why?

why are birders so conspicous?.since monday i havent seen one birder looking for the waxies that i found(oh yes) not one.but tody it changed,the day i reported the waxies as not being there a birder appears.why.you could see him from a mile off. standing on the street corner near the garages,bins in hand,scruitanizing every starling he saw.but he was in exacly the right place,looking in the right direction.just a day too late.i actually feel a bit sorry for him.still being around as the kids get out.i bet he had someone give a sarky comment to him.but i do hope he found the waxies.it hasent been reported on any news website.but you know.i give him luck.keep at it.and forget the stupid school kids comments.the last few days have tought me a lesson.always keep an eye out.even in the most unexpected of places.around the gornal area i have found very little but when something good appears its big.ive found a y l gull at the school(as i was lining up for pe) a crossbill in the wood,the amazing yellow browed warbler(the only lifer gornal has given me,but wrens nest is closer to dudley)a few flyover penegrines and a lone migrating hobby.for a deep urban area i dont think this is a bad list.but they come few and far between so when the ops do come i say take them.enjoy them.thats what birdings about right.

there back

same place as yesterday.but not in the same trees.the confirmed waxwing count has risen to 5 birds. just imagine my relief when i again heard them purring again from the same area. i located the flock quickly and counted them.then text the news to brian stretch that they were again presant so he could put the news on his incredable 'birding today' website and to anybody thats interested i would recomed it anyday.no advert intended.you can send my check through the post brian but i do prefer cash.joke.please dont take that the wrong way im just trying to liven up the post,to practice for my GCSEs that im now doing in english,which is using computers.i can imagine what all people of a 'certain age ' will be saying.'in our day we had to use a quills,ink and slate to write on, now you use a whats it called, oh yes,a keypad,its so easy for you nowadays, how things have changed' i realy can imagine my nan saying that. i could only text the news to birdguides in between 1st and 2nd lesson so sorry for putting the news out late.have you noticed the similarity between the number of birds my fried saw yesterday and how many i saw this mouning. maby they thought theyd stay and eat more before they go back to the icy detpths of there scandinavian breeding grounds. thats a bit like me always think about my stomoch before anything else.as these waxies arnt very showy i think if anybodys interested the best places to look would be cedar wood road or in the ellowes wood where as my friend informs me there is a mysticle area that holds loads of berries. (by the way there are still a few berries on kennerdy cresant).but i dont know where that is.the waxies were last heard in my lunch break at 12:55 when they called from in the wood.so if anybody dares to venture into this snakepit to look for the waxies.good luck,thats if you survive

yes in my world there is a never ending suply of waxie pictures

de ja view

while reading the post by martyn yapp about the magnificent frigatebird proberbly flying over trimply res.if this is true that means it would have flew over lickhill too.what a patch bird that would be.but like most birds it proberbly flew back to america to get around lickhill. and by the way welcome back martyn.glad we gat you back in the blogstraphere(sorry kay)
7/03/09

the local patch was dead today.but the feeders in our garden were brimming.siskin everywhere.at one point i counted 22,yes 22 on 2 seed feeders.a coal tit(there coming less frequently now)stayed for 78 secs on the penuts.i hope it doesent think i cant id him so he sticks around for a bit.got a peak count of 5 goldfinch.also seen was a pair of chaffinch, 2 song thrush and 2 blue tit amongst others but the highlight of the weekend was a lesserpoll (adult male with full red breast) that gave point blank views on the patio.its amazing how good these birds look when you look at them.at this point i thought it as bird of the month(well its the first ive seen in my garden) yeah f******g right.skip to 8/03/09

just as the school(im in lower gornal dudley west mids now) ended i left my mate (the birdy one) and put my earphones in and started listning to songs.when i got to 'jumping all over the world' i started hearing the purring of waxwings at the kennerdy cresant, thornleigh jounction.i actuatly thought that the ringtone on my phone of waxies calling was playing but when i looked at the screen it said the above song was playing.now my heart started pumping if it wasent on my phone then.........

