tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47547108265846145252024-03-05T12:03:31.916+00:00Zac Hinchcliffe's Birding BlogA Young Birder's account of Trips, Twitches and Patch visits. Also enjoy my bird ringing experiences as a C-ringer.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.comBlogger533125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-39758097796470236232017-11-12T22:25:00.003+00:002017-11-12T22:25:29.580+00:00Old Bolingbroke Dec 2015-Nov 2017After just shy of two years in our little cottage in a little village in Lincolnshire, we have moved out and we're both back up north in Preston. <div>
Prior to Danni getting a job in October 2015 at Operation Wallacea, I had never really even heard of Old Bolingbroke. Little did I know that it would be the village where Danni and I got our first home together and where I would learn how to be a dog owner and a place to where I'd fall in love with it. </div>
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Our house was called Middle Cottage which was built in 1920 and was a tiny cottage in a row of three terraces. It was certainly not the most sophisticated of houses, but had an awful lot of character with interior walls made of mud and horsehair, more autumnal spiders than a garden shed and temperature extremes that causes no sleep during the summer and the necessity of coal fire in winter.</div>
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I managed to complete one full season and one half complete season of Patchwork Challenge in and around Old Bolingbroke with 115 species seen in 2016 and a further 5 species added in 2017. Highlights included (most recently) a male Hen Harrier flying east high over Bolingbroke Castle being mobbed by corvids, several records of Water Rail in the castle moat, at least three pairs of Turtle Dove breeding in the village, Osprey and several Red Kite sightings. Probably my most prized sighting of the two years came from a very small pond to the immediate south of the village which held a female and two drake Common Scoter in April 2016. </div>
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<i>Three Common Scoter</i></div>
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During 2017, I basically moved away from Old Bolingbroke as early as March when I got a job based in Warrington, but did go back as much as I could to visit Danni and also make sure the house was lived in whilst Danni was away. I therefore wasn't able to get as much birding done in 2017 as I'd have liked, but did get out when I could. </div>
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Bolingbroke also saw me get back into all things ecology and I regularly trapped moths in the garden recording 240 species including five species of hawkmoth. </div>
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I also recorded 18 species of butterfly, 19 species of mammal of which five were bats, 8 species of Odonata and 5 spcecies of Reptiles/Amphibians. Highlights from this included Harvest Mouse (lifer) and Great Crested Newts in my garden, Water Vole in a stream close to the house and several sightings of Grass Snake. </div>
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For anyone that has followed me on Twitter or visited my house, you will know I have an interest in aviation which grew exponentially whilst living in Lincolnshire. It's difficult not to be interested when you live so close to the heart of Bomber Command history from World War 2. Old Bolingbroke is next door to East Kirkby, the home of NX611 Just Jane, a taxiing Lancaster Bomber. It is only ten minutes drive from Coningsby, the home of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with the only flying Lancaster Bomber in Europe as well as being home to 3, 11, 29 and 41 squadrons of the RAF operating Eurofighter Typhoons. Eurofighters became a big love of mine whilst living there and I'm most of the way to completing the set of all Eurofighters made for the RAF with about 80% seen to date. The real attraction to this part of Lincolnshire is of course the Dambusters however with everywhere having some great history including Woodhall Spa only 25 minutes drive and Scampton an hour away. The history was not far away though with the house next door to Danni's office being a former home of Guy Gibson during the latter stages of the war. </div>
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I was slightly upset to leave Lincolnshire on the birding front because, although I did some fantastic birding during my time there, I don't feel I did the county justice with not too much time spent at Gib Point and only a handful of visits to Donna Nook. Whilst there though, I managed 200 species with highlights within Lincolnshire being Caspian Tern, Siberian Stonechat, Black-winged Stilt, Rough-legged Buzzard, White-rumped Sandpiper, 2 Broad-billed Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Pallas's Warbler, White-billed Diver, Ring-necked Duck and of course Western Swamphen! I also managed to find a Rose-coloured Starling, Smew and most recently I managed to do the impossible and find some Hawfinch in inland Lincolnshire!</div>
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It has been a fantastic two years in Lincolnshire and it's somewhere Danni and I will always cherish to have lived. What a wonderful place to have as a first home and I will always remember it for being the place where I realised I wanted to ask Danni to marry me. </div>
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Thank you Middle Cottage!</div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-76841193434865553882017-05-31T15:58:00.000+01:002017-05-31T15:58:34.300+01:00Iberian-type Chiffchaff - Kelsall, Cheshier - 31st May 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After work this afternoon, I popped down to Kelsall, Cheshire to have a look at the reported probable Iberian Chiffchaff. It was singing on arrival and certainly sounded the part. It did several bursts of classic Iberian-type song, although after a while on site it began to mix <i>collybita</i> chiffchaff song into its repertoire eventually coming out with <i>collybita/ibericus/collybita/ibericus</i> etc bursts. The call is something that's worrying me as all I heard was about 50 <i>collybita</i>-like 'hueets' and not a single 'reed bunting'-like 'seeoo'. I don't know how variable Iberian Chiffchaffs are in call, but I don't think that's the best indicator for a pure bird if an <i>ibericus</i> at all<br />
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Physically, I thought it looked very good. Almost half way between Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. It was bright, with blotchy lemony throat, lemony rump, bright yellow undering coverts at the carpal, bright supercillium with slight kink behind the eye, all pale lower mandible, dark brown (not black) legs, quite long wings and obviously pale rump contrasting with the mantle. </div>
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I am not experienced enough to say either way, but I do personally think it has Iberian genes, but maybe not a pure bird.</div>
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-60817137043972917622017-05-08T17:40:00.002+01:002017-05-08T17:40:38.898+01:00Norfolk! - 7th May 2017Norfolk is fantastic. I've always wondered what the big deal is with Norfolk. I know it's had a wonderful history, but in recent years, it hasn't really outshone the surrounding counties like the reputation suggests. However, yesterday Danni and I spent the day in Norfolk and it really was like birding abroad.<br />
We started off at Hickling lifering Savi's Warbler which is a bird I've wanted for a good few years and one that was really top of my list for targets for 2017. I managed a couple of views of it in flight and very briefly perched, but managed to hear is singing well on and off for a couple of hours. A really cool, powerful song. Also here, Common Crane, Spoonbill, Bittern and several Bearded Tits and singing Grasshopper Warblers.<br />
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Onto Potter Heigham Marshes, we were not expecting this to be so excellent. It was like one of the best looking wet marshes you can think of in Spain and it held 2 Black-winged Stilts we observed mating, Curlew Sandpiper, 5 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Grey Plover, Greenshank, Turnstone, 2 Spoonbill, Little Ringed Plovers, lots of Ruff, Dunlin, Avocet and Ringed Plover. In addition gosling Egpytian Geese, Greylag Geese and a Short-tailed Field Vole provided some cuteness<br />
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Next, onto Titchwell where there wasn't really all that much, but we couldn't help but pay homage to the legendary Red-crested Pochards on Patsy's Pool. The highlight of the day meant we left Titchwell quickly to head to Holme Nature Reserve. An adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher showing remarkably well in the car park and performing to the assembled crowd. My fourth Red-breasted Flycatcher and my first male. What a bird! What a place! What a day!<br />
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-66212132028084344622017-05-02T22:20:00.003+01:002017-05-02T22:20:46.901+01:00Pallid Harrier - Dunsop/Whitendale Valley - 2nd May 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-73007281945860100932017-04-28T15:19:00.001+01:002017-05-03T22:00:45.702+01:00Mallorca birding - 18th-23rd April 2017<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday 18<sup>th</sup>- Sunday 23<sup>rd</sup> April 2017</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Flights, accommodation and car were booked through <a href="http://lastminute.com/">Lastminute.com</a> flying out on the afternoon of the 18<sup>th</sup> with <a href="https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/">Ryanair</a> from
Manchester-Palma. We arrived late evening after sunset and picked up our brand new Skoda
Fabia from <a href="http://www.recordrentacar.com/car_hire/">RecordGo</a> rental cars at the airport. In the past, my friends and I
have struggled to rental cars abroad due to only having debit cards and most
companies require (or at least used to) credit cards for the allowance of the
excess insurance. This was not a problem with RecordGo and it all went smoothly. They
take out c£55 worth of Euros to cover a tank of fuel which you can choose to
fill up or leave it and they will give you back the difference. As it proved,
we only used half a tank which cost £30, so we’d advise leaving the fuel for
them to fill up. The total holiday package came to £260 each with an extra £150 on food and fuel etc. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Books and information used:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Finding Birds in
Mallorca</i> </b>by Dave Gosney. I’ve used his books in the past and due to their
compact size and weight, they’re very useful. This is also as recent as 2012
and gives a British birder’s perspective on birding abroad. For the two main
sites we visited, it essentially couldn’t have been more accurate. Very much
worth the money.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>The Birdwatching Guide to Mallorca</i> </b>by John King – This also proved very useful, albeit
somewhat out of date being 22 years old. The list of birds at the back as well
as tourist information, other wildlife information and most importantly, the
advice to drive up to the mountains before 8am to avoid the cyclists proved
invaluable.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Itinerary:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Tuesday 18<sup>th</sup> April</i> – Flights from Manchester with
Ryan Air 17:05 and landing at Palma c20:45. Picked up hire car and drove along
the Ma-13 (the main motorway) to Alcudia which took about 40 minutes. For the
duration of the trip we stayed at BelleVue club resort in Alcudia in the
self-catering building blocks which proved to be a useful location with some
nice restaurants, but the room itself left a lot to the imagination. If you’re
intending on long days with early starts, this probably isn’t the place for you
as the walls are thin and we were kept awake until 04:30 one night.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<i>Wednesday 19<sup>th</sup> April</i> – We arrived at s’Albufera
nature reserve car park (next to English bridge) at 07:30, headed along the
access track to the visitor centre and then turned north, heading over the
canal bridges along the northern track to the power station. We then came back
to the visitor centre and did the track loop to the south viewing the Sa Roca
pools. Following this, we moved to the Es Cibollar pools north of the canal
where we spent most of our time and finally walked west to the raptor observation
tower. After a quick stop back in
Alcudia for some lunch and a rest, we headed to the old salt pans of Ses
Salinetes just north of C’an Picafort and walked along the track to the top of
Depuradora de S’Illot.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<i>Thursday 20<sup>th</sup> April</i> – Our focus for the day was
the Formentor peninsular with the first stop being the Boquer Valley. We spent
most of the morning here arriving just after 07:45 (an Irishman was coming out
of the valley as we arrived having seen nothing at all, so maybe wait for the
sun to come up). The winds on the 20<sup>th</sup> were really strong North
Easterlies, so the SW-NE running Boquer Valley proved hard work, as did the
peninsular. We walked all the way to the northern end of the valley for the
main target – Balearic Warbler – and then came back, spending some time at the
Casada Boquer (the castle like building by the car park) looking for migrants.
Next we headed up the single road to the Formentor peninsular and stopped at
the first obvious Mirador with a car park. At this point, the cyclists were
already out in force, so driving was slow. Strong winds made birding and even
standing very difficult, but we persevered and carried on, whilst dodging
cyclists and buses. We got as far as the Mirador at Km 16.8 (page 18/19 in the
Gosney book) and did a quick sea watch before giving up on the cyclists and
heading back to Port de Pollenca. Having some lunch here next to Hotel Pollenca
park, we checked the beach for Audouin’s Gulls and then called it a day.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Friday 21<sup>st</sup> April</i> – We set off at 07:00 and arrived
at Cuber Reservoir (in very cold conditions) just after 08:00. We walked
anticlockwise around the reservoir because the cold temperature and very much
shaded southern side of the reservoir made us believe the sunnier patches to
the north would attract more migrants earlier on. The wind had dropped
significantly, but there was still a chill in the air. We spent almost all
morning here stopping off on the way home at mirador overlooking the Torrent de
Pareis (Gosney page 24, note 5). Late afternoon we checked the C’an Cuarassa
tracks to the south of Port de Pollenca and finally had a good look just after
dusk at the Hotel Pollenca and the park by the Guardia Civil building unsuccessfully looking
for Scops Owl.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Saturday 22<sup>nd</sup> April</i> – Our three main site targets were
out the way, so we arrived at s’Albufera again, though slightly earlier. The
wind had dramatically dropped and the heat was noticeable, even earlier on. We
spent more time around our favourite areas from the first visit, namely the Es
Ciboller pools, Sa Roca pools and the northern end of Ses Puntes track. We then
headed to Depuradora de S’Illot taking the first exit at both roundabouts at
C’an Picafort and turning right at the bus depot. We ended the birding at Tucan
marsh at the northern end of Alcudia.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Sunday 23<sup>rd</sup> April</i> – We had to leave for the
airport at 06:30 meaning no birding was done, but the drop off of the rental
car was very easy and check in to the <a href="https://www.easyjet.com/en">Easyjet</a> flight home was very smooth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sites</b><o:p></o:p><br />
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<i>S’Albufera</i>: This is a real gem of a site and reminds me a
lot of Aiguamolls de l’Emporda in Costa Brava. The gates and in fact reserve
are open from 8am-6pm in April-October. There is however a gap in the wall to
the left of the gate which can be used and we ran into a few staff before 8am
and we had no problems, so I guess it’s quite well known us Brits love a dawn.
