A long walk and some Australian memories

I took a longish walk this morning, from my flat to the forest at the foot of Mt Hakodate. Not so far I suppose, about 3 or 4 miles. I followed the river downstream. Some of the birds were reminiscent of riverside walks back home. Stonechat, Grey Wagtail, Common Kingfisher, Great and Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Teal, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Grey Heron. And only 2 Black Crowned Night Heron. At least 1 of them was an adult in full view striking a few different poses.






On the beach was pretty quiet. No offshore stuff yet and only a few Gulls. There were a few Herring type Gulls with the resident Slatybacks including this odd looking one.



There are usually a few of these around in winter. Darker backed than the usual Herring (Vega) Gulls and with yellow legs (which don't show so well in this picture). Heuglins or tamireynsis (sp?)? God only knows.

I didn't bother with Cape Tachi-machi as it was too crowded so I headed into the forest. Japanese Bush Warbler were by far the commonest bird........they were everywhere. The archetypal small boring brown bird.




Also in the forest were Rustic Bunting, 2 or 3 Grey Bunting (a pretty scarce bird in these parts), lots of Goldcrest alonside the resident paridae and Nuthatches, a few Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, the first female Daurian Redstart of the winter and lots of unidentified stuff flitting about.






Japanese White-eye were still very common. They seem to love this kind of berry.



A great photo opportunity was foiled due to dust on the sensor of my new compact digicam.



You can't notice it so much on this shot but there's a big spot on all the photos taken with my Fujifilm F31FD. The spot is 'hidden' on the above pic in one of the parks. I seem to be cursed when buying new compact digital cameras. The 70mm end of my main camera isn't wide enough either.........as you can see from this one.



Around October 17th down the years:

1994. In October 1994 I was in the middle of a long stay in Australia. Far North Queensland to be precise. For most of October I was staying with my uncle. He lived on a patch of land on a clearing in the rainforest on the Atherton tablelands. This is where I slept, in that bus behind me.



It was full of all kinds of creepy-crawlies which didn't bother my cousins living close by but which definitely bothered me at first. It was weird sleeping in that thing listening to the sounds of the forest at night. Crazy laughing noises, hoots, screams, snakes and marsupial rats moving around under the bus (which was ancient and not sealed against any nasty things that might come in from outside). I dealt with this by getting drunk and stoned and listening to my walkman. My uncle's Fox Terrier was there to look after me anyway (I watched it catch and kill an Eastern Brown Snake.......the third most venomous snake in the world or so I'm told).

My uncle lived nearby.........he was going through a rough time in his marriage and a nephew from England into the mix wasn't really something he needed or wanted at that time. He had a serious operation this year. Get well soon Tom.

A brief list of some of the more memorable ones would include White Breasted and Wedge Tailed Eagles among many species of raptor, Sulphir Crested Cockatoo, King Parrot, Sacred, Forest and Azure Kingfisher, Grey Headed Robin, Pale Yellow Robin, Grey Fantail, Red Backed Wren, Eastern Whipbird,Lewins and Bridled Honeyeater, Red Browed Finch and lots and lots of other stuff. Best bird of all was a Cassowary. I was strolling through the forest with the dog when suddenly man's best friend bolted off somewhere in fright. I could hear a stamping noise behind me. I turned round and faced the Cassowary at less than 10 feet. No camera of course. And off it stomped.



Not an Eastern Brown Snake I can assure you.

My other uncle (Mick) lived in a nearby village and his garden had some excellent birds. In amongst all the Cuckoo Shrikes, Lorikeets and Honeyeaters I also saw Crested Hawk and Metallic Starling. It was a great place. The nearby Lake Tinaroo was fantastic for bird too. Plus there was a pub in the village.

Sadly my uncle passed away last year and my aunt is currently recuperating from a serious operation. Get well soon Janet.

I could write lots more about my time on the Atherton Tablelands but I don't want to bore the handful of regular readers to this blog more than I do normally.

Right. C'mon England in Moscow.

