Many years ago I had a good idea. I got a diary for Christmas, and then another one for New Year's Day. And I used the 1st one in the normal way, but the other one I did this instead ....
1st Jan. Black Redstart and Snow Bunting 2000 1 Waxwing @ Carr Bank, Arnside 2nd Jan 1984 Franklin's Gull Martin Mere WWT. Lancs 3rd Jan 1988 Ring-Billed Gull, #2, Seaforth, Liverpool 4th Jan 1994 Little Bunting, Eccleston Mere, St. Helens That way, you build up your important sightings over the years, then you can look up what you've spotted on any day of the year...... for example here's what I've spotted on several Dec 31st's ... 31st Dec 1984 Yellow-browed warbler Inskip, Fylde. 2000 Waxwing @ Carr Bank Arnside 2003 2 Shore Larks, 6 Snow Buntings @ Starr Hills, B'pool. I'm having trouble getting music on the blog ...... don't know why. Anybody out there knows what to do ?
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It was many years ago when I was very young.
I so much wanted to see Avocets and Egrets and Cetti's Warblers and suchlike. But the only way I got to see them was to go down to Norfolk/Suffolk and spot them there. And time went by and none of those arrived up 'ere in't North like. BUT ..... many years later a Little Egret turned up ..... and we all wooshed 20 miles south and were amazed to see "it." And then, an Avocet arrived too ... and somewhat closer. BUT .... why haven't other birds got up here, such as Nightingales ? .... why should those softy southerners get them ? So ..there's something to think about. ..but not THAT sort of UFO... I drew that years ago .. I wrote about it on here somewhere way back. I parked the car by a huge lake ... I was all on my own .... and there, over the huge lake was that black thing. I got the bins onto it .... that was no mirage ..... it was solid as a rock ... and it hung in the sky rather eerily. I always keep a camera in the car for situations like that ... but strangely I didn't even take it out or take a snap.
I've seen all sorts of mirages ..and they don't have that solid look like that did. The minutes went by, but nobody else turned up. I wasn't scared ..... but eventually I just got back in the car and drove back to where I was staying. BUT WHY DID I DO THAT ..... I WASN'T SCARED AT ALL. The UFO is also an acronym for USELESS FEMALE ORNITHOLOGISTS. The thing is, because I'm the "birder in my street", whenever a lady gets a bird in her house I'm the one they go to ...ME ... to get it out. And over the years I've had House Sparrows, all versions of Tits ( no sniggering at the back) , Starlings, Rats ( yes, I know they're not birds) , hedgehogs ( two) , and many more. I'm having trouble getting music onto here ..... any ideas why that might be ? ..and last night there was a double whammy with the rackety "celebrations" and then just to make things worse, torrential rain started. And kept going. And we've had a lot of terrible weather here on many a day and night which will have disturbed not just birds, but all those creatures that have v. poor shelter. And now ..on top of all that, there's a dangerous outbreak of Avian Flu ..you've probably seen it on the box ..... very distressing scenes of Gannets dying and many other species. Well, I'm off out now for a bit of bird-spotting . And I hope you lot will too. Wir Sind Helden ... We Are Heroes ........ It all started on March 3rd 2018 . I'm sure you all remember it.... But the 2nd post was better .... it featured a new bird to science .. ... The Spring Crosby !! ( ... there it is .... a bit peculiar ) So ..... I wrote them all down in a empty book as I posted more and more articles for you to enjoy. BUT .... ages ago I lost the blasted book. I had got up to number 257 ... " Echinoderms" BUT Yesterday I found the said book. So I can now write them in the said book ..... BUT .... as you can see, there's 2016 - 257 (!) articles to write in it. Eek. It'll take me AGES to write all that lot in it assiduously !! But I've started ... and I'm finding it quite interesting. In other news ,,,,, I've got some smashing birding books yesterday, More bedtime reading ! Well, I haven't found any so far.
I've walked and walked in the darker and darker and darker recent weeks and have not heard a "seep" or owt like it. And ... the night-time Tawny Owl has shut up too. Double Whammy ! And another problem is the terrible wet and windy weather which doesn't help the cold and soggy ornithologist is his/her horrible nightmigging outings. So ..... should I resort to carting a contraption which can ID them more efficiently ? I think you aren't supposed to do it. Er ..... maybe not. Hey-ho. Just as the garden started to get some sun this morning, a whoosh of small birds swooped into the nearest tree. Bins up, not expecting much, BUT .... amidst the Blue Tits, House Sparrows etc
BUT then a GOLDCREST appeared ! It's a while since we've had one in't garden. And then, the usual Jackdaw Arrival happened, very noisily, and ... The Goldcrest and all the other stuff vanished. And here's another thing... ... the Winter Visitors have not arrived, despite my long walks in the hope of getting some. ... and I'll be peeved if they don't turn up soon. For ages and ages I've been trying to subscribe to the local monthly local birding newsletter ... but when I go on the website I follow the rather circuitous instructions but I then get to a dead end. BUT ..this morning TSO ... ( my partner in "life") ( The Significant Otter) had a go at finding how to do it .... and it worked !!!!! She did it by a completely different method. God only knows why the info on the aforementioned unworkable instructions ever got onto the website. SO ..... I am very pleased ....... but I've still missed out on loads of newsletters etc. And on top of that, the info that comes up now is far better, more comprehensive and reliable. But the crap stuff is still there on the website. So lots of people still can't access it. Bloody brilliant. There should be a picture of a book here, but the stupid computer doesn't seem to want to put it in that empty box. So I've put one of my terrific drawings on here instead. SO .. The book I want to tell you about is by Jim Flegg ... " A Notebook of BIRDS 1907 - 1980.... and illustrations by Norman Arlott, Robert Gillmor and the excellent and wonderful Laurel Tucker. She's the one who made all the beautiful illustrations for The Big Bird Race.
It is full of short-ish articles under themes ...Behaviour, Food and Feeding, Migration, Aggression, "It is amazing" , Goings and Comings, Physique .... all good stuff. Here's a few headings for you to get the idea .. " Kestrel taking Prey from Barn Owl" "Red Grouse Flying Out To Sea" "Turnstones feeding on Human Corpse" " Collared Dove in Surrey" ...and, as they say, many many more. Wandering out of our local supermarket this morning, a flock of about 30 Starlings were whooshing around in a most wonderful way. And then I thought ..... Why do they do that ? Robins don't do it. No way ! Nor do woodpeckers. Nor do Thrushes. Does anybody have any idea why they do do it, or they don't ? Every night before bedtime I stand on the front step listening for owls mainly, but I also see/hear flocks of mallards, pigeons etc. Why do they do that? I've got loads and loads of "bird books" but I've never found any reasons for all that. If any of you lot out there have any ideas about that, ? Any, er, theories ? Well, a good start would be to find out why us humans congregate quite a lot. But why ?
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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