theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: November 2011
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Sunday, 27 November 2011. It may well be the North West Birdwatching Fair at Martin Mere this weekend, but even the WWT’s premier reserve would have struggled to match the festival of wildlife on show at Connah’s Quay NR this weekend. Rarer birds included the immature Spoonbill, a score or so Twite, a monster juvenile female Peregrine, a Rock Pipit and on the Bunded Pools a trio of Greenshank and a Red-breasted Merganser. Snow Buntings...
midwalesringers.blogspot.com
Ruffled Feathers: The wonder of Whimbrels in common have we
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Some of the results, achievements and highlights of the Mid-Wales Ringing Group. Monday, 11 May 2015. The wonder of Whimbrels in common have we. Over the past week or two Mid Wales Ringers and the Pembrokeshire Ringing Group have once again been targeting some of the many Whimbrel that pass through West Wales at this time every year on spring migration. From their wintering areas in West Africa. To more northerly breeding grounds. It is a bit disappointing that we have not had any sightings on the breedi...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: December 2011
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Tuesday, 13 December 2011. I have been out and about over the last few days, including an excellent Saturday morning at the Point of Ayr. If the seawatch at this site on Friday was a little sketchy, it redeemed itself the following day with some excellent birds. A Ron Atkinson spotter’s badge was then duly earned after he picked out a female Goosander that had stealthily drifted in. For afters it was over to Warren Fields and after set...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: Nigra Falls
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Friday, 27 January 2012. A few spare hours during the middle of the day afforded me the chance to nip down to the Point of Ayr. My first nose was over Warren Fields. Hundreds of birds were on show including at least 2,000 Lapwing and a monkey or so grazing Wigeon. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Black Grouse (Tetrao Tetrix). Grouse n. (pl grouse) a game bird with a plump body and feathered legs - grouse v. (grouses, grousin...Welco...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: August 2011
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Wednesday, 31 August 2011. A profitable four hours was spent at Connah’s Quay late morning and early afternoon, with a fly-through Hobby, a Grey Wagtail and a single Golden Plover the more unusual birds. As is typical at this time of year, the best birding to be had though was the magnificent spectacle of thousands of wading birds trying to outwit the incoming tide. Wednesday, 24 August 2011. When was year dot? We all know the reasons:...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: Peregrinations
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Wednesday, 25 January 2012. Being on the dole – despite the obvious drawbacks – does have its advantages. Especially if one enjoys a pastime that is to all intents and purposes ‘free’ to engage in, such as the noble art of birding. So, with the forecast downpour not materialising I set off after breakfast on a circular walk from my village, Lloc taking in Mostyn and Greenfield Valley. A couple of weeks ago I heard a Willow Tit calling ...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: January 2012
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Monday, 30 January 2012. Return of the Native. I took a trip over to the Wirral Satdee morning in the company of Mark Murphy. It’s been nearly two years since I visited my old stomping ground, so it was a pleasant change to reacquaint myself with the area. We waited. And waited, but nada. Their no show made even more galling when I read later in dispatches that one had been seen at the sewage works and two later on near the bri...Compe...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: September 2011
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Friday, 23 September 2011. I have not done much ‘serious’ birding recently, with various domestic projects having supplanted any urge I have had to get out. Still, there is plenty of entertainment to be had surfing the web, with the most pulsating and compelling thread that of the technical photography discussion that accompanied the 453,958 pictures of Starbucks’ Buff-breasted Sandpiper on the NWBF. You would have imagined the opening...
theblackgrouse.blogspot.com
The Black Grouse: The Ministry of Silly Gulls
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Birding, stravaiging, foraging and grousing in Flintshire and beyond. Wednesday, 8 February 2012. The Ministry of Silly Gulls. There is a scene in Monty Python where Graham Chapman, dressed as a General, appears on the screen in order to lambaste the previous sketches for being too silly. I think it is about time for his character to make a come back, for if I read another post or comment on a birding website relating to the finer points of gull identification I think I’ll go doolally. You must not know ...
