Catch Up

Out of action for a few weeks I am only now beginning to catch up. Here’s a few pictures from Greece where we enjoyed probably our best ever holiday on the fantastic island of Skiathos despite the weather of 14/14 days of sunshine and very few birds. The island of Skiathos is simply not on a major migration route whereby it attracts a small number of waifs and strays and has a limited range of breeding species.

Click the pics for the best experience. 

For me after so many visits came the infrequent experience of a tick on the Skiathos list - 2 Cattle Egret sharing the tideline with hundreds of Yellow-legged Gulls, the egrets caught against the bright blue sky and the blue/green water. 

Cattle Egret

Yellow-legged Gulls

It’s always good to see the last of the Eleonora's Falcons before they head off to Africa in pursuit of the hirundines that make up some of their diet. Red-rumped Swallows put in an appearance, as did common Barn Swallows but neither of them in big numbers. 

Eleonora's Falcon

As usual Hoopoes, Spotted Flycatchers, Whinchats, Yellow Wagtails, Chiffchaffs and Red-backed Shrikes proved fairly numerous although both Scops Owl and Little Owl were usually heard and not seen. 

Little Owl

Red-backed Shrike

Yellow Wagtail

Whinchat

 

Seeing few birds is not a problem when we go back to our beloved island time after time. We have both May 2025 and September 2025 booked in the diary to revisit favourite birding spots, places to eat, relax and to say “Kalimera” to our lovely Greek hosts. 

Akrogiali - authentic taverna -The best Sea Bass in all of Skiathos 

Mari and Christos - Foodie Cafe - The best coffee in all of Skiathos

Our special friends Litsa and beautiful daughter Sofia.

Dad Makis

View to Skiathos Town

Most photographed in Skiathos Town

Fast Ferry

Slow Boat

Early clouds, stunning light Skiathos Town

Mylos Taverna

Aselinos 

Donkeys at Aselinos

Mylos with a telephoto

Plane spotters

Aselinos beach

Back home there would no ringing when sidekicks Andy and Will were indisposed with hospital and looking after elderly parents respectively. My own mobility issues limited outings to forays with a camera, so no birds in the hand, just birds in the frame. 

Is there anything more uplifting than a watching and listening to flocks of Lapwings tumbling across an autumn sky? I found a flock of 400+ feeding in a field of recently cut maize where rains had puddled the ground. Just perfect conditions for Lapwings that like to eat insects, worms and spiders, but also small amounts of seeds and grains, easily found following a maize harvest. 

Lapwings

Lapwings

 

Late September and early October saw a movement of both Reed Buntings and finches, they too found something to eat amongst the maize stubble. Best counts were of 160 Linnets, 15/20 Reed Buntings, 40+ Greenfinch, 8/10 Goldfinches and small numbers of Skylarks. Pretty quickly the farmer ploughed and drilled the field and the birds moved on to find new sources of food. It was good while it lasted. 

Upon playing close attention to the many Linnets I managed to single out a few likely looking “Scottish” types especially during one morning when the first Scottish snows and frosts were predicted. Scottish types are noticeably dark on the crown, ear coverts, nape and underparts than their more southerly counterparts but close views or in the hand is the best way of seeing these distinctions. 

"Scottish" Linnet

 

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Goldfinch

Linnets

Meadow Pipit

Greenfinch

Greenfinch

Greenfinches can be a feature of September and October mornings, some mornings none and then one morning when they seemed to fall from the sky and eager to mop up seed placed on photography fence posts.  Our Greenfinches don't travel far during the autumn and winter as ringing recoveries point to their moving up and down the west coast according to food availability and weather conditions. However it is good to see a revival in the fortunes of this often overlooked and/or ignored species.

And of course “mipits” will be around on most morning to happily pose for a picture and can hang around most of the day if there is food available. 

Meadow Pipit

 

Thanks for looking folks. Back soon with more views, news, pics and  more catch ups.

Shopping Or Birding?

Sue took the 5C bus to go shopping. I grabbed the car and went birding. Read on to discover who got the best deal. 

The 0630 start saw me driving along a bumpy farm track at an easy going 10mph where I met up with Andy for our planned ringing session. Zero wind and a slightly misty start suggested sun, warmth and clear skies ahead. 