Do stop in at the Visitor Centre though for a free permit. This helps them
gauge numbers and presumably helps the conservation through funding of the site. The site
itself holds 800 pairs of Moustached Warbler and is supposed to be one of the
most reliable sites in Europe for them. On the first morning, it was quite
windy and we didn’t have a single sight or sound of Moustached Warbler with
just one Sedge Warbler heard. Walking along the access track, you’ll come
across the sound of Fan-tailed Warbler ‘zitting’ to the left and the
‘underwater trumping’ of Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets and Night Herons in the
colony across the channel as viewed from the left bend in the track going over
the bridge. As you go over the bridge, you’ll see the Ses Puntes track running
south. On the first visit, it was windy here, but this was the only time we saw
Osprey. On the second visit, we spent a while at the first platform, with the
first Moustached Warblers (lifer for me) being seen and heard from here. We had at least 4
from here. There were several singing Great Reed Warbler from here as well as a
Grasshopper Warbler. We also had
an adult Hobby over from this platform. The Sa Roca pools has two hides and
provides excellent views of Stilts and Plovers, with particularly good numbers of
Kentish Plovers. Here we had two Collared Pratincole (a well overdue lifer for
me), Snipe, Purple Swamphen and good numbers of Red-crested Pochard. In
addition, on the first day, a Temminck’s Stint was with the plovers. Following
the track round from the hides, you’ll come across a small pool (noted to have
tame Red-knobbed Coot in Gosney, but we didn’t have any). Here we had
phenomenal views of two Great Reed Warblers singing and a Balearic ‘<i>badius</i>’ Woodchat Shrike. The three bridges across the channels provides you with good
opportunity to see Red-knobbed Coot (lifer for both) with two neck-collared birds being seen
over the two visits as well as Western Swamphen and Eurasian Coot. Matthew
Meehan saw a female Little Bittern from the first bridge on the 22<sup>nd</sup>
April. Straight on from the bridges is a track running north to a Power Station
and Es Colombars pools. A couple of raised platforms along here provide good
views of herons, in particular Purple Heron flying low over the marsh. It’s
also suggested this is a good spot for Moustached Warbler, but we had a single
Sedge Warbler and that was it. The star for me was Es Cibollar pools to the
north of the channel. Here there are two hides that provide phenomenal viewing
of waders including Wood Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Avocet, Common Sandpiper
and even the Temminck’s Stint. Also on the pool were a flock of 30 black Spotted
Redshank, 5 Little Stint, Ruff, Snipe, adult Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed and
Little Ringed Plover and stilts. There was also a Marbled Teal (lifer), a pair
of Garganey and Shoveler. Over the marsh, we were treated to five minutes of
excellent birding, with a Gull-billed Tern and a Caspian Tern moving east over
the site and a male Red-footed Falcon drifting north showing the dark falcon
with silvery primaries on the upper wing. Finally, the
track to the west had a well-known viewing platform for raptors. We had good
numbers of crag martin from here as well as a pair of Red-knobbed Coot just
below us and the male proved very bold and walked on the path and even stood on
Danni’s foot! Amazing! This track was the host to the only snake on the trip
with an in-shed Viperine Snake (<i>Natrix maura</i>) which was a lifer and was seen
under the most bizarre of circumstances! Several Iberian Water Frogs were heard
calling all over the reserve early on.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Ses Salinetes</i> – We just visited these salt pans once, which
is a shame as they seemed excellent, but we three Marbled Teal here as well as
<i>badius </i>Balearic Woodchat Shrike and just beyond the pools, at the Son Bosc
area, an amazing Nightingale, a flyover Hoopoe and singing Thekla Lark (lifer
for Danni). In addition to birds, we had Bug Orchid, Black-tailed Skimmer and
Clouded Yellow here.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Depuradora de S’Illot</i> – The road leading up to the water
treatment works from the bus station was a real gem. Here we had at least 3
Tawny Pipit about a third of the way down the track. The fields just south west
of the cross road held two Stone Curlew and several Hoopoe in the area. The open area at Son Bosc
also held a Tawny Pipit and two Stone Curlews were flushed by horse riders. The
actual water treatment pools were a tad disappointing, but Tufted Duck was
added to the trip list as well as a pair of White-cheeked Pintail which are
obviously escapes but were interesting to see how aggressive they were. We also
saw the only other reptiles of the trip. A European Pond Terrapin and a large
Wall Lizard sp we assume was Ibiza Wall Lizard. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Boquer Valley</i> – I almost don’t need to give a run down of
this site as it essentially is exactly the same as page 12 and 13 in the Gosney
book. The fields and fig trees around the Casada Boquer held Wryneck, Pied Flycatcher,
Redstart, Whinchat, Wheatear and Spotted Flycatcher. One thing I will say about the Casada Boquer,
is you have to pass through two metal gates. It wasn’t obvious you can pass
through here as it looks private, but it’s fine. There is just a sign saying
‘no dogs’. Past here you come across some large boulders. We had Blue Rock
Thrush and Crag Martin here. There were loads of Serin the valley and half way
down, we picked up the first Booted Eagle over the eastern valley sides. Once
you can see the sea, you should come into low lying vegetation. This is the
best area for Balearic Warbler (Lifer for both). Once you get away from the endless calls and
song of Sardinian Warbler, you may be lucky to hear a gentle tack of this
endemic Sylvia. We found a pair in a clearing with lots of pale grey rocks on
the ground. They were feeding chicks, so we kept our distance and allowed them
to come to us rather than the other way around. The male gave one song flight
which was as delicate as they were in appearance. If you go looking for them,
please don’t use tape lure. You really don’t need it. If you suspect breeding
too, please be respectful. Over the water in the high winds, lots of Scopoli’s
Shearwater were passing east. We also
had a small patch of Bertolini's bee orchid.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Formentor Peninsular</i> – The first mirador you come across has
a decent car park and an impressive viewpoint. We had a single pass of an
Eleanora’s Falcon (lifer for Danni) as well as a Peregrine from here. There’s good numbers of
Raven and a few Blue Rock Thrush and just below the viewing point, there’s a
colony of Crag Martin. On our much calmer second visit, we had a flock of c40
Balearic Shearwaters (lifer for Danni) on the flat calm sea, but nothing else. We only really
then tried to get to the lighthouse at the end and with so few stopping points
and so many cyclists, we sort of gave up. We had a quick seawatch from km 16.8 picking up Bealearic Sheawater for the
trip . <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Cuber Reservoir</i> – walking round the reservoir anticlockwise,
we views the groves to the north east of the reservoir which held Firecrest,
Wood Warbler, Wryneck, balearicus Blue Tit, loads of Chaffinch, hundreds of
Pied Flycatcher (literally!) and most bizarrely a calling Scops Owl. There were
also two Water Pipits on the edge of the reservoir. Above the reservoir we
enjoyed views of 2 Black Vulture, 5 Griffon Vulture, 3 Booted Eagle and a Red
Kite. As you walk round the reservoir onto the southern side, you’ll come
across some low lying pines. Here we had a pair of Moltoni’s Subalpine
Warblers (lifer for both), which proved hideously elusive and we failed to get photos of either.
Just round from the dam wall, there appeared to be a Crag Martin colony with a
couple of Cirl Bunting here too. Apart from that, the reservoir proved quiet,
but after we had got to the dam wall, we were inundated with tourists. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>Tucan Marsh</i> – This looks like a great little place with
Night Heron, Purple Heron and Great Crested Grebe (the only one we saw) being
highlights. I can easily imagine good numbers of terns and maybe even
White-headed Duck on here, but we only managed to fit in one visit. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>C’an Cuarassa</i> – This site proved to be slightly disappointing,
but maybe that was because we went in late afternoon. We didn’t see any
starlings at all, which was a shame, but we had Woodchat Shrike, Whinchat,
Yellow Wagtail (iberiae), Corn Bunting, Nightingale and a few showy Sardinian
Warbler here (though they were pretty much everywhere!)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<i>The hotel</i> – as a little extra, we had an almost constantly
calling owl from outside our hotel every evening which proved to be a
Long-eared Owl (I had written it off as immature Tawny until we got back and
had a good look at the pics). Really cool to have just outside!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A really enjoyable few days in Mallorca and visiting some
excellent places. I’d highly recommend it and I’d consider going back maybe in
early May next time when the Eleanora’s Falcons and Honey Buzzards are properly
in. The length of time we spent was about right too. If we’d had longer, we’d
have explored the salt pans to the south and maybe spent a bit more time in the
mountains, but it did the job for us. I hope this has been useful. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Purple Heron - s'Albufera</div>
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Black-winged Stilt - s'Albufera</div>
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Kentish Plover - s'Albufera</div>
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Wood Sandpiper - s'Albufera</div>
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Viperine Snake - s'Albufera</div>
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Serin - s'Albufera</div>
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Red-knobbed Coot - s'Albufera</div>
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Western Swamphen - s'Albufera</div>
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<i>badius </i>Woodchat Shrike - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Marbled Teal - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Red-crested Pochard - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Marbled Teal - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Bug Orchid - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Clouded Yellow - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Marbled Teals, Eurasian Coot and Black-winged Stilts - Ses Salinetes</div>
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Wryneck - Boquer Valley</div>
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Bertolini's bee orchid - Boquer Valley</div>
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Sardinian Warbler - Boquer Valley</div>
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Balearic Warbler - Boquer Valley</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENyZFHU_3gEtxhYIt8bfHVKmHLGKIi8VZ7FMg0YlZ_-FE0vn0Hqj0jVSbcKNRU0TyBwGdomAPICnrRK1Vtv91LZITXsy303Y8e2TZctUwgaJD6b_KnEdJxZrPbEsMnh3qjTGWtAaBAPpT/s1600/IMG_3853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENyZFHU_3gEtxhYIt8bfHVKmHLGKIi8VZ7FMg0YlZ_-FE0vn0Hqj0jVSbcKNRU0TyBwGdomAPICnrRK1Vtv91LZITXsy303Y8e2TZctUwgaJD6b_KnEdJxZrPbEsMnh3qjTGWtAaBAPpT/s400/IMG_3853.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Balearic Warbler - Boquer Valley</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Balearic Warbler - Boquer Valley</div>
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Booted Eagle- Boquer Valley</div>
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Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca</div>
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Wood Warbler - Cuber Reservoir</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Wood Warbler - Cuber Reservoir</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Black Vulture - Cuber Reservoir</div>
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Night Heron - s'Albufera</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Cattle Egret - s'Albufera</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Great Reed Warbler - s'Albufera</div>
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Red-knobbed Coot - s'Albufera</div>
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Temminck's Stint and Kentish Plover - s'Albufera</div>
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Avocet - s'Albufera</div>
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<i>iberiae</i> Yellow Wagtail -s'Albufera</div>
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Tawny Pipit - Depuradora de S’Illot</div>
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Tawny Pipit - Depuradora de S’Illot</div>
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Hoopoe - Depuradora de S’Illot</div>
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Collared Pratincoles and Black-winged Stilt - s'Albufera</div>
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<b>Trip List 116</b><br />
Shag<br />
Cormorant<br />
Balearic Shearwater<br />
Scopoli's Shearwater<br />
Great Crested Grebe<br />
Little Grebe<br />
Western Swamphen<br />
Moorhen<br />
Coot<br />
Red-knobbed Coot<br />
Water Rail<br />
Cattle Egret<br />
Little Egret<br />
Great White Egret<br />
Grey Heron<br />
Purple Heron<br />
Night Heron<br />
Shelduck<br />
Gadwall<br />
Mallard<br />
Marbled Teal<br />
Shoveler<br />
Tufted Duck<br />
Pochard<br />
Red-crested Pochard<br />
Red-legged Partridge<br />
Griffon Vulture<br />
Black Vulture<br />
Osprey<br />
Red Kite<br />
Marsh Harrier<br />
Booted Eagle<br />
Stone Curlew<br />
Avocet<br />
Black-winged Stilt<br />
Spotted Redshank<br />
Collared Pratincole<br />
Greenshank<br />
Wood Sandpiper<br />
Common Sandpiper<br />
Dunlin<br />
Temminck's Stint<br />
Little Stint<br />
Curlew Sandpiper<br />
Ringed Plover<br />
Little Ringed Plover<br />
Kentish Plover<br />
Gull-billed Tern<br />
Caspian Tern<br />
Common Tern<br />
Black-headed Gull<br />
Audouin's Gull<br />
Yellow-legged Gull<br />
Collared Dove<br />
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon<br />
