Hypocritical blog hater

Fen Drayton

2011-12-19T04:17:00.001-08:00

Took a visit to the boro at the weekend to meet a few friends, en route stopped at Fen Drayton. I visited this site years ago, but unfortuantely was uk bird unaware, such a waste as I used to live a mile away from the site. My new love - the scope, accompanied me this time and I saw a male bull finch, plenty of redwing, shoveler, gadwall and tufted ducks, this scoping business has added so much to the birding experience. This morning I have been testing digscoping with a Fujitsu WP and seem to have perfected the art of vignetting every shot.

Pidgerooo

2011-12-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

More on this little one later, he was rescued by my housemate and I late one night near london bridge back in September. Will provide details in coming week or so. Hoping he is doing well in this cold weather. He was the best pigeon.

The best birthday gift

2011-12-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

I have had the best ever birthday present today (2 days early but n'er mind) my very first scope! It is an opticron classic a 94 model I think it is awesome. It was tested at Wakering stairs, I was further gifted with the site of a short eared owl (no pics unfortunately) , it has increased the enjoyment of birding 10 fold, no longer having to muddle with crappy blurry bins!

Furthermore, it has also given me a birder status amongst the twitchers out there, birding wives still not as friendly, but having my accessory deems me suitable to talk to now by birding husbands, I'll be part of the gang one day, once i cut my hair short maybe.

January 2011 PE3 waxwings

2011-11-06T04:39:00.000-08:00

Having never ever seen a waxwing, Christmas 2010 and January 2011 treated me to large flocks in my home town and in Peterborough, the latter took residence in the tree in my back garden, I practically wet myself when I came home from work one lunch to a chorus of 'trilling' , I took about a thousand pictures, they hung around for about 2 weeks, I felt incredibly privileged. Hoping they fly by south east London this year.

My Kent visit obviously has not materialised, largely due to an escaped cat, may pop over to the rye or Dulwich woods this afternoon instead.

Formentera and Sardinian Warbler

2011-11-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

Ibiza Las Salinas - Black winged stilts

2011-11-05T05:17:00.001-07:00

Despite the salt flats being a top cruising zone in Ibiza, it is a wonderful nature reserve, the flamingos had long gone, but I saw a few firsts; black winged stilts, a sardinian warbler, and a kentish plover (snowy plover).

Andouin's gull

2011-11-05T04:20:00.001-07:00

A mild November morn

2011-11-05T03:45:00.000-07:00

It's an incredibly mild November the 5th, and I am enjoying a very leisurely morning with the cats, watching the bird fights on the playhouse in the garden. The most exciting was the ring necked parakeet vs magpie, the most irritating robin vs anything that moves. The psycho robin is taking his guarding duties a little too far. He single handedly ambushes the great tit and blue tit gatherings on my shed seeing 3 birds off at a time, not even the squirrels dare to go near with his high dive swooping attacks.

Unfortunately I have not managed to get any birding trips in of late, though my plan is to head to kent tomorrow, for now I have found some photos from earlier this year, one of my favourite moments was some time spend with an obliging model in the form of an Andouin Gull in Ibiza.

Bee study at Chartwell

2011-10-09T03:02:00.001-07:00

Summer studies Kent and Dulwich

2011-10-09T02:45:00.000-07:00

Most weekends of late have been spent moving and collecting furniture for the new place, if the weather was due to be hot and sunny it would be guaranteed that I would be in a battered streetvan, though enjoy the instant respect/fear from other drivers. As a result I have not been out and about in nature as much as I would like, though am blessed with a garden full of squirrels and various garden birds, nothing too exciting to report, a couple of inquisitive gold crests frequent the place, and there is also a regular visit from a highly strung robin, one of the most aggressive I have ever seen.

In the middle of August there was a visit to churchills gaff in Westerham in Kent, birdlife was a little disappointing despite the beautiful grounds and food on offer. Next trip will be to rainham marshes.

Chartwell House

SE22 and the rye

2011-08-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

I am not ill, but slightly hungover, which is why I find myself stuck on this sofa watching Wales beat England, again, and also needing to settle the discussion about the moth-butterfly population we have near our house, there is this particular moth/butterfly that spends it's evenings in our garden, and sees us out the door on the way to work in the morning, it settles on leaves with wings closed and when flies looks a little like a red admiral. I think it is a moth, a jersey tiger moth, but would like this confirmed. The pictures I have are pretty poor, but will do.

