Stocks reservoir
Went up to stocks reservoir today to see if I could bag a Gropper (GRasshOPPer warblER), tree pipit (should we shorten this to TRIPPIT?) or cuckoo for this years list. No luck with these, but garden warblers singing in car park and 200m past the new hide. Seems like millions of willow warblers and chiffchaffs singing now too.
Nowt much more to report really.

Common sandpipers have now joined the oystercatchers, LRP's, lapwing and redshank around the shores.




These pics were digiscoped from quite some distance away. Click on photos to see larger version.

3 of the 6 pairs of greylags now have goslings.


Other waterfowl present were GC grebes, goosander, merganser, mallard, teal and cormorant.




Its was windy over champion moor, so no shorties (short eared owls) hunting and the little owl at shays barn was hiding (just inside the window) from the wind too. The tawnies in the back field are still roosting near my box, I'll pop out at dusk to see if there is anything going on.

Took a while to locate the owls through the scope today. One owl definately seems lighter coloured than the other (see yesterdays pics) and I suppose is slightly bulkier too. Anyway... after photographing this one today............. Click to enlarge

....I kept on scanning the trees for the other and eventually found a pair of eyes watching me intently from a crab apple tree. The other one wasnt sleeping! I'm guessing the darker , more alert bird is the male and the lighter , slightly larger bird in the larch tree is the female. I saw some movement around the nest box just before last light yesterday, but not enough to be sure that they are using the new nest box.

I didnt manage to photograph the wood mouse or hedgehogs last night before the pub quiz. However I did see a roe deer cross the road just before Whalley, on my way to the pub.
One of the questions in the quiz last night was "What kind of creature is a "whippoorwill"?
I have never heard of this before, even though I think I have a good knowledge of birds and animals. The answer was a bird, namely the nightjar!!!! When I googled this today, I found that it is an American nickname for their nightjar. We didnt do to well in the quiz last night as there were too many politics and history questions and these are definately my worse subjects.

Today I had to do some deliveries to Preston and Blackpool, so I stopped in at Marton mere to see if I could get any more of the summer arrivals for my 2007 uk list. There was a Whooper swan at the first hide!!! A late stayer. Plenty common whitethroats and also my first house martins and swifts for this year. The long eared owls that I saw here earlier in the year seem to be gone. Heres the list for Marton mere today.

reed bunting
common whitethroat
sedge warbler (heard)
whooper swan
mute swan
canada goose (pr)
greylag goose (pr)
moorhen
coot
mallard
teal
tufted duck
wren
robin
magpie
carrion crow
blue tit
long tailed tit
song thrush
blackbird

Not so great but, my heart wasnt really in it, as I was a bit hungover from the night before.

Back in the garden I found the first nice moth of the year, an "angleshades".















In the evening, I managed to digiscope the 2 owls from about 150 metres away, so as not to disturb them. My scope is a Opticron iMagic with a x27-x80 zoom eyepiece.
Click on the images to see larger version.

Tawny owls breeding?
Wow! I've just been out in the back field again. I took the scope for a look (from a distance) at the tawny owl that I saw this morning....and guess what?! A Pair!!! Sitting just a couple of metres apart. They must be using my nest box. I only put the box up in February. The neighbouring field also has an owl box but I've watched it for years and it seems unused. Hopefully we'll have little fluffy owlets soon.

In the garden today
My sunflowers are starting to poke through, now I'll be starting the battle against the slugs and snails.
3 butterflies - a peacock, an orange tip, and a small white.
The bullfinch pair are still around.
The tawny owl is perched quite openly near my owl box again. I really hope the female is in the box. I approach the area very quietly now and scan with the bins to see if they are there. I hear a male and a female calling every night. There is plenty prey for them, voles and woodmice frequent our feeders quite regular and plenty baby rabbits at the moment too.
Here's a baby rabbit we found in the garden a couple of years ago. This one in Jills hand, had crawled out the nest onto our path, so we had to replace it.


and heres one of the voles coming to the feeder


I think I'll go out tonight (before the pub quiz that is) and photograph the woodmouse (I saw it last night below the birdtables) and the hedgehogs.

