Tuesday 20 January 2009

Winter Term - Tuesday 2 - Tophill Low

Barn Owl (c) 2009 John Batham
Barn Owl (c) 2009 John Batham
Great Spotted Woodpecker [male] (c) 2009 Michael Flowers
Record shot of Kingfisher [male] (c) 2009 Michael Flowers
Record shot of Kingfisher [male] (c) 2009 Michael Flowers
" I can see you!" (c) 2009 Michael Flowers
Shelduck (c) 2009 John Batham
A very good Tuesday. The bird of the morning was the male kingfisher, which gave very close views – unfortunately, no one had a camera, as I was lugging the telescope around! This was a “lifer” for some there, whilst for others it was the best view they’d ever had! I dashed back at lunch time to try & get a picture, but it was further away & hidden in dense vegetation! In the afternoon the star bird was the Barn Owl, which came extremely close as we sat in the hide looking over ‘O’ reservoir. Other highlights were 2 Smew – what was probably a juvenile male in the morning and a more standard redhead female in the afternoon. The displaying Goldeneye proved a fascination, and we also saw Curlew, Redshank, Wigeon, Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, and possible redpolls, but we didn’t get a good enough view to clinch ID.

No comments: