankfully bagging me a full-blown life tick! Yes, this really does highlight my status as a birding novice but somehow I'd just never seen one before! Last spring in the days before blogger I visited Beacon Hill twice and Burrough Hill a few times specifically on the hunt for them but never got lucky and saw one. Other current "bogey" birds you may wish to poke fun at me about also include any Skua, Corncrake, Lesser pecker, Montys Harrier, Wood Warbler and most species of Petrel!
Oops I've been waffling, back to the bad bit. The bad bit refers to the attempts at photographing Ring Ouzel using a smart phone at a considerable range. Undeterred, the Galaxy SII was cranked up to a beefy 4x zoom and bagged this delightful image:

I think I should at least get a bonus point for getting all three in the same shot...plus a blackbird for comparison, like.

And the ugly:
No, no, no, this doesn't refer to the arrival of John Hague who briefly joined me watching the Ouzels, it refers to the attempt at photographing one of the three Wheatear that were also present in the same spot as the Ouzels. You might want to shield your eyes....

Aaaaargh my eyes, it burns, it burns!

More owls and a Wheatear.

More Owls! Recently I have found myself reluctant to do any "proper" birding - and by proper birding I mean heading out to somewhere like Rutland for the day on the hunt of passage goodies. I'm not sure whats caused the reluctance, probably the total lack of any passage waders moving through Leicestershire over the past couple of weeks. As a result of not being arsed to go wader hunting nearly all the birdwatching I've done recently has been Owl related. Im starting to wonder whether there is some truth in Amy's claims that Paul is "grooming" me and turning me against all other avian goodies!

In correlation with this claim I headed out nice and early this afternoon on the hunt for Little Owl with the hope of adding some more images to my increasing portfolio of "the internets worst owl images". On a side note im considering buying an actual camera within the next couple of months and am somewhat baffled at what to buy..... as a reasonably cheap starter set up im considering something like this.........any advice on this would be much appreciated as im currently bumbling around like a blind man in a cave.


So I went out for an Owl today with two new targets in mind to help spice things up. Target one was getting some images from sites that I'd never previously managed to do so and the second target was getting two owls in one shot - again, something I'd never managed! Well, Im pleased to report I failed miserably on both counts and only managed to get images of my photo-whore owls that always give themselves up and allow me to photograph them. Still, shouldn't complain:

I also plumbed new depths by taking my first ever video of an owl. Dont worry, its only 12 seconds long so won't offend you're eyes for too long!

My travels today took me past Frolesworth so I stopped off for a while and grilled the horse paddocks in the hope of a nice Wheatear or Whinchat and thankfully saw the former... any comments on the race of this bird would be welcome, the bird had a very buff orangey front and pointed the stringy side of my brain towards the Greenland race but i'm just not sure......

see....very buff

In other news a single Swallow was seen in Peatling Magna on my travels today and 3 Buzzards were soaring over Ullesthorpe golf club. Garden sightings recently have included the first (4) Long tailed tits for a couple of months and we are now being regularly visited by two Greater spotted Woodpeckers (one of each sex), which is nice to see as during the summer months Woodpecker sightings tail off hugely in our garden. Mumsy had a probable Siskin yesterday too which was gripping but also satisfying as in a recent post I claimed the garden looked good for Siskin this year and BLAM! One turns up! In terms of stuff i'm no longer seeing in the garden Coal tit haven't been seen for a couple of weeks and Bullfinch sightings have slowed to a trickle.