The Bird Thread

Just sitting in my back garden, saying hi to four buzzards mewing overhead.

Obviously I nipped in to get the good camera and they took that as the hint to fuck off elsewhere.

Eider

Red Breasted Merganser

heard a commotion this morning—sparrowhawk pinning down a starling: https://youtu.be/C5TBugszbTk

Fascinating and horrible to watch in equal in measure

I caved last night and ordered myself a birthday present for next week in the form of a scope. Will be my first scope and I had been putting it off as already carry a camera and bins normally but I struggle to id small waders at distance too often now and having the Purple Heron at my regular spot last week brought in lots of birders and I got to see a bunch of scopes and realised some fairly compact ones exist, so I should be able to add one to my bag at the expense of a couple of lenses I always have in there for just in case and never use lol. There are a couple of good spots near by as well which are working gravel pits and get a lot of waders but access is so far away it's a real struggle with bins, especially at the moment with water levels so low so will add some variety to where I can visit.

Starlings

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Swallow, shouting

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Let us know which you decide on, have never really considered one

Great day out today. Am in Gruissan, south of France, famous for - amongst other things - it’s itinerant colonies of flamingos. Set out this morning, telling the kids we are going flamingo hunting, and that we may or may not see some flamingos. They are well excited, and I am worried they will be disappointed if / when we fail to see any.

Set destination for Bages, taking a circuitous route to take in a road known to local friends as “the bird watching road”. Driving through Gruissan itself we spot a lone, bulky fucker of a bird in the ètang, so screech to a halt in a car park, snap a few photos of the very distant, very solitary flamingo just in case we don’t see another one today, take the opportunity to head up Gruissan tower, sample some coffee and patisserie, and head on our way.

We needn’t have bothered with that lonely flamingo, as the bird watching road did not disappoint. Gruissan quickly gives way to vineyards, and the vineyards give way to: on one side of the road fully dried out salt flat; on the other ètang with a flock of some 150 flamingos, the closest of which is no more than 20 metres away. The kids - and the adults - go wild. We soak them in and then head off for a further drive, whereupon the eldest kid spots a huge flock of flamingos wheeling in the sky. Another screeching halt, we stop to enjoy the spectacle, watching these massive fucking birds wheel around gracefully on the thermals above us.

My eldest was absolutely captivated and was so proud to have been the one to have spotted the flock of birds on the wing. I hope this is one of those memories that sticks - she will turn 6 in a few weeks time. She was not disappointed when we got home and I had a chance to zoom in on the snaps of the airborne flamingos to discover that they were in fact a massive flock of storks.

We also saw about a million egrets, forty herons and a buzzard, but they all got forgotten in the flamingo hype.

Some rough flamingo content:

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And get yer storks here:

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And there I was happy with a Spoonbill this morning

They are fabulous!

Cirl Bunting from the car park today in Labrador bay and Osprey over the Exe

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2022/sep/09/bird-photographer-of-the-year-2022-winning-pictures

Sitting at my desk, in East Kent watching a steady stream of swallows and house martins heading south west. They've been passing over in loose groups since this morning. Mind boggling really.

Winter is coming.

Walked up Ben Vrackie today and got to see four ravens swooping and tumbling on the wind. Also saw a yellow wagtail in the village.

Currently on the sofa viewing through binoculars a tiercel sat on the transmitter at Crystal Palace, yesterday the falcon was sat on the same perch and it’s huge in comparison, might be a juvenile i’m looking at as it seems tiny.
not seem a peregrine for a while so good to see them back, could even be young from the pair on the croydon transmitter but no idea how far the parents push out the young from their territory.

I was bimbling through the village of Haddenham on my genteel sit up and beg F W Evans tourer yesterday and saw a female merlin chicaning through the roadside shrubs, looking at first like a mistle thrush. So that was nice.

I had a Heron encounter yesterday

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^nice shots! I only ever see them from a distance here, they seem very timid in the countryside.

Today’s pointy-beaked fish-stabber

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Had a juvenile Osprey causing havoc at the local wetlands the last two weeks, it's ringed and from Norway apparently but hope it returns in the future

This one hunts for frogs & bank voles by the Mersey.