Friday 8 June 2012

3 New Ones And Yet Another Garden Surprise!

4/6/12
It was a short trip to Reculver due to the northern wind in the hope of blowing in some birds towards the beach.

Before we even got out the house we had a surprise in the garden. I went up to my room to get my stuff ready for going out and I done my usual check of the feeders in the garden from my window and to my surprise their was a Siskin there! This was my first ever in the garden and my Dad's first one all together this year (I had already seen one by my school) I took a couple of pictures until it flew off.


The picture isn't brilliant because it was shot through the kitchen window but it is a picture of the bird none the less.

After the Siskin flew off we set off for Reculver. The plan was going to Chamber's Wall up to Coldharbour with a bit of sea watching and back again.

We parked by the gate and walked up from there, not much in between the gate and the first set of bushes, there was a Moorhen in the ditch by the gate and after that there was Reed Warbler, Swallow, Wood Pigeon, Crow, House Sparrow, Skylark and a Reed Bunting. From the start of the bushes to the train track there was a pair of Chaffinches, Whitethroat, Great Tit, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Mute Swan, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Little Egret, Dunnock and Magpie. At the train track we could hear Lesser Whitethroat so we stuck around and then it flew across the line to the bushes on the far side, this was a new one for the year for the both of us!

We then walked up to Coldharbour seeing Cormorant, Swift, Shoveler, Mallard, Herring Gull and a Coot. Whilst at Coldharbour we done a bit of sea watching which produced Oystercatchers, Sandwich Terns (new one for the year for me), Great Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, 10 Common Scoter, Gannet (both new ones for me), Tufted Duck, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Eider and Redshank. On the way back we managed to see 2 Yellow Wagtails as well.

Chaffinch (one of the pair)

Reed Bunting

Eider (record shot but its my first shot of this bird)


When we got back home we was ordered out to the back garden to mow the lawn by the boss lady (as the Gambians say). While Dad was cutting the grass I was filling up the feeders and to my surprise the Siskin landed in the tree wanting to come down to eat. So as soon as Dad had finished I went and grabbed my tripod and put my camera on it, then put it up a couple of yards away from the feeder and I stood there until it came down. When it did eventually come down I stupidly moved my hand too quickly and flew back up into the tree, so I learned my lesson, when it's up in the tree have both hands on the camera! It then flew down to the feeder and I got some wonderful shots of it. It was a fidgety bird so I needed a fast enough shutter speed to capture it which meant a high ISO which meant picture quality lacked a little but I'm pleased with how they came out. It had several visits while I was there but I was so caught up in the moment I never thought of putting out a more natural looking perch and I did eventually. It came back into the tree twice and both times it was frightened off by a Sparrow before it came down to the feeder! Gutted! On the plus side though a baby Goldfinch tested out the new perch and I got a shot of that. I also added to my garden list/1 mile radius list whilst out there with Mallard (Garden), House Martin (both), Lesser Black Backed Gull (Garden).

Siskin

Siskin

Baby Golfinch testing my new perch out

On the whole a good days birding, three new ones for my year list, two for Dad and 4 new ones for my garden list!

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