Malham Cove

So my brief stay at home is coming to an end already, before its begun. Since my dad has Wednesdays off we decided to go for a walk as a family, and we decided to go to Malham Cove in the dales. It was a lovely day, with sporadic clouds and a light breeze but otherwise clear and calm.

First we went to one of the Cafes in the town, a small affair with no real garden or anything, but there were good numbers of house sparrow around, and they were incredibly bold, even coming on to tables where people were still eating. I was unable to really get any shots they were so close, but I got a couple...

-House Sparrow

After we had finished we wandered up the river to the foot of the cove. The way up was very quiet, with Jackdaw, Pied Wagtail and Carrion Crow being the main birds seen. There was also Meadow Brown butterfly to add to that list.

Once we reached the woodland at the foot of the cove we began to pick up more species. In the woods there were Blue Tit, Great Tit and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, which seemed to be drinking out of one of the trees, but it was probably just foraging. On the cliff face itself there were House Martins and Swifts in good numbers, and there was also Grey Wagtail and Spotted Flycatcher hunting. The Flycatcher numbered around 3 birds, and at one point came quite close to use with a large insect and started bashing it against one of the posts, the first time I have seen that behavior. 

-Spotted Flycatcher

I mentioned the Swifts, but they were the undoubted highlights of the morning, filling the air with constant screaming, while flying onto the cliff to their nests in cracks and fissures. They were often flying as individuals but one group of about 10 birds had clustered together and were being very vocal going in circles over the wood.

-Swift

It was only a short walk and there was little else on the walk back. We spoke to the guys at the Peregrine watch-point but the birds had moved on, as had the redstarts. However, it turns out that one of the guys on duty applied for the same job that I begin tomorrow on Spurn, small world...

On the way back I called in at Soil Hill to see if I could get the gropper, but there was nothing doing. The only bird singing was Reed Bunting and the only birds seen were Reed Bunting and Kestrel.

Species List:

Malham Cove: Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Swallow, Swift, Jackdaw, House Martin, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Blackbird, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Spotted Flycatcher, Grey Wagtail, Greater-Spotted Woodpecker, Mallard, Meadow Brown

The Big Garden Birdwatch

Its that time of year again, and this year was a good year for the big garden birdwatch. Chilling from 10.07 to 11.07 with Andy Murry unfortunatly getting beat in the background, I was able to enjoy our birds. The only major downside was the weather; Cloudy, Too sunny, Rainy, Sleety, Dry, Calm, Windy, you name it we had it.

The Birds:
Blackbird: 3-we had four different individuals, two males, two females, one with a white patch on her wing, but sadly we only had three at a time in the garden
Blue Tit: 1
Coal Tit: 2-Something of a novalty, we don't get them often, and this week has been the first time ever we have had two at once
Dunnock: 2
Great Tit: 1
House Sparrow: 20
Robin: 1
Starling: 3
Woodpigeon: 2-This was unexpected to say the least, as we havent had one of these for some time, so to have two randomly pop in on the BGB day was a surprise, obviously after the limelight.

So we had a good representation of our garden birds, with the exception of collard doves, missing out on their chance of fame for the second year running. Our local sparrowhawk male flew overhead as well, but sadly your not allowed to count it.

Dumfries and Galloway Day 3

 Day 3 was warm and sunny, but blustery, and so we decided to go the mull of Galloway. Once we had gone in, I headed straight to a watch point on the moors to do a bit of seawatching. Sadly, without binoculars, this proved difficult, though there were a handful of birds on the tops, such as meadow pipits and linnets

-Linnet
It was only really the large birds flying over the sea that I could identify with ease, such as the flocks of gannets, or the fulmars that were sat on the sea. Regular large flocks of gannets wandered past my watch point, some flying quite high.












-Gannets
But again, it was the birds on the moors that were the easiest to watch. I was joined by a couple of Wheatear that did come quite close, not that the photos show it, as they hunted for insects on the ridges.

-Female Wheatear  

-Male Wheatear
The watch point idea had worked well for the birds on the cliff tops but sadly had not worked as well for the birds on the sea. There had been fulmars and gannets, but sadly not much else. The only exception was a pair of guillemot that I managed to spot in the bad swell a long way off.

-Guillemots 
I decided to give up on the watch point and go for a walk around the cliffs, to see if there were any more cliff top birds or seabirds. I had a look at the foghorn, but all that there was were a flock of sheltering pigeons, and I did not stay long as the wind was horrendous.
  I wandered around the cliff with not much joy, but I did find another large caterpillar of the same species which was nice. I moved it off the path to prevent people treading on it before I started taking photos of it.