Hey...I've got some ads on my blog now (to the left below my contact details and at the bottom of the page too). These are targeted towards my blog subject (in this case ornithology). Please click on my sponsors ads to help me fund my garden wildlife with nest boxes and feeders...I promise I wont spend it all on beer!

Andean Solitaire
Wow!! I'm so impressed !!!
A guy called Mark Harper has IDed my Ecuador birdcall as an Andean Solitaire. Whats more.....he seems to have done it from my description as "metallic squeeky gate". He answered my post on birdforum with reference to an amazing website called "xeno-canto"
If you click on that link and select the 9th file down (by Nick Athanas) it plays the Andean Solitaire call exactly like my recording. This ID really shows the learning possibilities of the web, 10 years ago I'd never have got an ID for it. I'm delighted!

PS I never did see the actual bird!

PPS If anyone is having problems hearing the call (in the previous post), could you please comment at the bottom of the post, so that I can try to remedy the problem.

Ecuador birdcall ID???

Not much to see in the rainy weather here today so.....

I'm still compiling my lists/photos/video from last months Ecuador trip.
Heres an audio file of a bird in the cloud forest near Mindo, Ecuador.
We heard it every day from "septimo paraiso" but dont know if we saw it.
It sounded even more like a metallic squeeky gate than this recording.
I havent IDed it yet, so can anyone help (add comment at the end of this post if you can)????
Press play here, it lasts 10 secs...



Or follow this link if you cant hear it

http://www.divshare.com/download/466689-4a7

Also today, I took Treakle for a walk up lower barrow lodge this a.m. but not much around in the drizzle.

Mallard - 8 males , 4 females (1 with 7 small ducklings)
1 pr moorhen
1 pr coot
1 lapwing (on wasteland at printworks)
1 pied wagtail
1 willow warbler singing

Dotterel on Pendle Hill















I went up Pendle hill yesterday(thats a pic of pendle hill in my "twitchwithmitch" head banner above) to see if I could see the 2 Dotterel and the ring ouzels, reported on eastlancsornithologists website.

Great weather for walking so I decided to go up the steep side from Barley rather than my usual route from wellsprings. All the way up, passing birders on the way down told me that the dotts were still there and pointed out the best spot for the ouzels.



On reaching the trig point I couldnt find the dotts immediately but spotted a fleeting glimpse of a hunting Hobby racing over the peak. Just caught a flash of red from its thighs through my bins. It was probably hunting all the newly arrived summer migrants -mipits,wheatears and skylarks.

Then I found 3 red grouse and 3 golden plover whilst searching for the dotts. Then 2 other birders from blackpool waved me over the wall to the Clitheroe end of the hill.
And there they were. Female in striking plummage, the male quite dull, they were very accomodating, showing down to 10 meters.

Got some video up the hill today (1 min 6 secs).



Popped into moor piece after pendle, to see if I could twitch the pied flycatcher and wood warbler there, but no luck. Nice view of a tawny owl in flight and a roe deer came close too.

The hedgehog turned up for some grub in the garden again, once it was dark.

Heres the list for the day 42 species and 3 mammals

pendle

kestrel
rook
lapwing
pied wagtail
carrion crow
swallow
chaffinch
curlew
wheatear
mipit
ring ouzel
hobby
skylark
red grouse
golden plover
dotterel

moor piece and garden
tawny owl
herring gull (over)
grey heron
goldcrest
great tit
blue tit
coal tit
chaffinch
goldfinch
greenfinch
dunnock
robin
wren
willow warbler
chiffchaff
nuthatch
gs woodpecker
starling
blackbird
song thrush
magpie
mallard
jackdaw
wood pigeon
collared dove
house sparrow

roe deer
hedgehog
rabbit

Tawny owl
Present again this morning, roosting less than 10 meters from where I put the owl nest box.
Heres hoping!