{Edited to add. Oh dear oh dear. Gerard missed a absolute sitter and the Russian penalty was outside the box. And I thought we'd turned a corner this season. I really did. The annoying thing is that Russia are actually pretty crap (but mind you what does that say about England?) and if England hadn't dropped silly points against Macedonia we'd still be in the driving seat. The last time I felt like this was in October 1993 when Holland knocked us out of the WC qualifiers...............for only the 3rd time since I started watching football almost 30 years ago there'll be a tournanment without England.

Bye bye Steve McClaren and hello someone else. Jesus wept but Gerard had a stinker. And did Owen touch the ball? A bit difficult when the defence was booting it upfield at Heskey to knock down. Oh wait a minute............

F*#king hell. Russia willl win in Israel and even if they don't I can't see us doing Croatia.

Well that opens my schedule for June 2008 at least. No late nights watching England struggle against all and sundry yet again. And England fans won't disgrace themselves in genteel Alpline villlages.}

Mellow autumnal week Part 2

Autumn is my favourite season in Hokkaido. Not hot anymore but not cold yet either. Usually clear but this afternoon there was one big bad hail and thunderstorm when we were heading home from a drive up north. Thank the lord we'd given up on the idea of camping.






We started the day off at Yakumo. The above Dunlin and Glaucous Winged Gull were 2 of the birds I saw there. Also around were Greenshank, another 6 species of gull including Glaucous, Common and Herring Gulls (all winter visitors). Other stuff on the move included lots of ducks (including the first Goldeneye of the autumn), a female Merlin and a couple of Osprey.



We drove north towards Niseko to a foul smelling hot spring area in the mountains. You don't need a map. Just wind down the window and follow your nose.





Nice autumn colours nearby if you could ignore the desire to gag on the smell of sulphur.



After yesterday's tame fox at Onuma we had no less than FOUR of them begging around the car. Must have been a family. The vixen was presumably teaching the cubs to beg for free handouts. Reminded me of when I was a social worker in Hackney.

These pictures are just too easy.






The autumn colours near Niseko were beautiful. Whole mountainsides cloaked in reds and yellows.................I have a camera full of lousy pictures to show for my efforts. Errr.......difficult light conditions you see and just a crappy kit lens don't you know. A fast wide angle lens is now #4 on the list of lens I'll buy one day.

Mellow autumnal week

A Red Fox at Onuma this afternoon.

The mellow autumn weather continues in South Hokkaido. No bird pics today. Not much around birdwise the last few days in Hakodate. Just the common Ducks, a few Rustic Bunting, the last straggling Night Herons. Beautiful clear weather though.








Just the common woodland stuff at Onuma. Lots of Thrushes hiding in the undergrowth (Pale Thrush I think) plus a couple of Black Woodpecker glimpsed in the distance. We'd planned to go camping this week but decided it was too cold. And it seemed pretty darn chilly at sunset.





The fox was the only decent wildlife subject from the last few days. Unless you count this.



Is this a Salmon? It was in the small crappy river near my flat. Every autumn a few Salmon (I think) make their way up the nearby concreted stream. Are they (re)colonising? Are they just stupid? What gives?

At Moheji and Menagawa recently there have been a few Salmon but not so many. Maybe it's a bit early. Shame that after all the hassle they have to make it to these rivers in Hokkaido they all end up like this.




At Yakumo in early winter there are thousands and thousands of rotting Salmon corpses which provide food for the Eagles........

So England are in the RUWC final. Amazing. Although some people think they don't deserve to be there. I'm not really a rugby person but I know that points on the board at the end of the game is where it's at not style.

Let's hope there's no f#*k-up in Moscow on Wednesday night.

Nasty headaches but Autumn migration well underway

Autumn is definitely here. Lots of nice colours but no nice photos I'm sorry to say so here's one of some kind of grass that always looks like this in October.





A beautiful clear morning today saw me up Mt Hakodate just after sunrise. In addition to the stress of getting up so early I've also been a martyr to a nasty headache all week. Being punished for past indiscretions maybe. Or maybe too much time spent hunched in front of the computer.

