Zim Girl's (very tiny) Big Year 2018

[Kitsafari]

Congrats on the 50! I too think the grey wagtail is lovely. The kestrel was well worth the wait. Lovely additions since i last peeked!

[Zim Girl]

We were in the Lake District last week catching up on some fell walking.

We stayed in the Western Lakes area and after we arrived on the Monday we drove over to St Bees Head on the coast. It is home to the north west of England's only cliff nesting seabird colony.  The main nesting areas sit either side of Fleswick Bay and are reached by a coastal path from the village of St Bees.  The RSPB has 3 viewing platforms along the top of the cliff.

 

Early afternoon probably isn't the best time to view but these pictures give you some idea of the numbers of birds there at present. The birds nest from around April to July and during this time the following should be able to be seen.  Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Cormorants and Herring Gulls, it is also supposed to be the only place in England to see nesting Black Guillemots. 

 

Unfortunately, despite looking hard among the Guillemots we couldn't spot any Black ones.

 

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

61.  Common Guillemot

 

St Bees Head  -  21/05/18

[Zim Girl]

62.  Razorbill

 

 

St Bees Head  -  21/05/18

[Zim Girl]

That was the only bit of dedicated bird watching we had time for but we still managed another 6 birds for the BY.

The next three were from the garden of the cottage we stayed in.

 

63.  Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

Wasdale, Lake District  -  21/05/18

[Zim Girl]

64.  Tree Sparrow

Wasdale, Lake District  -  21/05/18

 

[Zim Girl]

65.  Nuthatch

 

 

 

Wasdale, Lake District  -  21/05/18

 

[Zim Girl]

We heard these birds every day, singing above us on the fells.  The following are 3 different individuals.

 

66.  Skylark

 

 

 

Wasdale, Lake District

Edited May 30, 2018 by Zim Girl

[Zim Girl]

I think this is the first time I have ever actually seen this bird, but once we had worked out their song we realised they were everywhere on this particular fell.

 

67.  Yellowhammer

 

 

 

Eskdale, Lake District  -  25/05/18

[Zim Girl]

I am going to end this little selection on a couple of smudges I'm afraid, but I doubt I will get better even though I see them a lot.  At least I had a 2000 feet height advantage this time.

 

68.  Common Buzzard

 

Wasdale, Lake District  -  24/05/18

 

[Dave Williams]

Some nice shots included  there! I think you are most likely to find Black Guillemots around harbours. Holyhead has quite a few and in Dumfries and Galloway there are several places. Not sure about the Cumbrian coast line, possibly some there too.

[TonyQ]

Lovely additions- I particularly like the Yellowhammer!

[michael-ibk]

I love hose cliffs full of birds, what a sight. Not something we get here in Austria.

[Zim Girl]

One from Leighton Moss at the weekend.  The adults were frantically flying around feeding this youngster.

 

69.  Marsh Tit

 

 

Leighton Moss  -  09/06/18

[Zim Girl]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by Zim Girl
Duplicate post

[Zim Girl]

Then walking around Hutton Roof not far from Leighton Moss I saw this on top of a tree.

 

70.  Stonechat

 

Hutton Roof SSSI  -  09/06/18

 

[Zim Girl]

Ok, back to work on this.  We were away in Scotland recently and on the way back home popped into Leighton Moss again for a quick visit and found 2 more to add to the BY.

 

71.  Greenfinch

 

Leighton Moss  -  22/06/18

[Zim Girl]

72.  Little Grebe

 

Leighton Moss  -  22/06/18

[Zim Girl]

I have been trying to get a decent picture of this next bird all year and have plenty of 'ok, but not great' pics, but finally I managed to get them feeding on top of thistles from the bottom of the garden at the weekend.

 

73.  Goldfinch

 

Back garden  -  29/06/18

[xelas]

Nice additions, @Zim Girl! Your Greenfinch is greener then our .

[Galana]

Some nice pictures from 'home'. Dabchicks are always nice to see and watch.

Late update from your May post from St.Bees..

For Black Gillies just get the boat from Heysham, and find them in Douglas Harbour. (Or hire me ) Then sail home. Nice weather for a cruise!

[michael-ibk]

Very nice picture of my little favourite gardenbird.

[Zim Girl]

Thanks everyone.

The Scotland trip all about walking but we saw a couple of brand new birds for us.

Now this is where quality takes a nose dive but seeing as I have never actually seen one before and unlikely to do so again (at least this year) I hope you will forgive me.

 

74.  Cuckoo

Glen Turret, Perthshire  -  21/06/18

 

[Zim Girl]

We were very lucky to have some fabulous sightings of Red Kites while we were out and about.  There were resident ones in the wood opposite the cottage we were staying in and we also saw them when out walking.  They were always very obliging and would hover quite close and this was definitely one of those times when I wish I had a proper camera, but these will have to do. These were 3 different birds.

 

75.  Red Kite

 

 

Perthshire  -  June 2018

[Galana]

Great Kite sightings. Nice and lucky Cuckoo.