A lazy Autumn

It's been a while since I updated this blog. Not that I've done anything terribly exciting the last couple of weeks or anything.



A Bullheaded Shrike in Hakodate today. Not a lot of bird photos recently.

Autumn migration is well underway. Lots of Rustic Bunting, Japanese White-eye and Japanese Bush Warbler around. Varied and Coal Tits are in small groups along the riverside and Brown Dipper have appeared from upstream. Last week we got up at dawn again and went up Mt Hakodate.



Tons of birds on the move but no decent pics at all. Brambling, Japanese Grosbeak, Red Flanked Bluetail, lots of thrushes of various species (but too high up to ID), Pacific Swift, Siberian Rubythroat, all 3 of the local Accipter species and best of all a very briefly seen Brown Shrike (a scarce bird in these parts). Over at Kamiso flocks of duck are building (8 species) and they were joined last week by 2 juvenile Whitefronted Goose. Up at Yakumo a few days ago we got Eastern Marsh Harrier, Hobby, another Rubythroat, Bar Tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Greenshank, Buff-bellied Pipit, Great Egret and the first Whooper Swan and Scaup of the season. And no good pictures at all. Just lots of blurry out of focus Rustic Buntings and White-eyes. This lousy Marsh (or Willow-it wasn't calling) Tit is the best of a sorry bunch.



Here's a view from the top of Mt Hakodate.



Imagine lots of birds flitting around in the bushes or flying quickly high overhead.

I've finished one of my calendars and am waiting for my single review copy before I decide if it's worth selling online and I've almost finished my photobook too (just have to add a few sage words, the most difficult part). I've fiddled around a little more with my website.

There's a blog, which may or may not replace this one (can I migrate this to another site? Don't think so). Not much to look at yet.



And here's an Adobe Lightroom Gallery I put together of my best shots from last winter.



There are also some Aperture Galleries here.

I don't quite know what to make of the footy season so far. But I like it. England atop their group and (for now at least) plain sailing all the way to South Africa, Liverpool joint top of the Premier League and their Champions League group (although they may both change soon). The current season of 'The Shield' is gripping stuff too.

I have a headache

A Fox at Onuma last week.

Not much to post today. I've been hunched over my keyboard a lot in the last week hence the headache.

*Nerdish Topic Alert*

I've just bought a domain name and am in the process of setting up my own website. I bought the domain name from GoDaddy and am using a free 2 month MobileMe trial from Apple. I've been using Iweb (the apple software that helps you design and upload webpages) and testing which photo software is the best to use with it...........and I've got cross eyed from staring at the screen too long.




A Night Heron on the local river.

Anyway you can check out my new website here or at the link on the right. It's in the experimental stage at the moment whilst I sort things out. I've given myself until the end of November to try a few different things so pages will be added and removed at whim until then. I'm aiming to try and sell a few calendars/photobooks on it but judging by the global economic crisis you'll all have resorted to cannibalism to survive by the time I get my arse in gear to actually selling stuff on my website.

So in addition to the website I've also been messing around with Blurb (books) and Lulu (calendars) software. So not much time to go out and take any pictures.



A Japanese Cormorant at Kamiso last week. Not much birding. We went up Mt Hakodate at dawn last Wednesday. Quite a few migrants on the move. Pale Thrush, 6 or 7 Siberian Rubythroat, lots of Japanese Green Pigeon and Oriental Turtle Dove, Brambling, Japanese Grosbeak, a few common raptors and Buntings, the usual resident Tits and Woodpeckers, plus of course various undientified stuff flitting around in the bushes.

Nearer home I got my first Daurian Redstart of the winter today but not much else about. Over at Onuma recently there have been some of these huge cartoon style toadstools........





The leaves are changing colour and there's a bit of a chill in the air. The chill was welcome today as I needed the fresh air as I hadn't really been out of the house for the previous 3 days ( a mix of work, rain and the aforementioned computer geekery). I stayed up last night watching the England game. Good result, poor first half though. Much as I love him for Liverpool Gerard shouldn't start for England anymore, or Capello should simply choose between him and Lampard and use the other as cover. End of story. Still, a good start to the Group and if they win in Belarus (which they should but of course this is England we're talking about) they'll be in a very strong position.

Before watching that tortuous first half at Wembley I watched Scotland v Norway. If I was a Scottish fan and I woke up this morning knowing that this amazing miss has possibly cost my country a place in the World Cup Finals, I would be really pissed off.



Right, I'm tired of computers. I might even go and read a book or something.

October, a Walrus and a few migrants

A bloated brown mammal, stinking a little of fish and with foul eating habits and dodgy teeth. And it's standing next to some Walrus.

The Walrus were at an aquarium we visited in Otaru. Somewhat surprisingly there was a walrus show that involved (I kid ye not) sumo wrestling, kissing and all kinds of coy expressions. I had no idea Walrus could be trained.



Difficult to get good shots through the walls of the Walrus tank.

We were camping at Kuromatsunai last week. A bit chilly at night I have to say. the campsite was great for birds early in the morning. Lots of common woodland stuff including 4 species of woodpecker. Black was the most interesting but flew off before I could even get my camera out. This male Greyheaded came the closest but the early light wasn't so good.





The first snow of the year was atop Mt Yotei.



Lots of Buzzards around everywhere, here's one snapped out of the car window.



Still a few waders around. 10 or so Greenshank were at Yakumo as was the Grey Tailed Tattler below, at Kamiso on yesterday there was a lone Common Sandpiper and a not so tame Red Necked Stint. A bit crappy compared to some shots I managed of these species last month......





