On this day (May 25th).................

May 25th 2015.

An Avocet at Leighton Moss 3 years ago today. It's amazing this species has spread to NW England whilst I've been living in Japan. It hasn't made my J-list yet though.................

England 2015 #5

My last batch of photos from England..................

Phoned in Avocet

Avocet at Leighton Moss today.

On this day (April 4th)....................

April 4th 2008.


Avocet at Marshside, Southport UK.


Lots of interesting birds have become more common in NW England since I lived there. This species is one of them, I can't believe how common they've become. Ditto Little Egret of course and now I believe Cettis Warbler has spread up north too.
There were lots of Avocets at Marshside. It would have been a rare and exotic bird when I was a regular visitor in the early to mid 80's.


Even near my parents' house there was new stuff on my last visit. Common Buzzard and Nuthatch were both recent colonists. What next?


Very nice clear weather the last 2 or 3 days in Hakodate but not many birds at all, today would have been great at Onuma and Shikabe.....................if we had a car that is.


Last year on this weekend the Black Necked Grebes were showing very well in the harbour in Shikabe. We should have a car sorted by next weekend, hope the Grebes will still be hanging around. If I can persuade my wife to drive me there................

England #2

A few random images from a very busy week back in England. I just got back from a trip up to the Lake District and Hadrian's Wall, nearby to where I was born.





Some of these images today are very hastily edited. The weather has been typically English, very changeable if generally overcast and grey.




These were around Wastwater. The last time I'd been here was back in 1995 when I and a friend climbed Great Gable and got lost on the descent. No such drama this time.








The toads were in a carpark near some of the Hadrians Wall ruins. And we even found some standing stones to continue the historical theme.



Not much in the way of birding, I'll write that up when I get back to Japan. A Ross' Gull appeared at nearby Blackpool but I missed it. Nowt at Leighton Moss but I managed to spend another afternoon at Marshside trying to get some better Avocet shots than last time. They were better, marginally.







Black and white birds in overcast conditions are tricky............



















The main other species of interest was Black Tailed Godwit, which were everywhere.





Nearer home I went up the river on March 31. Sand Martin and Chiffchaff were new arrivals, Corn Bunting were singing near the marsh, Great Spotted Woodpecker were drumming,Brown Hares were boxing in the fields and Nuthatch were around in places I'd never seen them before..........

Here's a view from the river, my old local patch and also St Walbergs church in Preston. I lived almost next door to this place back in 1996........






And a male Blackbird and the baby Moorhens near my parents' house.......





Thanks for people's comments since I got back to England. It just been too hectic to check the internet most of the time let alone other people's blogs.......I will return to normality at the end of the week..........

England #1

2 of the common birds in England.

So I made it to England and have just about recovered from the inevitable jetlag. It's a pretty brutal journey from Hakodate to Preston. I had to spend a day/night in Tokyo. I went to that kind of bird reserve near Haneda airport for a couple of hours. Great Cormorant, Little Ringed Plover, various common ducks including Gadwall and Shoveler, Azure Winged Magpie, Japanese White-eye, Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebe.............we couldn't face the hassle of a trip into the city before sucj a long journey.

The aforementioned jetlag meant I got up early the first couple of days. On Saturday I made it up the River Ribble, my old local patch. Pinkfooted Goose, Wheatear, lots of Oystercatcher and Redshank, a few Curlew and Lapwing, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Magpie, Jackdaw, Jay, Meadow Pipit, Shelduck and Wigeon, common woodland birds including many of the same species as in Hokkaido such as Great and Long Tailed Tits. Here's a view of Preston taken from a couple of miles downstream.



And here's a Turnstone walking around on the grass at Fleetwood............



Spring is very much in the air here. Green is already appearing on the trees, the cherry blosoms have opened (yes, Japanese people, other countries have these too), daffodils are everywhere and the birdsong is much more noticeable than it ever is in urban Hakodate. Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Greenfinch and Chaffinch are singing all over the place. Some Moorhens have been nesting on the small pond in the woods behind my parents.





And Woodpigeon are everywhere. I can't remember them being this common.........



On Saturday I met up with an old friend and we drove to Marshside. This has changed quite dramatically since we regularly went there in the early 80's. There were no Avocets in them days.





They were too far away for a decent shot and it was also very dark and raining heavily too. Also in the hide were 3 birdforum members and it was nice to chat with these folks in person. They (and my friend) have some serious scopes. In addition to the Avocets we saw Merlin, lots of common ducks, Ruff and Black Tailed Godwit plus another bird that wasn't around 25 years ago, Little Egret. We stopped at the outer edge of our old local patch on the way back and got a new one on my old local list, a 3 Ruddy Duck as well as a dozen or so Shoveler and a Great Crested Grebe.

Franck agreed to sell me his 100-400 lens so I have it with me. I've only been doing halfhearted shotting, this Wren was maybe the best subject so far.






I've been drinking a lot since I got back, eating lots of food unavailable in Japan, ben missing the live football (my parents don't have Sky and I'm avoiding the score of today's Liverpool game so I can enjoy the highlights later on tonight) and catching up with people. Last night was my parents' 40th anniversary party...........I was pretty hungover most of today.

Speaking of wrecks.




This was offshore at Blackpool.............I have to say Blackpool was looking particularly sleazy and rundown.

A bit strange doing this blog on a Windows PC. I've noticed my photos don't look so hot on this one (compared to my Mac where they at least look average). Hmmmmmm............