FROG

i hope most of you by now know im a birder and dont realy know much about anything else.so heres some pictures of a frog my friend found in my garden(i know nothin more than that)

it wasent the look of the frog but the size of it here compared with a 2p

(no frogs were harmed in the making of these pics)

and now some pics taken through my bins

hoping to get to sheepwash tomorow to catch up with a few terns,with the possibility of arctic considering the influx to the east midlands during the last few days.little gulls are in a bit of an influx too with around 66 in derbyshire and with more coming.theres also been a report of a cuckoo at sheepwash too and if he stays ill try and find him.

dont know why but im going to bring up one of my favorite birding spots after upton warren and lickhill(and possibly earlswood).

this place is stackpole head in pembrokeshire(wales if anybody doesent know).the reason for this is there are quality birds there and NO BIRDERS. whetears will scurry around your feet and rock,meadow and tree pipit will stand on bolders right next to you.last year we had a rock pipit land on my scope.there is a small colony of sea birds here eg.razorbill,guillemot,fulmar,gannet(they dont breed but are a common site at any distance),kitiwakes(you get the idea yet) and one amazing bird.

the chough

i still remember seeing my first chough here 3 years ago and it preformed like it should,down to 5 metres.while watching a fulmar glide along the cliffs i heard the call i hoped to hear and a chough flew across in front of me at 5 metres range.we eventully tracked down a pair and got great views as they spiked the mud.

also noted that day was:

6 wheatars

20 skylarks (looks like this cliff is overpopulated)

7 rock pipit with most displaying

100c guilemot with less razorbill

fulmar (a fair few)

and 5 kitiwake

and i got my one and only view of a manx shearwater.

i know ive mentioned a protected breeding species but to deter egg collectors there are regular patrols along the cliffs here and there are a few cameras on the cliff faces(not for viewing birds but to look for egg theves)i was a little saddened last year when i stumbled upon a razorbill egg on the cliff top although i think it was stolen by a gull.but thats nature

im going there in the witson holiday and look forward to what this year brings

MB