As you may have noticed, It’s been quite a while since my
last post. Since then and now some pretty crap things have happened, crappest
of all was my friend, house mate and colleague past away back at the start of
September. Nick Quintrell was an amazing bloke confirmed last night at a
memorial evening held at Radipole last night where nearly one hundred people
turn up to pay their respects. There’s a cracking blog post on the RSPB blog
which contains memories and tributes to
Nick, its well worth a read. www.rspb.org.uk/weymouthwetlandsblog
Birding was almost non-existent through September and
ringing was pretty much limited to a goldcrest and a blue tit one morning in my
garden but life is starting to get back on track and I got back Saturday from having a week on
Lundy. I went for the first time last autumn and had a great week though we saw
nothing amazingly crippling. This visit was quite different, full of hope after
seeing a forecast for stiff easterly winds for much of the week. In reality
this ended up preventing us from ringing and birding was quite tricky at times
with near gale force winds doing their best to unsteady my binoculars. However
a few goodies did show up. A Little Bunting was skulking around in a field
behind the church, Lapland Bunting and
Snow Bunting added a bit of interest however the biggy of the week unfortunately
was one that got away. I flushed a very grey looking thrush from some juncus
one afternoon. Instantly I thought Black-throated Thrush. It quickly went back
down into cover but out of sight. A few minutes later it flushed again but this
time with some redwings which resulted in it flying off with them. Views were
limited to flight views as it went away from me except for a moment when I saw
some rather white flanks. But frustratingly no other features were seen so this
one will have to fade away into a distant memory.
Ringing was a little quiet but was great to catch a
reasonable number of Redwing which I rather stupidly managed to not take any
pictures of! Did take a picture of this Redstart though.
This eastern type Chiffchaff was nice to see. Showed quite a
few tristis features but it decided to keep its beak shut on release and every
other time I saw it in the field.
Possibly the highlight for me was my first Brambling in the
hand! About time…
Whilst away I’ve managed to miss a Portland purple patch
with the likes of a Durian Shrike, Subapline Warbler, Barred Warbler, Siberian
Stonechat showing up and a mystery
warbler which remained a mystery to many birders during its short stay in a
garden in Southwell.
Yesterday morning I went out to clouds hill for an early
morning ringing session which got me just under 30 birds. Mainly Robins, Goldcrests
and Blackbirds. Three Ring Ouzels were about but not near any of the nets!