Woodpigeon<br />
Kestrel<br />
Peregrine<br />
Hobby<br />
Eleanora's Falcon<br />
Scops Owl<br />
Long-eared Owl<br />
Wryneck<br />
Crag Martin<br />
Sand Martin<br />
House Martin<br />
Swallow<br />
Thekla Lark<br />
Pallid Swift<br />
Swift<br />
Tawny Pipit<br />
Water Pipit<br />
Yellow Wagtail (<i>iberiae </i>and a probably <i>cinereocapilla or hybrid</i>)<br />
Starling<br />
Hoopoe<br />
Wren<br />
Robin<br />
Nightingale<br />
Redstart<br />
Song Thrush<br />
Blackbird<br />
Stonechat<br />
Whinchat<br />
Wheatear<br />
Woodchat Shrike<br />
Cetti's Warbler<br />
Fan-tailed Warbler<br />
Great Reed Warbler<br />
Sedge Warbler<br />
Moustached Warbler<br />
Grasshopper Warbler<br />
Blackcap<br />
Sardinian Warbler<br />
Moltoni's Warbler<br />
Balearic Warbler<br />
Willow Warbler<br />
Wood Warbler<br />
Firecrest<br />
Pied Flycatcher<br />
Spotted Flycatcher<br />
Great Tit<br />
Blue Tit (<i>balearicus</i>)<br />
Chaffinch<br />
Greenfinch<br />
Goldfinch<br />
Linnet<br />
Serin<br />
Raven<br />
Reed Bunting<br />
Corn Bunting<br />
Cirl Bunting.<br />
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.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-69937114926437611172017-04-27T21:09:00.000+01:002017-04-27T21:09:38.538+01:00Cornwall over Easter - 7-10th April 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'll start this off with some fantastic news! I asked Danni to marry me and she said yes! Result! Could not be happier with the person I have chosen to spend my life with and start a family with. Getting engaged is something I certainly only ever plan to do once so I couldn't just carry on like it wasn't an amazing thing. As a result, we booked a holiday over easter. In fact, we booked two over the course of 10 days. We spent the four day easter weekend in Cornwall and then headed to the supposedly warmer shores of Mallorca...more on that later (or you've already read about that trip depending on which you chose to read first!)</div>
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We set off at 04:30 on Good Friday with the intention of missing the holiday traffic and also get to our first location in reasonably peak birding time. We arrived at Ham Wall RSPB. When twitching the Hudsonian Godwit at Meare Heath in 2015, just next door to Ham Wall, I was blown away by the whole area. It was just enormous and there were so many species breeding there with bitterns booming all over the place. </div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">I told myself that I would have to come back one day and explore the bigger Ham Wall. So that's what we did. Almost the second we got out of the car, a Cetti's Warbler was singing loudly from the side of the car park and that really became the soundtrack as well as the music video of the reserve. They were everywhere and just so bold. It was like being abroad.</span><br />
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There were lots of new in singing migrants around the reserve as well as a plethora of herons with at least 3 booming bitterns heard and three seen, including the one below which flew into the reeds from the second platform. Great White Egrets were the star of the show with at least 6 seen, with only one not in breeding plumage, so lacking the black bill with purple lores.<br />
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From the second platform, two Glossy Ibis fed and eventually took off providing exceptional views flying right past us. I think I just about managed to do them justice with the camera, but it was indeed hard photographing such a dark bird against the whitest of skies. Also present from the platform was a drake Garganey.<br />
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Having enjoyed a really good morning at Ham Wall, we headed down the M5 and A30 towards devon and arrived at Broadsands for early afternoon. Here we enjoyed lovely views of a Hall pulling holiday makers on the Paignton & Dartmouth Railway as well as the first and only lifer for Danni on the trip, with up to 4 Cirl Buntings feeding in a hedgerow just north of the beach car park. Only my second time seeing these in Britain.<br />
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We stayed in Torquay that evening with the intention of going to Cornwall the following day. Setting off, we didn't realise just how far Cornwall was away from Torquay, so we didn't get to Cape Cornwall until lunchtime. Here we were hoping for Chough, but with hundreds of tourists, they proved difficult. Next onto Pendeed, we were treated to a pair of Chough rolling above us. I tried a seawatch hoping for a lone Balearic, but just a constant stream of Manxies and the odd Fulmar were all I could muster. We then went to Lands end and finished at the Hayle Estuary where we saw Spoonbill and Iceland Gull as well as year ticking Greenshank and Common Sandpiper.<br />
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We stayed that evening at Cedars B&B next to Redruth which was a lovely B&B and I'd highly recommend it. For our last full day in Cornwall, we decided to focus on the Lizard. A morning seawatch from the Lizard provided a single Puffin and Great Northern Diver as well as at least 5 Bottlenosed Dolphins and a single Harbour Porpoise. Apart from a single Whimbrel in a field (the same field that almost certainly had a Woodchat Shrike in it that afternoon...if only we'd carried on round the corner, we may have found it) it was quite quiet for migrants. We moved onto Kynance Cove and were rewarded with Sedge Warbler and Wheatear. The North Westerlies really were killing the birding for us! We headed back to the Lizard in the afternoon and had nice views of Chough again, but that was really about it. We spent the last couple of hours of light having a nice meal in St. Ives.<br />
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On the final day, we decided to head back up to the North gradually stopping off at Goss Moor with the hope of seeing two Little Buntings that appear to STILL be there to this day. We failed, but had excellent views of Grasshopper Warbler and there were lots of migrants to be found, so it actually proved to be the most enjoyable site we visited.<br />
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It wasn't the hoped for birding weekend in Cornwall and it certainly reminded me of how weather dependent Spring birding can be in the UK. It also looks like we missed the winds by about 4 days, which is frustrating, but it happens! It was still a lovely place to be with my new fiance enjoying almost every minute together.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-854477695212689302017-02-21T14:12:00.002+00:002017-02-21T14:12:56.834+00:00Rough-legged Buzzard - Throckenholt, Lincs - 21st February 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I headed out this morning to South Lincs in search of the recently reported adult male Rough-legged Buzzard at Throckenholt near to Wisbech and Spalding.<br />
I headed down to the bottom of Common Lane down a road that certainly felt like maybe I shouldn't be there, but met a couple of farmers in tractors and a couple of men working from a pick up truck and they all waved quite happily, so either it was fine or all of us shouldn't have been there!<br />
Anyway, I went to the very end and started scanning the woodland behind the windfarm directly in front of me and couldn't see much. I gave it a good 15 minutes of scanning before scoping the ground in a 270 degree scan picking up a buzzard with particularly long fluffy legs sat on a hay bale. In the heat haze, I couldn't really pick out many features but kept watching it in case it took off. It turned around revealing quite a lot of colour on the back so I used my phone to google adult rough-legs but as I did, I missed it take off. In a mini panic, I quickly scanned back and forth and all of a sudden, a much closer buzzard flew quickly right through my field of view.<br />
This was quite clearly a Rough-legged Buzzard with a whopping white patch of white at the base of the upper tail, two black bands on the tail tip, a dark trailing edge to the underwing, darkish belly and rather pale underwing with blackish carpal patches.<br />
Compared to the bird sat on the bale with a monotone looking mantle, this was very dark brown and white, which was striking. There were several areas of pale on the face giving it a 'grey eyebrows' look and when it eventually got closer, you could see a hint of rufous between the two tail bars.<br />
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I've seen several pale Common Buzzards that do look strikingly like Rough-legged Buzzards, particularly around Holkham Pines, Norfolk, but this was different. The flight style was very interesting. As it flapped, the wings just looked powerful and gave it an eagle-like flight. The travelling glide looked to show a shallow 'm' rather than an upturned 'v' which helped too.<br />
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Using my car as a hide, it surprisingly came to land in a little woodland right next to where I was parked, but was annoyingly out of view. I reversed a little but it took flight before I'd even had chance to see which tree it was in. It started circling and gaining a bit of height before drifting south east.<br />
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A lovely bird and only my 3rd time of seeing Rough-legged Buzzard.</div>
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Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-11270449157873949642017-02-14T16:49:00.001+00:002017-02-14T16:49:19.202+00:00Roses are red, Chats throats are Blue - 14th February 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bluethroat was my No1 target for 2017 and whilst the views I got on Saturday were excellent, the photographs were awful! With the continued presence of the bird, bright sunshine and a day off work, I thought it was almost a crime to not pay homage to the bird once again. I arrived to about twenty birders all trying to get their shot ranging from people with 6ft tripods looking down on the bird, people stood twice the distance of everyone else attempting to digiscope through the crowd and my favoured group, the lads laying in the mud getting down to the birds level.<br />
It was pretty mobile despite being exceptionally nonchalant about all of our presence. It would move about along the path appearing out of the reeds in random places and give wonderful views down to 10ft. I only gave it half an hour or so and had a good five minutes of photography time enjoying it posing in classic chat fashion with cocked tail and long spindly legs. A real treat of a bird and one I feel i have now down justice with my camera<br />
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-48585953090720484042017-02-12T16:22:00.000+00:002017-02-12T16:22:09.895+00:00Birthday lifers - 11th February 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A bit of a blast from the past and before this blog even existed. These photos date back to 2006 and 2007 as follows: Glossy Ibis, Fluke Hall Lancs Jan 07, Red-backed Shrike Wells, Norfolk May 07, Great Grey Shrike Bowland April (?) 07, White-tailed Plover Leighton Moss, June 2007, Waxwing Leeds Feb 2007, (2nd row) Common Rosefinch Sheringham June 2007, Lesser Scaup Pine Lake, Lancs, November 2006, Laughing Gull Marton Mere Lancs May 2006, Great White Egret Leighton Moss (May 2007?), (3rd Row) Green-winged Teal Marshside March 2007, Wilson's Phalarope Upton Warren October 2006, Blyth's Reed Warbler Blue Bell, Spurn October 2007), Stone Curlew Fylde April 2007, Lesser Snow Goose Blackpool, February 2007, (Bottom Row) American Robin Bingley February 2007, Black-winged Stilt Martin Mere April 2006, Alpine Swift Heswall Cheshire April 2006, Woodchat Shrike Great Orme September 2006, Short-toed Lark Great Orme September 2006, Dotterel Pendle Hill May 2006.<br />
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The reason I posted this is because on 11th February 2007, I enjoyed a visit to West Yorkshire with my parents to celebrate my 15th birthday with some twitching. I saw the American Robin in Bingley, a Waxwing flock on a housing estate in Leeds and a Shore Lark on a dry ski slope in Halifax. The above collage is the only photographic evidence I can find of the American Robin as I don't really have much record of birds I saw prior to me starting this blog in May of that year!<br />
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On 11th February this year, also celebrating my birthday, except I drove this time and has my wonderful girlfriend Danni in tow. My 25th birthday treat involved heading to Willow Tree Fen to see, what I still regard as a surreal February birthday twitch, a Bluethroat. Seen the previous day by a photographer and posted online, the 1st winter male was favouring the main track through the centre of the reserve and when we turned up showed remarkably well (even if the photos don't show it) a few metres in front of us.<br />
Bluethroat is a bird I have always admired and I strongly believe they are one of the most beautiful birds in the Western Palearctic because they look phenomenal at every age. This had a nice amount of blue on the throat and I managed to see some of the red at the base of the outer tail feathers.<br />
The weather was quite grim, but that's to be expected in mid-February.<br />
Bluethroat is/was also my number 1 'tart' on my British List so was one of my biggest targets for 2017 and to see one on my birthday is just something you couldn't write.<br />
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A really wonderful treat and one that will go down in my own birding folk law. Hopefully it is wintering and having a nice time in Lincs rather than being recently blown off course.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-18695562210410427282017-02-06T23:01:00.000+00:002017-02-06T23:01:10.287+00:00Casp(s???) - Hoveringham Lake, Notts - 6th February 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Following reports of a possible Azorean Gull just over and hour and a half away, I thought I'd use one of my rare afternoon/evenings off to head over to Hoveringham Sailing Lake to do a spot of gulling. </div>
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I initially pulled up to what I thought was the main lake as it was rather large, but turns out this was the Railway Lake and therefore should really have known considering when I turned up at just before 15:30, there were only about 40 gulls on the water. The vast majority were Common Gulls with only 4 large gulls: an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, 2 1st winter Lesser Black-backed Gull and to my great surprise, a 1st winter Caspian Gull! I was almost hesitant to call it as one just because I'd only been here for about 20 seconds before I saw it!</div>
