Walks temporarily abandoned

This blog is now coming to you from sunny (or snowy) Somerzet!

The West Somerset Railway is just down the road.


The two (2!) removal men worked hard and unloaded two (2!) lorries in one (1!) day; we now have a house full of boxes! Jen is working hard to clear them and a couple of rooms do look habitable - just. My study is still piled high just waiting for Jen to finish her bit so that I can move some of the stuff out and assemble my large desk and filing cabinets. With the computer set up properly and the paperwork filed away, I should be able to fill the bookshelves from the remaining thirty (yes, 30!) archive boxes of mainly bird books.

The village is a marvellous place with all manner of shops, including an old fashioned hardware shop, chainsaw and clothing stores attached! Ah, the smell of chain oil! They do ride on mowers, as well; we'll be needing one of them come the spring.

View from our kitchen window (L-R); ringing hut almost obscured by Camelia.


Put some feeders out and ordered 45kg of SFH off eBay which came today; turns out it was 28 bags of 1.75kg each! Even with carriage charges, it was still cheaper than from the pet store round the corner. In two days we have had 22 species of bird in the garden that we know of.
[Blackbird 1+, Black-headed Gull 2, Blue Tit 5+, Chaffinch 2, Coal Tit 2, Collared Dove 2, Dunnock 2, Goldcrest 1, Goldfinch 5, Great Spot 1, Great Tit 2+, Herring Gull 2, House Sparrow 5(+), Jackdaw 2, Long-tailed Tit 3+, Pied Wagtail 1, Robin 2, Rook 2, Siskin 1+, Starling 1, Wood Pigeon 5, Wren 1]

We haven't had time to explore the local walks yet; the dogs have had theirs running round the garden or up to the village via the rec. (they call it the Memorial Ground)! We live on the edge of the village and it's a good half mile to the centre. Although the trunk A road passes our door, we are set back quite a way with a thick hedge in between. Occasionally we hear a lorry rumble pass, but that's either during the morning "rush hour" or in the quiet of the evening.

Got to go into Bridgwater to get my car fixed (20 miles +), 'cos the EMS light came on as we drove through Bridgwater on Monday evening. More expense we could do without right now. Still - needs must!.                       

Walking my last

Sunday: My last guided walk for the public at Priory CP today.
Plenty of interest on the main lake early on, in strong contrast to late morning when four double kayaks paddled through the winter wildfowl exclusion zone (almost every thing left!! including the gulls!!). 30 Cormorants, 14 Wigeon, a female R-C Pochard, ~30 Gadwall, ~100 Coot, 8 Tufted, an increasing number of 'straight' Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Lesser Black-back, Herring, Common & Black-headed Gulls. In contrast, there was little on Fingers apart from 2 Cormorant, 7 Shoveler and 3 Little Grebe. We only noticed about 4 different Grey Herons all morning.

Wattle & daub shelter under construction.

Eventually, we made it to the 'rough'. The female rangers are in the process of constructing a wattle and daub shelter for the school kiddies, with a reed thatched roof. It's to provide shelter from the sun or rain (H&S ?), but more likely to be used for nefarious purposes until some bright "spark" comes along! I hope the "long hedge" survives; it's our best leading line for migrants into the main ringing area.

Adult female Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - a retrap.

Ed was ringing this morning and by the time we rolled up he had caught 20 birds in his 3 nets. He was able to show us a Great Spot, a 1CY SongThrush (possibly an immigrant) and a "this year's" female Great Tit, explaining how he had aged and sexed the birds.

The rest of the walk was rather uneventful; no Siskin flock found, 3 more juvenile Cormorants, a fly-by Kingfisher, a couple of skulking Teal ... and those blessed canoeists!

Now I'm off to pack the garden furniture, empty my desk and disconnect the computer and all the secondary bits and pieces. Back on line next Thursday - if BT keeps its promise. Swapping town for country, Mbps will crash, especially during peak periods, something I don't suffer on cable!

Walking the dog

In a week's time, I will be leading my last guided walk for the Borough at the Country Park. Today, I took a shuffle round with the dog, to see what's changed of late.


'Cerise'
 
It was a 'grey day', somewhat overcast, but at least the gales had died down and it was not cold at 8C. The usual flotilla of Mallard had congregated along the path up to the Beefeater with a few Coot hangers-on. A plaintive Robin sang at the Sailing Club corner and a couple of skittish Blackbirds shot from one side of the path to the other, doubtless after Yew berries. No Greenfinch today; strange?

Further along at the SW corner, a flock of 16 Goldfinch emerged from the lakeside bushes and flew towards the river. Offshore, I spied 3 male Pochard heading towards the island. Pairs of Gadwall swam idly along, hither and thither. With the middle section closed to provide a winter wildfowl 'safe zone', the next stop was the hide. Pressmead produced nothing on the way there, not even a Chaffinch! A scruffy Tufted was hiding in the corner, more Mallard squawked their way out from the neighbouring reeds, more Gadwall idled 'offshore', a singleton male Pochard (not one of the three) hove into view and the masses of Coot "did Coot".

'Mallard', resting.

