On this day (February 20th).................

February 20th 2011.

An immature Peregrine and a Large Billed Crow  in Yakumo  2 years ago today. The falcon was being mobbed by a group of crows but to my eyes it seemed to be enjoying the attention as it led them on a wild falcon chase for a full 10 minutes.......................



I was on the same bridge a few days ago and saw almost nothing let alone a falcon chase........


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Winter fades away............

Not a vintage week for photos.

A drake Black Scoter at Sawara this afternoon (above). 

We spent Sunday visiting fishing ports (4 in all) looking for Black Necked Grebes and other harbour birds but there were none to be seen anywhere. The last 3 years have seen large numbers of the 3 marine Grebe species plus divers and murrelets in the ports but today all we could find were a few of the commoner duck species such as these Harlequin Ducks, a bird I have few good shots of, today's were nothing to write home about.

I have yet to get a decent shot of a Black Scoter, they seem to be very shy and it is difficult to nail the exposure on such a blackish bird. They have a big yellow bill that is visible with the naked eye even when they are bobbing about in the waves well offshore. These were fairly close but not that close.........

At Onuma the Mandarin Ducks have arrived, one of the earliest summer visitors. This is another attractive and very shy bird, another on the 'list' of birds I want to get a decent shot of.

This was just before sunset..............

A Stellers Sea Eagle flew over as were leaving in the car, I'm surprised to see one so late. Quite a few ducks at Onuma now as the lake slowly thaws, sharing the ice free patch with the Mandarins were Pintails, Goosander, Smew, Goldeneye and the common stuff like Mallard and Tufted Duck.

In the forest I looked in vain for Black Woodpecker (I haven't seen a single one yet this year), the tame Nuthatches were around as per usual.......

A very quiet week just gone by in Hakodate. The Siskins and Bramblings are both still around. The only photos I took were of a Vega and Slaty Backed Gull squabbling over a dead fish with a Large Billed Crow, as you can see the Vega Gull got the fish in the end........

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I watched England v Sri Lanka last night, well I watched the England innings. I thought I'd watch the end of the game (which I thought would be very tight and tense) after the England/Wales footy game. I'm glad I didn't.........losing by 10 wickets is just embarrassing.

At least they didn't f**k up in the football, mind you Wales look as weak a side as England have played in recent years. I expected a feistier show from the Welsh, they just seemed to give up after the 2nd goal. And England seemed to let them off the hook meaning a very dull last 75 minutes..........

I had to endure Chris Coleman as an 'expert' summariser. Nice enough chap I'm sure but my god, if he's an expert then I'm a world class bird photographer.

Frozen on a Bridge #2

I was on the bridge at Yakumo trying to photograph the last of the winter's eagles but the star of the day was probably this immature Peregrine which flew very very close...........

As you can see it was right in the middle of town.........

It was accompanied by a group of crows, the Peregrine didn't seem to mind, in fact it seemed to enjoy their attention and was teasing them with its acrobatics.

Indeed it was the one doing most of the chasing.........

It was very fast and tricky to fit in the frame sometimes........

The drama played out over the bridge for 5 or 10 minutes..........

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#3 and #4 to follow soon.........

Foxes and cherry blossoms

The cherry blossoms have opened but I've been mostly stuck inside with work and a sore throat. I did manage it up Mt Hakodate on Wednesday and later made it out to Onuma and Asabu. Spring migration on Mt Hakodate is underway but the deluge hasn't quite begun. Pale Thrush, Whites Thrush, Grey Thrush, Red Flanked Bluetail and Red Cheeked Starling were the main visitors on show. There were also these 2 oddities. A deformed crow and a strange looking Coal Tit.





Is the Coal Tit a fledgling? Surely not in April? Is it covered in yellow pollen? God knows. Here are some not so hot shots of several of the commoner species at Asabu. Black Faced and Chestnut Eared Buntings plus a male Siberian Stonechat.







There seems to be some development going on near the river at Asabu that may not bode so well for the birds. Little Ringed Plover and Osprey were also around and my wife was happy enough buying some of the tasty local mushrooms (maitake and shitake). Over at Onuma we saw quite a lot of birds (including Black Woodpecker) but not many were hanging around to be photographed.........except for the Marsh Tits. So a special thank you to this Red Fox.







The Ural Owl wasn't in its' hole. I hope we didn't spook it last Sunday.

Today (Friday) I popped out and took these shots.........the 100-400 lens isn't ideal for this sort of picture but I can't be arsed changing lenses.





