Zim Girl's 4th Big Year 2021

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Zim Girl said:

he already has one egg,

That was quick. The nest was empty when I saw it at the weekend.

[Kitsafari]

super batch of birds.  

[Zim Girl]

22 hours ago, Galana said:

That was quick. The nest was empty when I saw it at the weekend.

She has just laid the second egg as per Cumbria Wildlife Trust twitter.  There is a picture of both eggs on #FoulshawOspreys.

[elefromoz]

On 4/13/2021 at 8:39 PM, Zim Girl said:

Every time Adrian walked the dog past on his own he would come back and say he had seen the buzzard

Ha ha, I know how that feels, we have a local Black Shouldered Kite that my husband spots regularly, one day I'll catch it out...

[michael-ibk]

What an awesome Water Rail sighting, you did really well! Lovely pictures, especially like the Redpoll (a bird I´m seeing once or twice a year tops).

[Dave Williams]

You were ticking along nicely then you have gone quiet. All well hopefully?!

 

[Zim Girl]

22 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

You were ticking along nicely then you have gone quiet. All well hopefully?!

 

More to come this afternoon with any luck!

[Zim Girl]

So on we go with the next few birds.

I have been trying for ages to get a better shot of this one but this will have to do in the end.

 

65.  Eurasian Skylark

Uldale Fells, Cumbria  -  17/04/21

[Zim Girl]

I usually wait for the super friendly robins at Leighton Moss to get their picture but these two at the local park would not leave me alone, so they get the shot!

 

66.  European Robin

 

Stanley Park  -  20/04/21

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Zim Girl

[Zim Girl]

This was the bird I was actually trying to get.

 

67.  Long-tailed Tit

Stanley Park  -  20/04/21

[Zim Girl]

We went back to Newton Marsh to look for the Little Ringed Plovers and Avocets that had been seen there.  This small wetland area can really produce some good sightings if you are lucky.  First some babies .  We saw four little lapwing chicks scampering around.

 

68.  Northern Lapwing

 

 

Newton Marsh  -  25/04/21

 

 

[Zim Girl]

We did see the Avocets, but in the distance, so I will wait to see if I can get better photos later.  But we did find the LRP pair.  

Hopefully some more babies on the way!

 

69.  Little Ringed Plover

 

Newton Marsh  -  25/04/21

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Zim Girl

[Zim Girl]

This one is a duplicate for BY but a new one for the garden list.  Photo just for proof.

 

Lesser Redpoll

Front garden  -  25/04/21

[Zim Girl]

A late afternoon dog walk to Brock to specifically look for Grey Wagtails produced a Grey Wagtail .  @Soukous, we also saw 2 pairs of Dippers and another single if you are interested and still plan to visit.

 

70.  Grey Wagtail

River Brock  -  26/04/21

 

[Zim Girl]

Several hours at the local nature reserve on a warbler hunt only produced one decent picture.  Many were heard but impossible to find, so I obviously need to employ @PeterHGmethod of standing still for long periods of time to do better.  

 

71.  Common Whitethroat

Marton Mere  -  29/04/21

[Zim Girl]

Then a trip into the Forest of Bowland for a game bird and pipit hunt.  Trip number one gave us the game birds but we had to go back for better pipit pictures.  No hardship as the drive from Scorton to Dunsop Bridge along the 'trough' road is lovely.

 

72.  Red Grouse

Forest of Bowland  -  24/04/21

 

 

[Zim Girl]

73.  Red-legged Partridge

Forest of Bowland  -  24/04/21

[Zim Girl]

Another duplicate, but improved picture of a Northern Wheatear.

Forest of Bowland  -  24/04/21

 

 

[Zim Girl]

With pipits, the trick to to drive very slowly and wait for them to pop up onto the walls and fences.  So much easier than chasing them on foot over the fells.

Now, as ever, I really struggle with ID between the Meadow and the Tree.  I am pretty sure the first two are meadow and I think the last one might be a tree pipit on the basis of a possibly slightly shorter and thicker bill and shorter curved, paler hind claws.  But I know nothing, so @Galanaam I right?  (I won't count it yet).

 

74.  Meadow Pipit

 

 

Tree Pipit??

Forest of Bowland  -  02/05/21

 

 

 

 

[Galana]

If really pressed I would say all three are Meadow Pipits.

8 minutes ago, Zim Girl said:

With pipits, the trick to to drive very slowly and wait for them to pop up onto the walls and fences. 

Better still is to wait for the display flight. Where did it take off from?

[Zim Girl]

3 minutes ago, Galana said:

If really pressed I would say all three are Meadow Pipits.

Better still is to wait for the display flight. Where did it take off from?

I thought you might say that!!

I have no idea about flight, they just appear like magic and wait for you to take their picture .

 

[PeterHG]

Beautiful set of birds: Grey Wagtail, Red Grouse, Red Partridge, I'm on my way over!

49 minutes ago, Zim Girl said:

so I obviously need to employ @PeterHGmethod of standing still for long periods of time

I'm selling it as sound tactics, but it's just age....:)

 

[Zim Girl]

Thank you Peter.

 

Less good bird news is that the local Grey Heron(s) have finally discovered we have taken the net off our pond.  We actually did this end of last summer after we had a lot of building work done and some garden landscaping.  The old net was knackered and full of holes and had to be cut away from the rocks around the pond.  The pond now looked 100% more attractive and it would have been almost impossible to reattach a new net anyway so we left it and hoped for the best.

 

Nothing happened up until a few days ago, when early in the morning, Adrian saw a heron at the bottom of the garden with a big orange fish at it's feet which it then picked up and flew off with.  He couldn't see whether it was one of our koi or just a big goldfish.  We knew it would come back the next morning so we were ready to set up some temporary barriers that night to deter it.  

Unfortunately it beat us to it by coming back in the evening while we were watching TV.  Adrian went out later to set things up but when he switched the outside light on we were greeted with a murder scene!!  There was a goldfish lying on the patio and a big pool of blood further round the patio with a trail of blood leading down the path where the heron had obviously killed a fish and then flown off with it.  The goldfish was still breathing and only seemed slightly injured so we put it back in the pond.  It is hard to tell how many fish may have been taken as they are (very sensibly) hiding at the bottom of the pond.  Thankfully, we spotted one of our two big koi pop it's head up today and we are hoping the other one is still hiding.

The pond has now been temporarily fortified with various chairs and wire fencing, and we have set up the trail cam to see if the heron comes back.

 

[xelas]

More of great finds! For partridge and grouse, I will have to visit your locations. Eventually.

[Dave Williams]

Nice additions there especially the garden Redpoll and although I couldn't tell the difference between Lesser and Common I do think your Pipits are all Mipits!. Herons can clear you out in no time, hope the Koi survived!