The above species, Japanese White-eye was one of several abundant migrants present today. Other species passing through in large numbers included Siskin, Great Tit (thousands of these), Black Faced and Rustic Bunting and Japanese Bush Warbler. Here's a boring looking Siberian Meadow Bunting.



There could have been anything about really. So many birds it was easy to miss stuff. Bird of the morning was a male Siberian Rubythroat which I saw for all of 2 seconds. Raptors quickly passed overhead.........god only knows what some of them were. A tiny Japanese Sparrowhawk was mobbing a much larger raptor that I couldn't ID. Arctic Warbler and Eye Browed Thrush were other noteworthy species that I managed to get a fix on before they disappeared into the undergrowth (or across the Tsugaru Straits).



Here's a couple of lousy pics thst gives you an idea of typical views of today's birds. A Brambling and (I think) an immature Siberian Rubythroat.






Over at Kamiso the Night Herons were still present and 8 species of Duck. Duck numbers grow until the first snow and ice after which they usually head south. Shoveler were the most interesting but I find it frustrating (especially with aforementioned headache) to pick through the flocks of females/immatures/eclipse males. It is worth it though.........last year I got Gadwall and the year before I got American Wigeon. I'm hoping for Flacated or Baikal Teal this autumn. A hunting Peregrine spooked all the wildfowl before I could get a decent look anyway.



After lunch we headed out to Onuma. The leaves are starting to change but are a bit later than normal this year. No doubt I'll post some pics in a week or 2 when they reach their peak. Otherwise it was a present stroll around several lakeside trails in the now mercifully mosquito-free forest.






Lots of birds around Onuma today. 4 species of Woodpecker including Black and Greyheaded, loads more Siskin and White-eyes plus the common resident species such as this Varied Tit.




We finished the day at Moheji watching the salmon spawning. Too dark for any photos.

I downloaded some Not the Nine O'Clock News torrents last night. Should be interesting to see how much they've dated and if they're still as funny as I remember. I've been listening to a lot of Tindersticks stuff recently. I can't work out if it's depressing or uplifting. I have the rugby WC semi-final plus the 2 England Euro 2008 games to keep me occupied sports-wise in the coming week. Next Wednesday I'll be up in the early hours sitting in front of an ancient PC watching live jerky heavily pixelated TV images with Chinese commentary yelling at Peter Crouch to pull his finger out as the ball bobbles around on a frozen plastic pitch.

Rustic

More Night Herons and some Thai memories

It's been a quiet last couple of weeks. Perhaps a little too quiet business-wise so I've been a little stressed out so that I haven't given much thought to lofty pursuits such as taking photos of birds and putting them on the internet. OK moaning over now.

Most of my birding has been done on strolls up and down the river near my flat. Beautiful autumn weather has been nice for walking but the southbound migrants tend not to linger. The Night Herons are still present but getting more skittish every day.



Lots of small dull coloured birds flit in and out of the bushes. These are usually either Black Faced Buntings or Japanese Bush Warblers but sometimes (although not this autumn so far) they can be much more interesting. Siberian Rubythroat perhaps. Or the unidentified locustella type warbler I saw a couple of years ago that I now think was possibly a Lancelated Warbler. Is that spelt right? Not only am I unsure of the ID I can't even spell the damn thing.

What else? A few Teal, Pintail and Wigeon. Lots of Grey Wagtails and Bullheaded Shrikes. Flocks of Grey Starlings. Fishing Kingfishers. And several disturbingly large Black Rats.

I watched the Rugby last night. Still can't quite believe England managed to beat Australia. Not only that they don't even have to play New Zealand in the semi-final. I wish I'd stuck a tenner on England to win the tournament after they'd been thrashed by South Africa.

Around October 7th down the years:

1984 (Oct 6) Martonmere. Not much going on here. Peregrine was the best bird........we also missed a Red Breasted Flycatcher in Watson Rd Park.

1998 (most of October) I was travelling around Thailand.



Only a few crappy scanned holiday snaps like these remain. A weird time in my life. I'd just turned 30 and was in Asia with my ex-girlfriend. Actually she'd already decided to be my ex on the first day of the trip but we continued travelling together anyway.