-Caterpillar
After we had finished at the mull we headed back to the caravan site. My family decided to have a brew before we went swimming, so I decided to go and see if I could photograph pied wagtails as we had seen quite a few as we were driving in.
  Sadly, they were very flighty once you were out of the car, and I diddnt really manage to get any really good photos like I had wanted.

-Pied Wagtail 
Somehow in my quest for pied wagtails I ended up on the beach, and from the beach I spotted some gannets diving quite close to shore, which was pretty cool to see. They were difficult to photograph,so in the end I just gave up and watched them instead.

-Gannets
On the way back to the caravan, I spotted yet more flighty pied wagtails that did not contribute much to my wagtail-o-folio!

-Pied wagtail
However, upon arriving back at the caravan, I found a small group of house sparrows dust bathing in a small pit opposite our awning. I have struggled in the past to get photos of this behavior, so being able to here was a nice surprise.

-House Sparrows Dust Bathing

Recent ongoings

During a busy week preparing for the holiday, its been nice to have a few bird encounters. Sadly, the first was not a particularly nice one. Last night, whilst being driven home from football I spotted a sparrow sat in the middle of the road. Naturally we expected it to fly off, but it didn't, and my dad only spotted it when we were too close to stop. He slammed on the breaks and I got out to find that it had not been hit, but was already in a bad way anyway. I had taken off my goalie gloves, which was unfortunate, because as soon as I caught it as it fluttered along the road, it grabbed by middle finger with its little beak. I cupped my hands over it to try and stop it getting stressed, but it didn't let go of my finger. It was only a minuet to home, which was just as well considering. When we got home I went onto the lawn, followed by my dad to have a look and check it over. As I opened my hand I got to see it holding onto my finger. There were no obvious signs of injury, but as soon as I opened my hands it scuttled into the bushes. It had probably just been hit by a car and needed some time to recover, either way, its safer in the garden than the middle of the road...
  Besides that story, walking to school today I was surprised to spot a willow warbler near Bradshaw park. Its the first time I have seen one during my walk to or from school. And around the corner there were the group of juvenile blackbirds that have been around for a good few weeks now. Besides them, there were also a few greenfinch juveniles around, so hopefully they had a good breeding season too.

Big Garden Birdwatch

Happy New Year everybody, Not been able to post much due to exams taking up much of my time. However, they are now finished, and just in time too, as the big garden birdwatch weekend dawned.
Sunday afternoon, 1.23-2.23 overcast but dry
To be honest, may as well done it for 10 mins, as thats the length of time that we actually had birds
Results:
Robin: 1
Starling: 1
Goldfinch: 1
Dunnock: 1
Blackbird: 1
House Sparrow: 23

It was a pretty acturate representation of the birds in our garden to be honest, although no collard doves showed up during the hour.

burnsal bridge

Another of our wednesday visits to Burnsal bridge, and as usual it was glorious sunshine that showered us. As soon as we arrived you could see only sand martins in the sky, no clouds at all. The sand martins were flying in about 3's or 4's and offering the best views I have had for quite a long time.

Down at the river there were some more ducklings looking lovely with their mother. there were quite a few familys on the river, which is still quite early.

Back at the sand martins they were still showing well and I managed to work out where the nests were, which was handy so I could follow them from where they started their fligh to where they ended it. Because it was so bright I had the shutter speed at about 1/1600 and there was no change in the photo quality at all. Although to be fair, they were still pretty awful.

a bit further up I spotted a lone female goosander fishing near to the riverbank that I was standing on. It diddnt seem very bothered about me being there but eventually, once it had caught a fish, it stopped dipping its head into the water and then spotted me and so began to drift away, so I left to try and avoid disturbing it any more.

A bit further up there was a lone swallow so I decided to get a few shots of swallows in cloudless sunshine just for a record, but because the shutter speed was so high they actually came out really clear.

at the start of the rapids I caught up with my mum and dad and they pointed out a baby dipper on one of the rocks. At first I couldnt see it, I spotted one being fed by and adult furthur up. My dad asked me what i was doing, the baby dipper he meant I had appaerntly walked past. I eventually spotted it and began to get as close as I could. I managed to get some decent shots, but i managed to spook it and the dipper began to move a bit more, instead of being completely sedate.

I left the babay eventually, so that it could get on with what it was doing. A bit further up my mum and dad spotted a bird on the other side of the river. My dad reckoned it was a merlin, so I was optimistic for a unusual bird. I took a photo and looked into it, the coulors looked like either a linnet or a kestrel, although it would be a very small kestrel. The bird gave us the slip for about 10mins but once it eventually emerged it was a linnet. During that time a goosander pair appeared and swam down river. I followed them because I knew a narrow stretch of the river which would bring them closer to me for a photo. when i got there, they were just about entering it and once I stopped they turned around and began swimming backwards. But only for a few minuets before they both took off and flew the narrow bit of the river.