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Showing the pale underwing on a quite frankly awful video grad (I'd just pressed record as it stretched, so the camera was shaky)<br />
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Sophie Barrell turned up and she informed me that the main roost was supposedly on a different lake, which we went to and the gull flock was probably about 3-4000 birds which was a bit more to get stuck into!<br />
Within a couple of minutes we'd picked up the two juvenile Glaucous Gulls, including one very pale bird which is different to the several biscuit ones I've seen this winter. Next up was an adult Yellow-legged Gull which showed classic clean head, dark mantle 1/2 way between HG and LBBG, minimal white tips to the primaries, long primary projection, chisel-tipped bill and general stockiness.<br />
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I then picked up the 1st winter gull photographed below. It immediately jumped out at me as being a dead ringer for Caspian Gull. The white head, with grey shawl to the nape and breast sides, the long-thin bill with minimal gonydeal angle and pinkish bill base, the very dark tertials with a very thin neat white edge with no notching, the long black primaries with obvious primary projection and broad white edge to the greater coverts. The photos make it look darker faced than it actually was, but there was some darker marking around the eye in the field. One of the other birders wasn't happy with it because the 'back' looked so dark with general dull grey cast to the mantle and scapulars. This was a bit of a worry, but there was obvious replaced scapulars which made the back look spotty with dark centres to these. I was pretty convinced this was a 1st winter Caspian, albeit a dark one, but I was left with some doubt due to the other observer. It didn't flap unfortunately, but it did briefly preen its tail revealing a very clean belly and undertail coverts with next to no dark markings and what appeared to be a clear cut black trailing edge to the tail.<br />
If it's not a Caspian Gull, I guess it could be a small Yellow-legged Gull, but I think even with the darkness, I can't see a Yellow-legged Gull having that much of a skinny bill.<br />
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Comments welcome<br />
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Finally, I managed to pick up a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull which was my first for a good while. On the lake, a Black-necked Grebe joined in the gull roost and a small fishing lake behind us held 3 Red-crested Pochard<br />
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An impressive gull roost and one I'd like to return toZac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-91038179910917035982017-02-04T16:34:00.002+00:002017-02-04T16:34:37.415+00:00Slavonian Grebe - Cleethorpes Country Park - 4th February 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was up on north Lincs this morning and due to the lovely weather, thought I'd have a shot at getting some nice photos of the Slavonian Grebe wintering on Cleethorpes Country Park. It did not disappoint in the ten minutes maximum I was there! I'd have stayed longer but my camera ran out of battery.<br />
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Slavonian Grebe - January 2008 - Barrow, Clitheroe, Lancs</div>
I've come along a lot in my photography over the last few years and you'll see my last attempt at Slavonian Grebe photography from January 2008 in Barrow, near Clitheroe, Lancs. The weather and equipment certainly helped me, but even so. Always nice to show improvement!<br />
<a href="http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/slavonian-grebe-barrow-lodge-sd740381.html">http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/slavonian-grebe-barrow-lodge-sd740381.html</a><br />
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Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-20472353247590628482017-02-04T13:54:00.001+00:002017-02-04T13:54:26.208+00:00Taiga Bean Goose armchair - Cantley Marshes - 30th Januray 2017 I will start this off with a little confession. Previously, I've neglected Bean Geese for a couple of reasons. Firstly, and most embarrassingly, as I follow BOU rules for species listing, the two 'races' of Bean Geese aren't split so hasn't seemed all that important to know which is which. Secondly, I have in the past looked into the ID of Taiga from Tundra and I found the ID criteria a little ambiguous to say the least purely because they all seem variable and there are often birds that turn up that are in 'no man's land' and often get ID'd confidently as both by some observers.<br />
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This winter, I have been over to Norfolk a few times, with the main attraction being the adult Red-breasted Goose that I saw at Docking in late December. Within the main goose flock there, I saw up to 7 Tundra Bean Geese, Todd's Canada Goose, 4 Barnacle Geese and 15 European/Russian Whitefronts. I have found it really rewarding sifting through Pinkfeet flocks in the same way I find looking through gull flocks. I came away from this with an added interest in Bean Geese due to how seemingly similar yet entirely different they are to Pinkfeet. I remember seeing one individual you could pick out with the naked eye because it was so all over dark. The orange legs also really are something else, and even seeing an orange-legged Pinkfoot was nothing in comparison to the carrot legged pulses I had a growing fondness for.<br />
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It was to my great interest when the BOU officially declared they will be adopting the IOC world list as their official guidelines for the British Bird List meaning we will lose Lesser Redpoll/Mealy Redpoll as two species as well as Hudsonian Whimbrel/Eurasian Whimbrel. In contrast, we will gain Two-barred Greenish Warbler (split from Greenish), Daurian Shrike/Turkestan Shrike (Isabelline Split), Eastern Yellow Wagtail/Yellow Wagtail, Stejneger's Stonechat/Siberian Stonechat, Thayer's Gull/Iceland Gull and Taiga and Tundra Bean Goose. Whilst reading this, I lost out to both of the lumps and I have gained Stejneger's Stonechat and hopefully the Eastern Yellow Wagtail I saw on Scilly. One glaring omission for me was Taiga Bean Goose and I felt somewhat ashamed of that, especially considering how regularly I've been to Norwich in recent years with Danni and the regular flock that visits Buckenham/Cantley marshes.<br />
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By January 10th, the flock often have already departed, presumably to Netherlands or southern Scandinavia(?), but they had been reported quite recently, so Danni and I went to Buckenham last weekend. Sadly, there were no Beans or even Whitefronts to be seen, so we spoke to a local birder and he told us about how to view Cantley. Following his instructions, I got us to where I assumed he meant which was a random farm track and not even close to where he meant, but I got out and started scanning the bit of Cantley I could see. I managed to pick up several Whitefronts and a few pinks, but nothing that looked like a Bean. I, having assumed this was the right place, left confident that they must've disappeared. It was only later that night that I saw a Birdguides report that the flock of 6 were still there. Nightmare!<br />
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The monday morning came and I left Lincolnshire early to get to Cantley, but I got stuck in mammoth traffic in pretty much every town and village along the way, so it wasn't until 11:45 that I arrived on Burnt House Lane.<br />
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Almost straight away I was aware of the presence of c1000 geese which sounded different to what I'm used to and I was in awe at 350+ White-fronted Geese in amongst the pinkies. Whilst walking across the marsh when the flock took flight, I heard a much deeper honking which alerted my attention as 5 bean geese flew low over my head. I managed to get them in the scope and my first thought was how short, thick necked they looked and reasonably stubby billed. Listening to Xeno-canto, I surmised these were Tundra Bean Geese and I watched them fly off towards Strumpshaw.<br />
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I walked all the way round to the far side of the marsh, regularly stopping to scan the geese and could only spot the occasional Egyptian Goose in the Whitefronts/Pink-feet. After some prolonged shooting from the nearby woodlands, the whole flock took flight and headed east towards the coast. I thought I may have missed out on seeing Taiga for another year, but had one last scan before I walked back to the car. Half way out in the middle of the marsh, I spotted a group of grey geese all sat down by a gate. I noticed straight away there was orange on the bill and some had a surprising amount of orange there almost looking like immature whitefronts. I thought that alone made them very promising. There was something about the one I could see best however which was sat down with a narrow band across the bill and what appeared a shortish neck. I thought my first Taigas would be much more obvious than this and I was worried they were Tundra. Aside from the extensive orange bills to some, I wasn't getting a massive impression of anything different. They started to wake up a bit and waddle around. It was only then that I managed to notice how some of the birds did indeed have very long, thin necks almost swan-like. The bills were variable to say the least, but some had strikingly long bills which were accentuated by the lack of a protruding lower mandible, so they looking thin based too. Occasionally a hybrid Canada Goose would wander by and their large size would be evident. The whole flock all had darker heads than their body which is something I hadn't previously seen on Tundra.<br />
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I managed to get a picture of a flapping wing which shows how long winged they looked and also the greyish wash to the coverts which I hadn't noticed before on any bean I've previously seen in flight. I think this may be due to being an adult, but I can't quite find enough information about it. The only previously bean goose I've photographed was a presumed adult Tundra at Aber Ogwen in Wales and that has dark coverts. It's something I am interested in looking into further.<br />
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In the end, I was happy I was watching Taiga Bean Geese and I must say, they have captured my interest absolutely and I can't seem to go a day without googling Bean Geese and trying to find out more about these interesting Ansers.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-57872256031957588752017-02-03T16:39:00.002+00:002017-02-03T16:39:09.763+00:00White-billed Diver - Woodhall Spa - 22nd January 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's not everyday an inland White-billed Diver turns up and by no means is it every day one turns up 20 minutes from your house! That's exactly what happened when this 1st winter bird graced the River Witham just north of Kirkstead Bridge in late-Janaury just into February.<br />
I saw an adult with full summer plumage off Portsoy on the day Danni and I met in Scotland, so it was nice to see this juvenile so close to home with her (and the dog!).<br />
Like most inland divers, seaducks and grebes, this was particularly bold and didn't really seem bothered by humans pointing expensive tubes at it and allowed for wonderful viewing. A great bird and one I've been back to see since, along with half of the birding world!Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-58892392210963337382017-02-03T16:22:00.000+00:002017-02-03T16:22:44.054+00:00Black-throated Thrush - Adwick-upon-Dearne - 16th January 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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1st winter female Black-throated Thrush (bottom) with Redwing</div>
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Wow, I really have neglected this blog since last summer! A
lot has happened since my last post including the remarkable invasion of
Siberian Accentors into the UK. I was lucky enough to see the Spurn bird on the
second the last day of its stay. I went to Scilly again in October and the only
really ‘decent’ bird I managed to see was the 1<sup>st</sup> winter Eastern
Yellow Wagtail which basically was a monochrome yellow wagtail and looked and
sounded superb. The call was almost tree pipit-esque<o:p></o:p></div>
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Over the winter, there was a wonderful influx of rare birds
and several people I know got more lifers in the month of December than any
other month last year. I managed to get Dusky Thrush, Red-breasted Goose and
Blue Rock Thrush, but one that I just couldn’t find the time or money to go and
see was the St. Asaph Black-throated Thrush. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Black-throated Thrush has been high up on my list of birds
to see for years and even the ‘dull’ females are charismatic beyond belief. I
think it’s the colour grey with a hint of bright yellow at the base of the
lower mandible that does it for me! I love a bird with a yellow bill-base.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I thought my luck was up when the St. Asaph bird
disappeared, but I got a second chance when Adam Hutt and Heather found a 1<sup>st</sup>
winter female at Adwick-upon-Dearne in South Yorkshire. I set off early on the
second day arriving just after 09:30 having hit some annoying traffic and
walked along the river bank not really knowing where I was going. I soon
spotted a group of telescopes all watching something and when I worked out
where they were looking, I spotted a grey thrush-sized bird at the top of a
Hawthorn. It almost immediately flew low into cover and I only managed to
imagine what I’d seen. A few seconds later, I got a whistle from Tim Jones who
spotted what he assumed was it flying from behind me over my head. As I turned,
I heard a Ring Ouzel-like ‘chacking’ and noted a medium-sized all grey thrush.
