A week around my neighbourhood

An adult Black Crowned Night Heron and a Bullheaded Shrike killing a Tree Sparrow........

Still cloudy every day and as I've been feeling a little unwell this week I just spent my free time checking out the local neighbourhood.

The breeding season is well underway and adults are busily feed ing youngsters everywhere. The young Bullheaded Shrikes and Red Cheeked Starlings have both left their nests......





The adults hang around making sure I'm not up to no good......



And the parents have been bringing food........





The Shrike caught and killed the Tree Sparrow and a a couple of minutes later flew off with the bloody head of its prey in its mouth..........

The Red Cheeked Starlings weren't quite as gruesome......





Whilst checking out some Kingfishers (no pics alas) I noticed this adult Black Crowned Night Heron standing next to the river........



It moved around a little and I shot it from a couple of different angles......





Unfortunately when it actually caught a fish f**kwit here was checking his camera settings and missed his chance.........this is just after it swallowed..........



Will the sun come out soon? I hope so, it's been the gloomiest June I can recall (and I've been here for ten of them).

I've been watching 'Blakes 7' this last week, I just have the very last episode to watch tonight (the one where Avon kills Blake). I suppose the last (and only) time I watched it was when it was originally aired back in the early 80's.

I got buzzed by a Large Billed Crow the other day. They get very aggressive in the breeding season when you walk near their nest. Pairs perch atop houses on either side of the river and call warnings to each other, if you take your eyes off them down they swoop to let you know you're not welcome..............

Erm, yet another rainy Sunday in Hokkaido.

One of several Black Browed Reed Warblers at Ono this afternoon. One of my fave summer birds, they're a little bit shy but not as cowardly as their much bigger and noisier relatives, Oriental Reed Warblers.

I still couldn't get really close though.......







Lots of activity in the ricefields, Chestnut Eared Buntings, Night Herons, Lathams Snipes...........and lots and lots of Stonechats. the ones I've been photographing a lot recently have had a new addition to the family.





And here's a baby White Wagtail...........



Not much to report from town, the common birds are still common. The Red Cheeked Starlings are very active and the first young should be leaving the nest this week.....



And ditto the Bullheaded Shrikes.......



I'll stop moaning about the weather and moan about a new topic instead. This..........



The City Hall employs a small army of men to cut the grass in town. I admit the grass does grow very quickly here in summer but these guys have become the bane of my life. See that thing he's using to cut the grass? That's something to trim the edges right? Or perhaps to get in those little nooks and crannies where a regular lawnmower can't reach? Then why the hell do they use them to cut a whole field? I could put up with the noise for the hour or so it would take (with a normal lawnmower) to cut the waste ground next to my apartment building. But it took two whole days for this clown to do it. Two days of whirring buzzing noise.

I don't think Japan is a 'let's get things done' society. Rather it's a 'let's find something to keep us all occupied' society. Efficiency is not important as long as everyone is seen to be working hard. This method of cutting the grass ticks all the right boxes in Japan. Someone is seen to be working hard (even if the task is ridiculous) and they're being as noisy as hell about it too just in case nobody noticed he was working hard in the firs place.

Imagine a factory. The manager realizes the floor needs to be swept. He could give the job to a professional floor sweeper with a big brush who could do it in an hour or so or he could give the job to a dozen other guys with toothbrushes. He tells them to get their toothbrushes ready and says it's OK to take a few days about it. That factory is every City Hall in Japan.

Why do I get annoyed about this? Because I have to listen to that f**king machine (what is it called, a Strimmer or something?) from 8.30am to 5pm.

You can tell I'm bored.

So England look like they can book their hotels in South Africa. I'm happy Ronaldo is on his way, never liked the smarmy little ba*tard anyway.

I hope the weather improves. If not, i'll have to find something else to moan about. That new noisy as hell construction project just round the corner will probably fit the bill..........

Yet another rainy week in Hokkaido

Many Japanese people tell me the rainy season doesn't reach Hokkaido. Yet every year when the rainy season pushes up through Honshu it also pi**es down with rain here in south Hokkaido. Grey skies, coolish humid weather and lots and lots of rain.

The Stonechats were still in exactly the same place. If the light had been any good I could have gotten some killer shots.





We ended up at Onuma, lots of common stuff in the forest but it was dark and full of mosquitoes. This Kingfisher was the best shot I could come up with. At 400mm and 1/60 second it isn't great.



Not much to report from Hakodate, the nasty weather has curtailed any photo opps. The Red Cheeked Starlings and Oriental Reed Warblers are still busy on the river.....







And this baby Great Tit was kind of cute.......