Back in Hakodate the migration season is getting more interesting. I had to cancel a dawn trip up Mt Hakodate on Wednesday (just about the only day's rain in the last month or so) but in the bushes along the river near my flat there have been several Arctic Warbler, easily identified by their buzzing calls but too active to photograph. A single male Siberian Rubythroat was also impossible to photograph as there is just enough vegetation left for it to hide in. Also present have been Grey Wagtail, Bullheaded Shrike, Peregrine, Teal, Asian Brown Flycatcher and various small brown skulkers.

Today there were 7 or 8 Night Heron too, tricky to get a clear view.







Lots of beautiful clear weather recently. A couple of days ago we went to Menagawa. The Harlequin Ducks have returned but only youngster or females and anyway they were too far away for a photo. Also here were Mandarin Duck and lots and lots of Asian House Martin plus White Rumped Swift getting ready to head south. No bird shots so here's a view of Mt Hakodate from the east near Menagawa.



Here's a final view from near Niseko.



After this view I haven't been able to get this song out of my head.



I'd forgotten what a knobhead DLT was. And although that Wurzels song is quite funny (the first time) I couldn't imagine people actually taking time going out and buying the record and putting it onto the turntable and actually listening to it. Odd times the 1970's eh.

Autumn begins, kind of.

Another Grey Tailed Tattler, this one at Shikabe this afternoon. I went there today and last weekend to see if I could see any Common Tern. I'd seen some there 2 years ago and by a stupid act of faith assumed they'd be here today too. They weren't. This Tatler was very confiding though.





Not much else around. A couple of Goosander were in one of the fishing harbours. They were in moult and couldn't fly and were fairly approachable.





There were no waders anymore at Kamiso in the morning. Just these gentlemen poking around the seabed for kelp.





It was a nice fresh autumnal day, the first time I've worn long sleeves since early June. Not so may birds about, it was rather windy everywhere so the birds were under cover at Onuma. Beautiful afternoon light here though.





Here a few alternate views of the mountain today.







And this is a warning on a local mountain road telling you to watch out for Bears.



The leaves were showing the first signs of turning up in the mountains. Autumn is a nice season in Hokkaido, much nicer than in England (although England is nicer in Spring than here). Mild clear days and chilly nights mean great views and bright colours. And the first 2 weeks of October are prime migration time, even in the local park and on the crappy little river near my house.

This is where you can give your dog a shower. A bizarre addition to a street corner in the small village of Ono just outside Hakodate.



There must literally be some dirty sons of bitches in Ono.

So now I'm middle-aged then.

A Grey Tailed Tattler at Kamiso this afternoon. A pretty good day for waders in fact, as there were 8-10 Red Necked Stint around as well as this Sanderling. They look very similar (if paler) to the stints until you see them next to each other, the Sanderling seemed double the size of its' companions.



The Stints weren't as tame as earlier in the month but I got some OK shots, I have hundred of RAW stint shots on my hard drive.





The Tattler was a bit more confiding and I could get fairly close, these shots are hardly cropped (the one on top of the page isn't either).





Not much else around. The first Herring (Vega) Gull of the winter, a lone Kingfisher, no ducks yet and all the Night Herons aseem to have upped and left. This Temincks Cormorant was also at Kamiso.



We went to Onuma yesterday, here's yet another picture from the same viewpoint we always end up at.



Lots of birds in the forest (and still a few mosquitoes too I'm sorry to say). Flocks of Japanese Grosbeak and Japanese White-eye were on the move as well as lots of the regular resident Tits, Woodpeckers and Nuthatches, a poorly seen largeish raptorish bird that freaked all the small birds out (actually it could have been an Ural Owl).

So I'm 40 now. Saturday night was not as maudlin as I expected (actually I don't think I even discussed turning 40 at any point in the evening except when it prompted a couple of free drinks in 2 of the places we visited). Here's the least unflattering picture of me from the night. the rest are (even) much much worse



That's my good friend Don in the background, he's been here even longer than I have.

I got plenty drunk, certainly drunk enough not even to care about Liverpool failing to beat Stoke at home.

End of the 30's

The yellowing ricefields out at Ono this afternoon. This will be my last post when I'm under 40 years old, a sobering thought (and I am indeed sober as I type this).

The beautiful warm clear weather continued the last week but for various reasons I didn't get out much. We went looking for waders at Kamiso again this afternoon and the only one we found was this Grey Tailed Tattler.



Not a great shot, it wasn't as tame as last week's Stints.





Not much else around to be honest. The main birds in Hakodate recently have been the migrating muscicapa flycatchers. 3 species pass through- Asian Brown (the most common by far), Sooty (pretty scarce) and Grey Streaked (rarest of the 3). They're difficult to get good shots of and they all look pretty similar. Here are 2 lousy heavily cropped record shots. The top one is an Asian Brown and the second one is a Sooty Flycatcher. I think.





Here are 2 familiar views from Onuma.





If anyone had told me a week ago that England would thrash Croatia, Liverpool would beat Man Utd (without our 2 best players) and go on to open up their Champions League campaign with an away win against tricky opposition............I would have said they were f***ing crazy.

So I'm 40 on Saturday. A bit of a downer. It'll be a low-key affair, dinner and a few beers with about half a dozen people. I remember turning 30. It was a Sunday and I flew from Manchester to Thailand. I'd gone out the night before with a friend who lived in Manchester so my 30th birthday was sat on economy class on China Airlines hungover as hell and (due to time differences) by the time I arrived in Thailand my birthday had already finished...............