Thursday, 26 February 2009
Blog link
Adding in a new link: the ringing unit's 'Demog blog' - some interesting stuff already, and bound to be some eyebrow-raisers in the future!
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
A loaf of bread, a flock of gulls, and thou...
With apologies to Omar Khayyam. As I'm working in Exeter at the moment, I've spent my lunchtimes down at the quay, looking through the flock of Black-headed Gulls for foreign-ringed birds. Not a bad return either: in the last week, I've managed to read the full numbers of one from Latvia, two from Sweden and one from Denmark, as well as a partial reading of one from the UK. Some more pics below...
Get you, missus... Danish birds, eh?
Missing a picture with the first number; this is the winter-plumaged Swedish bird. The other one's in full-on 'hot stuff' colours.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
11th-15th February: Germany
Yeah, OK, don't get too excited. No beer festivals, no riotous drinking, no lederhosen, no German folk songs or jokes (thankyou, Henning Wehn (youtube clip too...) & Otto Kuhnle!) and not a great deal of birding. We were in the industrial heartland of Germany, where I was assured we'd see next to nothing.
In the end it was better than I'd expected: the weather was kind, Na's family were lovely to stay with, and her friends very pleasant to be with; we ate some grand food, I discovered some of the local beer and we did indeed see some birds, all fears aside. So: to detail. I'll skim the journey over - we took the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, travelling overnight to arrive in an icing-sugar snow dusting the port. Last time I set foot in Holland was in 1988, and it was just as I remembered it, honest! Flat and wet. We managed to get ourselves stuck in a semi-permanent traffic jam which extended about half-way across the country, although this allowed us some close inspection of decidedly feral-looking Barnacle Geese and indisputably feral Egyptian Geese, along with a scatter of the more expected roadside species like Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Mallard and Tufted Duck. The route became gradually more and more industrial, more and more snowy, and more and more cloudy as we headed into the Ruhr Valley. After arriving a couple of hours after we'd expected, we stretched our legs around the local valley (the Wiehbachtal), seeing a typical selection of birds (Marsh, Blue, Coal, and Great Tits, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Wooodpecker etc. etc.), but with a little bit of exotic fare thrown in for good measure: a singing Short-toed Treecreeper and a (Black-bellied) Dipper on the Wiehbach itself.
We started the next day with a bit of local sight-seeing; the Schöne Aussicht ('good view') our destination. The view from the top was, I'm sure, quite stunning, but we had to content ourselves with a fencepost-hugging Snowy Owl and a couple of Tree Sparrows...
We wandered down to the Rhine after lunch, where I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to photograph the Bayer factory, which looms down the river like a dirty great looming thing. The day got a bit more colourful with the addition of some more highly dubious birds:
Yeah, well. Enough said.
...as well as some dapper Goldeneye on the river and a handful of metal-ringed Mute Swans on the bank. Not a lot else to shout about though, I'm afraid - the fact that throwing a tennis ball between us absorbed us for the hour's walk back to the car should tell you everything about the birding. Oh, and then it started to rain...
Even the Grey Herons were looking miserable...
Compensation with a fine pizza at Na's friend Thommy's (Hi Thommy!) where we met his wife Rebecca (Hi Rebecca!) and their fairly new-born son (Hi Justus!), who was very entertaining... "How many times can you sucker the foreigner into picking up the spoon from the floor" became a favourite game of his... Kids, eh?
Next day (when was this? I've lost track already) we were in luck: the sun shone, the snow was crisp, and we had use of the car for the full day! We scooted off to Schloss Burg, before anyone changed their minds about the weather, and had a cracking walk through some lovely oak-beech forest, teeming with Marsh Tits, Nuthatches and frantically-drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, with the bonus of a nice pair of Goosander and a point-blank Black Woodpecker just as we got back to the town.
Marsh Tit. Preparing to take out the foreigner...
The day then got even better when we found that the chairlift was working, so we could get back to the castle with ease, and then make up for all the exercise with fresh waffles with hot cherries and vanilla ice-cream; a local speciality, so I felt honour-bound to try it.
It was great!
To make the most of the weather, we scooted on round to Altenburg, the only (I think) cathedral which is used by and maintained by both Catholics and Protestants. An impressive building, which I completely neglected to photograph. I can offer the restaurant at the carpark in compensation: typical Bergisches land building... Sorry.
The other point was to take a picture of something I always found fascinating about Austria and Germany: the roadsigns up in the event of a military takeover:
We finished off with a meal out with another friend, Martina, who was very entertaining indeed... A proper introduction to Kölsch made it all the more interesting!
