Sheep, Sheep, Sheep Shaggers

Just back from the Walkers Stadium after taking Josh down to the Derby derby. City were all over Derby in the first half, passing, winning and keeping the ball well but ultimately not doing much with it. Meanwhile the sheep shaggers were just fecking rubbish. The second half was a bit more open but neither side really created much, though Derby went close in the last few minutes. Overall a typically cagey derby where 0-0 was always likely. The only consolation is that City maintain their position knocking on play off places whilst Derby are still loitering in the lower half.

Plastic Birds, Dead Ducks, Moths, Jokes

Yesterday, after the Shrike twitch, I had a quick look at Staines Reservoir. It was exactly as I remember it - massive with the endless causeway, crap viewing over the south basin and nothing unexpected on the north basin. I did twitch Staines Res once for a Wilson's Phalarope, and I've seen Black Redstart, winter grebes and divers here, but nothing noteworthy yesterday. I then headed the short distance to Virginia Water for some plastic birding and a pleasant walk before hitting the motorways - a bit like calming down in the chillout room during a night out clubbing. There's actually some decent wood around this park if you get away from the dog-walkers and main paths. Jay, Nuthatch, Great Spot, various tits and finches all noted. Plenty of Mandarin about but mostly out of range, though this pair was typically tucked away discretely in an overhanging bough against the near bank.

However, the main reason for going there was to get good close views of Ring-necked Parakeets. I really don't care what anyone else thinks about them - I think they're great. Bright green squawking birds that can be really hard to find when they are quiet (which is rarely!). A few years ago I visited a huge winter roost at Esher Rugby Club of up to 2000 - one of the funniest birding spectacles imaginable. I found a load yesterday eating sweet chestnuts. With the crap light though, and them being high up, all I could get was rubbish shots.

The sweet chestnuts were raining down from trees all around - felt like I needed a hard-hat.

After this interlude, and a quick stop at Staines McDonalds, I hit the M25/M1 return. Five Red Kites seen, only two Common Buzzards. Before going home I thought I'd have a quick look at Swithland Reservoir. Plenty of Gadwall, Shoveler and Tufteds but not a lot else other than the usual gaggle of gulls and geese loitering for hand-outs and a male Peregrine in the usual tree.

One of the Mallards on the causeway road didn't seem too interested in the bread being offered by the visiting blue-rinsers.

The garden traps last night yielded another superb Merveille du Jour - hopefully this will become an annual species to look forward to. Not too many moths overall, but four new species for the year which were a slightly tatty Brick that I didn't photograph, and these:

Juniper Carpet

I usually see this as being the end of the season for garden trapping, but this year I'll keep it going a bit to try and get Figure of Eight, Sprawler and December Moth again.

Dark Chestnut

Yellow-line Quaker

Have a chuckle at these:

A sensitive young man called Ron wanted to buy a Christmas present for his new girlfriend. They hadn't been seeing each other for very long and she lived a considerable distance away. He consulted with his sister and decided, after careful consideration, that a pair of good quality gloves would strike the right note; not too romantic and not too personal. Off he went with his sister to Harrods ladies dept and they selected a dainty pair of fur lined quality leather gloves. His sister bought a pair of knickers for herself at the same time. Harrods had a free gift-wrap offer but unbeknown to Ron the assistant mixed up the two items, so the sister got the gloves and Ron got the knickers. … Good old Ron sent off his gift-wrapped present in a parcel with the following letter.

Darling, I chose these because I've noticed that you are not wearing any when we go out in the evenings. If it had not been for my sister I would have chosen the long ones with buttons, but she wears shorter ones (which are easier to remove). These are a very delicate shade, but the lady I bought them from showed me the pair she had been wearing for the past three weeks and they were hardly soiled at all. I had her try yours on for me and she looked really smart in them even though they were a little bit tight on her. She also said that they rub against her ring which helps keep it clean. In fact she hasn't needed to wash it since she began wearing them. I wish I was there to put them on for you the first time, as no doubt many other hands will touch them before I have a chance to see you again. When you take them off remember to blow into them a little bit because they will be naturally a little damp from wearing. Just imagine how many times my lips will kiss them during the coming year. I hope you will wear them for me on our next date. All my love, Ron. P.S. My mum tells me that the latest style is to wear them folded down with a little bit of fur showing.


A college professor was doing a study testing the senses of first year schoolchildren, using a bowl of flavoured Polos. He gave all the children the same kind of Polo, one at a time, and asked them to identify them by colour and flavour. The children began to call them out: "Red............cherry," "Yellow.........lemon," "Green..........lime," "Orange........orange." Finally the professor gave them all new Honey flavoured Polos. After eating them for a few moments none of the children could identify the taste. "Well," he said "I'll give you all a clue. It's what your mother may sometimes call your father." One little girl looked up in horror, spat hers out and yelled: "Oh My God!!!! They're arse-holes!!"