Birds were on the move from the off with Meadow Pipits in abundance and one or two fellow travellers. Out of the first net round we picked 3 Meadow Pipits, a Sedge Warbler and a Reed Bunting 

Sedge Warbler

Meadow Pipit

Reed Bunting

 

We had more Meadow Pipits but the initial surge of post-dawn birds did not continue in any huge way. We ended with a slightly disappointing 14 new birds – 12 Meadow Pipits, 1, Sedge Warbler and 1 Reed Bunting. 

Major disappointment came when we saw a female Sparrowhawk heading for and then landing in a mist net 30 yards away from where we sat drinking coffee while putting the world to rights. A few flaps of those wide wings together a little panic and the hawk freed itself, gone before we could get a hand on her.  

A bad-tempered Sparrowhawk out to dig its talons into your fingers always livens up a slow ringing session. 

Sparrowhawk

 

We didn’t see the hawk again and settled for views of other raptors, a Marsh Harrier and a Kestrel. The Marsh Harrier was the fifth or sixth sighting of this autumn when it arrived from an easterly direction and then continued in deep V profile as it flew purposefully west and out of sight. 

The Kestrel crossed our line of sight rapidly with typically strong and consistent wing beats, quite unlike the pumping wings and flat glides of a Sparrowhawk. 

Kestrel

Andy had an appointment and left at 1030. I sat in the car hide for a while and grabbed a few pictures in the morning light. Along came a few Linnets, Pied Wagtails and a single Yellow Wagtail – nice! 

Yellow Wagtail

Linnet

Pied Wagtail

Back home I had a short nap until woken by the Happy Shopper returning home home and handing me a dog-eared debit card.  Today's financial advice - buy shares in Marks & Spencer. 

Back soon folks. Enjoy your days whatever you do. 

Click Bait

OK, due to a combination of factors I have somewhat neglected posting on the blog. That doesn’t mean that I have been sat at home twiddling my thumbs or watching daytime telly. Does anyone still watch daytime telly to be entertained or informed? Definitely not the latter. Sources of news and entertainment on the Internet are more varied where by hitting the right buttons, the actuality & truth, as opposed to mainstream media who like to tell us what to believe, is there for all to discover. BBC, ITV, C4, Sky – they are all liars with biased and well-oiled axes to grind. 

Today there's a selection of pictures shot in-between bouts of bad weather that hit the North West from January and into May when I ventured out with bins and camera if the sun appeared and winds subsided. I felt so sorry for our local farming community when days and weeks of rain swallowed their crop fields; more knocks to a hard-working fraternity who receive little or no credit for their contribution to our British Way of Life. 

My mostly mornings with camera, plus a couple of ringing sessions confirmed that all is not well with birds. Where this year are Swifts, Sedge Warblers, Blackcaps, Swallows, Whitethroats, House Martins and Willow Warblers? - to name but a handful of supposedly “common species”. Luckily, Wheatears and ever curious Pied Wagtails  seemed in good supply with the jury out on seemingly low numbers of finches and buntings.

Adult Swallow

Whitethroat

Sedge Warbler

Wheatear

Pied Wagtail

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Pied  Wagtail - looking for the other one 

While saturated fields held no joy for farmers, a few waders took advantage by managing to rear chicks on fields into which a tractor would sink. Out Cockerham way a pair of roadside Lapwings I watched for weeks managed to grow all four chicks to adult size. All the time with crows looking on but chased off by sharp eyed parent Lapwings.

Lapwing

Lapwing chick

Carrion Crow

At another field nearby a pair of Shoveler took up residence where a male left his mate in an adjacent ditch while he stole minutes alone at a water flash. . 

Shoveler

Finally and into June the ground in parts dried out by which time both Oystercatchers and Lapwings could search the recently ploughed and now drying clumps of earth.

Oystercatcher

Male Lapwing - dig that crest!

And then in late June for a week and a day Sue and I ate out in the garden, enjoying the evening sunlight. A chance to try our own versions of Greek classics, Lamb Kleftico, Baked Feta and souvlakis together with a bottle of Ampelicious that too quickly ran out, the bottle courtesy of our lovely friends, Family Karaboula at Maistrali. 

 

Maistrali Taverna, Skiathos, Greece 

Ampelicious  Red

Bouyiourdi - Baked Feta

The first week of July. There's more rain in the forecast but I will be out whenever I can. 

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Thank You.  Another Bird Blog is back soon.