Excellent! It flew over the river and into deep cover. There were lots of
Blackbirds and Redwings about all being very vocal and occasionally you could
hear the Black-throated Thrush calling. Suddenly, a thrush appeared at the top
of an alder with a Redwing and it was immediately obvious it was the
Black-throated. It was obviously all grey and the dark streaking on the breast
made it look all over dark from a distance. There was an obvious moustachial
streak and weak supercillium and through a scope, you could just see the yellow
bill base.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It suddenly flew revealing a warm underwing like a Redwing
viewed through mist and flew off high towards Adwick. Most people seemed to
stay still and didn’t really react at all which surprised me. I headed off down
the river until I got to a spot where I could scan and within about 20 seconds
I picked up the striking facial pattern of the Black-throated Thrush at the top
of a distant tree maybe 1km away. It stayed at the top of this bush for about
3-4 minutes before flying again and perching in a low hawthorn barely visible
and then a load of Redwings flushed nearby thanks to a dog walker innocently
walking along a footpath, which flushed the Black-throated too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The views were by no means jaw dropping, but it was great to
see in the flesh , hear it call and also note how big it was compared to
Redwing. I always assumed they would be larger than that like a big Ring Ouzel.<o:p></o:p></div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-43545934438887797612016-08-20T16:10:00.002+01:002016-08-20T16:10:46.421+01:00Scilly Pelagics - August 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Another August, another set of pelagics. This year I did 7 pelagics with the first pelagic of the year being a private 'charter' for Scott's stag do, or a 'Staglagic'. This was without a doubt the best of the 7 and we were lucky to get 22 Cory's Shearwater and a couple of Great Shearwater (The only Cory's we saw on the trip). However, the star bird, and the species that has taken me back to the islands 3 times so far is Wilson's Storm-petrel. We were treated to at least 5 of these wonderful seabirds and they were on view from 18:25-c9pm. Just absolutely everything I had hoped for and it made for a fantastic evening! We ended up in the Mermaid in celebration and that's about all I can remember!</div>
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Later on the trip the weather wasn't quite on my side so there were several extremely quiet pelagics. Saturday's was the best of the further 6 pelagics though. A summary list includes:<br />
Monday 8th - Sooty Shearwater.<br />
Thursday 11th - Sooty Shearwater.<br />
Friday 12th - Wilson's Storm-petrel, Sooty Shearwater, 4 Risso's Dolphin,<br />
Saturday 13th - adult Sabine's Gull (self-found), Great Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, dark Arctic Skua, 5 Risso's Dolphin, 10+ Common Dolphin, 2 Minke Whale, Greenfinch! Also a Hooded Crow on St. Martin's.<br />
Sunday 14th - 2 Sooty Shearwater, c40 Common Dolphin, Ocean Sunfish<br />
Monday 15th - 1st summer Long-tailed Skua (self-found), 3 Common Dolphin<br />
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-7670993862203734102016-07-31T07:45:00.000+01:002016-07-31T07:45:57.272+01:00The F Word<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Broad-billed Sandpiper<br />
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Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin and Broad-billed Sandpiper<br />
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Frampton Marsh is superb! Wader passage is in full swing now and the interesting waders are starting to show in amongst them. A couple of Pectoral Sandpipers in Lincs started to spark my interest and when a Broad-billed Sandpiper joined a Pectoral Sandpiper at Frampton last weekend, I had to twitch it with Jonnie Fisk. The view from the 360 hide was excellent with a lot of wader mud right in front of the hide. Both birds were only about 60 feet out from the hide and eventually the Pec came to 50ft and the Broad-billed only about 40ft. Really exceptional views of two fabulous waders. Pectoral Sandpiper in particular is a bird I've always thought were one of the smartest looking waders to occur in Britain. Never tire of seeing them. This is also the second Broad-billed Sandpiper I've seen and the second I've seen at Frampton this year! In addition to the two stars, a Little Stint, 2 Curlew Sandpiper Spotted Redshank and several Ruff made for a lovely passage as well as loads of juvenile Little Ringed Plover, again, in front of the hide which made for great viewing.<br />
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Later in the week, an adult White-rumped Sandpiper, presumably from Snettisham, appeared on the same pool, but a little further back. I managed to fit in a flying visit and the scope views were decent as it fed amongst Dunlin. The weather was poor and photography was very difficult, so I won't insult you with hideous record video grabs that could be anything. I have only seen one White-rumped Sandpiper before, at Hoylake in 2012, and I was struck by how skinny that was. The same can be said with this bird. Compared to the Dunlin, they are so slender and with the massive long primary projection, they just look so long. The full supercillium stood out even at that range and the monotonal cold grey stood out against the ginger juvenile Dunlin and brown and black-bellied adults Dunlin. Very smart birdZac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-38372557355910043592016-06-05T15:11:00.002+01:002016-06-05T15:11:51.293+01:00Chamber's Farm Wood - 5th June 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Enjoying the wonderful weather, I headed to Chamber's Farm Woods in Lincs with the dog looking for Grizzled Skipper, plus the other specialities such as Wood White, Marsh Fritillary and Dingy Skipper. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5NJRcmESKCcL-tc0udMWutqsnM4U5lnLor8VlnMpUn2ynaA6jnyrtamHj8-PyyeZdGy78tTlGMLgxO_s3B-ryIYClrHugWAzHT5rUZqSwePLHAgm-sAGR8DlHmLvgXu5GEbSjyYIc-MpZ/s1600/IMG_9619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5NJRcmESKCcL-tc0udMWutqsnM4U5lnLor8VlnMpUn2ynaA6jnyrtamHj8-PyyeZdGy78tTlGMLgxO_s3B-ryIYClrHugWAzHT5rUZqSwePLHAgm-sAGR8DlHmLvgXu5GEbSjyYIc-MpZ/s320/IMG_9619.JPG" /></a></div>
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Marsh Fritillary</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kl6JLecRf4PiGXheFKD8lqwYTztuflts6fQyPaUi14wVxdtw4MNc6332hoIAva95SLFvL7EHa7VUAegyumjoc77kYt8gmqqWQjPWk2uvYufAZasTGnlWopBfKK53ffFQBTPDgNn9M0Gn/s1600/IMG_9643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kl6JLecRf4PiGXheFKD8lqwYTztuflts6fQyPaUi14wVxdtw4MNc6332hoIAva95SLFvL7EHa7VUAegyumjoc77kYt8gmqqWQjPWk2uvYufAZasTGnlWopBfKK53ffFQBTPDgNn9M0Gn/s320/IMG_9643.JPG" /></a></div>
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Marsh Fritillary</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-7jy_iT4alwg5tUKiXyivKF2of99qh5Ui6jH4ko1CY3uh_YuBjrnsZLXyRK9OKhsLuWhXyUKnlDxR7f8yBBqWeABZrVwxv0wQV35bX65R6J7dsX-kdzdwpKJX1GF8IpIVmwgpoxHLWxO/s1600/IMG_9662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-7jy_iT4alwg5tUKiXyivKF2of99qh5Ui6jH4ko1CY3uh_YuBjrnsZLXyRK9OKhsLuWhXyUKnlDxR7f8yBBqWeABZrVwxv0wQV35bX65R6J7dsX-kdzdwpKJX1GF8IpIVmwgpoxHLWxO/s320/IMG_9662.JPG" /></a></div>
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mating Marsh Fritillary</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6ew64g61Zr0zuGNQ7ZzXaKxzPTNK8XMKv7sEaqMQqJgx5iM8Ut-br_QP9zK2Wb40ns_heRBzvht1_Ukc0zD1Ku2N0uRS4eDMWzjPdTum3LhZ86BVcX1ymtEMUv0L4dMmRWgCMiiwpqSZ/s1600/IMG_9671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6ew64g61Zr0zuGNQ7ZzXaKxzPTNK8XMKv7sEaqMQqJgx5iM8Ut-br_QP9zK2Wb40ns_heRBzvht1_Ukc0zD1Ku2N0uRS4eDMWzjPdTum3LhZ86BVcX1ymtEMUv0L4dMmRWgCMiiwpqSZ/s320/IMG_9671.JPG" /></a></div>
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Mother Shipton moth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGebaanlRoAUn_Ce9C9PjR5RnM1EENBv07t1bKmvrIaKftdRYur9QM5B1Ij3glPWcCaspblKEJPUoRS_3G3aWprJq2nS43l_yctrpGti-PpqK8-JEfTsD6O7aFQylhTMD1GZx1jrwsSM5C/s1600/IMG_9679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGebaanlRoAUn_Ce9C9PjR5RnM1EENBv07t1bKmvrIaKftdRYur9QM5B1Ij3glPWcCaspblKEJPUoRS_3G3aWprJq2nS43l_yctrpGti-PpqK8-JEfTsD6O7aFQylhTMD1GZx1jrwsSM5C/s320/IMG_9679.JPG" /></a></div>
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Dingy Skipper</div>
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Having dipped my only lifer, Grizzled Skipper, I went to the butterfly garden by the car park and was rewarded with two Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoths. Having missed out on these several times, it was excellent to get great views of this enchanting species. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOsLDJDSlFlocEiz7tlv9f7VceW2hT774FotUE6ZarKQ6DA-gBAieEDekJ5Pta3BiSbRX2vbg53L2sRgfcUhsWWXV-FwKbLMheNg3nYVFF2Gwq1Hzmdae0YxmNTvn2FxkdYyl-fbFGCG7/s1600/IMG_9682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOsLDJDSlFlocEiz7tlv9f7VceW2hT774FotUE6ZarKQ6DA-gBAieEDekJ5Pta3BiSbRX2vbg53L2sRgfcUhsWWXV-FwKbLMheNg3nYVFF2Gwq1Hzmdae0YxmNTvn2FxkdYyl-fbFGCG7/s320/IMG_9682.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1lSAPwcIj2DnjCf5tvE7UudqOkoIU9WraKrSWyuuYBculSy7KWFttWolgdTHC8nn4uKnuG8-uJ7vevSbLtkQ8m5Haq0TFtlnPGcsJsq7hEjAKwEoN-I0QJ98quhcuSWixILNzl4KMIfRJ/s1600/IMG_9692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1lSAPwcIj2DnjCf5tvE7UudqOkoIU9WraKrSWyuuYBculSy7KWFttWolgdTHC8nn4uKnuG8-uJ7vevSbLtkQ8m5Haq0TFtlnPGcsJsq7hEjAKwEoN-I0QJ98quhcuSWixILNzl4KMIfRJ/s320/IMG_9692.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNAPb1Cj6qCPPiAyLmfAJDGfRxV3vOPkLM9Qieu6gacT-fOdrn-ib0P7-lF-ln_WYd56n-Xr0aHcbQzFoFyzFitxPVTyY2ZS2_N3hgpBw45yS4pkys58fbQwXV0z-IVsi0lf309-FBGFQ4/s1600/IMG_9710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNAPb1Cj6qCPPiAyLmfAJDGfRxV3vOPkLM9Qieu6gacT-fOdrn-ib0P7-lF-ln_WYd56n-Xr0aHcbQzFoFyzFitxPVTyY2ZS2_N3hgpBw45yS4pkys58fbQwXV0z-IVsi0lf309-FBGFQ4/s320/IMG_9710.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiSmXpa4LJHNXLjlD4bRvlHpqlclB9Ue6JFBqtw-GGMgArKD_Y5Yj1BR7KoUnU36wTPTDUavLXpDHtO6q8HUQtDllHXLXxlN6bzuob7sFx2Zdxnbn7BjLs4AwTlcjJ4vOHKQa0q3Bq0a2g/s1600/IMG_9732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiSmXpa4LJHNXLjlD4bRvlHpqlclB9Ue6JFBqtw-GGMgArKD_Y5Yj1BR7KoUnU36wTPTDUavLXpDHtO6q8HUQtDllHXLXxlN6bzuob7sFx2Zdxnbn7BjLs4AwTlcjJ4vOHKQa0q3Bq0a2g/s320/IMG_9732.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAveLVWUpOJQKiMkUxJfpMc0JEfaWpQ-GJhaRvSdDqwyJT22ovOTaulcIdRj2hPxtsF_WyOOYaeIUdKWgYodrzXxE2JFC-NwM-KHwtPV0rtvYS4CQTXEWaF9xjNLAOcyQbOxfmpPOxhnd6/s1600/IMG_9741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAveLVWUpOJQKiMkUxJfpMc0JEfaWpQ-GJhaRvSdDqwyJT22ovOTaulcIdRj2hPxtsF_WyOOYaeIUdKWgYodrzXxE2JFC-NwM-KHwtPV0rtvYS4CQTXEWaF9xjNLAOcyQbOxfmpPOxhnd6/s320/IMG_9741.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizqQTPFJhjYcGW7cIypMlVx0u9UTHxTepBvxaxBD4gDEd-q6JHLYdx5GlDgf2ajrlHAjL_g_4PfUn_sLaMvyTqadGTbI5ULWdYgszhtThfXYosx9w0vnuzGO1-5QbAUXdAvSrgu6NARFi/s1600/IMG_9752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizqQTPFJhjYcGW7cIypMlVx0u9UTHxTepBvxaxBD4gDEd-q6JHLYdx5GlDgf2ajrlHAjL_g_4PfUn_sLaMvyTqadGTbI5ULWdYgszhtThfXYosx9w0vnuzGO1-5QbAUXdAvSrgu6NARFi/s320/IMG_9752.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBmm5tSKOCeZQOZNq3eyHf_0dRR-pDeb1C7xGaNey4Ezp9n5Bvxq0NQs5C0534Znxo9Gz_zqKwqv0zZWz_mZ6D_ZbtRrtP6zQNBy6HeA3Zzb_sLtlF-BruiIiGgWyVFFI6Rvs8SH6bqJ8t/s1600/IMG_9757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBmm5tSKOCeZQOZNq3eyHf_0dRR-pDeb1C7xGaNey4Ezp9n5Bvxq0NQs5C0534Znxo9Gz_zqKwqv0zZWz_mZ6D_ZbtRrtP6zQNBy6HeA3Zzb_sLtlF-BruiIiGgWyVFFI6Rvs8SH6bqJ8t/s320/IMG_9757.JPG" /></a></div>
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Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth</div>
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On the way home, I came across two Corn Buntings singing on the edge of patch. A lovely bird to have breeding so close to home.</div>
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Corn Bunting</div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-5821219334511576232016-01-23T21:55:00.000+00:002016-01-23T21:55:31.870+00:00Patch bird race - 23rd January 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVjnBkanVPBGVLquYHdrks25nsT4nWFWtFjTVTbZJhFWwyeEjsF5PWu5ZHe82RfnGo6QZ4AdhkIVnbbaU2jZ2vYBa0AEp0l1orQQiPPytFFUuMIySjVvEPXo2v_aROaU6MdqwI5fwoUhpD/s1600/1148_10156572294230089_2269340508220108892_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVjnBkanVPBGVLquYHdrks25nsT4nWFWtFjTVTbZJhFWwyeEjsF5PWu5ZHe82RfnGo6QZ4AdhkIVnbbaU2jZ2vYBa0AEp0l1orQQiPPytFFUuMIySjVvEPXo2v_aROaU6MdqwI5fwoUhpD/s320/1148_10156572294230089_2269340508220108892_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The view south from Hall Hill towards West Keal and part of Lincolnshire Aviation Museum runway at East Kirkby (along with the two biggest bodies of water visible from the patch boundary<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhheskWdRS0sDQ0s-SUAGub9w3DeO78II31peX1ZJaoMXv1E8_URLAi_ZR3ZbCrvlRoLu_wcPQWMqFl-J2qBP3VW-CK6_JlnKVR-cpr_nvmCZ_s4l8NnKrYJa2FgpZvoMU2WlkKI9kYYvJx/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhheskWdRS0sDQ0s-SUAGub9w3DeO78II31peX1ZJaoMXv1E8_URLAi_ZR3ZbCrvlRoLu_wcPQWMqFl-J2qBP3VW-CK6_JlnKVR-cpr_nvmCZ_s4l8NnKrYJa2FgpZvoMU2WlkKI9kYYvJx/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Speaking between friends recently, we've all adopted inland patches this year of which the is relatively limited habitat and therefore pose little potential for finding anything good. With this in mind, not many people would persist, but considering how many times we've all been on twitches to unlikely locations and think 'How on earth did someone find this!?', perhaps it's the way forward to adopt a #CrapInlandPatch. </div>
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To spur us on to get out into the field and cover it, we've decided to do occasional bird races to compete against eachother to see what we can pull out of otherwise nondescript locations. As you may have read below, my new patch is my new village and surrounding farmland. I started today with a patch life list of 62, so I thought a target of 55 for the day was both ambitious and achievable. </div>
