Category: Uncategorized
-
Storm Driven
Given the storms yesterday I was geared up for looking for seabirds at Crosby before the news of the Snow Goose broke. I checked Crosby Marina late morning and seawatched briefly a little further north. I was hoping for Little Gulls, and if I had stuck at it may have been rewarded as a couple…
-
Unexpected Snow And Other White Stuff
I had a day’s birding in the Liverpool area planned today as we were in the city for Jane to attend a seaglass course. Whilst I was at Crosby Marina news came through that the wintering Snow Goose had been relocated at Birkdale Cop, not too far away. So I decided to shelve plans and…
-
Wintering – A Season With Geese by Stephen Rutt
I’ve read ‘Wintering’ previously but I have come back to it this week. Taking Jane to work in the mornings there have been Greylags and several hundred Pinkfeet in the roadside fields on different days. On Tuesday we were on the Solway and I saw thousands of Barnacle Geese stretched in a ribbon across Rockcliffe…
-
Disappearing Ducks (2)
When I was studying at Lancaster University I got involved with winter wildfowl surveys on the River Lune. For several years I walked upriver from the town centre to the picturesque Crook O’Lune and back. It was a lovely walk and there was enough birdlife to keep it interesting. On a couple of occasions I…
-
Disappearing Ducks (1)
On Sunday night Jane and I had a Valentines stay at Pine Lake Resort, which for those who don’t know it is a former timeshare complex just off the M6 north of Carnforth with lodges bordering a former gravel working that has flooded. There are several other pits in the same area now in various…
-
Social Media Reflections
You’d be forgiven for assuming nature groups on social media would be a safe haven for people interested in wildlife and conservation free from ill informed and unhelpful opinions. Today was one of those days where it didn’t quite work like that for me. A chap on a forum I won’t name was upset that…
-
Secret Foulshaw
Saturday morning saw me join other hardy souls for the first Secret Foulshaw event. I say hardy souls because it was lovely weather for ducks, although as I write this in the midst of Storm Dudley and with Eunice incoming every day is a bit like that at the moment. And when I say ‘join’…
-
Review – The Accidental Countryside by Stephen Moss
I bought this book recently and have read it whilst I have been away. It’s a book about sites created or altered by humans where nature flourishes or at least subsists effectively. It’s a path that’s been well trodden by other writers over the year, which Stephen openly acknowledges in the prologue. The epilogue dedicates…
-
Intermission
Today I checked Mythop before work. There were no fewer than 260 Teal on the floods, but the quest to find a Green-winged Teal (see previous blog on the subject) goes on. It was nice to be out though, with Shoveler and Wigeon for good measure. On my way to watch Barrow AFC in their…
-
Keeping The Clouds At Bay And Other Ramblings
If you are wondering what the picture is about it’s one Bryony took from her bedroom window when she lived here. Depending on your eyesight / imagination the dark cloud in the centre looks a bit like an owl about to stoop on prey. Or not. Today before work I swung by Mythop to check…
Natural Selection 