28/5/15 Dock walk

Me and my Granddad usually go to the docks to feed the birds seed and watch the Common and Arctic Terns nesting on the break waters. Whilst he chats to the fishermen I wonder off on a hour walk along the banking's. I have found some good skulls along here including a male Goldeneye. However, I thought I may as well push the time limit as it was a nice day and I felt like I may find some more things further down in a part I hadn't explored before. I hadn't found anything really on my usual banking, so I was hoping this new part would offer up some gifts. I was right!

As soon as I turned the corner, there was a mute swan skeleton, I had seen this one in the dock basin and had been looking for it for some time. However the skull wasn't there. So I continued my walk. There was a female Mallard with eleven ducklings feeding in the grasses, along with two Shelduck. Under a tree I found some black feathers but didn't think much of them. However not so far away, there were more, I found a washed up Cormorant!! I had first found one of these at Cockerham, but I wasn't really into bone collecting then so didn't take it home. So I was very happy when I found this.

I carried on downstream and found three sheep, I don't like taking Sheep skulls, so I left them. However there was a Lesser Black Backed Gull skeleton not so far away, so I took the skull from that. I was supposed to be heading back now but I still felt as if there was something else to find. And again I was right! Next to a log was another bird. It looked like a huge version of a Guillemot. It had a white belly and breast, a greyish head and neck and the feet, beak, back, wings and tail were black. I was torn between a Diver (which was most likely) and a huge Guillemot, as the plumage wasn't really in great shape to judge it by, so I waited for the skull to be cleaned.

It turned out to be a diver. I had just found the Black Throated Diver skull a few months ago, so I was hoping it was a different species. The Black and Red are very similar, so it was a game of spot the difference. After more debating whether it was one or the other, we came to a decision...
It's a Red Throated Diver!!

Italy wildlife

I went on the college trip to Itlay on the 22nd to the 26th. We did all sorts, but whilst others where looking at the rocks and monuments i was also looking at the wildlife.

There were a lot, and i mean a lot, of butterflies. The common ones such as Large and Small Whites, Small Tortoiseshells and the odd Painted Lady were flying around, with them were Swallowtails, Brimstones, Ringlets and i even saw a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. These butters were on Capri and at the very top of Mt Vesuvius, which really surprised me.
 

I also managed to see a few lizards scuttering around, many many bats, dragonflies and a snake. One night i found a large beetle being eaten by ants, which was great to see up close.

 

I didn't managed to get much birding done but i did do my best. I went out with my friend one night and was watching about 30 screeching Swifts fly along the cliff face and soar in the sky. We got a very close encounter with a LBB Gull, and I saw four unidentifiable birds throughout the trip. I'm a terrible birder.... Took my bins out when they weren't needed and left them when they were needed, typical. We went to a birdless lake which was supposedly the entrance to Hades, but it wasn't birdless at all. It was full of Coots, the odd Great Crested Grebe and a very ugly Muscovy (no offence to those Muscovy lovers).
 

By the end of the trip, my bird book had the odd pressed flower in from the places we visited instead of new ticks. But overall, I had a great time!!

Southport Hides

On the 30th May me and dad went on the motorbike to Southport to do some birding. I found two prickly cockles and a geocache, but the birdies i saw were; Whitethroat, Swifts, Skylarks, Swallows, lots of Gulls, Dunlins, Godwits, Little Grebes, Gadwalls and Shovellors. I've seen warblers before but haven't had the skills to properly identify them, so this time, i got some pictures of one and managed to ID it as a Reed Warbler. I should be ashamed that I've only just managed to tick it off, but....well i don't have a good reason. But at least that embarrassing tick is over and done with.

 
I also ticked off Mediterranean Gull and Avocet. I'm glad these are ticked off as well. The Avocet is a very smart bird and i love its beak, very smart.