Valentine's day found us staunchly birding some of the local gravel-pits, which are surrounded by rather even-aged Scot's Pine and oak woodland, with a smattering of birch thrown in.
Being a weekend, the entire city was outside, and with that and the pools being pretty much frozen, the birds were a bit scarce. It was a tad chilly as well, the temperature only creeping up to zero late on in the afternoon; still, we managed to seive a couple of pairs of Crested Tit out of the mix, along with a nice flock of Redpoll overhead - I'm assuming 'Lesser', rather than 'Common', but don't know of a way of doing them on call. Some disturbing-looking fungus and a nicely anarchic treetrunk rounded the day off nicely, before we chickened out and made for a cafe, to meet up with the final batch of friends...
The journey home was a bit of a pig, but here we are, the snow's gone (almost), the Blackbirds are singing and spring is in the air... be nest-recording time soon!
In the end it was better than I'd expected: the weather was kind, Na's family were lovely to stay with, and her friends very pleasant to be with; we ate some grand food, I discovered some of the local beer and we did indeed see some birds, all fears aside. So: to detail. I'll skim the journey over - we took the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, travelling overnight to arrive in an icing-sugar snow dusting the port. Last time I set foot in Holland was in 1988, and it was just as I remembered it, honest! Flat and wet. We managed to get ourselves stuck in a semi-permanent traffic jam which extended about half-way across the country, although this allowed us some close inspection of decidedly feral-looking Barnacle Geese and indisputably feral Egyptian Geese, along with a scatter of the more expected roadside species like Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Mallard and Tufted Duck. The route became gradually more and more industrial, more and more snowy, and more and more cloudy as we headed into the Ruhr Valley. After arriving a couple of hours after we'd expected, we stretched our legs around the local valley (the Wiehbachtal), seeing a typical selection of birds (Marsh, Blue, Coal, and Great Tits, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Wooodpecker etc. etc.), but with a little bit of exotic fare thrown in for good measure: a singing Short-toed Treecreeper and a (Black-bellied) Dipper on the Wiehbach itself.
We started the next day with a bit of local sight-seeing; the Schöne Aussicht ('good view') our destination. The view from the top was, I'm sure, quite stunning, but we had to content ourselves with a fencepost-hugging Snowy Owl and a couple of Tree Sparrows...
The view... and ...
...the owl. Had you going, did I?
We wandered down to the Rhine after lunch, where I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to photograph the Bayer factory, which looms down the river like a dirty great looming thing. The day got a bit more colourful with the addition of some more highly dubious birds:
Yeah, well. Enough said.
...as well as some dapper Goldeneye on the river and a handful of metal-ringed Mute Swans on the bank. Not a lot else to shout about though, I'm afraid - the fact that throwing a tennis ball between us absorbed us for the hour's walk back to the car should tell you everything about the birding. Oh, and then it started to rain...
Even the Grey Herons were looking miserable...Next day (when was this? I've lost track already) we were in luck: the sun shone, the snow was crisp, and we had use of the car for the full day! We scooted off to Schloss Burg, before anyone changed their minds about the weather, and had a cracking walk through some lovely oak-beech forest, teeming with Marsh Tits, Nuthatches and frantically-drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, with the bonus of a nice pair of Goosander and a point-blank Black Woodpecker just as we got back to the town.
Marsh Tit. Preparing to take out the foreigner...
A nice view of Schloss Burg from the distance.
And that's what it looks like inside.
They wouldn't let us paint our roadsigns up like that, I'll bet!
And then, if you try to work out what the sign might mean, as a driver, perhaps that's no bad thing...
The day then got even better when we found that the chairlift was working, so we could get back to the castle with ease, and then make up for all the exercise with fresh waffles with hot cherries and vanilla ice-cream; a local speciality, so I felt honour-bound to try it.
It was great!
To make the most of the weather, we scooted on round to Altenburg, the only (I think) cathedral which is used by and maintained by both Catholics and Protestants. An impressive building, which I completely neglected to photograph. I can offer the restaurant at the carpark in compensation: typical Bergisches land building... Sorry.
The other point was to take a picture of something I always found fascinating about Austria and Germany: the roadsigns up in the event of a military takeover:
We finished off with a meal out with another friend, Martina, who was very entertaining indeed... A proper introduction to Kölsch made it all the more interesting!
Valentine's day found us staunchly birding some of the local gravel-pits, which are surrounded by rather even-aged Scot's Pine and oak woodland, with a smattering of birch thrown in.
