Zim Girl's 2nd Big Year 2019

[Zim Girl]

19 hours ago, xelas said:

Darn, you have all the Bearded Tits in UK! Why they told you to bring the wellies when a canoe would be much better option?!

It certainly would have been.  I came away with very wet feet as the water levels were so high in places it was going over the tops of the wellies.  Still, worth it to get such a good sighting.  

[Kitsafari]

such lovely bearded tits! do they usually feed the birds in the parks? 

[Galago]

Serious dedication in those conditions but, oh my, am I envious! I'm used to seeing them innSuffolk but these shots are amazing!!! What a complete treat!

[Galana]

5 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

do they usually feed the birds in the parks?

Not feed but grit to help digestion.

[lmSA84]

Wow - is didn’t know that they would even come together in such big flocks

[Zim Girl]

1 hour ago, lmSA84 said:

Wow - is didn’t know that they would even come together in such big flocks

Because the reserve is so flooded at the moment they can't pick any grit up from the ground, so they are congregating on the trays.  A sighting of 28 birds was noted a few days ago.

[mvecht]

@lmSA84  I have seen a flock of at least 36 Bearded tits in Denmark

[Zim Girl]

So we were out last weekend trying to find some new additions to the BY before heading out to South Africa later this week.

There have been loads of reports all over the county of fieldfares and redwings, but they are obviously avoiding us. We tried another hotspot on Sat morning and spotted just a few fieldfares flying over the tops of the trees.  One landed and I got this rubbish shot at distance.

 

109.  (UK 107)  Fieldfare

Dalton Crags, Lancashire  -  02/11/19

 

[Zim Girl]

Then in the same area later on, found a kestrel perched in the top of a tree.  

 

110.  (UK 108) Common Kestrel

Dalton Crags, Lancashire  -  02/11/19

 

[Zim Girl]

In Leighton Moss, on the other side of the motorway, the ducks are coming back and found this one missed earlier in the year.

 

111.  (UK 109)  Northern Pintail

Female

 

Male

 

Leighton Moss  -  02/11/19

 

 

[Zim Girl]

And a bird from months ago that I had been trying to improve on.  We have seen plenty of them recently but all a long way off.

 

112.  (UK 110)  Little Grebe

Leighton Moss  -  30/03/19

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Last bird for now is very, very common but hard to pin down for a photo.

The first picture was taken in a field just outside our village.  This bird had a lot of white on it's breast.

 

113.  (UK 111)  Common Buzzard

Home village, Lancashire  -  17/02/19

 

These were 2 buzzards seen together in a tree out on a walk.  One stayed and the other flew to a nearby wood.

 

 

Nr Sizergh Castle, Cumbria  -  20/07/19

 

That has just beaten my UK total of 110 last year.  I still have a couple in the bank that I am determined to improve on when we get back but now I need to research birds of South Africa.

 

 

[TonyQ]

@Zim Girl well done on beating your UK total - you have also overtaken my UK total for this year!

Have a great time in South Africa and I look forward to seeing your photos

[Galana]

Congratulations on beating your personal best. Judging from @Dave Williams's results from RSA you are almost guaranteed a flock more.

Have a good trip.

[Kitsafari]

Awesome that you've beaten your often UK record. 

SA will for sure give you a bountiful boost.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[PeterHG]

Enjoy your SA trip! Looking forward to the collection you'll bring back.

[xelas]

That is impressive number for one only country, @Zim Girl. And you will have plenty more to photograph in good light of South Africa.  

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations @Zim Girl

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations Angie, well done on your UK birds, and you will have a lot of BY work to do when you return from South Africa! What a nice Pintail photo, one of my nemesis birds. And wholeheartedly agree about the Buzzards, see them daily but getting a good picture ... you did well with them.

[Zim Girl]

20 hours ago, TonyQ said:

@Zim Girl well done on beating your UK total - you have also overtaken my UK total for this year!

Have a great time in South Africa and I look forward to seeing your photos

 

Nice to know I have beaten something

[Zim Girl]

17 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Congratulations Angie, well done on your UK birds, and you will have a lot of BY work to do when you return from South Africa! What a nice Pintail photo, one of my nemesis birds. And wholeheartedly agree about the Buzzards, see them daily but getting a good picture ... you did well with them.

The Pintails are a lovely duck, there were quite a few of them in the lake that morning.  Thankyou about the buzzard, I hadn't posted them before because I was determined to do better as I see them so often.

[Zim Girl]

So back from the Cape and trying to find time to get some of these SA birds up before Christmas.  I got more than I expected (mind you I had very low expectations) which if I had realised, I might have tried a bit harder.  We did tend to ignore anything a bit LBJ or 'it's another of those black and white birds', then realising much later on that there are a few of them .

 

Anyway, to try and get your attention (there are a lot of SA birds out there),  I will start with one bird we particularly wanted to see and which we hiked around for quite a long time before finding, but we got it in the end and were very happy!  The rest will be in roughly the order we found them.  I do still have a number I can't identify so will probably need some help later.

 

114.  (SA 1)  Knysna Turaco

 

Kingfisher Trail, Wilderness  -  16/11/19

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Our first afternoon was spent in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.  We stayed in a lovely guest house called Klein Bosheuwel for one night which was situated a 2 minute walk away from one of the garden's entrances.

 

NC  (SA 2)  Already in UK count.

Egyptian Goose

Kirstenbosch  -  08/11/19

 

[Zim Girl]

115.  (SA 3)  Pin-tailed Whydah

Kirstenbosch  -  08/11/19

Klein Bosheuwel garden  -  08/11/19

 

[Zim Girl]

116.  (SA 4)  Cape Canary

Kirstenbosch  -  08/11/19