Pennington Flash and Fairburn Ings outings.
A bit of a beginners ramble....
My reluctant plans to work over this weekend fell through (Yay!!), leaving a completely free weekend (apart from all those DIY jobs..... that can be ignored).
We went to Pennington Flash in glorious weather on a Saturday afternoon. So did hundreds and hundreds of other people, but only 23 birds.
A nice day out and a good lesson in how not to go about hide birding. Sitting in the bunting hide watching birds that we knew of and a few that we did not, with the children's bird book that we got free with a pack of "Shreddies" as the only guide to go off, there were quite a few we couldn't name.
One single particular little brown bird, flecked and streaked gingery brown over a cream base was a real beauty. Couldn't find much like it in our "book", so I made a mental note of it's major features. Then I made a mental note of a few other birds. Now I have not got the faintest idea what it's features were. Well, maybe it's a age thing.
It's all the more galling because it was on the ground not more than 12ft in front of me for 10 minutes. I could have taken a picture. It wasn't fazed by the hoards of kids that stamped around the hide or even the boy who tried to squeeze out of the hide viewing window. No, I wasn't prepared!
Not a day for hides, we thought, so we tramped off around the lake. Nearing the bit alongside the canal, we stopped to scan the reeds for interesting birds (well, I must admit, I'm looking for bearded tits. I bet there are none there, are there?).
We were stood near to a guy using a scope on a tripod.
He muttered something, "Pardon?" I said,
"Black headed Grebes there. Been looking for them for two hours"
"Where?" I asked, hoping that my ignorance of anything feathered would go unnoticed,
"It's gone now"
"Oh", I said, scanning the bare surface for an emergent duck, "is that it there, just popped up? A black headed Grebe eh?" I nodded towards my wife who was beginning to get the giggles, "We'll have to tick that one off our list then!"
"No, no!" he almost spat out, "A black NECKED Grebe!"
Now, I could see that this had a white bit on it's neck, and his indecision about what it was hadn't helped my IDing skills at all, so I told him that I wasn't sure that I could see it and we slipped away, wishing him good luck and hoping that he wouldn't try to test our knowledge by asking what we COULD see. .
Still, it was nice of him to share his find.
Note for future. Not for a lovely Saturday afternoon!
Still keen, we visited Fairburn Ings on the very next day. Fewer people and many of those that were there were clearly birders.
We walked for (what felt like) miles, along the riverbank path. Only a few tits and finches (and another one we have problems in identifying even WITH the help of several books. Are they Reed/willow/Garden Warblers or Chiff-chaffs?)
Down near the end of the path, just short of the last hide, we stopped to examine some rotting trees when we sighted a pair of Tree Creepers, then had a great view of a Black Cap (Hey, a positive ID!!!). This made the day for us. Back towards the visitor centre we saw Goldfinches, Bull finches, Dunnocks and Tree Sparrows. We saw plenty of ducks too, but it's too much to try to ID everything at once, except a Great Crested Grebe and a surprise Cormorant (which started off as a Shag, but the book said no...it's got a white bit just there, see)
So it's harder than it looks, this identifying business, but still adds to a walk in the country, seeing pretty birds.
Were next? What will the changing seasons bring? Should I tell my wife about the scope that I've bought (but don't know how to use)?
All great fun....
My reluctant plans to work over this weekend fell through (Yay!!), leaving a completely free weekend (apart from all those DIY jobs..... that can be ignored).
We went to Pennington Flash in glorious weather on a Saturday afternoon. So did hundreds and hundreds of other people, but only 23 birds.
A nice day out and a good lesson in how not to go about hide birding. Sitting in the bunting hide watching birds that we knew of and a few that we did not, with the children's bird book that we got free with a pack of "Shreddies" as the only guide to go off, there were quite a few we couldn't name.
One single particular little brown bird, flecked and streaked gingery brown over a cream base was a real beauty. Couldn't find much like it in our "book", so I made a mental note of it's major features. Then I made a mental note of a few other birds. Now I have not got the faintest idea what it's features were. Well, maybe it's a age thing.