I've been watching a lot of violent cockney movies this week. 'Rise of the Footsoldier', 'The Business', 'The Football Factory' and 'Nil by Mouth'. I'm naturally a little jaded after hearing the 'C' word approx 1500 times but it brought back memories of my time in Hackney in the early 90's. One time I went to a pub next to Victoria Park and joked to my friend the barman was like a cockney criminal cliche (I did it out of earshot of said barman naturally). Turned out he was an escaped con and former gangland kingpin who was shot at point blank range a few weeks later.

I've also been watching recent Harry Enfield clips on youtube and have to say I often burst out laughing. I miss this kind of stuff from back home, thank god for the internet. That character selling junk to pretentious housewives in Notting Hill is a work of genius. Their Bil Gates/Steve Jobs characters are also pretty funny, especially the 'i-hump' sketch (hey I'm backing up my hard disk onto an external hard drive as I type this so I suppose I have a small part of nerd in my character too).

I've more or less decided to give up on my other blog. Again. Quite simply the software isn't very good (again) and it's a pain to navigate. And nobody ever reads it anyway. So I'll probably update this one more than once a week from now on......

So England won last night, I watched it on my computer. I'm sure they'll win on Wednesday and with Ukraine/Croatia drawing It's looking pretty good. Yet on the various footy forums there are loads of people complaining about England being crap and their fans being deluded. Yes I know we're crap but at least we're probably going to the World Cup and this time last year that looked unlikely. And I'm glad I'm not a fan of Portugal, Sweden, the Czech Republic or several other 'big' countries who look very much in danger of missing out.......

The less said about the cricket the better though.........

Another rainy week in Hokkaido

It was pi**ing down with rain all day today, the weather has been pretty poor again all week. We went out for a drive this afternoon and the Stonechats were still there and I could take a few snaps through the open car window at least.......





I discovered my teleconverter doesn't work so well in poor light, there was a Night Heron walking across the padis that I photographed but the results were very soft and the AF couldn't lock onto the bird and and IS seemed a bit jumpy too.........

Nothing much about really. Here's a very wet Swallow.



Last week the first Spot Billed Ducklings appeared on the river near my flat......



The mortality rate of these ducklings is usually very high. Cats, Rats, Crows all take them I suppose and they seem especially vulnerable when the river swells after heavy rains...........like today.

And there are about 8 or 9 singing Oriental Reed Warblers on the same river. Difficult to get a good shot of, they are very shy despite being a big noisy species......



So the footy season ends with a bit of a whimper. The FA Cup flashed by last night (I was pretty drunk), the Champions League was surprisingly one sided and the end of the Premier League wasn't exactly dramatic either.......lets just hope England can get through next week without any cock-ups.

I wish I could think of something interesting to write but I can't.

At the end of May we usually go away for a 4 or 5 night trip to east or north Hokkaido but because of my wife's new job that isn't possible this year. You can see some bird photos from those trips here.

The big news from the UK seems to be a frumpy middle aged Scottish woman not winning some talent show. I get homesick every now and then but on the other hand I don't have to watch crap like that (or have to talk about it or be forced to listen to others talking about it at work). Now that the footy season is over and my SKY footy package switched off until August my TV won't even be switched on for the next 10 weeks (though I'll watch some downloaded stuff on my computer of course, still got most of Season 4 of Blakes 7 to watch yet..............).

Bloody cute.

One of 4 baby Ural Owls this afternoon at Onuma. You have to admit it's pretty cute........

This picture is not so cute unless you think bloodied decapitated mice are cute.



These Owl shots were taken with my new toy attached to the camera, a Kenko 1.4 Teleconverter. I have to tape the pins to ensure autofocus but it worked most of the time.

I had sore arms and a sore neck after an hour staring up into the trees. The forest at Onuma was fairly overgrown and there were lots of bugs but thank god there weren't any mosquitoes. There were lots of Narcissus Flycatcher, Several Short Tailed Bush Warbler and Black Woodpecker but the Owls got our undivided attention.

The weather has been awful whenever I've had any free time this last week but this afternoon the sun came out. There were several species of wader around at Kamiso and Ono. These Eastern Curlew were at Kamiso and were a local first.



In the ricefields at Ono I saw a big flock of waders in the distance but couldn't locate them afterward. We did find several Wood Sandpiper but none close enough for a photo. The first Cuckoos of the summer were singing, Oriental Reed Warblers and Chestnut Eared Buntings were everywhere, a couple of Black Browed Reed Warblers were skulking in the long grass but not singing yet and my wife saw an 'odd looking' bird that I think may have been a Ruddy Crake....... a bird I've yet to see myself.

Stars of the ricefields were the Siberian Stonechats.









And here's the sun setting over the ricefields.......



More Owl and Stonechat pics will appear on my other blog in a day or two when I sort through them......