Peckham Rye is my favourite place at the minute, most evenings have managed to have a stroll around hoping not to have my camera snatched, fortunately staring up at the skies and into the trees seems to confuse many a dog walker/lone hoody walker, so I just look like a nut, and this seems to keep them at bay. So far I have noted there are great green finch, gold finch populations, and of course far too many parakeets. My quality of pictures so far is very poor, I have got very out of practice. Hoping to head to Essex tomorrow to the coast to re-train myself in basic photo taking.

Here are a few parting shots from the boro too, some fledgy birds.

The Peckham Rye Set

Ibeefa burds

2011-07-29T14:21:00.001-07:00

It has been an eventful year thus far, and this rare report, as per, comes from a bed ridden cold fest. Yes I am ill once again, given that I generally only ever update this blog when unwell means my immune system must be improving.

I am also no longer a fenland birder (which is a shame as Norfolk and Cambs were excellent, and will miss dearly), but an urban birder. Relocating to London, south of the river, thus far has been uneventful, bar the agro screeches of the local parakeet population, and a rather bolshy wren in the back garden defending his land. I have plans to make a visit to rainham marshes, and perhaps venture a little further down south. For the time being festivals and drinking have got in the way.

A month or so ago, had a short break in Ibiza, and managed to stumble across a lovely reserve at the salt flats, it doubles as a cruising area which only added to the excitement, sort of, well as exciting as it can be when the cruising locals are wary that a 30 something woman is creeping around with bins and a zoom lens camera.

It has come to my attention that I have not yet uploaded the slightly better pics from my d80, and instead only have a few shots from a compact, they will do for now. The gull was none to impressed with sharing the rock. Will find the pics and upload on my next stint of illness.

Brasil first, costa rica to follow..

2011-01-06T14:41:00.001-08:00

Finally I find myself with a little spare time to update the blog with my 2010 birding opportunities in Brazil, unfortunately they were a little limited, but amazing none the less. We spent a few days in the pantanal wading through waters and drinking cachaca. Seeing a jabiru stork was a highlight, and seeing some capybaras whilst travelling to the pantanal, though didn't manage to get any shots of these. I Didn't see as many birds as I would have liked to, but time was limited, must return to the pantanal some time.
I am also in the process of id'ing a few of these, will name up what I remember.

Here are some of the Jabiru stork and the cocoi heron and later the toco toucan (i think it is anyway, prob wrong as usual and its actually a plastic bag on a stick)

Some cute young hyacinth macaws

Here we have a social fly catcher these get around everywhere, and this wader thing a spotted sandpiper maybe?

Here we have a yellow beaked cardinal, a scruffy cute looking thing, amazonian kingfisher, still yet to get a decent pic of one of these, i think the bird in flight is a great egret, though may be one of those snowy numbers, assistance on others please?

Sadly last few, I have a few more photos but quality far worse that what is up here already, imagine! This my most favourite heron, the capped heron, beautiful bird, and not like the mostly rude ones over here that don't oblige to a pap session.

Goosander that likes to mix it in Stockholm

2011-01-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

Boxing day inpromptu birding

2011-01-02T04:12:00.001-08:00

Finally, my very first waxwings sightings.. we had to park at a roundabout to get these in quickly, luckily no porkies around to ruin everything, and we caused no harm, bar to the hardcore birder with a telescope lens who looked most unimpressed when us dudes turned up in our sunday finery.
On the 27th popped to Wakering stairs - MOD territory and were fortunate to see large numbers of fieldfare, redwing, the hen harrier bothering the bird population, red shank, plover, dunlin and some others we were unable to identify, also I finally got some ok shots of a lapwing.

Rosie, this is your fault

2010-09-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

I should be working on a a business venture right now, I am in charge of sorting the webby rubbish, but instead have been reminded to upload some bird pics from a recent trip the the broads, to be fair, i didn't really see all that much, but finally got a pic of a heron, hoorah! I also seem to be suffering with the yearly october illness, so bed bound blog updating fits the bill(get it) nicely, im hoping this time it doesn't transform into the month long bird/swine/rat business like last year.

