Not a Hobbit, but the old nickname I like. Just a man with a camera, lucky enough to be let loose in the countryside! A birder in the main but all nature attracts me. North Yorkshire based but I get around.
I went on a trip to the Wirral last week with good birding pals Mikey, Mark & Nick (add 'Timbo' to that and it almost sounds like an pop group nobody under the age of 50 will remember👴😀 so I won't even go there!)
Always great when a plan comes of and despite almost being blown away at times by the force of storm Eleanor, everything we wanted to see came about. Apart from that it was just good to get away from the post Christmas & New Year fug and head somewhere new.
Our destination was Parkgate RSPB reserve on the northern side of the Dee Estuary and we were there mainly to see wintering Hen Harriers that frequent the area seeing as all the the Yorkshire birds seem to have been shot by mindless gamekeepers! 😠😠.. not gonna go there either, not here anyway, but you can - by adding your name to the petition to ban this mind numbingly pursuit by adding your protest here - Ban Driven Grouse Shooting and save the Hen Harrier
Dee Estuary & Flintshire coast in the background
Rant over and on with the grand day out we had at Parkgate. We got there early, almost first light and caught sight of our first Hen Harrier, a female, floating across the saltmarsh and flushing scores of waders as she went. The first of several good sightings and then later a smashing male whilst we were walking back along the front for high tide.
Snapping away I was confident of plenty of good pics after a recent lens repair but sad to say, apart from the odd one or two, nothing came out as I'd hoped and my 'soft focus' issue persists. In short its gone back to Canon again and I've had to pinch a few pics for this post.
Hen Harrier (female), Parkgate, 04/01/18
Here's my record shots of male & female Hen Harrier on the day and a couple of quality pics of Parkgate Harriers the like of which I can only dream of till I get my lens back...and even then I'd have to seriously up my game!
Hen Harrier (male), Parkgate, 04/01/18
Hen Harrier (female), Parkgate. Courtesy of RSPB
Hen Harrier (male), Parkgate. Courtesy of RSPB
The Dee Estuary is one of those places where the tide rushes in at speed and where peak high tides send all the small mammals to scurrying for dry land. This was such a tide and both birds and birdwatchers were aware of it ... cue hungry gulls awaiting rich pickings and in amongst them Short Eared Owls, not one or two but amazingly 9 of these magnificent hunters came out of nowhere just as the tide and many rodents began to rush in!
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
'Soft focus' or not, here's the best and a few 'so so' pics of this awesome spectacle that will live long on the memory.
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Rather conveniently the 'shorty' above decided to alight on a patch of dry land as the tide rushed in, pulled a funny face and then regained his, or her's, composure for a nice pose!
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Wow! That's all you can say when 9 Short Eared Owls fly past!
Water Rail, Parkgate, 04/01/18
A bit later, as the tide reached it's zenith and storm Eleanor threw a freak half an hour or so of huge wind at us, there was a mad scurry of Water Rails coming off the estuary seeking shelter from the storm. This was a crazy sight and I wasn't alone in struggling to stay steady enough in the wind to get some shots off ... there were only 30 or so birders and photographers sheltering behind Mark's van to get the best shots!
Water Rails, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Water Rail, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Stonechat, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Throw in 2 cracking Merlin sightings, Marsh Harriers, at least 2 Great White Egrets, plenty of wader & duck species, loads of Stonechats and it was as they say, a day to remember!
Grey Heron, Parkgate, 04/01/18
That high tide brought us 9 Owls a hunting, rodents a scurrying and big winds in our sails,
Harriers floating, Great Egret's poaching, and who steal's the show ... 10 running Water Rails!
Not my vid (it's courtesy of David Bowman) and sent to me by Mark P, here's some footage shot on the same day we were there featuring Hen Harriers, Short Eared Owls, GW Egret etc
Snow on the Yorkshire Wolds, from Fangfoss Park 01/12/17
Not that we're breaking any records nor that I'm in any way complaining but blimey its got cold early this year...harsh winds, frost and snow and it's not officially winter for a week or so!
I don't mind the cold too much.. get wrapped up, hats and gloves and all that, but I do mind slipping and dropping my rucksack and then discovering that my Canon 400m lens took the brunt ..ouch! Took me a week or so to find out but after image after image came out blurred I made the connectionðŸ˜. Its away to the menders for a barrel realignment and I decided to get the front glass element replaced to sort a niggling little scratch. Net result - £411 and a wait of 3 to 4 weeks but still cheaper than a new lens. I miss it like I'd miss my right arm, had a few quiet grumbles but I'm over it .. it'll feel like getting a brand new lens back with all the servicing these optics firms throw in for free😜😛
So before the lens broke I took advantage of some crisp winter sunshine at both ends of the day around my local patch and got some pleasing pics of the many Fieldfares and Redwings that descended en mass last month.
Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17
Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17
Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 25/11/17
Fieldfares, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
400+ each of Fieldfares and Redwing plus scores of Blackbirds, Song & Mistle Thrushes have been typical over the past few weeks plus many large finch flocks, 300+ Golden Plover and several skeins of Pink Footed Geese overhead.
Pink Footed Geese, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
I'm lucky to get regular sightings of Grey Partridge around the fields here, absolute devils to photograph but I got reasonably lucky with this little grouping out of a covey of 16.
Grey Partridge, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Away from Fangfoss (I haven't been far!) this Nuthatch was a pleasing shot at the Arboretum during the Hawfinch twitch.
Nuthatch, Yorkshire Arboretum, 06/11/17
During a walk with my good friend Mikey and mad dog Ivy on Sand Hutton Common we had an amazing 3 Peregrines flying over together - never seen anything like that away from a nest site, plus a Corn Bunting and a flock of c80 Skylarks, and down by the river Derwent on Low Catton Ings I had a great view of this Barn Owl.
Barn Owl, Low Catton Ings, 03/11/17
We had a 'super moon' this month and so bright was it when it rose over the Wolds it looked like the sun rising!
Super Moon rising over the Yorkshire Wolds, 03/12/17
.....and finally, a pic I meant to post last month a nice Green Woodpecker on Strensall Common I stalked for ages and one of my local Kessies.