jesus christ. there here..

i took my headphones out and there it was the purring of waxwings.then i saw them in the top of tree by the garages presumably on cedar wood road and in the gardens in betwen the 2 sides of kennedy cresant.jesus . there were at least 10 birds in that tree but i couldent confirm them as waxies yet.they looked smaller than starlings.as only one of my mates knows im a birder i couldent stop and watch them.(this only happens because i dont want to be bullied about it,yeah thats what schools like now,and i dont want to go all the way to the bottom of the 'cool' list which if have been building up over the past 3 years)i got to upper gornal park and phoned brian strech(yes phoned)then i phoned my birdy friend i left 5 mins earlier(the waxies would be a lifer for him)but he didnt pick up.thats so typicle of him.after 5 more tries i gave up.i got to my house, grabbed my bins and ran back.(its amazing how far i ran without getting tired)

kerching. there still calling.then 3 birds popped up from a garden and revealed there white underwings and orange undertail. as they passed over my head calling.i couldent believe it.i have found my favorite bird so soon after my first sighting in january.(i know they werent there this mourning as i walked past the same spot which means they arrived between 8:30-3:30)because i only confirmed 3 thats how many i decided to put the news out as.but there were more calling in surrounding gardens.one landed on a bush with yellow berries(quite a few berries so they might come back,fingers crossed if they do ill txt it out on birdguides and pass on the news to a few fellow birders if they are there check at around 9am as thats after i get in school) after nailing these few i decided to run to my friends house to get him to see them.after 5 mins we were back on site with andy almost kicking himself that he didnt walk with me today therfore missing a lifer.we scanned high and low.crap crap crap.there not here.now i was angry that i left the birds and they flew away.we walked the streets for over an hour with no sign(for all those dirty minded people out there we wernt doing what you think we was) now we gave up and told brian strech the bad news(yes i know hes the worcester recorder but its not like i know anyone from the west mids area to give the news to i dont even know the west mids recorders name!! shock,horror) i got home and put the news on birdguides and then wrote this.then i got a phone call from my friend that hed just relocated the waxies flying towards my house. i asked him was he sure to check he wasent stringing it from a starling. i questioned him on the id but all seemed to be in order apart that he reported 5 birds and thanked him and watched out the window. after i watched for 15 mins i got bored and stopped looking.god i cant believe today,its great.although it doesent apeal as much as in january as i only saw these birds brifly.but what the hell.there waxies.
what birds mega stunning

my nans house

21/02/09

this is the last thing i saw on the holloday. my nans back garden isnt the best place for birding
but it does have some supprises.such as a flock of blackcap that develope there in the winter.last winter there was a maximum of 5(2m 2f 1juv and stayed for nearly a month feeding on a berry bush at the bottom of the garden).this year there was a maximum of 3(2m 1 f)but i only saw them for a week this time.the house is nestled between the devils spitful sssi and trimpley reseviour.and for an unknown reason every night get a movement of gulls going north(proberbly to trimpley)and crows flying south(no idea where they go i might find out some day).so as usual at 4pm i was in the back garden waiting for them to come and give me a challenge with id and some fun(standing in the garden is fun compared to watching old people programs on saturday nights.and tonight they didnt dissapoint.a 500 bird strong flock passed over in groups with the core of them arriving by 5pm and by 5:30 flocks were passing over containing around 30 birds mostly large gulls eg lessers,herrings.but not many black heads(or should it be brown heads)and it very rarely contains anymore of note but tonight was differnt at 5:30.i watched a flock fly in from the south east and in this flock was a 'white winger'. can you believe that.my scope was inside and not set up(i always take it with me incase something good turns up nearby)as it approached i started taking mental notes as i had a feeling this wasent gonna stay long. i noted it was a first winter glaucose(lifer 181)(i have no experience with this species but are fully informed on id fetures of them)in my notebook i wrote immidiatly after: 5:30pm 1 1st winter glaucose gull over in flock of 500 gulls mostly herrings and lessers.it looked larger and brauder winged than the other gulls presant(almost g b b gull like) obviously it showed white wing tips and showed pale+translucent flignt feathers.it had a dark tip to the bill but the bill colour couldent be established in the fading light.but it looked paler than the tip.it looked heavy necked with a long head and bill(which almost rules out iceland).the eye was dark and the whole body of the bird looked grubby whitish
this is the last good bird of the holloday.
now just to catch up with myself.
01/03/09
at lickhill again but left with nothing to show.got 1 year tick in the form of 2 stock doves. a few skylark were singing.the 'bpp' canadian goose was again presant.there was quite a large flock of birds on the fields by the farm.wich contained fieldfares and starlings.note this video shows only some of the flock