Argh Nigella Lawson is on, i do want to stab her eyes out with a spoonbill beak, but its compulsive watching her irritatingness. Right, i shall put some pics up and stop rambling on (I have had caffeine) what the fuck is a moderate oven?! urgh!

Welsh Pigs

2010-09-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Shamefully I have not got all that much birding under my belt this year, despite a trip to the Pantanal in Brazil, my birding activity was limited due to a hastily chosen guide. I also still have not put up the pics from the amazing Costa Rica last year, though this is more to do with a few technological failures, and lacking in enthusiasm of further fixing computers when at home. All in all very poor, and I am thoroughly disappointed in myself. Let us not even discuss the meeting of Welsh Pigs who soured my weekend trip to a lovely reserve in Prestatyn

I am still mourning the loss of the loaned scope.. and having to face using some very poor bins to aid my dreadful spotting ability, I think I have possibly got worse so am well in the 'dude' category again.

Please find below a few pics from the New Forest, and Prestatyn

I'm not one to exaggerate

2009-10-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have been bed bound of late with a rather frustrating respiratory disease, some like to call it swine flu, but its title does not retain any glamour, besides my illness is more akin to pneuomia or pleurisy, well the symptoms match that too you know, but I think these are more favourable to the ear.

Anyway, I am slowly recovering and thought would try make use of this bed bound time, in between the fits (coughing that is,nothing wrong with a little drama to amuse myself) and get some costa rica pics up, which i have managed to mislay, which compounds my overall frustration levels and probably will send me into further depths of botulism. Probably.

I shall go in search of these pics, and hopefully upload later

Slight delay in getting the fledgers out

2009-06-23T16:23:00.001-07:00

I'm afraid I have been rather preoccupied of late, so have not been able to update this as promised, Costa Rica pics still on the way, for now, I'm going to chuck a few up from some recent photo taking, plenty of fledglings, mostly wrens, how exciting..and some other pretty poor quality shots, like to be consistent... the only time I almost wet myself with excitement was seeing some cranes having a bit of a shout over at the nene washes..pics to follow..

Another East Beach weekend

2009-03-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

The last 2 weekends were spent in Shoebury, visits made again to the beach, first week tide was high, the next week was able to take a long walk out on the mud alongside the WW2 boom.

Picture posting deluge

2009-02-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

Snow Cats

Snow pig/dog

Snow Animals

Snow Ducks

The Snow Cats

Arctic East Beach

2009-02-05T02:07:00.000-08:00

At the weekend my Padre and I headed down to our local beaches to catch some wildlife before the tide came in, at times the wind chill factor was unbearable we specualted -20 c when the wind caught up, we went to a spot where the borders of the local MOD - where they bomb test, initially paranoid we were being taped as there was an old boy in a watch tower apparently watching us via a video recorder. It transpired he was actually a coast watcher (life guards have a strong dislike for them, as they frequently mistake driftwood for swimmers, easily done through those halfmoons) . We met some very friendly turnstone, sanderlings and momentarily an oyster catcher. I most probably illegally took a few pics of these (they were on MOD territory).

East Beach - Snow falling in Southend

Sanderling

Red Shank

Oyster Catcher

Turnstones

Distant Cormorants or possibly Shags

Gulls

Thorpe Bay beach

Family Beach hut

Flooding of the Ouse washes

2009-02-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

First trip with long term loan scope (thank you so much) was to the Ouse washes, which I have not visited before. As it would be it was a bit of a washout.. all the swans and ducks had relocated, fortunately I saw a large group of Bewicks and Whoopers having a bit of a social in a field en route to Manea. Pictures are very ropey, as ever, I still have a little too much to learn about my camera, though I'm convinced there is a fault with it. It still has exposure issues.

Pochards,yellow hammer,reed bunting,greater spotted woodpecker, stonechat, green finch, blue,great and long tailed tits, gold finch, tree sparrows, stock doves, and a few others joined me on my cold morning walk.