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I got up early on and headed SE from the house and onto the highest point in the area - Hall Hill to the south of the village. From here you can see across most of the patch and also directly south as far as the Wash on the extremely flat landscape. There's two relatively large bodies of water just south of the patch boundary and here I picked up Coot, Lapwing and a patch tick of 4 Tufted Ducks. Also from here you can see the whole airfield at Lincs Aviation Museum, which I'm looking forward to seeing the Lancaster and Dakota working in the Spring. Peregrine and Sparrowhawk were picked up here which certainly can never be guaranteed on bird races! I went onto see a further 4 sightings of Sparrowhawk of at least 2 individuals. By 09:00, I was on 40 species.</div>
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Next I headed to the north east of my boundary, which meant heading 'off piste' along the road to East Keal and then north to Wheelabout Wood. I joined back onto my patch along the public footpath here and managed to pick up Teal and Mallard on the ponds at Bunker's Plantation. Standing next to Wheelabout Wood, hoping for Nuthatch (my nemesis), I was alerted to the sound of another nemesis, a Jay, which called three times, followed by a familiar sound in an unfamiliar location. A Kingfisher was calling from inside the woodland along a small stream running within - Two patch ticks. In addition, Lesser Redpoll, Skylark and Great Black-backed Gull were all good to get here. Having avoided breakfast in order to get out, I headed back to home for lunch on a startlingly high 58 species.</div>
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Follwing lunch, I headed to Sow Dale, which is an area of fields and woodland running along a small brook only a few hundred metres from the house. I'd not visited here before as I've always had the dog and they're not allowed in due to sheep stock. In here I picked up a couple of flocks of Siskin and flushed THREE Woodcock, which was great to see. That was me on 60, which I really wasn't expecting. I headed south again and past the castle, looking at the fields. I was over the moon to pick up a Chiffchaff feeding in a tiny brook just south of the castle. </div>
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It slowed down enormously after this, It ended just after dusk with a calling Tawny Owl seeing me finish on 62 species for the day and 65 species for the year. Cormorant, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Golden Plover were the only birds not to crop up again despite a lot of time spent vis-migging.</div>
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All in all, I was over the moon with 62 species from my 'Crap Inland Patch'. My last patch birdrace was at Brockholes in November 2014 and I managed 75 species, so considering the multitude of habitats there, I should be very proud with my humble replacement! </div>
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Let's see what the year brings!</div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-76272869155675092642016-01-21T12:05:00.000+00:002016-01-21T12:05:15.243+00:00Old Bolingbroke - The new patch #PWC2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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2016 is a new year and I'm in a new location, with hopefully a new job starting very soon. With this in mind, I had to find myself a new patch. There's plenty of great sites within short driving distance of our new house in south Lincolnshire, such as Kirkby on Bain, Frampton Marsh and Gibraltar Point, however with the new dog, I'm walking her almost every single day in our village, so I'm basically patching this whether I like it or not. It means I can get my birding fix, without spending any money and for a currently jobless birder, this is perfect.<br />
It may not be much, but it's a new county and a good one at that, so there's always potential for something juicy. As of today, I'm on 61 species for the year and with the Patchwork Challenge scoring system, all are 1 pointers bar a flyover Peregrine. It's mainly farmland, with some small woodland plantations and a couple of barely accessible ponds and streams. Waterbirds are thin on the ground, but so far have 2 ducks, a goose and 3 species of wader. Old Bolingbroke is just inside the wolds and to the south of us is nothing but flat, so the two small hills in my PWC boundary must surely hold vis-migging potential.<br />
Speaking to a few mates who also have inland patches in area without too much promise have decided to have our own little mini league for 2016, to see who can find the most interesting local rarity. For the Greater Manchester birders, that might be something as simple as Yellow Wagtail!<br />
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I'm given to understand that Turtle Doves and Corn Bunting are in the area and there are recent records of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the village, so I'm extremely hopeful for something good to turn up if I put the effort in and go green this year in my birding.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-79166381317828409732016-01-01T18:03:00.001+00:002016-01-01T18:03:17.228+00:002015 in short - It was Excellent!2015, for me was excellent. I got my first job as a post graduate doing what I love and travelling the country seeing areas I would never normally go. With that, I got my own car and therefore my mobility greatly improved, as well as my bank account, which aided me in travelling the country in pursuit of new birds.<br />
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<li>Prior to 2015, I had only been birding in Norfolk once (and only visited one further time with family), so with friends, this year I visited East Anglia 6 times and got to know arguably the best county for birding a lot better. </li>
<li>I did my first major day twitch by heading to Bryher on Scilly for the Great Blue Heron (plus the Tresco Black Duck for good measure) with Scott and Liam. This experience was manic, but fantastic all the same!</li>
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<li>I also went with Jonnie and Matt to Aberdeen to see the Harlequin Duck on the River Don, which was absolutely one of the best birds of the year just because of how tame it was and the most unlikely of locations. </li>
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<li>As a stand out day, just before Jonnie left to go to Norway, we woke up at Spurn and immediately went into panic stations as a Laughing Gull was found at Kilnsea Wetlands. Later a Marsh Warbler was found and then ringed and we enjoyed incredible views of a Bee-eater flying around catching insects at Church Field. That really was an awesome day!</li>
<li>The avian highlight of the year was almost definitely the Hudsonian Godwit at Meare Heath next to Ham Wall, Somerset which is a bird I really never actually expected to see and I was amazed as how good it actually was in the flesh. </li>
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<li>I spent a week on the Scillies and did a pelagic every day of my stay. I didn't get my hoped for Wilson's Storm-petrel, but everything else was fantastic and I learnt an awful lot. </li>
<li>For the first time I visited Asia as I went on holiday to Turkey and although it wasn't a birding holiday, I got some fantastic species and some superb lifers, just around the confines of the hotel. </li>
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<li>That brings me onto how this year was of course important for me because I met Danni. We first met at the Red-throated Pipit near Stockport, but this was all too brief. Pretty much the following weekend, Danni, Jake, Scragg, <strike>Aidan</strike> and I visited the Cairngorms where Danni and I really hit it off and having a chat whilst sat in the sun on Mt Cairngorm watching a very tame pair of Ptarmigan will stay with us forever. Since then, we have been away on holiday to Turkey, moved into a house together in Lincolnshire and as of tomorrow, we are getting a dog called Tia! It's been fantastic and this beats all the other birding experiences without a doubt. There'll always be other birds, but I think I've got something much rarer.</li>
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I ended 2015 with a life list of 366 after seeing 25 lifers, including a few well overdue species I've always missed:</div>
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Hudsonian Godwit, Harlequin Duck, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Great Blue Heron, Black Duck, Pacific Diver, White-billed Diver, Red-footed Falcon, Gull-billed Tern, Ring-billed Gull, Melodious Warbler, Ortolan, Red-throated Pipit, Little Bunting, Golden Oriole, Cirl Bunting Serin, Wryneck, Red-flanked Bluetail, Ferruginous Duck, Black Stork, Greater Yellowlegs, Crag Martin, Lady Amherst's Pheasant, Marsh Warbler, </div>
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Whilst travelling the country a lot more, I was able to accumulate quite a decent yearlist and by July I had already beaten my previous best and got over 250, One of my main highlights for the year was being able to go back through my life list and revisit certain species I saw quite early on and not since, birds I had only ever seen once and poorly as well as different plumages of certain species. Certain species that stand out from this are:</div>
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Quail, Rose-coloured Starling, Wilson's Phalarope, Olive-backed Pipit, Short-toed Lark, Richard's Pipit, Sooty Shearwater, Bean Goose, Lapland Bunting, Crane, Green-winged Teal, King Eider, Pallid Harrier and Spoonbill</div>
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I ended the year on 302 species with my last 5 yearticks being: Golden Pheasant (Wolferton after about the 100th attempt!), Grey Phalarope (Cley) Long-eared Owl (Marton Mere), Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck (Both Caerlaverock)</div>
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As a group, we finished the year in the Crown and Anchor pub at Spurn all dressed up nicely and reminisced in what was a fantastic year! Happy New Year everyone!</div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-62602352656561051572015-10-26T11:25:00.000+00:002015-10-26T11:25:13.435+00:00Scillies in October 17-24th OctoberThe 2nd and 3rd week of October are traditionally <i>the </i>best time to visit Scilly. A group of us NGBs stayed at Mincarlo in Hugh Town for a week with high hopes of a few rarities from across the pond. With the exception of a Hudsonian Whimbrel on Tresco which left the day after we arrived and a Spotted Sandpiper also on Tresco for a day, the wasn't a single American bird found during the week.<br />
I managed 1 lifer in the form of Ortolan, plus yearticks of Short-toed Lark, Blyth's Pipit and Olive-backed Pipit. I missed out on Common Rosefinch, Hooded Crow, Balearic Shearwater and Long-eared Owl for the year, but no lifers were missed which was good.<br />
It was a bit quiet on the bird front, but the great thing about Scilly is even when birds are a little thin on the ground, it's a stunning place with loads of great people, so it was still a fantastic week.<br />
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In addition to the birds we started up a great tradition again and played the locals on the Garrison a game of 11-a-side football. Following on from tradition, the locals beat us 4-0. It sounds like we got thumped, but two of the goals were conceded within a couple of minutes in the first half due to Matt, our star centre back, going off briefly and a sudden gap in structure at the back opened up. The third goal was a very unlucky own goal from a corner and the third was a well worked goal by the locals. We had some trouble getting up the pitch so our number of chances were very minimal. A really enjoyable game however and definitely the start of a continuing tradition. See you next year!<br />
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Short-toed Lark - Its good side</div>
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Short-toed Lark - the side with the hugely exposed terital</div>
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The Turning circle at the airport proved to be a favoured haunt for our group</div>
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A 'bacon sandwich'</div>
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adult Spoonbill at Stony Island</div>
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Great flight views</div>
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I've hardly ever seen the colourful chin before!</div>
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1st winter Kittiwake from the Pelagic</div>
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Common Dolphins pretty much stole the show</div>
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They were a nightmare to photograph for me, but eventually got a few nice shots</div>
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They were bow riding for about 3 hours! Amazing experience</div>
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3 Puffins (don't worry, there was a third lone bird...) was a well overdue Scilly Tick and I think even a plumage tick in winter plumage!</div>
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A second 'Blyth's' Pipit turned up and was re-IDd from photos later on as a Richard's. Scott and I were there for just after dawn the following day and got nice views in <i>awful </i>light. It was regularly flushed by the incoming Skybus and landed next to the Short-toed Lark which was superb to see.</div>
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A picture is 1000 words!</div>