apart from this the most action was on my feeders where i logged a coal tit(it stayed on the feeder for 43 secs amazing) other common tits,4 chaffinch on seed on ground,3 goldfinch,up to 6 siskin but counted more than 10 in the birch tree next to it,2 greenfinch and a dunnock as well as a few others and a video of the best birds there

finnaly ive caught up with myself

back for the white front

19/02/09
again to the moors first and my regular journey around the north moors and down to whichever hide i fancy.today i chose the east hide again as it gave us the greatist potentiol for seeing snipe which yesterday there was a complete lack of then to be saved by 3 at the flashes. nothing much on the north moors again but the cettis warbler gave its typicle flight view again(we only saw this one but someone had seen 3).on the path to the east hide again i looked for the mealy as it was reported again earlier in the day but again no sign.as we entered the hide i scanned the islands.the 3 shelducks were still there as was the greylag geese(but on the other side of the lake)in a casual manor i asked if the white front was around,to be greeted with the answer 'yes hes over there' while pointing towards the river swalphorpe(hope i spelled it right) and there stood the adult eurapian white front at a lot closer range than yeterday with a few canadas and a very large hydrid(it was quite a bit larger than the canadas)and i got another film

then i started looking for snipe.i counted the pointy bit to the right of the boat first as this is where i see the most snipe.i counted 15 with a bit of room for moreand a jack snipe . i scanned the island slightly to the left of the hide(the one thats very close) and counted 2 then 5 then 7 then a maximum of 10 again leaving room for others.this actually developed into again as 4 birders submitted bids of how many birds there were.while watching the snipe a few teal came close and a little grebe was diving for fish in front of the islands.it came up with one and took a long time to eat it.it was so close i could see it was eating a small roach(i like fishing 2).

the highlights here were

w f goose

2 greylag geese

shelduck 3

15-20 shoveler

3 wigeon (2 m 1f)

15c teal

15-20 pochard

25 snipe

1 jack snipe

1 skylark

1 cettis warbler

now to the flashes:

again there was a lot of lapwings and little else.but the oyc has moved down here before being flushed by something.36 curlew were on show but again there was more on the 3rd flash.but there were 2 things that really suprised me. one was a water rail.at the flashes i need say no more.this i was told is a very rare occurence expeshily where it was in between the 2nd +3rd flash. the little owls again came out to play but remained as motionless as ever.next was something which i didnt expect inside the 'fox proof fence' (doing that finger thing).yeah right a superb big adult fox strolled into view in between the 2nd +3rd flash spooking everything there but the birds on the 2nd flash paid no attention to it.one good thing with this though is that it flushed some snipe which we couldent see before.the shelducks came down again.then just as dusk approached just as we were about to leave a peregrine flew through comin in from the south and leaving to the north flying very low flushing everything and again i got a video

highlights were:

lapwing-a lot

36 curlew

teal-good scattering

snipe-a few

water rail

perigrine

2 shelduck

1 oyc

2 little owls

and the fox

does anydody remember the woodcock i seen uw moors on the last day of last year well guess what one was seen at the moors the next day that pretty much proves the one we saw dont it.

and as of the 1st march the avocets are back at uw can you believe that so early and as i write this that figure has incresed to 2.hopefully its a breeding pair and thaey have another great year at the warren i know ill be seeing them soon