Don't look now if offended

2009-02-04T10:47:00.000-08:00

Macaques of Kuala Lumpur

2009-02-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Creatures of the lodge

2009-02-01T00:03:00.001-08:00

Tiger Leech

Slow Loris

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Oriental pied hornbill

Olive Backed Sunbird

Swallows from Kent on Kinatabang (possibly)

2009-01-31T09:50:00.000-08:00

Posing swallows - poor exposure, nevermind

Blue-Eared Kingfisher

Oriental Darter

Storm's Stork

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Spa treatment

More Kinabatang

2009-01-21T10:13:00.001-08:00

Cruising along Kinabatang

2009-01-18T05:03:00.000-08:00

Staying in Bilit on the Kinabatang river was one of the highlights, spent two days there, mostly spent cruising up and down the river and doing jungle treks, where I was eaten by tiger leeches, lovely. This is where the majority of the 'wild' wildlife was seen...
Pictures are not as good as I would like, shaky hand, poor light, and no scope - all valid excuses. Oh and no I will not crop the images (one of my 'fans' ;) has complained - its just not going to happen, I value my life away from the computer screen- ah shit, I've gone and broken another birding code)

Here is 'the gang' complete with leech socks -ineffective for some

Stork Billed Kingfisher

Purple Heron

Female Proboscis Monkey

Male Proboscis Monkey

Ashy Tailorbird

Mount Kinabalu - Birding abandoned

2009-01-17T08:51:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately my trip to Borneo was not a dedicated bird watching affair (my bird identifying skills were limited to naming birds by colour, poor preparation to blame), only 10 days spent to travel around Sabah, I would have loved to have spent a week in Kinabalu Park, as no birding was possible as climbing mount kinabalu was the main objective. Instead of having a wonderful two days of casually observing the wildlife, two days were spent eyes firmly on the floor watching my every step as we ascended 'the mountain that everyone can climb' - yeah right..

We missed out on seeing ol Rafflesia, but saw some pitcher plants and Rhododendrons, I have a few poor pictures, actually the majority of the photography was pretty poor, with a few exceptions, I really need to invest in a anti-vibration lens.

What lacked in birding however was made up in primate watching; Long tail Macaques, Silver leaf, and proboscis monkeys, Orangutans and Slow Loris all present, pictorial evidence of each too, though a little rough, these were all seen on a boat tour up the Kinabatang river.

To start a few sights from Kinabalu park:

Kinabalu Park

Blue and White Flycatcher

Pitcher plants - these provided a pleasant excuse for a rest from the relentless climbing our guide punished us with.

Little frog - ill find out what type one day

Look close and you will see a beautiful Rhododendron

Sabah Ranks

2009-01-15T03:45:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, I have returned to the glorious UK, after a month long tourist quest across Malaysia and Thailand. This in fact sounds far grander than it actually was, I only saw a small part of Borneo and was a complete tourist in Thailand, there were certainly no back to basics hard core dreaded hair tye dye wearing antics there.

We spent our time in Borneo in Sabah, birding opportunities were limited to a point, as venturing into the jungles was controlled, and largely touristy. A re-visit to the Danum Valley is a must as this is where some hard core birding/wildlife spotting can be enjoyed. However, monkeys, orangutans, horn bills were all ticked off, and will later grace this page with a million pictures( currently going through a filtering process and also trying to identify the birds that were seen). I did see more in Belize, as far as birds go, but I shall not grumble, it was an incredible trip, and have a few half decent photos, though in Kuala Lumpur cheated by going to a bird park, you'll never guess which pictures those are.

Birding codes in Norfolk

2008-11-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

There is a code of practice that birders should adhere to, it may not be a written constitution of sorts, but it exists and I am slowly learning the rights and wrongs in conducting oneself when delving into a spot of ornithology. I will eventually publish the code, but for the time being will simply diarise my new discoveries.

There are two items that were brought to light during my trip yesterday to Snettisham (awesome place) and Titchwell. The first item is you should leave social niceties in the car if you are a birding wife. Birding wives would not communicate or even look at me when passing them, birding husbands (who you will find a good few paces ahead of the birding wife) will at least nod or even utter a good afteroon/good morning. Upon my attempt to make eye contact, the trailing birding wife will pretend they are inspecting a speck of dust or adjusting their clothing in order to avoid any eye contact, unfortunately I experienced this on at least 4 occassions yesterday, and there was also a car parking incident with a 2 strong pensioner lady team who only had a lorries length to manoevre around my parked car, and administered hateful glares as I mouthed 'would you like to me to move for you?'