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The best photo I could manage of the Richard's Pipit in the early morning light.</div>
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A trip to St. Martin's was warranted with the presence of an Ortolan near Middle Town. We gave it a good couple of hours to no avail and as we were half way across the island, someone had picked it up in a field nearby to the original site, so we ran across the island proving just how unfit we all are!</div>
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The other star bird on St. Martin's was an Olive-backed Pipit, but with three ticks on the bird's face, it was looking very unwell and could hardly fly and regularly closed its eyes. It was not reported the following few days and it's easy to assume what happened to the stunning bird.</div>
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The bird I spent most time with was the Blyth's Pipit on Peninnis head which favoured three stone walled fields. Eventually I was rewarded with great views, but in the low light, photography was hard. To be able to compare Richard's and Blyth's on the same day was wonderfully educational though. It's a shame the Blyth's was hardly ever heard calling though as the Richard's was very vocal.</div>
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There was several Jack Snipe seen, mainly at Lower Moors and the above photo was taken near dark at Lower Moors. It carried it feeding as if we weren't there in typical Jack Snipe fashion</div>
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Great views of Common Snipe were also wonderfully photogenic</div>
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Black Redstarts were all over the place with a handful of males and this 1st winter bird which was seen a couple of times on the buildings and patio around our accommodation!</div>
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A couple of Short-eared Owls were seen across the islands and I picked this bird up flying west over Bryher.</div>
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Stonechats were everywhere</div>
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Often reasonably approachable too</div>
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Turnstones provided great photographic opportunies at Porthcressa</div>
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As did this Meadow Pipit</div>
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One thing you can't escape on Scilly is House Sparrows. EVERYWHERE</div>
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The Scilly subspecies of Speckled Wood was out in great numbers along with Small Copper, Painted Lady, Red Admiral and Peacock.</div>
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The Scillonion 3</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHgsfC6xBWc_QIh4cgKMKaJuPVSOLiK7uCqcZQ79wssZBeHIoAl52dAyzK1uR_OmopPdtFcq4rg4jMKnJHXCrxQI9mTK2Bye9mBvykGEhX1ZsKkAHT7UclZdrHTDPwzeuhCLXIYZHr5qmg/s1600/0C2A2669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHgsfC6xBWc_QIh4cgKMKaJuPVSOLiK7uCqcZQ79wssZBeHIoAl52dAyzK1uR_OmopPdtFcq4rg4jMKnJHXCrxQI9mTK2Bye9mBvykGEhX1ZsKkAHT7UclZdrHTDPwzeuhCLXIYZHr5qmg/s320/0C2A2669.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Blyth's Pipit Twitch</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5K-lcfv7zW-q3aL6MXi5qoSgUcY2CyQxLh6xsGySWx3kabBgziee19DiwBXhToLsxhbSOSDDc21JUrki4JnjRFkrR7iiQCVV19tY8jE5Y3emyi3AAiOVLrqXvDbnxWsQoO5niVsYotBk4/s1600/0C2A18051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5K-lcfv7zW-q3aL6MXi5qoSgUcY2CyQxLh6xsGySWx3kabBgziee19DiwBXhToLsxhbSOSDDc21JUrki4JnjRFkrR7iiQCVV19tY8jE5Y3emyi3AAiOVLrqXvDbnxWsQoO5niVsYotBk4/s320/0C2A18051.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Short-toed Lark twitch</div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-31001664668229456692015-10-16T21:50:00.001+01:002015-10-16T21:50:17.678+01:00I can't stay away from Spurn - 13th October 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOacagb6T1hWGw-DeYmG_8M0EvYxWyqSZ1p8MQG9UjrGXKwuIlV3Pit4usNPuPwMwbToi_JLFpmsBo68rLSpPpeCSHR4C_3PC6cCq_y0giR4aWfW_ceOnfB-y7g0ZgXxZZ8l4wbn_F5dwa/s1600/0C2A1303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOacagb6T1hWGw-DeYmG_8M0EvYxWyqSZ1p8MQG9UjrGXKwuIlV3Pit4usNPuPwMwbToi_JLFpmsBo68rLSpPpeCSHR4C_3PC6cCq_y0giR4aWfW_ceOnfB-y7g0ZgXxZZ8l4wbn_F5dwa/s320/0C2A1303.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I couldn't stay away! I was going to drop Jonnie off at a station, but I decided that I needed another day at Spurn. We met Danni there, but with an increased wind, it was certainly harder work. The Goldcrests were obviously still there, but you had to work harder for them with a group of about 20 in a patch of sea aster on humberside near to the Crown.<br />
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The Richard's Pipit was showing a lot better today and the scope views were excellent.</div>
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I popped up to Easington strait to look for the American Golden Plover and none of the 15 assembled birders had seen it since it flew off with some Lapwings. I scanned the other side of the road and found it within about 10 seconds which I found hilarious. This was a lifer for Danni whom I nipped into Kilnsea to collect to twitch it. </div>
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Sammy's was quiet but really enjoyable to watch the Goldcrest feeding on anything and landing on anything including Danni's lens! Our trip here was cut short with the reappearance of the previous day's Bluetail in the Triangle near Well Field. We successfully twitched this and it was nice to get in the field views of this super bird that was once one of the holy grails in British Birding. Great end to a great set of birding days!<br />
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-6391939411645867862015-10-16T21:33:00.001+01:002015-10-16T21:33:11.659+01:00Spurn weekend - 10-12th October 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jonnie Fisk was back from Norway for the weekend, so having got back very late from Turkey, I drove to Spurn with very little sleep for a weekend of birding. I had only planned on staying one night, but with conditions being very good, I ended up staying two nights and enjoyed some great birding with Jonnie and friends. Bird of the trip had to be Goldcrest with what seemed like several thousand being strewn across the peninsula with up for 50 in in single tree and up for 40 on a single garden lawn. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before and was truly remarkable!<br />
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I found myself a nice <i>tristis </i>Chiffchaff which had a super dunnock-like call and proved to be very local and very popular. There were Bramblings and winter thrushes everywhere and we payed homage to a reasonably long-staying Richard's Pipit in the fields across the road from Westmere Farm.<br />
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Late-afternoon on Saturday, an American Golden Plover was found at Kilnsea Wetlands which showed really well. As it flew off calling, it showed all the features you wished it would. It disappeared and then came back calling again. All of a sudden, there appeared to be a second bird next to the AGP. It looked fantastic, but then suddenly looked a lot bigger, plumper, shorter at the back and greyer. It looked a lot like a Grey Plover. It proved very educational and after a lot of scrutiny from some very good birders and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, it lifted its wings to reveal a dusky underwing and there were indeed two American Golden Plovers next to eachother!<br />
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Monday proved to be 'the day' with an early message of Radde's Warbler being caught at Church Field which was only my second and a very very stunning bird. It was a very bulky bird and that gingery colour is just out of this world. A dream bird to find for me, personally.<br />
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Goldcrests were still everywhere and was still fantastic to see.<br />
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Jonnie and I spent a little too long looking at a mini-flock of Blackbirds which mainly featured first winter males with all dark bills and showing off the best Blackbird plumage. Very smart birds<br />
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My only lifer of the weekend came in the form of a Red-flanked Bluetail which was initially found by Tim Jones in Church Field and became very elusive around the church area until ending up in the heligoland trap and was shown to the admiring twitchers. It was a first winter female and is arguably the 'most dull' one you can get. If that's dull, then I want to see a male because <i>phwarrrr</i>!<br />
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Jonnie and I went back to Preston on Monday night and enjoyed some food with my parents.Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-72878490914257393172015-10-16T21:09:00.000+01:002015-10-16T21:09:05.083+01:00East of Antalya, Turkey - 3rd-9th October 2015 - Birds and trip reportFollowing Danni's PhD hand in, we went a bit mad and decided to go away for a week. We had a search around looking for some sun and decided Spain and Turkey were our best options. We went with Thomas Cook and ended up (with a little help from a TC employee on the messenger chat within their website) booking at Crystal Waterworld Resort & Spa at Belek, Turkey. This was an all inclusive holiday for 7 nights (for an astonishingly good value £255 each!) and flew out to Antalya. We then got a shuttle bus to our hotel in Belek with Resort Hopper which took just over an hour and cost £23 each. We arrived late on the 2nd and finally got into the hotel in the wee small hours ready for some sleep and ready for a nice early start. Staying at a resort with a large pool, loungers, free cocktails and an on site waterpark, I think our reasons for waking up early were rather different (I had a trip list to start!)!<br />
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Day 1<br />
We awoke just after sunrise and sat on the balcony seeing what birds were present around the hotel airspace. Grey Wagtail was the first bird followed by the standard House Sparrow, White Wagtail and Collared Dove. It didn't take long for White-spectacled Bulbul and Laughing Dove to make an appearence (on my life list!) though, along with Tawny Pipit flyover and several singing Crested Larks in the distance. Most of the day saw us sunbathing, but flyover Steppe Buzzard and Osprey kept me busy. Late afternoon I went for a little explore and found a small weedy river, scrub and sandy wasteground where species such as Little Crake, Red-backed Shrike, Northern Wheatear, Crested Lark and Great Reed Warbler were present in good numbers. Two Graceful Prinia added a lifer to the trip along with a sound I didn't recognise. I learnt to know this call well!<br />
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Day 2<br />
Danni joined me on a similar walk at dawn the following morning and it was almost a repeat of the evening before except with more birds. Penduline Tit flew over several times along with Golden Oriole, Spanish Sparrow and 2 Red-footed Falcon. Once the heat became a little too much, Danni went back to the hotel and I decided that I wasn't done and explored further along the road to Boğazkent. Here I got Calandra Lark (lifer), a very good passage of Red-throated Pipits, Wryneck and brief excitement of a pied woodpecker which sadly 'only' turned out to be a Great Spotted and not the hoped for Syrian. I did see an interesting Redstart though that appeared to show black centres to the median coverts and a pale pannel in the secondaries indicative of <i>samimisicus</i> or Erhnberg's Redstart. Walking back to the hotel I had to Honey Buzzard fly over. Late in the afternoon Danni and I walked that road again and got fantastic views of Red-backed Shrikes and Prinia, but the heat kept a lot of things down.<br />
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Day 3<br />
We decided that a day out of Belek was needed and as we were so close to Managvat and the famous Green Canyon, we booked onto a boat trip with Vigotours with the blind hope of seeing Brown Fish Owl. We were taken past one of their favoured spots and did indeed see some poo from the owls, but during the mid-day heat and not stopping or even slowing down to have a look, we stood a very slim chance of seeing them. We still had a wonderful trip though and managed to see several Eastern Rock Nuthatch and couple of flythrough flocks of Rock Sparrow. In addition there were several birds of prey in the area with Levant Sparrowhawk, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle and Steppe Buzzard plus a couple of eagles I'm yet to ID as my photos were awful and it was only when I was looking at them that I realised how poor at raptor ID I am!<br />
Late afternoon I explored the hotel area even further and tried to get to the mouth of the Köprüçay river. I managed to get several Whiskered Terns and several migrant Lesser Whitethroat. A really nice Squacco Heron fishing on the river meander was the highlight of the walk however along with a very pale Little Owl that sat on a wall near to our balcony indicative of one of the eastern intermediate races.<br />
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Day 4<br />
Danni joined me the following morning for a similar walk and we got nice views of Purple Heron (self found lifer for Danni), Squacco Heron and a cracking juvenile Little Bittern. We had quite a lazy day aside from this with a little walk to the river mouth in the afternoon but two Purple Herons were really the only birds of note except a single Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Sanderling at the mouth which were my only waders of the trip<br />
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Day 5<br />
