You will remember way back in the cool days of spring I told you about the Loch Garten Ospreys returning. They laid three eggs this year which is wonderful some only lay one. The great news is they have been successful in raising them all. The three girls are now able to fly two were up and flying at the beginning of the week with one being a a bit of a scardy as usual but I am sure she will be flying now. Thats it for now. Love Joan.
Being the middle of summer Stuart and I have not been away much bird watching of late yesterday however we thought we would take Ellen for a walk along our local loch side. We strolled she ran all the way. We called in to the lovely new hide that has been made there (I think I mentioned the previously). It was a lovely summer afternoon and fortunately there was a Grey Heron close by for Ellen to watch as he hunted just outside the hide. Swallows House Martins and Sand Martins were all skimming the water. As we sat there an Osprey passed over but still high up. Later Stuart spotted him fishing about 50 yards out, the fish he caught was so big he could hardly get out of the water, he sort of floated there for a minute gave himself a good shake then took off. What a whopper he had caught the young Ospreys would have been very pleased to see him come back with that lovely trout for their supper. As he flew away another one appeared not sure if this was the wife or a spare that had not mated this year as Ospreys have to be about 4 years old before they attempt to raise a family and the unattached bird cause a lot of trouble to the breeding birds. We had a great afternoon and I think Ellen enjoyed herself and we rounded of with a visit to the playpark on the way home so on the whole a great afternoon was had by young and old. Love
Joan.
As promised here is our list of birds for our holiday:-
Tawny Owl, Lapwing, Swallow, Crow, Rook, Magpie, Jackdaw, Swift, Oystercatcher,, Pheasant, Kestrel, Wood Pigeon, Blackbird, Collared dove, House Sparrow, Cuckoo, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Robin, Wren, Chaffinch, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Black Headed Gull, Reed Warbler, Avocet, Starling, Canada Goose, Chiffchaff, Gadwal, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Coot, Dabchic, Cormorant, Bearded Tit, Shelduck, Bar Tailed Godwit, Shoveler, Egyptian Goose, Snipe, Pied Wagtail, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Moorhen, Teal, Mallard, Herring Gull, Arctic Tern 51 Redshank, White Wagtail, Garganey, Heron, Barn Owl, Dark Bellied Brent Goose, Grasshopper Warbler,Cetti's Warbler, Little Egret, Sparrow Hawk, Turnstone, Pintail, Pochard, Sanderling, Marsh harrier, Ruddy Duck, Reed Bunting, Yellow Wagtail, Golden Plover, Red Legged Partidge, Grey Lag Goose Wigeon, Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Montygues Harrier, Whitethroat, Linnet, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Corn Bunting, Yellow Hammer, Pale Bellied Brent goose, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Willow Warbler, Jay, Whimbrel, Buzzard, Greenshank, Green Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Knot, Little Gull, Gannet, Feral pigeon, Grey Plover,, 101 Stone Curlew, Woodlark, Great Crested Grebe, Hobby, Laughing gull, Bittern, Mistle Thrush, Coal Tit, Curlew 109 in total.
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Could have been better we kept missing a Purple Heron at Titchwell that was there for over a week but other birders were standing for up to 6 hours to see this illusive bird and we were not willing to stand in one spot for that length of time. We also did not see the Golden Orioles this is the third time we have tried without success if nothing else we bird watchers are very patient people. Hope I have not missed anything out as I am the sole list keeper. Thank you for your interest if you have gotten this far. Love and happy birding as we say. Love
Joan.
Well here I am back from our "Summer Holidays" so I have my new mug filled to the brim with decaf so I will endeavour to tell you a little of what we did. We can call it Summer Holidays thank goodness as we did have some lovely weather so good that the birds all got lazy and went to sleep some of the time. Titchwell was its usual wonderful self a gentle walk round and you can see over 50 different kinds of birds Marsh Harrier being one of my favourites. It can be very busy on weekends it bit like the High Street as we say but still very quiet and peaceful. During the week there are less people but that mean less eyes looking so less news of what is about. We also visited Weeting one of the last remaining nesting areas for the rare Stone Curlew.Only a short drive from there is Holkwold Marshes at Lakenheath a new reserve which is going to have improvements made to it shortly RSPB are going to build a visitors centre and toilets (I hope) and a hide or two. It is a great spot for Golden Oriels and Hobby gather there too a great spot and a nice gentle but long walk. Cley next the Sea is another favourite of ours but this year it was very quiet when we visited. We went back a second time in the hope that there would be something new about but that day Stuart had to go alone as i was confined to the car as I had big blisters on my heals from a new pair of shoes I had worn that morning for a trip to Sheringham shopping it seemed strange as it was the first time Stuart had walked The East Bank (Very well known birding walk even Bill Oddie goes there) alone but I think he enjoyed it without me just. I will list the birds we saw later today but will have to close now. Love Joan.
This morning Stuart and I were out in the garden trying to get everything done before we go away on holiday. I looked up and there just above my head was the first Swift of the summer. Quite a good date have seen it much later in the month before they arrive up here. They are with us for such a short time, arrive the beginning of May have a busy summer breeding and rearing their young and are away again from my part of Scotland by the first week in August You are fortunate further south Sifts will stay well into September. I love watching them, they fly in formation like fighter planes. I get a great view of them from our lounge window and from the garden. Where I stay they are our most common Hirundine. We had our first House Martin on the 1st of May so that is all of that group of birds in now so we can say its summer ha ha. You know the saying 'One Swallow does not a summer make'.
For my records:- Swallow .....6th April
Sand Martin.....10th April.
House Martin......1st May
Swift.....3rd May. 2006.
Thank you for reading my Bird watching tales. Love
Joan.
Our Bird Watching trips have not been very successful of late but we have been trying honest but the weather has been so cold as you know we have not been out as much as usual. Today after Stuart had been for his first physio appointment we thought we would take a trip round our local loch. First to the RSPB reserve big mistake as the schools are still off it was very busy and very noisy with badly behaved children so we did not stay long. Sorry to complain but today children seem to get away with anything they want to do we were not the only ones thank goodness that were upset by the noise. We did not stay long then back to the car and we drove round to the other side of the Loch. There has been a lot of work going on a new footpath and a new hide something we never had before on that side of the loch. We had a lovely walk to the new bird hide and sat watching the Great Crested Grebes displaying I think you will have seen this on TV as it is very special to watch as they rise out of the water beak to beak and seem to dance its so beautiful. After a while I moved over to the other side of the hide we were the only ones in it so we could move around. Just as I settled down something in the sky caught my eye it was an Osprey so our local one is back too. (See last nights entry) As we sat watching him/her hunting over the loch I was hoping he/she would see a fish and come down but no luck today maybe next time. As we sat watching over the loch we saw our first Sand Martins of the Spring not too late for up here but a bit later than usual but with these strong northerly winds we have had we are lucky they are here at all just shows you they have to get to their breeding colonies as soon as they can. So after a quiet spell in the bird watching world at last something to write about .
Our total for this year is now 101.
The Loch Garten Ospreys have returned again. It is always a big event that they have made their long journey safely again it is such a risky business. Our summer visitors are late like everything else, we saw our first Swallow on Thursday in Perth and we had a Whinchat while we were up north. If you want to follow the Ospreys summer they have their own web site and camera that is worth a look and a read as the warden does a weekly log and tells all the happenings in an interesting and amusing way. I will put a link for you in the side bar as well as on this entry. Bye for now enjoy the Spring. Love Joan.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochgarten/diary/index.asp