The second item has briefly been covered in a previous post, but I was a little more subtle, it needs to be adressed though. There is an unwritten rule that birders should be inherently challenged by beauty. Granted it simply enhances how beautiful the natural surroundings are, and trust, I am not suggesting that I am anything more than an eyesore in the community either, it's just I have wanted to refute the fact that birding is akin to trainspotting, but really, it is (people and manner). Trainspotting is most certainly plagued by a following of ugly guys, and it's just so very dull.. wildlife, birds, landscapes are not dull, but beautiful and vibrant, they are not inanimate and souless like trains, if only the birder population could aspire to be a little less trainspotty.

I'll stop now, its a good job no one reads this blog.

Right, first some shots from Snettisham, such a lovely spot..
As soon as I got out of my car I was greeted by my favourite birds, long tailed tits. They were kind enough to find the time to pose for me.

Below are a few shots taken on the way round to one of hides on lake.. pictures not brilliant, there are some wigeon, and i think turnstones, I'm really poor at identifying wetland birds..

Mud flats

This was my favourite moment of the day, and I feel slightly embarrased with how excited I got when stumbled upon this tiny thing! - a goldcrest, look closely for first pic, they're not great but I want to put all the shots I took up..(long tailed tits still cuter)

Still weird seeing egrets, it was only a bird I've ever seen in central america, but little egret was having a bit of a fish here, other pics are of this annoying bird that was far to nervous, blackbird sized, I have never seen one and do not know what it is, but will plough through the rspb site to find it

And finally, a gull and a few shots from tichtwell, finches and such aplenty, unfortunately I had a over exposure issue with camera, and the pics I took were awful, so just a couple here. Coal tit, and a sparrowy thing

Another poser

2008-11-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

A quick drive out to usual washes was pretty much fruitless, bar this cute little thing, I have no idea what it is and have no suitable bird book to identify.. rubbish. Right, maybe it is a female stonechat...?

Today..

2008-10-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

..Castor hanglands renewed my love for all surrounding Peterborough.. I needed some fresh air and 5 minutes up the road is some gorgeous ancient woodland, I met my flora and fauna 'expert' and we headed for a short work armed with our lacking knowledge of wildlife and photo making, we try put up a good case in feigning this knowledge - largely succesful at this to the unknowing passerby.

The sky is beautiful today, bad weather on its way so clash of fronts produced a lovely warm breezy atmospheric day, leaves high in the air, I'm surprised I didn't attempt identify them as birds, I must be improving..

We spent our time musing on how awareness of nature/life skills should be incorporated into the national curriculum, while trying to identify an oak leaf (highlight of how awful we are, we had trouble with this) we were accompanied by some long tailed tits, and then we found a concentration camp style watch tower where we stalked a muntjac, we then trespassed on private land and found some lovely black sheep.

Cley Marshes

2008-10-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure whether this is a wheatear or not, seemed much smaller than a whetear I saw at nene washes. Still havent got my closeup of a lapwing..but got my first blurry one of a nut hatch. Also a few pics from a recent trip to Burghley, there's a market for hair pieces for deer you know.

Seal in Nene washes, grebes onlooking

2008-10-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Swallows - my greedy eye

2008-10-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I have ruined what could have been perfectly good pics of swallows by continually using the digi focus on my camera to get a 'closer shot' which isnt strictly true as it just makes a blurry shot in reality, but here are a few anyway.

Exposure at centerparcs

2008-10-13T07:09:00.001-07:00

Several weeks back we enjoyed a chavvy family outing to center parcs, mother still I think is in denial beleiving center parcs to be for the upper middle classes, bless, it is in fact a little more than butlins in bognor, accommodating hens/stags. Still it was enjoyable and great for tit spotting, Blue, coal, great and long tailed ones all present. I have some appalling photos - due to not knowing how to work my new camera.

Allotments

2008-09-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first informal lesson in photography taking, this took place at an allotment... 13th Oct : since I wrote this first line my internet connection has been offline, so I have completely forgotten what I was going to write, so shall abandon whatever drivel I had intended to publish. In summary, I was taught mb 2 grand masters of photography - who I thought at one point intended to kill me at the allotment. I learnt a little about white balance, and composition, basically I learnt enough to start taking better exposed shots on the everso over exposing D80. I also learnt that I rather like allotments, and realised I was only there to assist them in tidying up the allotment, and to eat petals.