Being a weekend, the entire city was outside, and with that and the pools being pretty much frozen, the birds were a bit scarce. It was a tad chilly as well, the temperature only creeping up to zero late on in the afternoon; still, we managed to seive a couple of pairs of Crested Tit out of the mix, along with a nice flock of Redpoll overhead - I'm assuming 'Lesser', rather than 'Common', but don't know of a way of doing them on call. Some disturbing-looking fungus and a nicely anarchic treetrunk rounded the day off nicely, before we chickened out and made for a cafe, to meet up with the final batch of friends...
The disturbing fungus, in all it's colourful glory. There was plenty more of it, smeared down the stem of the tree, but this made the only half-way decent photo.
Treetrunk throwing off the shackles of growing straight and true...
The journey home was a bit of a pig, but here we are, the snow's gone (almost), the Blackbirds are singing and spring is in the air... be nest-recording time soon!
Friday, 6 February 2009
Snow, snow and more snow...
As the roads over Haldon were closed and I'm ahead of my work (with some time put in this evening), we took advantage of the weather to have an invigorating - o other word for it - walk around the village. Not many birds around; Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, Meadow Pipit, corvids and Woodpigeons, Redwing, Song Thrush and Blackbird, but on our return we found the remains of a pigeon's nest (Woodpigeon? Collared Dove?), with two eggs with almost full-sized embryos lying smashed in the road. Wouldn't have made it anyway in these conditions, but it goes to show how early nesting will begin!
Our by-now familiar view, this time with semi-abandoned car at bottom of field.
Trees with drifting snow piling through the hedge, on the road heading out of Hennock towards the reservoirs
It's a hole scene...
Na admiring the patterns of light and shade on snow, or perhaps just frozen to the spot...
A less usual view of Haytor
Haytor and the Bovey valley, looking moody and dramatic
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Surveying Willow Tits...
Sunday last (1st Feb) we were out en masse to make sure we're all of one mind, one purpose, when it comes to surveying Willow Tit in the fringes of Dartmoor. Six of the seven assembled bright and pretty much on time at the designated woodland, whence we began our search. Here's how it went:
So where are these Willow Tits anyway? Perhaps it's a bit open in here...
...this looks a bit better. Everyone pay attention, now...
...no, none here either. Next patch of wet woodland (which NVC is this, anyway?!)...
...over this quite nice Rhos pasture...
...no, none in here either. Pay attention, Nik...
...and Tim leads the Willow Tit conga out of the woods...
The final result was surveyors 6:Willow Tits 0. We've a couple of hypotheses so far: either it was way too bleedin' cold and manky for any self-respecting Willow Tit to be out responding to playback, or Willow Tit records are scarce and sporadic in the county because they're not there. I know which one I think might be the truth, but I remain optimistic nonetheless.
A bit of background for you: Willow Tit Poecile montana is a very scarce bird in Devon, with just a couple of well-known sites providing the vast majority of records. It may or may not have undergone a range contraction, it may or may not still exist in a viable population here. Most of the more reliable evidence comes from the north and centre of the county, primarily north of Dartmoor, but there are a number of not-too-distant records from the eastern side of the moors, as well as the traditional site on the moors. The aim of the project is to begin to work out the status and distribution of the species on the north and eastern parts of the moors; mainly because that's where the vast majority of recent records have come from.
Watch this space?
So where are these Willow Tits anyway? Perhaps it's a bit open in here...
...this looks a bit better. Everyone pay attention, now...
...no, none here either. Next patch of wet woodland (which NVC is this, anyway?!)...
...over this quite nice Rhos pasture...
...no, none in here either. Pay attention, Nik...
...and Tim leads the Willow Tit conga out of the woods...The final result was surveyors 6:Willow Tits 0. We've a couple of hypotheses so far: either it was way too bleedin' cold and manky for any self-respecting Willow Tit to be out responding to playback, or Willow Tit records are scarce and sporadic in the county because they're not there. I know which one I think might be the truth, but I remain optimistic nonetheless.
A bit of background for you: Willow Tit Poecile montana is a very scarce bird in Devon, with just a couple of well-known sites providing the vast majority of records. It may or may not have undergone a range contraction, it may or may not still exist in a viable population here. Most of the more reliable evidence comes from the north and centre of the county, primarily north of Dartmoor, but there are a number of not-too-distant records from the eastern side of the moors, as well as the traditional site on the moors. The aim of the project is to begin to work out the status and distribution of the species on the north and eastern parts of the moors; mainly because that's where the vast majority of recent records have come from.
Watch this space?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