Ruff and LRP at stocks reservoir
Went up to stocks reservoir on this beautiful day.
44 species seen, heres the view from the new hide.
Click on photos for bigger view.






























Canada goose (but not the 2 barnacles that are apparently still around)
Greylag goose
Mallard
Teal
Red breasted merganser (2 prs)
Goosander (1 pr)
Great crested grebe (2 prs)
Moorhen
Grey heron
BH gull
LBB gull x5
GBB gull 1 Juv
Redshank (between 5 and 10 pairs)
Little ringed Plover
Ruff x2
Oystercatcher
Curlew
Lapwing
Cormorant
Pheasant
Little owl (at shays barn)
Kestrel
Woodpigeon
Collared dove
Swallow (perched near Newton)
Wren
Robin
Dunnock
Song thrush
Blackbird
Starling
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Blue tit
Great tit
Chiffchaff (1 from stocks car park)
Willow warbler (15+ singing near hides)
Pied wagtail
Skylark (1 in song flight near shays)
Meadow pipit
Magpie
Rook
Carrion crow

Also, orange tip b/fly in garden again, song thrushes out of nest in garden.
Green tiger beetle near new hide at stocks and very aggressive peacock b/fly chasing off bumblebees and small tortoiseshells from his "airspace".
And a hare in field near Newton.

Willow warbler still singing, 1 pr bullfinches still around.
2 swallows over and an orange tip butterfly in the garden.

First willow warbler singing on my patch this morning, and 3 bullfinches too (2m + 1f).

This years first 2 swallows, and a brown hare, just past the "red pump" pub towards bashall eaves, today. Plenty Pheasant too.

Pipistrelle bat
Check out this little fella!
Jill just found him in the bin in the upstairs toilet!
He must have flown in the window last night and got lost.
I gave his wings a quick check to see if he was ok and then took him to our bat boxes on the trees outside.
No sooner had we got him to the boxes and he came to life, and went for a flight. He flew about in the daylight for a bit, catching midges, but must have found a roost for now until its dark.

Snowdonia camping
Well, its been over a month since I last posted! Jill and I have been to Bonaire,Ecuador and Galapagos for the last month. I have a huge amount of photos and video footage still to process, so I'll be adding reports from each stage of that trip gradually from now on.

Anyway, on arrival back from holiday, we decided to go camping in Snowdonia over easter.
Heres a link to "Silver birches" , the lovely little campsite where we stayed.
Marion and Ian (the owners) have added a picture of us (click here then scroll down) to their site too!.
The campsite is only a few miles up the valley from GLASLYN - the only breeding pair of Ospreys in Wales.

When we visited on 7/4/07 there was late staying whooper swan near the hide and the osprey pair that had just returned the week before, were showing well on the webcam.














Here's the full list from the long weekend. 40 species.
With the early/late migrants highlighted

Mistle thrush
Song thrush
Blackbird
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
GS woodpecker
Raven
Rook
Carrion crow
Jackdaw
Jay
Magpie
Wood pigeon
Goldcrest
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
House sparrow
Siskin (seemingly replacing greenfinches in the area)
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Chiff chaff (my first summer migrants)
Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Long tailed tit
Peregrine falcon
Sparrowhawk
Buzzard
Osprey
Pheasant
Pied wagtail
Grey wagtail
Common gull
Herring gull
Mallard
Mute swan
Whooper swan (last of my winter migrants)
Willow warbler (many heard)
Tawny owl (several heard every night at the campsite)

Good numbers of Pipistrelle bats around the camp at dusk too

Not the most concerted effort from myself birding-wise, I was more interested in BBQing this time! Being Easter, the area was chocka with holiday-makers and kids, so Jill and I were happiest just to chill with a beer at the CHILD-FREE "Silver birches". "Child- free" is always a better phrase than "Adult" when it comes to camping, dont you think?

They're was a shocking amount of roadkill on the M56 , so much so that we started counting as a game :(
10 dead badgers
1 dead fox
5 dead hedgehogs
and about a million dead Pheasants!!!!!