As I continued up the river to catch up with my family There were a number of goosanders that flew past, along the river and in the air.

As I was walking up, I spotted two long-tailed tits flying into a hawthorn tree, where After watching for a bit I spotted a lovely little moss nest hidden in the "V" of a tree. There was an adult in the nest and it was building it as we watched, using moss.

furthur up, just past the linnet scenario there was another colony of sand martins where I could get some more photos.

I caught up with my mum and dad at the bridge and then set off back when I spotted a chaffinch picking smallinsects from the underside of leaves and I thought that that it was worth a photo so I did...

Back at the dipper site the baby dipper had begun to move a bit more and was on an island in the middle of the river at the start of the rapids, looking rather like an adult dipper.

I was just arriving back at the car when a male and female sparrow flew out of the bushes and began to wage war with each other on the path and throwing up a lot of dust. The male eventually left the fight, so I am assuming that the female was the winner.

after lunch My brother and I went for a walk in the river to try and find some crayfish and fish but only the fish could be found. there were no crayfish at all in the river, besides a dead one, so a bit of a dissapointment really in that sense but plenty of birds to make up for it.

Lakeland holiday Day 1 part 1

And so we begin our first holiday of the year to the lake district. We went to our usual campsite (castle-rigg hall) because it has magnificent views over derwentwater but not with our usual caravan, because we bought a new one! its much biggher than our last one, but does mean that me and my brother are now sleeping outside in tents because of the lack of beds.

Because its been so hot and dry recently we expected good things of the weather and on day one it was a beautiful cloudless sky that greeted us. As a result we decided to go for a walk up the very near mountain of Walla Crag which is only small, but has spectacualr views.

As we walked from the campsite, down the country lane to it I spotted a host of common garden birds, such as this sparrow, which was sat on one of the decorative bushes that lines the campsite. its funny because the lake district is one of the few places in england where sparrows are considered scarce!

Also there was this male blackbird that was digging for worms along the side of the road who was quite bold, allowing me to get quite close to it, until he eventually flew off.

there was also a dunnock in the shrubbery surrounding the base of the mountain, where there was a small stream.

And there was also a chiffchaf, doing a good impression of a a flycatcher, zipping from the tree, to ccatch a fly, to return to the tree.

On the dry stone wall there was a stunning pattern made from the yellow lichens, that engulfed entire areas of rock. Its really quite pretty, except for the lumpy grey ones that bulge out here and there.

At the top you could here skylarks singing, but really the view as the best bit. This photo was taken looking away from derwentwater and basenthwaite and towards something else which I'm not sure what it is.

Amongst the heather and billberries behind the view there was an unusual bumble bee, which i have not identified, but which was pretty stunning. in the only picture I managed, it was hiding behind a leaf.

there was also a mixed tit flock flitting between the trees accompained by some willow warblers. this coal tit was the only one who stopped for his photo to be taken!

The way back down is quite steep,and rather annoying. However, along the way there were a large number of wildflowers that were coming into blossom:

wood anenome

primrose

And woodland violet

when we reached the bottom, the dense birch woodland pattered out into open beech woodland, with some birch. There was also a lot more leaflitter, rather than a floor full off bracken and brambles. Then I heard a loud bird call and wondered if it might be a blackbird. As it so happens the culprit was not a blackbird but a blackcap, which is my first this year and the first male I have seen for some 3 years. I also managed a record shot, although it will go no further than that becuase it is rubbish.

carrying on through the woods and not on the lakeside prooved to be a good choice as a treecreeper showed up, although it scurried up the tree too quickly for to slyly approach it with the camera, so the photos are more looking up to the bird, rather than eye level with it.

A bit further on my dad spotted a wren singing on a pile of brash, so I crept up behind a tree and managed to take a few photos, although they are not great due to the fact that it was quite some distance away. However, a bit of sly creeping and the bird being distracted by singing allowed me to get much closer than i would have were it not singing!

A bit further on we spotted this ting on the path, or rather my dad did, although how I missed it is beyond me! What I am unsure of is...what is it. Obviously its about the right colour for a red spider mite, only a lot bigger! It has the body profile of a tick, so maybe its a red spider tick or something similar. If anyone knows anything about this mysterious animal, please down withold your knowledge. At my guess it is some kind of arachnid, due to its eight leggedness and that I dont know any other animals with eight legs.

As we entered the final part of our wooded walk, through the very interesting flooded forest habitat, apparently in severe danger I spotted my second blackcap of the day, in a slightly better position than the one before it.

So now, As I end this part of the day, we leave the woodland at the side of the lake to walk alongside the lake and then to go on a rowing boat around the lake to explore. Also, as a side note please keep with the posting process! its going to be a long ride for me due to the number of photos I have taken and their respectable sizes!