Sheffield Wildlife Mark II

Sheffield Wildlife has moved to the much better looking http://sheffieldwildlife.wordpress.com

I will keep updating it. Promise!

New Year's Resolution

BLOG MORE

Sheffield Wildlife Mk II coming very soon - I'm a bit sick of Blogger so will be moving it elsewhere.

Birding meme parts 6 and 7

I'm off work with a stinking cold, so a good opportunity to finally get this finished...

Question 6: Who is your favourite birder? and why?

Blimey. I'm not sure what to put for this answer. Birding for me has always been a solitary pastime; I could be quite happy to spend a full day walking and watching without spying a single other human being. This solitary birdwatching is something is something that has perhaps been holding me back slightly - my impromptu trip to Flamborough the other week, for example, may have been more successful if another, more experienced birder would have been with me to point out the shearwaters, and let me into the secrets of where to actually find the buff-bellied sandpipers and yellow-browed warblers. Maybe it's time to get myself some birding buddies.

As for celebrity birders - well they're pretty few and far between. Like Roger, who did this meme before me, I find Simon Barnes is an excellent writer, and his books on birds are a joy and an inspiration. Less said the better about people like Oddie, who whilst undoubtedly bring birding to a wider audience, reinforce the stereotypes that birders are slightly embarassing bearded men in hats.

So I'm yet to find my truly inspirational birder, the Mister Miyagi to my birding Karate Kid, or the Gandalf to my ornithological Bilbo Baggins. Maybe one day...

Question 7: Do you tell non-birders you are a birder? What do they say to you when they find out?

This is my favourite question of the meme. Birdwatching as a hobby is something that I used to be almost deathly embarrassed by in my younger days, so much so I was convinced that if anyone ever found out it would stop me ever getting up to anything with anyone of the opposite sex. This was so strong, I don't think I did a single day's birding during my University years, despite the fact I was living in the heart of "Summer Wine Country", with all its rolling hills. What a wasted opportunity!

Now I'm older, I don't care at all really. Why is watching birds any better or worse than any of the vaguelly anally retentive hobbies that virtually all men have at least one of? Although I never talk too much about it to my mates, I'm sure they all know, if only from my strangely accurate knowledge of birds' Latin names on the harder pub quiz machines. Plus this blog is linked from my Facebook page, so no hiding now...

The reaction is mixed, but sometimes surprising. It ranges from the slight smirk and mildly sarctastic comments you'd expect, to people actually thinking it's pretty cool. Once people know you're into birds, they'll sometimes reveal an interest themselves, which they've been quiet about for similar reasons. Plus I'll often get text messages from non-birders describing a strange bird they've just seen, or wildlife questions from the more unscrupulous pub quiz atendees.

What's the point in a hobby you're ashamed of? Be proud! Stand up for it! If you're honest, you'll get as many interesting, unexpected conversations as you will sarcasm.

And that's the meme finished! Not sure who to pass it on to, but if anyone wants to take it up feel free, and let me know.

Birding Meme part 5

Question 5: Do you have a jinx bird? What is it and why is it jinxed?

Is this what birders sometimes call a "bogey" bird? That is one that try as you might, even exploring the right habitats and areas, you never seem to be able to find.

If so, I have many birds that seem to evade me. Some common warblers seem incapable of showing their presence while I'm around, including lesser whitethroat and sedge warbler, and there are some other embarrassing omissions from my list (pintail springs to mind immediately).

I'd count kingfisher in this category - although I've seem a good few glimpses of one in my time, this is disproportionate to the amount of time I've spent walking down riverbanks and canal paths, and I've never had any jaw-dropping plunges or view of perched birds many have had. A flash of azure darting low across the water is always welcome, but sometimes I want a better look.

Also, a recent bogey bird in barn owl. I remember seeing a few as a child, but haven't seen one in my modern, grown-up, birding days.

But many birds I'd count as jinxes, or bogeys, or whatever you want to call them, I have to lay on my own faults. Missing out on several warblers, and all the uncommon gulls, seems to me more like a fault of my own - my own fieldcraft has probably let me down on numberous occasions, and I've more than likely seen much more than I know, and never truly appreciated it for what it is.

Birding meme part 4

Question 4: If you could only bird in one place for the rest of your life where would it be and why?

That's a tricky one as birdwatching is, of course, about exploring new habitats and finding new birds. And what's the definition of a "place"? A country? County? Town? Individual nature reserve?

One choice I'd go for would be the Northumberland coast. I love it up there. I've heard it said the Yorkshire coast is better for birding, with more falls of migrants and better seawatching and all that, and it does have some grand spots like Bempton Cliffs, Flamborough Head and Spurn Point. But nothing compares to me like the coastline of Northumberland, which is a stunningly beautiful place, with some good birds to boot. I could spend hours patrolling the shores of places like Low Newton By The Sea, Bamburgh and Seahouses (not to mention the fantastic Farne Islands) and I intend to spend more time doing so in the future.