Walking on, I noticed the recent winds had brought a willow down across one of the swims. Approaching the 'beach', we encountered our first dog walkers. Glancing aside, I picked up a Little Grebe plunging into >10 feet of water as it spotted me. Crossing the cycle track to the lock, I checked out Fingers; not a lot - just two Cormorant fishing. Says it all - no wonder the anglers complain for ever and a day. Kramer hide - nil; well, one Heron.

Bumped into the lads, DK, Dave and John A, looking at a Magpie hanging (dead) in a tree on Kingsmead. On the intervening meadow there were 77 Wood Pigeons and a Jackdaw. Walking back to the 'rough', it was pretty dismal - the only consolation was one (or more) Siskin calling overhead. Flighty Shoveler on the Fingers (lilypads side), a desperate Cormorant, half a dozen Redwing and ... that's your lot.

I did get to hear a calling Chiff in the shelter belt that stretched from the 'rough' to the visitor centre, probably the best bird of the day.

A bit of a rest.

What with all the packing, telling everybody we are about to move and juggling the finances, it was pleasant to take the dog for a walk down to the country park. I had to drop off some keys at the rangers' office and was greeted with those dreaded words "two Black Swans on the main lake"! Doh!

Well, I did see them at a distance; no need to get close as they were the only big, black and long-necked things on the water. I remember my first encounter with the species, way back in the early 'seventies. I was doing a wildlife management plan for the quarry owners at what is now Thorpe Park water ski lake, part of the theme park near Chertsey (Surrey). In those days the company was 'Redland' but now they are known as 'Cemex'.

The wind had abated and the sun had come out, too. The lake was festooned with the, by now, omnipresent Coot but fewer Mute Swans than earlier this autumn. A trot round to the Fingers yielded a tight bunch of 20 Gadwall, 5 pairs of Shoveler keeping their distance from each other, 4 Little Grebe, 3 Grey Herons and little in the way of Mallard. The trees and bushes were alive with the recent intruders, the continental Blackbirds; some Redwing were also present, but they have been around for a couple of weeks now. What I did notice was a couple of "high flying" Song Thrushes, with their distinctive "armpits".

An amble round to the ringing site proved worthwhile. BTCV volunteers have been in and reduced or pushed back some of the taller vegetation, but more needs to be done to keep the site "up to standard" before the next breeding season. Also, the rudimentary beginnings of a wicker shelter have appeared; when this has been finished with thatch from the 'crescent' reedbed, it will give some shelter from the sun and rain for the young schoolchildren on their "field days". [That was what they were called in my day].

Then it was back home - to argue the toss about insurance (bloody rip-off)

While the cat's away ...

While I was driving down to Somerset, two of my 'C' ringers went off to my DEFRA site in Bucks. This is an ESA (Environmentally Sensitive Area) at the headwaters of the River Ray.

We have been charged with providing a written report of the birdlife of this 30 acre new wet woodland - it's 15 years old - and ringing helps us seek out some of the birds and tells us a bit about their lifestyle.

One useful bit of info. that they found out was a roost of Bullfinch; they caught 10 new and 2 r/t at dusk. Behind there, there was also a roost of thrushes. One 'bogey' bird was caught at long last - a Great Spot. So far, they have taken to avoiding (or clinging on to) the nets.

I have added Ed's view of the weekend ....

Monday, 8 November 2010

A weekend near Aylesbury

One and a half days ringing and 88 birds of 19 species were ringed at Edgcott, near Aylesbury. The site is a 15 year old woodland plantation crisscrossed with rides where nets can easily be erected.

Blackbird  10
Blue Tit  5 (4)
Bullfinch  11 (3)
Chaffinch  2
Dunnock  2 (1)
Goldcrest  1 (4)
Goldfinch  1
Great Spotted Woodpecker  1 [first for site]
Great Tit  2
Greenfinch  1
Jay  1
Long-tailed Tit  6 (13)
Marsh Tit  (1)
Redpoll  3 [new for site]
Redwing  9  [new for site]
Robin  1
Song Thrush  1 [first for site]
Treecreeper  1
Wren  4

My favourites were Redpoll (unexpected) and Jay but I was also pleased with a Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

We also picked up a Goldcrest and Blue Tit that had been ringed elsewhere & not by us - I'd be very interested to find out where in Britain they have come from.



Above: One of three Redpoll.



Above: A Jay - for some reason Blogger has rotated this photo and I can't get it to change. Humph! I'll try again another time.



Above: Great Spotted Woodpecker.

We go!

The date has been fixed!

We go on the 22nd. That means the removal men will load and travel. We will pack, panic, double-check and travel.
We are - 2 adults, 2 dogs & 1 cat, and will all be sleeping on the floor together overnight.

Lew's stuff arrives early on 23rd, Jen's stuff arrives early on 24th, BT arrive somewhen on 24th, broad-band will be up and runing on 25th. Can I survive without it for 3 days?

Last week-end we travelled down to meet the current owner's son & daughter. Everything went smoothly, we had a long chat, they showed us everything we needed to see. They agreed what we could do to the place while we wait the sale of Lew's house.

I for one will be glad when it's all over and the hassle has stopped.