I have failed to post anything here in quite a few months, in that time I have had a few jaunts into the country side, one of which was in center parcs, which ended up being a huge tit exhibiton ; blue tits, coal tits, great tits and long tailed tits all seemed to join forces, however at this point I didn't quite realise how to use whitebalance so therefore my shots are rubbish. I shall however put a few embarssing shots up.

I also took a lone drive to the norfolk coast to Cley marshes with my huge lens on camera in tow, pretending I knew what I was doing, I didn't see anything of great excitement, Ill post a few shots none the less.

I also was fortunate enough to see a seal in the nene washes while photographing some grebes. During August I also did a little swallow study down at Nene washes, marvellous.

The weekend just past I photographed my first nuthatch, and got a little Deer action in as well.

Red shanks, snipes

2008-06-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Ooooh Maaaaaaaaaaan Sniper no sniping

2008-06-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

another day down the washes

2008-06-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

I long to get a decent pic of a lapwing, still unsuccessful so will continue with these blurry numbers.. are the bottom pics of a wheatear, i was wondering about it being a shrike??? Other pic is of a reed bunting

Guerrero Negro

2008-05-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

In this selection we have a curlew, some pelicans, my first ever sight of a frigate, and some lazy seals

Osprey action

2008-05-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

More ropey pics of wildlife - Mexico 06 archives

2008-05-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

I started this blog last year in an attempt to release me from my apathetic ways, it would appear it has finally worked, I started with posting few pics from my trip to baja in 2006 .. and since I am in the uploading photos frame of mind may as well finish posting them..... some of the best I took (yes all 3 of them) have already been posted - have to go back to 2007 blog archive to see them...

Many of these pics are taken in Guerrero Negro where there was little else but a nature reserve and salt mines, and of course a few visiting whales, there was also an earthquake while we were staying there, but sol helped us avoid it.

Garden wildlife (very exciting)

2008-05-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

These pics are as a result of my finding a closeup macro feature on my otherwise rubbish digi camera..

Naaaa they're not arctics...

2008-05-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Arctic terns from FM from approx a month ago...(not a very common sighting, usually found on coast oop north) followed by some more staaaandard bird shots.

Look a heron!... no, no its a swan

2008-05-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

These pics are from a very pleasant day spent in little paxton with my fellow useless birder Mel.. actually she's worse than me.. but makes up for this with her knowledge of flowers. She also dresses inappropriately.
Unfortuntely I forgot bins, so missed out on a lot...

First objective was to make friends with a damselfly, I made friends witha green one, he liked me, we spent a charming afternoon together...He was a smiley little thing

Now for some flowers...

Peacock Butterfly

In this selection a Dunnock, Coot with young, and Canadian Geese with young, Im not sure what the other is, a nightingale?!!

I shouldn't be a wannabe birder

2008-05-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

I'm distressed at the amount of birding terminology I am learning of late, and I'm not talking helpful terms, I'm talking derogatory jargon.- I have come to realise I am whats known as a 'Dude' or 'not even quite a dude' Im not good enough for that yet. A dude is like a Civvie. - I have a feeling though this dude business is a weedonian term.
Birders , I have met thus far appear to be quite catty, and guarded of their spots...there's a great deal of rivalry anad competetiveness. Although highly amusing to me... its a little sad.

Im thinking maybe the world of birding isn't for me.

I also don't adhere to Birding standards, occasionally I'll wear the ol' german army shirt.. that's as camo as it gets, otherwise will wear inappropriate hipster jeans, with some sort of vest, on occasion have worn a casual dress (deifinite no no ).
Some birders do seem to funk it up with some army surplus, but those I was surrounded by at little paxton a couple of weeks ago, were mostly wearing khaki multi pocketted high waisted affairs, with either t-shirts coloured green/gray/blue, (or pastel for the ladies) (though whether some of these were ladies was debatable, some had full grown beards) and to finish off a floppy hat is an absolute must.

Anyway... for now I shall continue to post pics I have taken in the last month, all on the whole of very poor quality, there is one which is probably the best pic I have ever taken of a bird. How exciting.