So the footy season is drawing to an end. I'll be watching the relegation battle in about an hour or so and I'm so glad I'm not from the northeast. The Champions League, FA Cup and England's trip to the middle of Asia will keep me occupied for the next couple of weeks but then it'll be whatever Ashes action I can find on sopcast or TVU, or BBC's TMS at least I suppose. Can't believe it's 4 years since the last one.

Not much happening in this neck of the woods. The noise coming from lots of minor construction projects in my neighbourhood are keeping me as grumpy as ever. I'm enjoying the first season of the TV show 'Sons of Anarchy', reading some books on human evolution, working a lot............and cursing rainy weather that coincides with my days off. Sunday is the only day we can go out in the car these days so we are at the mercy of the elements. Hopefully next Sunday will be nice and sunny unless God decides to punish me for my past sins and sends more rain.

A rainy weekend.........

A Black Tailed Gull last week. It's been pouring down with rain all day today and the weather has been pretty crappy most of the week really..........

I spent the last 2 or 3 days scanning the sea for Red Necked Pharalopes and Short Tailed Shearwaters and I managed to see absolutely nothing. I missed the Pharalope migration last year after my wife had a prang and the car was off the road for a couple of weeks. Usually they are offshore in the 3rd week of May (as are the Shearwaters). In 2003 and 2006 they were very close inshore and on calm seas too. No such luck today though.

The only nice day last week weatherwise was Friday. I checked the forest at the foot of Mt Hakodate. Lots of stuff around. Blue and White Flycatchers, Eastern Crowned and Short Tailed Bush Warblers, a few Crossbills and all the usual residents including this Great Spotted Woodpecker at a nesthole.







The male was busy chasing off a pair of Red Cheeked Starlings who seemed to have taken a fancy to the hole. Last summer in Onuma the exact same thing happened and in the end the Starlings ended up feeding the young Woodpecker chick......

Like I say nothing on the sea although the views over the Tsugaru Strait were nice enough.........



Lots of Grey Tailed Tattlers around the coast that day too.......more shots from this day are here.

Not much in town this week. 3 Crossbills surprised me in a small garden near my flat but they flew off before I could take a pic. Lots of Red Cheeked Starlings though.....



Today we looked in vain at some of the ricefields at Ono for waders, absolutely nothing doing. There were some birds around though, Lathams Snipe, lots of hirundines, Oriental Reed Warbler and some Chestnut Eared Buntings.



Oh and lots and lots of Skylarks.



So another busy week with not much birding and no good photos. Hopefully things will improve shortly...........

My galleries are finally up and running at my new homepage.

So I watched Man U win the league last night. For a couple of hours I was willing Arsenal to score. I gained a little insight into what it must be to be an Arsenal fan. It must be a frustrating pastime. They're like a pretty cute foreign exchange student with great body, low cut tops and sexy accent. A big flirt too. It's just a shame that when you get to know her you never get past first base. I dunno, she's a lesbian or devout catholic or something. Nice to look at but ultimately an exercise in futility.

All those times I moaned about Liverpool drawing games against teams like Hull and Stoke? See, I was right. It did cost us the title.

Under the weather.....

A male Crossbill a couple of days ago near my flat. Just when I think they've finally left, a few individuals pop up to surprise me. They ignored the pine trees (I think all the seeds have been eaten anyway) and looked a bit unsure tackling whatever blossoms these were..........



As you can see it was beautiful weather. Unfortunately for most of the week I had a cold and was stuck in bed or trying to work. On Monday we headed over to Esan, not much about except for a few lingering winter birds. Here are 2 common residents, a Japanese Wagtail and Blue Rock Thrush.





We went up Mt Hakodate at dawn on Tuesday just as my cold was kicking in. It was a bit quiet to be honest, not many birds around at all. I think the clear weather has meant migrants just passing straight through. On the river near my place I saw Eastern Crowned Warbler and Asian Brown Flycatcher. The first Oriental Reed Warblers appeared today and the numbers of Red Cheeked Starlings has been increasing every day........





We went to Onuma this afternoon very briefly. Lots of stuff around, plenty of singing Narcissus Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush and Eastern Crowned Warbler but nothing posung for the camera.

A very slow week for pictures, here's a crappy one of Mt Esan to the east of Hakodate....



Man U have just gone 2-0 up against City as I type this, looking like it'll all be over before Liverpool even play again. Man City look especially toothless, can't believe they're the richest club in the world. The commentator on Sky's international feed is an annoyingly biased fawning pro Man U moron too. I just switched it off.

I taped the Champions League semi-finals, on Tuesday I just left the tape running before I went to bed but unfortunately I miscalculated the point at which the game started and when I pressed 'play' Man U were already 2-0 up against Arsenal. The Chelsea game was more entertaining, I wish Ballack had actually punched the ref at the end. Not that Chelsea especially deserved to go through or anything. It would just have been funny to see.

Another busy week coming up, looks like the prime birding month of the year (May) is going to pass me by slightly.