Another early morning wander saw us head to some scrub and wasteground and almost immediately we had a Little Bittern in flight which was then chased by another. The second landed at the top of some reeds which was very approachable and gave astonishingly good views! This for both Danni and I proved to be the bird of the trip despite not being a lifer. A walk along the Boğazkent showed more of the same, as did the evening walk to the sandy wasteground and river yielding yet another Little Crake.<br />
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Day 6<br />
The final day saw very little birding and just enjoying the last of the hot sun before our late afternoon depart. I got some superb views of a perched Laughing Dove as I was collecting my bags, but very little else of note was seen. It was my no means a birdwatching holiday and by no means was that a bad thing. It was purely a holiday for Danni and I to get away as we start new chapters and also spend our first holiday together. The fact that there were lots of fantastic migrants and new birds within 500m of our hotel was a massive bonus.<br />
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Little Bitern - Bird of the trip</div>
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Eastern Rock Nuthatch</div>
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The fabulous Green Canyon</div>
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Laughing Dove</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBQ4pEA9MXAdJ64pncJBf3lYbmETjOUo8F36WXGF1pUe3s_frkM0zZVTtpNLl4V91NVcANENDu-BOnZU5Y5k6MfX9RbtjwPoeUrPxUt542XCIVPFAsLjdCdCyxRyRMNuirv2hYY3RFItV/s1600/0C2A9709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBQ4pEA9MXAdJ64pncJBf3lYbmETjOUo8F36WXGF1pUe3s_frkM0zZVTtpNLl4V91NVcANENDu-BOnZU5Y5k6MfX9RbtjwPoeUrPxUt542XCIVPFAsLjdCdCyxRyRMNuirv2hYY3RFItV/s320/0C2A9709.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
White-spectacled Bulbul</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjp0Lt89X2-g9vKDtD62GEqojkBxRLNBgB7KAy0yJJSpS1KZWLpwQNv4V2UQEfE5IZ_zMYCC4SZt8TbxvwzPtb7Vpnrd8DPMIBlHSZCJKQeOZm89tKAGx2VKwx1eP2qPUHhleP3AGwngi7/s1600/0C2A8216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjp0Lt89X2-g9vKDtD62GEqojkBxRLNBgB7KAy0yJJSpS1KZWLpwQNv4V2UQEfE5IZ_zMYCC4SZt8TbxvwzPtb7Vpnrd8DPMIBlHSZCJKQeOZm89tKAGx2VKwx1eP2qPUHhleP3AGwngi7/s320/0C2A8216.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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White-spectacled Bulbul </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjd8ERqk_wIaHfDw8gor-6VyFbj1uzh0WGZpw2gAFujEREli0KEkNNasc7tjUKVM8loM0gbLhRFVqexAo-V6Q7pVDOcOB4fGr9MF0DLrLHfI9kL5-am9GjHWZD6PY10BMfbOUuH09eJ4cK/s1600/0C2A9225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjd8ERqk_wIaHfDw8gor-6VyFbj1uzh0WGZpw2gAFujEREli0KEkNNasc7tjUKVM8loM0gbLhRFVqexAo-V6Q7pVDOcOB4fGr9MF0DLrLHfI9kL5-am9GjHWZD6PY10BMfbOUuH09eJ4cK/s320/0C2A9225.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Graceful Prinia</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDjiBaiWMerqyRr9IuAOJFHh3UiMEjc-FlYN6F3tc7h8aF8XpG4SRLv3byaTU-sj14Ao9OIKlLZLkJTwZAng1zQjgDBRr5ZB7B6pZW0c5_CnKuZlYJ8KNc8el2RWNurJaNSysGG1R2_IL/s1600/0C2A8957.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDjiBaiWMerqyRr9IuAOJFHh3UiMEjc-FlYN6F3tc7h8aF8XpG4SRLv3byaTU-sj14Ao9OIKlLZLkJTwZAng1zQjgDBRr5ZB7B6pZW0c5_CnKuZlYJ8KNc8el2RWNurJaNSysGG1R2_IL/s320/0C2A8957.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
probable (but elusive) Erhnberg's Redstart</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnryK46gthzNycLjoQSJAd6GqPR_bEMBvDREmhIjHI8nM5zRRaEKkoSbRoalmIZs1QecCXYBlT7Vez2aJWOSDGVkI7CVvIBxeI3OhSrypHwo2oGKbSslCRZGw4aq-SLG6JIIOFGOdjQLh6/s1600/0C2A8282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnryK46gthzNycLjoQSJAd6GqPR_bEMBvDREmhIjHI8nM5zRRaEKkoSbRoalmIZs1QecCXYBlT7Vez2aJWOSDGVkI7CVvIBxeI3OhSrypHwo2oGKbSslCRZGw4aq-SLG6JIIOFGOdjQLh6/s320/0C2A8282.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little Crake</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrKbHHPB1BXQHKaWrPOqARWOzV61OPXsZ0oxOBBx7BAiAkkWMLM7rAUj4_CPE_XeHdPg3qjOo2QHA4HaE8io4nWLbPoeWBlHyaKiNjci4FgGeKcRnrmJniE7SS_-7K6Eawdn0DIYeEBOW/s1600/0C2A8598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrKbHHPB1BXQHKaWrPOqARWOzV61OPXsZ0oxOBBx7BAiAkkWMLM7rAUj4_CPE_XeHdPg3qjOo2QHA4HaE8io4nWLbPoeWBlHyaKiNjci4FgGeKcRnrmJniE7SS_-7K6Eawdn0DIYeEBOW/s320/0C2A8598.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Juvenile Red-footed Falcon</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigO9QW3WgZgRzJ_Wl9OJkkzPYUiRVC0bFhUj7397vtgeVMh8ju0FAKrRZIGabXt5aSwBspxTrfvB2srRYIdMTqH_A2t_AK2VKlrxRXnj5LXnVz5S_TnPsowDwzuKh0KU8Z3FHB7vC2YWKC/s1600/0C2A8686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigO9QW3WgZgRzJ_Wl9OJkkzPYUiRVC0bFhUj7397vtgeVMh8ju0FAKrRZIGabXt5aSwBspxTrfvB2srRYIdMTqH_A2t_AK2VKlrxRXnj5LXnVz5S_TnPsowDwzuKh0KU8Z3FHB7vC2YWKC/s320/0C2A8686.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
male Spanish Sparrow</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi04z52V9mpMdgvyoEe0JyT-GrkDtski5Wz7T8qgSUCSi6q2_k8iuXWxW9Gh_hXU9U7ApRvi6zckS3kmzOmhuon3qRmn8uOAFAp5SavyRmJuNYGieTifIZiLgk_LoXaSENIo1FEAukiRRtW/s1600/0C2A8687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi04z52V9mpMdgvyoEe0JyT-GrkDtski5Wz7T8qgSUCSi6q2_k8iuXWxW9Gh_hXU9U7ApRvi6zckS3kmzOmhuon3qRmn8uOAFAp5SavyRmJuNYGieTifIZiLgk_LoXaSENIo1FEAukiRRtW/s320/0C2A8687.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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juvenile Golden Oriole</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzp6DHHXlsjrqTmm1p8YllP9bu-4kTg72jrVR_4hnzW_2-6ToBZyDUh1j3OyhSYRx9D2BHjih-x9jH0ZVzGWtFqFw65m_xBA_0fchaDiIEV2FBOurmJFNv4RnMaH_fpX0NTwwR3I94p89A/s1600/0C2A0113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzp6DHHXlsjrqTmm1p8YllP9bu-4kTg72jrVR_4hnzW_2-6ToBZyDUh1j3OyhSYRx9D2BHjih-x9jH0ZVzGWtFqFw65m_xBA_0fchaDiIEV2FBOurmJFNv4RnMaH_fpX0NTwwR3I94p89A/s320/0C2A0113.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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ubiquitous Crested Lark</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_qm_t2o0v7n1NQQCFfyR0zsq8bZ5ub6vHd0qHGrVNygSDZu4FkOZzlnObtlK52S6LBKz6KJPU1yQmyLD1aDZxCwR1M8UdpDX2QBDqCSbMOCwtJCmJdJeaB0Jg-jq4qcBEuZNVQit8mjN/s1600/0C2A8854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_qm_t2o0v7n1NQQCFfyR0zsq8bZ5ub6vHd0qHGrVNygSDZu4FkOZzlnObtlK52S6LBKz6KJPU1yQmyLD1aDZxCwR1M8UdpDX2QBDqCSbMOCwtJCmJdJeaB0Jg-jq4qcBEuZNVQit8mjN/s320/0C2A8854.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I feel like I nailed this flight shot of a Crested Lark</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQNg65qSRXaswrRFti-fDjkufXtY1jGP0zyyRujSropEQz633F4z6e_3-JZsjHROQc_h_nmSdQAVQ1O287-xELij1_ncw0b1w_xGc5F41lzjy9EayfNN6GPp2W1LVYfFGDE4q2vP6iWfB/s1600/0C2A8804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQNg65qSRXaswrRFti-fDjkufXtY1jGP0zyyRujSropEQz633F4z6e_3-JZsjHROQc_h_nmSdQAVQ1O287-xELij1_ncw0b1w_xGc5F41lzjy9EayfNN6GPp2W1LVYfFGDE4q2vP6iWfB/s320/0C2A8804.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Calandra Lark</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJpUJye1od8VisnmY6_xhEVRRR1Za8dJeud3u5KKQAUSqN6Lo75PxpP5Rvl7Z_5RHZs5iF693rTt_JmJM-TZcuFkKpi80UzVjplAjZibG_pOV5qGId50O1o0B-exnodGlBm_bXwT5GmP6/s1600/0C2A8873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJpUJye1od8VisnmY6_xhEVRRR1Za8dJeud3u5KKQAUSqN6Lo75PxpP5Rvl7Z_5RHZs5iF693rTt_JmJM-TZcuFkKpi80UzVjplAjZibG_pOV5qGId50O1o0B-exnodGlBm_bXwT5GmP6/s320/0C2A8873.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Red-throated Pipit</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlQsWWWsT-5GbQfNL2xNMxkDsrAhgCpU0rC1evGeVGbhFmESwZ4KAYFMiRdvqfecT8VdQhcJQjmjLS_4MRIfTfn1i02TYBt9XktfWwOd9tPNuBedrCn1dWtv3alIzNjlOERbmURJmtDpc/s1600/0C2A9004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlQsWWWsT-5GbQfNL2xNMxkDsrAhgCpU0rC1evGeVGbhFmESwZ4KAYFMiRdvqfecT8VdQhcJQjmjLS_4MRIfTfn1i02TYBt9XktfWwOd9tPNuBedrCn1dWtv3alIzNjlOERbmURJmtDpc/s320/0C2A9004.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Honey Buzzard</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzkrZH12QoOoMZeVrqmnYP8X-1z1DFOtYP9_63IovONZlADSJRZVpKbd34leiLHELXj3VMFw-yTb6gSi_TYuqsTDCQseq4hiSuABh_9M_vQ5tWcdkzBX1KNOViuF0lBHWSUKcooNgvAfU/s1600/0C2A9094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzkrZH12QoOoMZeVrqmnYP8X-1z1DFOtYP9_63IovONZlADSJRZVpKbd34leiLHELXj3VMFw-yTb6gSi_TYuqsTDCQseq4hiSuABh_9M_vQ5tWcdkzBX1KNOViuF0lBHWSUKcooNgvAfU/s320/0C2A9094.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Red-backed Shrike</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATGIOs4ubmR1mThj0h9S6p07hhpoerbMMhQ5xV4j8IOhKAoScodZ5laOM67lXOgibW3WD9pIVe9KCgE1hoYCMxK_qV1mUmbX73BkD-B5THkuaugrlTQcTK1GgM0WpQ6DM58weHQqUi1i5/s1600/0C2A9584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATGIOs4ubmR1mThj0h9S6p07hhpoerbMMhQ5xV4j8IOhKAoScodZ5laOM67lXOgibW3WD9pIVe9KCgE1hoYCMxK_qV1mUmbX73BkD-B5THkuaugrlTQcTK1GgM0WpQ6DM58weHQqUi1i5/s320/0C2A9584.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Red-backed Shirke (or wheatear?)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3Iy6tRDnj5YU74mWyOK2VhWjigb_8Fe_FPj0UFvZSYG9CxHV5FdVCKIx1_p2KuxqeKy9Ri38dp3YiR9YG-LTCdjoLd2kgIpxEcnwakRlN6iYqqShxm2yo07cmJ7txyIEuO5DlIKrHUw6/s1600/0C2A9669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3Iy6tRDnj5YU74mWyOK2VhWjigb_8Fe_FPj0UFvZSYG9CxHV5FdVCKIx1_p2KuxqeKy9Ri38dp3YiR9YG-LTCdjoLd2kgIpxEcnwakRlN6iYqqShxm2yo07cmJ7txyIEuO5DlIKrHUw6/s320/0C2A9669.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Squacco Heron</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIqphPWN5kIioumwcI90iF1WU7Uvhg4tsXLiWdYLiQBqYecPRe6_JdBZehXVinaC0BN9Mq6mPOgmJOtAs6nXOCNkdXHxWeaKv5AfKcTHYCw36TUFqznruOWV9zNs1cZsJTDUxc2_mulN3/s1600/0C2A8570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIqphPWN5kIioumwcI90iF1WU7Uvhg4tsXLiWdYLiQBqYecPRe6_JdBZehXVinaC0BN9Mq6mPOgmJOtAs6nXOCNkdXHxWeaKv5AfKcTHYCw36TUFqznruOWV9zNs1cZsJTDUxc2_mulN3/s320/0C2A8570.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Whiskered Tern</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh-cBCdpxYC4Zko-yrUS7fd8zr-ON22gtC44a3xh5slVQjazh9egjR29V7FvuqqQQb5av4X-7HULmD8X7EcD5eghsBp72w5cy7FxKHYPb4OZlJgXB7awVKTzzuNAsnKH9EaA_88w3W8Ut/s1600/0C2A8513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh-cBCdpxYC4Zko-yrUS7fd8zr-ON22gtC44a3xh5slVQjazh9egjR29V7FvuqqQQb5av4X-7HULmD8X7EcD5eghsBp72w5cy7FxKHYPb4OZlJgXB7awVKTzzuNAsnKH9EaA_88w3W8Ut/s320/0C2A8513.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Great White Egrets</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJCTuhTud5mYhyz4TSu5DsXk9AShogSWilzqdeLuYtkqJtTHdYtq9zgXgbv7GtKWNNv4WZ9WkHBtQ3lJVsRdeNkr1tO7oG4TJDcGiin3ynpaevkXJqBTFYCwNQgS_47dchjks2g-YqhL0/s1600/0C2A8260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJCTuhTud5mYhyz4TSu5DsXk9AShogSWilzqdeLuYtkqJtTHdYtq9zgXgbv7GtKWNNv4WZ9WkHBtQ3lJVsRdeNkr1tO7oG4TJDcGiin3ynpaevkXJqBTFYCwNQgS_47dchjks2g-YqhL0/s320/0C2A8260.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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juvenile Turtle Doves were very evident on passage</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9tuqYqFx_oMLKgbiKFkhuhhyphenhyphenwdhkQc3XUCLXUpDEWwZf40XaMjl3yLnxVSPPeO3cJovGFzOo53HqAd9oeo1TfsBWVaqZ3GgtUU0V3yRBFTQKj3_FH44X8OCRT4jsA7NNfolyovR17kWB/s1600/0C2A9745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9tuqYqFx_oMLKgbiKFkhuhhyphenhyphenwdhkQc3XUCLXUpDEWwZf40XaMjl3yLnxVSPPeO3cJovGFzOo53HqAd9oeo1TfsBWVaqZ3GgtUU0V3yRBFTQKj3_FH44X8OCRT4jsA7NNfolyovR17kWB/s320/0C2A9745.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Cetti's Warbler - The most common sound on any walk</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y0tRWkkqKCUKwPRMmzDTGYbOES8TJgebeUbIgbbbiiLg3iGtVyDkwHBubrIn5ze08D3BSm6KrWsRuP8diVabiGMEwRGSQaLQM8kc8rtTBoF_OFy_VOn0PtdJlqL-cv9xmC25Y8LpfunC/s1600/0C2A8327.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y0tRWkkqKCUKwPRMmzDTGYbOES8TJgebeUbIgbbbiiLg3iGtVyDkwHBubrIn5ze08D3BSm6KrWsRuP8diVabiGMEwRGSQaLQM8kc8rtTBoF_OFy_VOn0PtdJlqL-cv9xmC25Y8LpfunC/s320/0C2A8327.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Kingfisher - one of the most common birds of the trip!</div>
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Very few sunsets beat a Turkish Sunset!</div>
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<br />Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754710826584614525.post-81544282385942947382015-10-16T18:55:00.001+01:002015-10-16T18:55:43.903+01:00East of Antalya, Turkey - 3-9 October 2015 - Reptiles and Amphibians After seeing a friend's herping trip to Antalya region, I was quite excited to see what I could find around the hotel. I managed 6 species of reptile and 2 amphibians with Green Toad in addition to the animals photographed below. Starred Agama were my first agamas and some were really impressive in size and also colour with their bright blue. A personal highlight was of course a Spur-thighed Tortoise which I almost stood on until it started to wander off! Only my second ever wild tortoise.<br />
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Spur-thighed Tortoise</div>
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Blaken Pond-turtle</div>
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Lebanon Lizard</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Lebanon Lizard</span></div>
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big Lebanon Lizard</div>
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Starred Agama in typical pose</div>
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Starred Agama</div>
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Starred Agama</div>
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Starred Agama</div>
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Starred Agama</div>
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Starred Agama</div>
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Starred Agama</div>
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Snake-eyed Lizard</div>
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Snake-eyed Lizard</div>
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Bridled Skink</div>
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Lavant Green Frog</div>
Zac Hinchcliffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577399980436969160noreply@blogger.com1