An alternative choice would be the eight miles or so between where I live and Agden reservoir. Not only is it a great patch with many different habitats and therefore a good range of birds, but knowing the wildlife on your own doorstep is probably the most important thing of all.

Bridwatching

I've seen three seas in less than three weeks - the Mediterranean, the Agean, and now the good old North Sea! I've copied and pasted most of this entry from my blog at Birdforum, so apologies if it's any geekier than usual...

Today I was booked in to go on the RSPB's skua/shearwater cruise from Bridlington. Having never seen any skuas or shearwaters in my life, I thought it would be a good way to tick off a few lifers, hopefully see some surprise migrators, and maybe even a few whales and dolphins. Sadly, the trip was called off due to bad weather, despite it actually being quite a nice day (although the sea was quite choppy, and I'd never claim to know maritime matters better than the captain of a boat).

Like a fool, I'd already bought a train ticket, and decided a day in Bridlington and Flamborough would be a good time to spend a Saturday anyway, and I'd be damned if the rail network was getting £24 out of me for an empty seat...

After finally getting to Flamborough Head on the bus and a walk (I'm not convinced I actually got off the nearest bus stop, but ah well), the first birds I saw were a pied wagtail and a wheatear, chirruping round the golf course. The wheatear was a UK first for the year, despite the fact I saw shedloads in Rhodes the other week!

Near the lighthouse there was a goldcrest in one of the trees, more wagtails, and large number of meadow pipits, a small flock of redwings, as well as a few swallows and martins. A kestrel hovered overhead, mobbed by angry swooping jackdaws. There were also large number of starlings and house sparrows, which are both sadly becoming something more and more notable.

Out to sea all the usual suspects - cormorants, shags, gannets, guillemots, a few red-throated divers, oystercatchers, and herring, common, black-headed, lesser black backed and greater black backed gulls.

And then, shearing across the water (as they do), what I'm almost, almost, almost positive was a Manx shearwater. I say almost, because the presense of immature gannets got doubts in my mind, and a total lack of emotion from any of the assembled birders also made me wonder - of course they may not have seen it, or be too "cool" to show excitement for such things!

(Why didn't you ask anyone, you say? Partly due to the "not wanting to look like a twonk" factor, and partly because it had already vanished.)

Back in Brid, the usual array of gulls, a few redshanks, oystercatchers, and large numbers of turnstones and dunlins.

Not a bad day, but no skua cruise! Maybe next time...

(Oh and I've not forgotten about the birding meme, or trying desperately to name the lizards I saw in Rhodes. That may (or may not) follow tomorrow).

Casual birdwatching in Rhodes

Well, back in drizzly Britain after a week in sunny Rhodes! An easy, cheating way to get your birding yearlist up is to go to foreign climes, and although the birdwatching was pretty casual between bouts of beaching, eating, drinking and general sightseeing, the island didn't disappoint.

The first thing I noticed was large numbers of quite unexotic collared doves and house sparrows, but more interesting birds started to arrive pretty quickly, with hooded crows overhead during the shuttle from the airport. There were also tantalising glimpses of birds of prey at various points, some which were long-legged buzzards, and some immense eagles I've not managed to identify with any certainty

At the apartment in Pefkos, the first thing I saw was a jay of the Middle Eastern subspecies, and before long a red-backed shrike on a telephone wire. These turned out to be very common throughout the island, and I saw several, sometimes three at once from the apartment balcony. The balcony was a great place to spot things, including loads of blue rock thrushes, wheatears, a hoopoe, another long-legged buzzard, and rock doves, swallows, sand martins, house martins, common swifts and at least a couple of crag martins. There were also a few blue tits and blackbirds. On the Sunday there was a great sight when a large flock of bee-eaters flew overhead.

Elsewhere in Pefkos, a small party of night herons flew from a tree, seemingly disturbed from their daytime roost, and warblers included wood warblers, willow warblers, spectacled warblers and icterine warblers. A patch of scrubland not far from the apartment was good for yellow wagtails, crested larks, orphean warblers, blue rock thrushes and wheatears, including at least one black-eared wheatear. Yellow-legged gulls and lesser black-backed gulls flew over the sea.

Elsewhere on the island, there were Sardinian warblers at the ancient ruins at Kamiros, wrens and blue tits at the Valley of the Butterflies (a famous breeding ground for Jersey tiger moths). Ravens were spotted a couple of times from coach windows near the coast, and a couple of peregrines over Old Rhodes Town. I also saw a couple of kestrels, sadly not close enough to tell if they were common or lesser kestrels.

A trip to Epta Piges (Seven Springs), brought up chaffinches, a kingfisher, some more Sardinian warblers, and a spotted flycatcher.

As well as birds I saw at least four species of lizard, which I'll write about later on when I've actually worked out which species they all were!