To start some nice common garden birds

Green Finch and a tit.

Delayed Belize and Guatemala wildlife..Part 5

2008-05-24T12:26:00.001-07:00

Delayed Belize and Guatemala wildlife..Part 4

2008-04-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of my trip was the guided bird walk, so much better when you are with people who know what they are talking about, and alos being able to walk around with a pair of bins and camera looking like a complete goon (this word shoud be re-introduced) Again most pics are blurry, and possibly patchy naming..

An American redstart

Next the Black headed Trogon

Delayed Belize and Guatemala wildlife... 3rd Installment

2008-04-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Apparently we saw loads of social fly catchers, but I can't work out whether they were Great Kiskadees or not.. anyway here they are your guess is as good as...

social?

and these I beleive are of a great kiskadee...

Delayed Belize and Guatemala wildlife... 2nd Installment

2008-04-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today I had further feelings of inadequacies (only of course when I pretend to know what Im talking about with relation to wildlife, never in any other area of life naturally) all brought on by meeting a chap today down in FM, who was jumping on the spot the Arctic Tern bandwagon one one of the lakes, we got talking about birding in Belize and Brazil, and he asked me how many species I saw and what exactly, now the week I was there I saw prob 75+ species I could remember a large number, today I managed to name about 5, pathetic! and I mumbled some escuse of how it was so long ago...I didn't impress.. anyway this has spurned me on to get some more shit pics up and I can start remembering what I saw...

My first experience of Belize was somewhat windswept in that all the flights in the horrendous 12 seater planes were cancelled for the best part of the day, when we finally got out in the far more acceptable force 8 winds, we found ourselves in caye ambergris, and we signed up for whatever wildlife tours we could, the first was to see the Manatees..

Manatee ranger station - to make sure boats shut off their engines so manatees are not injured etc..

Gull

Shadow of manatee approaching surface

This is as good as it gets

More Frigate:

This is where I start to get really obsessed, up til this point I was a pleasant normal travel companion... on walking on the viewing decks in the middle of the Belize mountains I developed OCD - in relation to picturing everything that moved, I even have footage of water sprinklers I thought were Orioles... I was really annoying...

Anyway, to set the scene and first intro to birds of the mountains we have a great blue heron and a I think a Great Egret, though the adjacent field had loads of cattle egret in, can't tell with the pic.. hyelp..

I think this is some kind of warbler?!!

This is a terrible pic, but a big deal to me, my first ever Kingfisher (saw 3 different types American Pygmy, ringed and amazon)

and another

These pics were all taking while kayaking down the river
this is a wood rail and I cant remember the full name..rufous necked wood rail!?

and to finish this is an agouti!

Iguanas - some of these are a bit wheres wally

2008-04-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

Again further blurry rubbish pics.. this is of a green Iguana (i think it is anyway) (yes its orange) and was taken whilst kayaking down a river in the Belize Mountains.. more to follow

This Iguana - not the best pic, was photographed in the Tulum ruins

Black Iguna below, and another Green iguana

Delayed Belize and Guatemala wildlife... 1st Installment

2008-04-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

During December and January I popped over to central america where, to the irritation of my travel companion got far too into wildlife, taking photos (bad photos) of every bird, butterfly, plant... it was obsessive, but I love it, especially learning what I was photographing, then forgetting within a week... anyway... most pics were taken in the Belize Mountains..

Start with the Frigate..this was taken on the yucatan peninsula

Again get used to the bad quality pics... gull/tern?!! (im rubbish)

Crowd pleasers - Collared Aracari

East Beach 07 mud and seaweeds

2008-04-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

A 2 minute cyle from my home in Essex there is a shingled beach, I was having a day of introspection! and pedalled my way down with my camera to capitalise on my strange mood... i yet again photgraphed birds that I on the whole thought were your staaaaaaaandar sea gull, but accidentally found a mediterranean gull... excuse poor quality pic..

Here are some lovely/glorious! seaweeds

Mud, ships, gulls,ww2 harbour,kite surfers

Bastard virus posters

2008-04-08T06:26:00.001-07:00

I have just got very excited at the prospect of someone commenting on one of my lovely pictures, to my dismay the link led me to some of the most disgusting, lewd, dispicable sites I have ever seen. This is a warning to you all, everyone. Dont read your comments, they are bound to be riddled with filth.