It's all the more galling because it was on the ground not more than 12ft in front of me for 10 minutes. I could have taken a picture. It wasn't fazed by the hoards of kids that stamped around the hide or even the boy who tried to squeeze out of the hide viewing window. No, I wasn't prepared!
Not a day for hides, we thought, so we tramped off around the lake. Nearing the bit alongside the canal, we stopped to scan the reeds for interesting birds (well, I must admit, I'm looking for bearded tits. I bet there are none there, are there?).
We were stood near to a guy using a scope on a tripod.
He muttered something, "Pardon?" I said,
"Black headed Grebes there. Been looking for them for two hours"
"Where?" I asked, hoping that my ignorance of anything feathered would go unnoticed,
"It's gone now"
"Oh", I said, scanning the bare surface for an emergent duck, "is that it there, just popped up? A black headed Grebe eh?" I nodded towards my wife who was beginning to get the giggles, "We'll have to tick that one off our list then!"
"No, no!" he almost spat out, "A black NECKED Grebe!"
Now, I could see that this had a white bit on it's neck, and his indecision about what it was hadn't helped my IDing skills at all, so I told him that I wasn't sure that I could see it and we slipped away, wishing him good luck and hoping that he wouldn't try to test our knowledge by asking what we COULD see. .
Still, it was nice of him to share his find.
Note for future. Not for a lovely Saturday afternoon!
Still keen, we visited Fairburn Ings on the very next day. Fewer people and many of those that were there were clearly birders.
We walked for (what felt like) miles, along the riverbank path. Only a few tits and finches (and another one we have problems in identifying even WITH the help of several books. Are they Reed/willow/Garden Warblers or Chiff-chaffs?)
Down near the end of the path, just short of the last hide, we stopped to examine some rotting trees when we sighted a pair of Tree Creepers, then had a great view of a Black Cap (Hey, a positive ID!!!). This made the day for us. Back towards the visitor centre we saw Goldfinches, Bull finches, Dunnocks and Tree Sparrows. We saw plenty of ducks too, but it's too much to try to ID everything at once, except a Great Crested Grebe and a surprise Cormorant (which started off as a Shag, but the book said no...it's got a white bit just there, see)
So it's harder than it looks, this identifying business, but still adds to a walk in the country, seeing pretty birds.
Were next? What will the changing seasons bring? Should I tell my wife about the scope that I've bought (but don't know how to use)?
All great fun....
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Pennington is always heaving at the weekend Dave......you'll notice a huge difference if you go mid-week next time.......shame you missed the black Necked Grebe,they are looking stunning at the moment in summer plumage,we saw one locally last week!
Could your mystery brown bird have been a female Reed Bunting I wonder??
lol,yes you'd better own up about the scope......it's not something you'll be able to hide on your next trip is it!!!
Why can't you use it????Posted 19-04-10 at 09:41 AM by Twitcheruth
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I already had a scope and have dutifully carted it around for two weekends without finding a need to look through it. The trouble is, the little birds flit around so fast that it's use is limited for them and we don't know anything about water birds which are easier to track (although I did see the ripples left by a black necked Grebe once....).
I tried it this weekend, just to try it really. In a hide, after giving up trying to get my tripod to lean against the hide on two legs, I hand-held it resting on the window frame.
It was steady enough, but the view was poor-ish. I suspect that at 30x mag and a 70mm objective, the image takes some work to see comfortably and the contrast/detail is nowhere near that of my bins.
I can accept some of this, after all, it was a budget scope and I doubt that any will give the resolution and contrast of my bins at only 8x.
Since then, I've bought a used Opticron HR66 scope with fixed 22x eyepiece.
I've not collected it yet and don't know which model it is other than it's the last shape (1995-200x model). I will have to come clean to my wife, otherwise she will notice that the scope has changed and I will get roasted in public!!!!Posted 19-04-10 at 10:19 AM by Dave H
Updated 19-04-10 at 01:48 PM by Dave H (correction..) -
lol,oh dear Dave.....what a tangled web!!!
I hope you'll be pleased with the new scope and that you don't get in too much trouble!! lolPosted 19-04-10 at 12:08 PM by Twitcheruth
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A great report Dave, bought a smile to my face!Posted 20-04-10 at 10:39 AM by alanjns
