Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Black Terns and Little Gulls, BLGP 'wader pit'
Whenever Josh Jones comes into the PBC area, he turns up goodies. This Easter weekend, this included a couple of Ring Ouzels (see below), and a whole bunch of Little Gulls (Will B and I counted 24) and six Black Terns. The upper photo shoes 12 Little Gulls and the six terns. the lower one features 16 Little Gulls.
Red-necked Grebe, Deeping Lakes LWT, Lincs
Found early in the morning by Hugh Wright, this beauty stayed all day on the east pit. The Spotted Redshank dropped (see above) in while Will, Josh and I were grebing. But only landed for about 20 seconds!
Whinchat, Thurlby Fen, Lincs
This beautiful male Whinchat (aren't they all beautiful, in spring?) was found by Vin Fleming on 20 April. My previous earliest was on 22 April 2006, so another record early bird (if only by two days).
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
Song Thrush in sheep field
For the last ten days or so I have been waking up absurdly early and driving off in search of Ring Ouzels and perhaps Redstarts around like fields around Folksworth-Morborne-Haddon, Moonshine Gap, Caldecote and Connington airfield. So far, no luck. On e striking thing, though, has been the number of Song Thrushes about. Loads of them. And sometimes out feeding in fields (usually near the edge) in small flocks of five or six birds, like so many Redwings. It seems odd to see Song Thrush flocks! ANyhow, this one was happily feeding in the 'ram' field at Caldecote, among the sheep poo.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Arctic Terns at Ferry Meadows CP
Yes, folks, it is time for the just about annual parade of Arctic Tern portraits from FMCP. Enjoy!
Monday, April 08, 2019
Little Owl, Thorney Toll
The Little Owl is a curiosity among our birds. It is not a native, but was introduced in the late 19th Century and is now well established (with jsut under 6,000 pairs), mainly in England. yet, unlike most other introduced birds it is neither a 'game' species, nor despised as an alien. Little Owls are popular birds! We do OK for them around Peterborough, with a decent smattering around the PBC area (I seem to remember reading that the Oundle area, west of Peterborough, was one of the areas of first successful introduction), but they can be a tad elusive (they are small, partly nocturnal and hide in holes in trees). This bird suddenly appeared unexpectedly while I was turning the car around near the viewing area for the Thorney Toll Rough-legged Buzzard (which I didn't see). Then it posed in a big gnarly old willow by the side of the road, allowing me to whizz off a few shots before whizzing off itself. I think it is the closest I have photographed a Little Owl.
Wheatear, Orton Brick Pit & Hampton
This female Wheatear was found at the upper 'brownfield' area of Orton Brick Pit by Hampton resident Jacob Williams. It decided to perch on the bordering fence, so I tried to frame it to use the buildings of Hampton to give a bit of arty structure to the piccies.
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