Donkey

2008-04-07T17:01:00.001-07:00

Lots of birds

2008-04-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

making awesome noise as pass by, they were clearly competeing in some sort of competiton making various shapes in the sky, I was impressed. Any thoughts on what these are are most welcome, otherwise ill just call them ducks.
--- MW has kindly informed me that these arty fliers are Godwits, though Im sure there is a lapwing in there trying to steal the glory..

more swans

2008-04-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

2008-04-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Goldfinches

2008-04-07T16:50:00.001-07:00

Fenland swans and the like

2008-04-07T16:43:00.001-07:00

Embarked on a lovely walk in the strangely atmospheric Fens (always hated them) but scenery was beautiful, and the gold finches were out in numbers... I couldnt identify many of the flying things I saw on this day as I am rather rubbish at birding

Friendly robin

2008-04-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

Eastham tits

2008-04-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

The great tit to be precise, these were taken after a little roadtrip up to a place i used to cycle and when i was more igorant of my surroundings. Great birding in a country park which used to be a Victorian 'alton towers' though instead of roller coasters, bear fighting rings and stocks were the entertainment pieces.

Delectable tulips and daffs

2008-04-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

Some inspired night time photography with various exotic garden flowers

Barn owl catching its dinner . CRUEL!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Kite, the northside buzzard? pigeon?? black headed gull...?

2008-04-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

This is, according to MW is a Marsh Harrier , thanking you kindly for your time to check...

The elusive Barn Owl

2008-04-07T16:18:00.002-07:00

(well not that elusive, there were loads of them, just not keen models, unlike the great kiskadee what a flooze)

oh the drama

2008-04-07T16:18:00.001-07:00

2008-04-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

Always time for a chaffinch

2008-04-07T16:10:00.001-07:00

Male chaffinch, out in the fens, he was a little chilly, next I disturbed a Partridge:

Show and tell

2008-04-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

The Nature of Closet Birding:

Of late I have found it necessary to out myself as a nature lover, particularly as a result of a very convincing dream of late featuring the wildlife loving 'hothie' Nick Baker. Anyway... the following photos are for my beloved collegues, one of which is trying to refuse to beleive my out of hours passion.. Please beware some images may offend... some images may be seen as animal cruelty. I love swans, really.

To start a lovely little pic of a trotting pheasant... lovely

The tallest type of cactus in the world

2007-04-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Pachycereus pringlei is its name, though my photographer for this shot - Miss Woolley, managed to cut the top of the cactus, I guess this technique can only add to the mystery of how tall it actually is...

Baja roadtrip - Catavina Boulder field

2007-04-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Catavina boulderfield in central Baja is an awesome sight, barely populated, though seems to be a popular location for budding Banksy artists as most of the boulders are graffitied, or boulders are dedicated to lost mexican family members. If you are lucky whilst having a toilet stop and trying to find a suitable cactus to releive yourself behind you may even stumble across a shrouded tomb...

2007-04-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Baja roadtrip - Engelmannii Prickly Pears

2007-04-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

I beleive these are Engelmannii Prickly Pears, the photos posted here are when I was first excited about seeing the Baja desert and its varied!cacti landscape...

Baja has 75 cactus species roughtly 50 of these endemics.

The Drivel begins...

2007-04-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

I used to be a blogger, essentially a paper based blogger, although I did dabble a few years back when I was teaching myself web skills before blog sites were free and available. I'd make my own sites and publish my own drivel in some hidden secret corner of the page in amongst all my - what I beleived was - Flash artistry which all really just translated as a cry for help, as my sites were a little disturbing. ( though this was mainly due to my all night creative sessions being fuelled by red bull, decequaine, and supernoodles)

I think I prefer being a paper based blogger though I need some sort of stimulus to do so, and at present I am virtually passionless, and in search of something new to 'float my boat' . In creating this blog I am hoping to collate all my interests and almost passions and maybe seeing them on the screen before me will suddenly jumpstart my motivation again...

*Also I would like to compete with Weedons World of Nature,... Im determined publishing my uninformed birding and photography abilities will put Weedons site into the shadows..