Well, after another not very nice week-the chest and throat problems remained, I managed to get out for a bit today. The weather has improved slightly, with a fair amount of warm Sunshine, which did help, but there is still a slight chilly northerly in the more exposed areas.
I got down to Amwell (only my third visit this year) at 0900 and stayed for just over three hours. There was not much to see from the viewpoint for a while. The Cormorants and Herons were gathering nest materials so Spring is not far off now. Few gulls-some Black Heads, three Common, and single loafing Lesser and Greater Black Backs. with occasional birds flying over. Duck numbers low still with Shoveller and Teal in the majority, a few Gadwall, and some Goldeneye. No sign of any Smew so I headed off to Tumbling Bay, picking up the usual Siskin flock and a singe female Bullfinch in the usual area around James Hide. I was about to carry on up when Phil and Bill called me back-apparently a Firecrest had been seen near the level crossing. When we got there, the usual Sunday crew were watching one of the ivy covered trees. Apparently someone had photographed a bird with a red stripe on its head-those who had seen the photo were not exactly convinced, but we hung around for while. Several Goldcrests were eventually located, and Bill played a Firecrest record ing but got no response.
I eventually made my way up through the woods picking up the Siskin again, along with a lot of Redwing and got to Tumbling Bay to rejoin the Sunday crew only to be told that they could not locate any Smew. I tried the wooded area to no avail, so we all decided to head down to Hollycross now that Phil has started the feeders going again. This did not achieve a great deal as there were very few birds in the area apart from a pair of displaying Buzzards. On the way back we stopped off at the Water Vole pit as a Bittern had apparently been seen a while earlier, but the guys there had spent half an hour with no sign.
I spent the last half hour at the viewpoint with Colin Wills, John Tony Hukin and Barnet Dave. More raptors in the air now that it had warmed up with eight or more Buzzard, Kestrel and Red Kites. A lot of the geese and ducks had departed, so we were spending most of the time talking. I was getting ready to leave when Dave picked up a drake Smew tucked in under one of the fallen trees on the far bank near the sluice. It was very hard to see, but I noticed a Red Head out in the open and eventually the Drake came out to join her.
Must admit I was hoping for more today, and it seemed to be a case of missing virtually everything but it was nice to be out and about again.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Sunday, 1 February 2015
A Weekend at Home
Courtesy of a sore throat, cough, headache and various other nice things the furthest I have gone this weekend is into the garden to top up the feeders. With snow yesterday, and icy winds for a while I was hoping for a few good birds to show but so far its been pretty much the usual suspects.
Wood Pigeons are around all the time and tend to put the smaller birds off. despite this, several Blue and Great Tits are coming in regularly, and there is a pair (presumed as they are not fighting) of Robins. The Dunnocks and Wrens don't often show, but are pretty vocal so I know they are around. Had nine Goldfinches feeding in the Birch Tree yesterday, and this morning a Green Woodpecker appeared to fly out of it. Did not actually see it in the tree unfortunately but it was quite low and climbing to clear the house, so did not look like a typical flyover.
Always have gulls in the air-mostly Black Headed, but in recent years Lesser Black Backs have substantially increased in numbers. For some reason, Common Gull numbers have crashed and i no longer see them on a daily basis. Although gulls roost on the lakes in the valley, it doesn't seem to attract anything out of the ordinary, even Herring Gulls are scarce visitors to the Stevenage area.
No raptors so far this weekend- having just written that a male Sparrowhawk has gone over. Lets see if it works again...No Waxwings, Blackcaps or Firecrests. Nope.
Wood Pigeons are around all the time and tend to put the smaller birds off. despite this, several Blue and Great Tits are coming in regularly, and there is a pair (presumed as they are not fighting) of Robins. The Dunnocks and Wrens don't often show, but are pretty vocal so I know they are around. Had nine Goldfinches feeding in the Birch Tree yesterday, and this morning a Green Woodpecker appeared to fly out of it. Did not actually see it in the tree unfortunately but it was quite low and climbing to clear the house, so did not look like a typical flyover.
Always have gulls in the air-mostly Black Headed, but in recent years Lesser Black Backs have substantially increased in numbers. For some reason, Common Gull numbers have crashed and i no longer see them on a daily basis. Although gulls roost on the lakes in the valley, it doesn't seem to attract anything out of the ordinary, even Herring Gulls are scarce visitors to the Stevenage area.
No raptors so far this weekend- having just written that a male Sparrowhawk has gone over. Lets see if it works again...No Waxwings, Blackcaps or Firecrests. Nope.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Local Mega Seen Today!
Big surprise today at work-two Collared Doves in the conifers outside. The first I have seen in the Stevenage area since early November. Cannot understand why they have been so elusive in the last few months. They stopped coming to my feeders in October-about the time I took out the big Bay Tree, after some 25 years presence in the garden, but I expect to see them regularly travelling to and from work, the local supermarket and on my walks around Aston End. Be interesting to see what happens later on.
Saturday, 24 January 2015
Bramfield Hawfinches
After an apparent year's break, the Hawfinches are back in Bramfield village, showing quite well at times. As I have not been out for a while I decided to go there this morning, though with a quick visit to Amwell first thing.
