Wednesday 15th December - Extra Hot !

I've been adding extra chillies to the food I've been eating over the last few days in preparation for tomorrow. Pre-acclimatisation for food with a kick. I like spicy food but am prone to bouts of uncontrollable hiccups when it gets too hot (the girls just laugh) - nothing in Tesco's would set it off but a medium rating in a curry house would do and I'm trying to do my best in advance of creeping around rainforests after a spicy breakfast making an ungodly noise and just scaring all the endemics away.

So we're setting off to Sri Lanka in the morning, a bit of a relief in the mad run up to xmas to be getting away now. The girls finished school last week and are excited about going away and very excited about christmas, having covered all bases to ensure Father Christmas knows where we are. Sri Lanka is over 70% buddhist, with christian religions making up less than 10%, so the parents are a little worried the red-suited one doesn't have the same influence over events around the 25th ..... if you get my drift.

We have planned the trip to take account of all of our wants - Some tea plantations, a bit of culture, some animals, some beach and obviously for me where-ever it fits in, some birds. As ever a trip like this will always throw up the unexpected. Given our accommodation will range from basic b&b, guest houses,  hotels and the odd tent, I am expecting that blogging will need to wait until our return in the New Year, but will see what's available.

So in advance ..Happy Xmas and a  fantastic New Year to all .. see you in 2011.

Saturday 11th December - The Eagle has landed

I got back from Anne's around mid-morning and had vaguely planned to get organised for the trip to Sri Lanka next week. About half a mile from the house a Snipe was on the verge of the road looking extremely lost, certainly the first of its kind I've had in the vicinity. I went into Haslemere, and on the way back heard that 10 Waxwings had appeared in exactly the same part of town I was in at the same time, but my laps of the area were to no avail as they had obviously moved swiftly through. So got home about 1pm..ish saw a group of 9 Lapwings fly over the house and then heard that a White-tailed Eagle had been seen at Amberley Wild Brooks and only about a 20 minute drive , so thoughts of packing were relegated - A real rarity in inland Southern Britain, my first ever White-tailed Eagle was also an inland bird in Oxfordshire in Feb 1984. Ditching the chores, I headed to Rackham where it's a short walk out to view the brooks. Several cars were already parked there and I wandered through the woods to a viewing point, half a dozen birders were already there but they hadn't seen the bird. Not knowing quite where all the other occupants of the cars had headed, I just decided to scan and soon picked up the Eagle at the top of a tree in the middle of the brooks. It was fairly distant but on full scope power showed well enough to give views of the features, it was not a full adult but difficult to age as quite a bit of white was in the tail. After about 30 mins and being hassled by corvids it took flight, a great barn door of a bird,  but at least a dozen corvids were frantically mobbing it and soon it pitched down in long grass. It could be just seen walking and after another 10 mins took off and flew again but no nearer and still with the accompanyment of the crow family. It was about 3pm and with the bird out of view already the light was dim, so I headed off pleased I'd seen this fantastic bird and really hope it hangs around for others to see.  As well as the Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler on the brooks I saw 2 Firecrest on the walk back to the car.

Friday 10th December - Visiting other territories

I went to visit my sister Anne at her new house in Bedfordshire - or is it Bucks ?  the exact location was a little confusing-  a Beds' postal address but a Bucks' council address,  so on the county border. We went for a walk around Tring Reserviors (in Herts !)  at midday. The first reservoir (Startops End) had quite a few birds and was the only one of the three together that wasn't completely frozen. Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe and lots of Coot were joined by a single Red-Crested Pochard and a Goldeneye. The hawthorns at the edge of the canal held large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings and still had a healthy crop of berries so i imagine these thrushes might be around for a while. Walking around the canal footpath a Water Rail crept up the weedy bank and a couple of Long-tailed tit flocks gave close views as did a male Sparrowhawk which perched briefly. I had seen a few Red Kites on the journey to Anne's and a couple more were quartering the reservoirs After a healthy walk round on icy paths, including a hot flask and a sandwich ( Anne's much more organised than me !) , we moved onto Wilstone Reservoir where the water level was very low and still quite iced, I had been here in the Summer to see a Red-footed Falcon so the scenery was quite different. Larger numbers of ducks were present with lots of Wigeon and a couple of Pintail, a Kingfisher gave good views at the edge of the reservoir wall and a Grey Wagtail and Water Pipit were seen on the edge of the water. A very pleasant aternoon .  



