Friday 24 September 2010

It would have been rude not to!!!


With the reporting of Curlew Sandpiper at Chelmarsh happening at a time when I was unable to get there, it was a bit of a gamble as to whether they would be stayers or not. Thankfully they were and I was able to get them ticked off for the County for 2010. But oddly for me it was the three Water Rails cavorting about in the open that made my time there more enjoyable then ever, just love these skulkers as they always present such a difficult quarry.

And they were definitely not of the shy type, well not today at least
The Curlew Sandpipers also put in a good appearance and came right up to the hide whilst feeding at times to darn close, can that be!




and they perform in the wrong place.

And a few of the other things around.




A short post just to keep things up to date, so to speak!

Paul

Sunday 5 September 2010

A few Odd's and Sod's

As a something different sort of weekend, it was off to the Norfolk coast, unfortunately missing the spring tides, but as always with Norfolk, there was some really nice stuff , like this early Purple Sandpiper.
Whilst there was a lot happening on the shore it was at some distance, and the light against the mud was not camera friendly at all. the numbers of Black-tailed Godwits was very high, as were most things.


A one legged Common Crane had been around the area for some time but had been a bit elusive for a while.

The occurrence of Bloody-nose Beetles was very good, in fact never seen so many.



 Over the whole weekend I only managed to find one Common Lizard basking in the early morning sunshine.

Just one of those plants that tend to be overlooked in our hedgerows the Toadflax.


A report of a Wryneck in the county got me up the Clee very early in the morning, early enough to watch the mist being blown up the valley obscuring everything. Thank goodness it cleared quickly to present a windy but bright day.

A morning at VP was proving as usual like watching paint dry, with the occasional moment of excitement. Like today's Fly through of a nice Marsh Harrier. And a Greenshank stopped for a while for a brief  feed.
The Redstarts continue to feed in the top fields, and the rest of the area was very quiet indeed, unless you drive up the Clee. Well hoping it improves over the next week or so!!

Paul