The above photo is of me walking in the surf on Rayleigh Beach in south Thailand. It was a quite beautiful place I recall. I don't know what increased tourism to the region and the 2004 tsunami has done to change it since. Dope was cheap and readily available, the sea was warm and clean, the food was great and our room was surprisingly nice too. I can't remember any birds except Brahiminy Kites and some very tame Eastern Reef Egrets. Just after the photo was taken the region was hit by a huge tropical storm that showered coconuts on the roof of our beach hut.

I did a little birding on the trip. At Krabi we rented a boat but there weren't many birds except lots of Kingfishers (I saw 6 or 7 species I think), Blue Whistling Thrush, Pacific Swallow, Common Tailorbird and various Bee-eaters. We also went to a national park near Hua Hin. We had to stay in a mosquito infested hellhole with the unfriendliest villagers in Thailand and the worst food I've eaten in Asia. The park (Khao Sam Roi Yot) looked great for birds but I was too early for most of the good stuff. Birds included Black Shouldered Kite, Red Wattled Lapwing, Black Winged Stilt and lots of other waders, various Egrets, Kingfishers and Bee-eaters.



We finished up north where we took an elephant ride through the forest. It was pissing down with rain (the river flooded quite dramatically and we had to leave our hotel for higher ground). I can sum up elephant riding in 1 word. Uncomfortable. And our driver (mahout?) was FIVE years old.

2004 (first week Oct) Hakodate. A very good autumn for migrants. Siberian Rubythroat (2 males), Wryneck and Olive Backed Pipit were the pick of the stuff near my flat. A bit further away I got all 3 accipter species, Mandarin Duck, Sooty Flycatcher and Rustic Bunting.

Autumn approaching

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. The leaves haven't changed colour yet but the vegetation is starting to thin out a bit. There's still plenty of places for autumn migrants to hide in though. The 2 most common migrants this year seem to be Siberian Stonechat (above) and Black Crowned Night Heron (below). All over the place.



Other migrants in Hakodate tend to be skulking around and hard to ID. An Arctic Warbler was in the bushes next to my apartment a few days ago and there have been several Asian Brown Flycatchers and lots of dull greenish/brownish things flitting about that are probably warblers or flycatchers of some description. Since I got the DSLR the binoculars often stay at home when I go for a walk in town.

The ducks have started to reurn to Hakodate. Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Goosander, Mallard and Tufted Duck have all been at Kamiso and today there were also 3 Scaup. The Glaucous Winged Gull was still present.





We went to Onuma this afternoon. The common woodland species were much in evidence. Marsh and Varied Tit, Nuthatch, Japanese and Greater Spotted Woodpecker plus lots of Japanese Grosbeak and a few Japanese Green Pigeon. Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebe were still on the lake. And lots of turtles too.



Tragedy struck at the weekend. This cute little critter went to the great fishtank in the sky.



It was a kind of pufferfish that cost about $30 and stayed alive in our fishtank precisely 48 hours. The Clownfish has had no problems..............fingers crossed.

Lots of nice clear weather the last few days.



Autumn is usually the nicest season around these here parts. I prefer spring in England to Japan but October here is much nicer than back home. The locals do bang on a bit about Japan's 4 seasons as though fall colours are somehow unique to Japan but I'll concede they do have nice autumns. The Salmon runs will start soon and the peak migration season will be upon us in a week or 2. And the old lady downstairs sells us lots and lots of cheap beans.

Just into Season 5 of the Sopranos. This week I downloaded 'Coogan's run' and 'Catterick'-2 series I missed from the UK. I also downloaded an Ian Dury album. 'New Boots and Panties'. My aunt actually taped me this in 1979 (with 'Outlandos d'amour' or whatever it was called on the other side). I'd forgotten what a good album it was. Mt aunt also omitted a track, 'Plaistow Patricia', to protect a 10 year old from hearing the 'c word'. Now after all these years I have to say she left the best song from the album off the tape. Though 'clever Trevor' has stood the test of time just as well.