Brown Shrike

My name is Mark Skevington, and I am a twitcher ... To be fair, I've not exactly lapsed into my old addicted ways - this was only my fourth lifer in two years after all! But I like shrikes, and this one was very rare, so I gave in. I set off nice and early with the intention of arriving at first light, full of the enthusiasm of re-finding it myself. I fully realised that it may have gone, and with no pager updates expected (cause I've not had a pager for years) I had no option but to go for it and hope for the best. Anyway, the M25 put paid to any thoughts of glory as I got held up for more than long enough that when I arrived at the site it was already fully light with several people there. The area where the shrike was yesterday is a good walk down the muddy path onto the moor, and as I made my way on the final 100 yards I was greeted by Franko Mareovic and David Lindo coming the other way proclaiming the bird to have gone - "thrash the bushes if you like but I'm afraid it has gone" Undeterred, I decided to have a good look around anyway and dip properly. However, within two minutes a shout went up and we were all grilling a very dense hawthorn. I've seen a few shrikes over the years - not one has been buried deep in a bush. This one spent more time hidden in dense shrubbery than a Gropper. But before long, Brown Shrike was well and truly ticked. Over the couple of hours that I was there though I got lots of extremely good views of it openly perched, in flight and flitting to the ground. We kept a distance to avoid disturbance, superb scope views but way too far for me to video or use the DSLR. There are lots of really good photos of it on the tinterweb, so here's a really crap one I took using hand-held happy snappy against the scope. You can just about see that it is a hawthorn The Madding Crowd To be fair to all, the modest crowd was very well behaved and it was almost civil - maybe mid-week twitching is the answer to everything I usually hate about it these days. I've not been to Staines Moor before - actually a really good looking site. You could easily forget that you are within spitting distance of Heathrow (if you were deaf!). Whilst there I also saw Little Egret, a few flyover Ring-necked Parakeets, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and thought I heard Dartford Warbler but didn't see it. Shame it was such a claggy morning. In a Llama inspired moment, I penned this ditty to the Katy Perry lesbo-anthem tune 'I Kissed A Girl' Mega alert Monday pm Too late to mention Next day I'm stuffed but made my plan Checked my directions Its down the, M1 then Round the M25 By Heathrow, and the Colne I'm off before light I twitched a Shrike in a small bush It was Lanius cristatus I twitched a Shrike and with no fuss To go with my other rare stuff Its wings were short Its tail was brown It had a very plain crown I twitched a Shrike and I ticked it I ticked it! Franko Mareovic was there With David Lindo Their face was one a sheer despair Thought it had fucked off Then someone, shouted that It was in the hawthorn here I saw a, movement and The bird was rare I twitched a Shrike in a small bush It was Lanius cristatus I twitched a Shrike and with no fuss to go with my other rare stuff The light was crap But I saw its cap And its white supercillium I twitched a Shrike and I ticked it I ticked it! Rare birds they are so magical Us blokes we tick them in a book We keep a list and have a look Addictive, behaviour Innate male hunter-gathering? I twitched a Shrike in a small bush It was Lanius cristatus I twitched a Shrike and with no fuss To go with my other rare stuff The bush was thick But I got my tick When I saw primary projection I twitched a Shrike and I ticked it I ticked it!

399 Not Out

Just a quick note from Staines McDonald's, whilst I abuse their facilities, hog a car parking space and hitch onto their free Wi-Fi whilst eating my pack-up. Brown Shrike - OMFL! Of course I'll upload something more detailed later on, with appaling photos.

Jubilee Park 12/10/2009

Dropped into Jubilee Park on the way home from work (17:00 - 18:00) to have look if anything on the pool. There was, but nothing exciting. A pair of Shoveler on the pool was unexpected, 10 Wigeon and 17 Lapwing were nice, whereas a few Coots, Mallards and 300 Canada Geese weren't. A smart Grey Wagtail flitted past along the River Soar, a small flock of Goldfinches tinkled over, and a spanking male Sparrowhawk had to work to evade a belligerent Crow. The Jackdaw roost was again evident, conservative estimate of 120 birds before I left (impossible to count as they kept having a mass fly around every few minutes whilst more were arriving). There was precisely zero Blackpoll Siskins Warblers and Brown Shrikes.

Chat, Grebe, Pest, Merveille

I had intended to get up and out early this morning and have a mooch around parts of the Soar Valley South patch, however when the alarm went off I found I couldn't be arsed as I felt knackered. I was less than impressed when an hour later I was woken by the phone calling me into work to manage a crisis. Work issues dealt with, I dropped into Grove Park on the way home with every intention of finding a decent chat. I had Black Redstart in mind (site is 100% perfect for this species) but had to make do with a Wheatear instead - still nice.


Though a bit too far away for my poxy lens.

A Red-legged Partridge ran down the main road (these are patently the most stupid species in Britain), and a column of 5 Common Buzzards wheeled overhead, but otherwise it was quiet. not even anything notable on the balancing pool.

On the other side of the road to the Wheatear, it was most disappointing to see that work had actually progressed on the main waste ground which undoubtedly ends future breeding of Little Ringed Plover in the area.


LRP ex-breeding site

I also had a quick look around Jubilee Park on the way home. Again very quiet but I was surprised to find a Little Grebe on the pool. Otherwise a couple of Wigeon, Tufted and Mallard on there.

I then had to be at home to help get it sorted for Isabelle - she's having a few friends over for a sleepover. This means my whole evening will be spent banished upstairs with the boys and Nichola whilst a gaggle of young teenagers take over the kitchen, TV, games consoles and wi-fi. What a facking liberty!

I noticed whilst pretending to hoover that there were a lot of ladybirds congregating on the south-facing windows. Investigation confirmed my suspicions - lots of Harlequins looking for roosting sites. There was c30 all over the rear windows/door at any one time - at least double that and possibly more involved. Their activity only during spells of very bright sunshine - whenever it clouded over they stopped appearing.


Spotty pest


Blotchy pest

I also managed to have a proper go at the Merveille du Jour




Merveille Camo