Only a brief foray due to the sore throat, not many birds about at all. A Red Flanked Bluetail flashed around for a few seconds but the only birds I could get on camera were these 2, including a failed takeoff shot.





I couldn't believe Riise's last gasp own goal on Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning here in Japan). It was a real roll your eyes heavenwards muttering 'oh for f**ks sake' moment. I suppose Liverpool got a fair share of luck earlier on in the CL (those 2 red cards for Inter, the penalty decisions against Arsenal) so I'm not going to complain.........but...........oh for f**ks sake.

Yet more average pics of common birds

One of the local Large Billed Crows playing around in the snow a few days ago. They are pretty smart birds these corvids. They know that Tuesday/Friday is burnable garbage day (or they can recognise the red coloured bags). Woe betide anyone who doesn't close the lid on the garbage basket.......the local garbage Nazis would be straight round wagging accusing fingers as the crows spread the rotting vegetables all around the neighbourhood.



The juvenile Night Heron was still around today. I walked down the river to the beach under very grey skies. 3 Redpoll were the main birds of interest although I couldn't get any decent photos. I wasn't carrying the big lens anyway. My plan was to go to a place at the mouth of the river where I saw a male Blue Rock Thrush several times last winter and I have also seen Black Necked/Slavonian Grebes close inshore. There were a couple of Black Necked Grebes bobbing around 100 metres offshore (and a few Brent Geese too) and the Thrush was there but all too briefly and not especially close...........here's a crappy record shot.



Around December 23 down the years:

1983 (Dec 23) Marshside. 2 lifers, Stonechat (!) and Twite. Also lots of waders of 12 species, 3 species of Swan, and 3 Hen Harrier.

1991 (Dec 24) a Great Grey Shrike at Rufford, the only one I've ever seen.

1996 (Dec 24) back in Penwortham for xmas (I was living in Germany at the time). Not much except a flock of 40 Brambling on the Ribble.

2000 (Dec 24) A hunting Peregrine from my balcony in Hakodate.

2001 (Dec 25) Onuma. I proposed to my wife. I had the mother of all hangovers at the time, we fed the Whooper Swans, had lunch and went home. She said yes anyway.

2004 (Dec 21) the last time I was back in the UK and a trip up the river in Penwortham. Thousands of Woodpigeon, flocks of redwing and Fieldfare, skeins of Pinkfeet in the distance, a few common waders.......

2005 (Dec 26) a Great White Egret flapped over my flat.

2006 (Dec 25) Kamiso......we saw a Peregrine catch its' christmas lunch, a female Teal. 3 species of Grebe, 3 White Fronted Goose and 2 Great White Egret were also present. A bit low on decent photos today so here's one of a Ural Owl I took on December 20 last year at Onuma.



We saw this bird several times last winter but it hasn't appeared this winter (or at least it's moved hole).

So Happy Christmas to the tiny number of regular readers to this blog.

Freezing cold and I hate football.

No festive Hawfinch pics this time. The Large Billed Crows had commandeered the red berries. Some very cold weather hit Hakodate this week........easily the coldest November I can remember in 9(!) years here. Lots of snow. Here are some more pictures of very cold Gulls. 4 species here.........with the pale adult Glaucous Gull standing out.





On the river near my flat the Night Herons were still there. 2 of them including the adult below. I still can't get a clear shot without branches or twigs in the way. A crappy cropped male Daurian Redstart was my only shot of this beautiful bird.





Lots of Common Teal on the river, still a bit tatty looking after the autumn moult.





Not much else around........Brown Dipper,Coal Tit and Dusky Thrush.

Football? One of the loves of my life until something started going wrong the last 2 or 3 years. The game is changing and not for the better. The Liverpool game is on live behind me but I can barely raise the interest to turn round and watch it. What a wretchedly depressing week. I won't even say anything about England. I don't need to. After 30 years of following football I feel jaded and fed up with it like never before. Like looking at a woman and realising I don't love her anymore or taking a drug that doesn't give me a buzz anymore..........I feel like it's over. It's finished.

The Liverpool team full of players I've hardly heard of from all over the world managed by a conservative Spaniard and owned by Americans. I loved them once but now they're just not the same team. The England team full of underperforming overrated overpaid chavs managed by a cluelesss assistant coach who got knocked out by a team that had just lost to Israel before triumphing 1-0 in Andorra. Who gives a sh*t?

I'm sure I 'll go back to football's arms one day.............but I need a long break from it. Time to catch up on some movies on Saturday nights methinks.