It was a nice sunny morning, but with a nasty northerly breeze and there was a bit of ice here and there. I had hoped to see the Smew, as up to five have been seen recently, but they were not showing. Apparently two were present at the south end first thing, but had presumably done their usual trick and hid behind the main island. The Ravens which are back did not show for me either, though four different Red Kites were nice in the blue winter sky.
I walked up to Tumbling Bay but there were few ducks on it and there was nothing in the riverside trees either. Returning, I stopped at the James Hide feeders where one of the Marsh Tits was present, and one or two Siskins were in the Alders above me.
I left at 1030, arriving at Bramfield about twenty minutes later. There were a few rather disconsolate birders present in the Churchyard. Two hawfinches had been seen around 0830, with another very briefly some time after 1000. I wandered around for a bit checking some of the areas around the Rectory and had got to the south end when I saw someone waving-and being ignored by most of the others. He had seen bird fly out of the Rectory and into the Churchyard. I went in and found two Hawfinch in a bare oak in the adjacent garden with some Greenfinches. They soon flew off having only been seen by a few. About ten minutes later, while I was chatting to someone we realised that another had appeared in a low tree, before flying into a Yew to feed. Despite the difficulties in seeing it, most were able to get onto it and occasionally the views were pretty good. Unfortunately it eventually flew off and could not be located again. As I left, it or another had been found a little way up the road, before flying into one of the gardens.
Added a few other year ticks today, including several vocal Nuthatches, but its been over two months now since I last saw Collared Doves!
It was a nice sunny morning, but with a nasty northerly breeze and there was a bit of ice here and there. I had hoped to see the Smew, as up to five have been seen recently, but they were not showing. Apparently two were present at the south end first thing, but had presumably done their usual trick and hid behind the main island. The Ravens which are back did not show for me either, though four different Red Kites were nice in the blue winter sky.
I walked up to Tumbling Bay but there were few ducks on it and there was nothing in the riverside trees either. Returning, I stopped at the James Hide feeders where one of the Marsh Tits was present, and one or two Siskins were in the Alders above me.
I left at 1030, arriving at Bramfield about twenty minutes later. There were a few rather disconsolate birders present in the Churchyard. Two hawfinches had been seen around 0830, with another very briefly some time after 1000. I wandered around for a bit checking some of the areas around the Rectory and had got to the south end when I saw someone waving-and being ignored by most of the others. He had seen bird fly out of the Rectory and into the Churchyard. I went in and found two Hawfinch in a bare oak in the adjacent garden with some Greenfinches. They soon flew off having only been seen by a few. About ten minutes later, while I was chatting to someone we realised that another had appeared in a low tree, before flying into a Yew to feed. Despite the difficulties in seeing it, most were able to get onto it and occasionally the views were pretty good. Unfortunately it eventually flew off and could not be located again. As I left, it or another had been found a little way up the road, before flying into one of the gardens.
Added a few other year ticks today, including several vocal Nuthatches, but its been over two months now since I last saw Collared Doves!
Friday, 16 January 2015
Comet Lovejoy and the Pleiades
Last night the sky was reasonably clear, but rather bright-I think the local school had their floodlights on. It was also very windy with a nasty windchill so I was only out for a brief period just after 20.00. Three images totalling 150 seconds with the Zeiss 100mm lens at f2.8 and iso 800. Had problems with the colour balance and trying to bring out the faint tail, so its a bit overcooked.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Comet Lovejoy and Orion
Last night (10th January) the skies were reasonably clear at times so I obtained a few images. This time I used the 100mm Zeiss lens at f2, reduced the iso to 800 and increased the exposures to 50 seconds. The resulting images were very nice in Lightroom, but the lens suffers considerably from vignetting. The Adobe profiles are not ideal with long exposure astro photography so I produced a few flat files and used Deep Sky Stacker to generate a Tiff file for subsequent processing. The results are not perfect but its a bit better.
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Comet Lovejoy
Had a few clear nights this week. The comet is getting a bit higher in the sky and is quite bright. Even from my light polluted garden it is visible as a faint smudge with the naked eye.
Tried to get some more images, but even with the filter I am limited to fairly short exposures with the 300mm F4 lens. Settings of iso 2000 and exposures of 15-20 seconds seem optimum before background noise starts to become a problem. Would be a lot better from a darker location. Tonight was not ideal, as there seemed to be a bit of haze, with thin whips of cloud drifting over, but I wasn't expecting to have an opportunity so I quickly set up in the garden and obtained a few reasonable images. The ion tail that some are capturing is beyond my short exposures unfortunately but it still looks nice.
Tried to get some more images, but even with the filter I am limited to fairly short exposures with the 300mm F4 lens. Settings of iso 2000 and exposures of 15-20 seconds seem optimum before background noise starts to become a problem. Would be a lot better from a darker location. Tonight was not ideal, as there seemed to be a bit of haze, with thin whips of cloud drifting over, but I wasn't expecting to have an opportunity so I quickly set up in the garden and obtained a few reasonable images. The ion tail that some are capturing is beyond my short exposures unfortunately but it still looks nice.
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