Fieldfares - Tring Reservoirs

Kingfisher - Wilstone Reservoir

Sunday 5th December - Slight thaw but still bitter

A late afternoon Sunday stroll around Petworth Park with Sally and Adie was the only real outdoor activity this weekend, much of the snow has thawed but freezing temperatures ensure white patches remain and icy bits are now the largest road problem, the Land Rover is great in snow but it does what every other car does when it hits a patch of ice -you've just got 4 wheels independently spinning rather than all together. Petworth Park is only 2 miles up the road but is not a location I particularly enjoy for birding - I don't think Capability Brown was a birder - just did great landscapes. Familiarity with the large London Royal parks that are basically a big Deer enclosure, slightly manicured and lots of dogs (despite the deer). The lakes were largely frozen with a small patch of clear water on each only holding Mallard and Moorhen , with a pair of permanent Egyptian Geese a few Black-headed Gulls and a single Common Gull being the extent of lakeside inhabitants. A flyover Redpoll was calling but not seen, 3 Siskins were in the lakeside Alders with Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinch and Great Tit and 2 Skylarks flew over ... and that was it, but Adie had fun running between the herd of Deer crossing the path ! .. a few more snow pics from Friday below.
Monday is my course day and the  rest of the week is a busy work week and I imagine next weekend I will have to think about what's needed for Sri Lanka .. can't wait - somewhere warm !!!

House from field

Yellowhammer in Garden

Friday 3rd December - Ice and Snow still

Travel chaos meant all todays meetings were held by phone - Yesterday's snow had frozen and it was -3C all day getting to at least -9C after dark. At first light this morning a Peregrine flew over the house and again at 11.30 - my first record here in 12 years, bring the garden list up to 89, not bad for an inland site. Birds in the garden were as per yesterday with up to 12 Blackbirds, several more Redwings, 3 flyover Lapwings and the 2 Yelowhammers but it seemed fewer numbers of Chaffinches and tits. In between calls I wandered to the Trout Farm again where a Mute Swan, 2 Coot and 3 Moorhen had joined the Mallards. A Bullfinch in the hedgerow and again lots more Redwings in the Holly, plenty of Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Goldcrest.

Thursday 2 December - Held in an icy grip

.... depends where, how hard and for how long to deterrmine whether it will be a pleasurable experience or not. 
Woke up to 20cms having fallen overnight and it continued snowing throughout today. Had already planned to be at home today,needing to get into London tomorrow for a board meeting - joy. Dug my way out of the door, fed the birds and then went for a walk, the silence was stunning, walked down towards the trout farm which had a slither of unfrozen water, with a group of Mallards paddling furiously up and down trying to keep it that way. A Meadow Pipit tried landing next to the waters edge on the ice until it realised it was just ice and a Long-tailed Tit flock held 2 Goldcrests. I walked back via the game crop in the field by the house and saw at least 8 Yellowhammers with a flock of c25 Chaffinches being looked on by a Buzzard.

Garden under 20cms



Lane down to Trout Farm

 

Looking back to house over game crop

Mallards and 'others' on the Frozen Trout farm lake

Bird numbers in the garden increased gradually over the day with maximum species numbers at any one time being Great Spotted Woodpecker (5), Blackbird (8), Song Thrush (2), Redwing (2), Robin (5), Chaffinch (30), Blue Tit (21), Great Tit (6), Marsh Tit (3), Coal Tit (1), Nuthatch (1), Pied Wagtail (1), House Sparrow (11), Goldfinch (8), Greenfinch (3), Sparrowhawk (1). The best birds, however were Yellowhammer (one male and one female) and a male Bullfinch.

Song Thrush .... in snow

Could be a xmas card ! - Happy New Year !

Female Blackbird ..... in snow

Pied Wagtail.... in snow