England #3

I wish Japanese Robins were as common and tame as European ones.





2 very different chuches.........St Marys in Penwortham and the Minster in York.

Well I made it back to Japan. 27 hours door to door involving a lift, 3 flights covering 5 airports, 1 bus and 1 taxi. I didn't get much sleep but at least the long flight this time featured those little entertainment systems (though if the person in front leans back you can't see all the screen). I watched 'I am Legend' which was nothing special and 'No country for old men' which was rather good.

The last few days in England were quiet after the hectic first week. We did make it out to York, ther first time I'd been there since my early 20's. Unlike me the city hasn't changed so much.





Birding was also very lacklustre. The first Swallows of the year and a Great Crested grebe up the river plus lots of singing Chiffchaff were around last Monday and on Wednesday (my last day in England!) I took a short walk up the lane near yards from my parents' house where I started birding all those years ago. I was surprised to see a pair of Nuthatch (I'd never seen any there before) and amazed to see not one but five Common Buzzard.....it even looks like they might be nesting in a small wood nearby too.......

Here are some of the commoner birds on that very same small lane.....







A bit of a wrench to leave England, 2 weeks seemed way too short. I enjoyed the food I have to say and the beer it goes without saying. British food getsa bit of a bad press but it appears to get better every time I go home. Western staples like fresh bread and decent cheese and stuff like ready cooked Indian stuff from the supermarket helped me pile on the pounds sure enough.

The local birds have changed too. Some common birds are scarcer (House Sparrow) or appear to have gone altogether (I didn't see any Linnet for example), are much commoner (Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Mallard, Goldfinch) or have appeared from nowhere (the aforementioned Nuthatch and Buzzard). Avocet and Little Egret are also apparently well established in the northwest, 2 species I would have considered extremely exotic when I lived in the region.

I didn't see much live footie at all..........except The Liverpool v Arsenal game in the Champion's League. Which was certainly worth watching.

Shall I stay up and watch some rather dull Premier League fixtures tonight? Or should I go to bed and sleep off that horendous journey? I'll decide after my last taste of England..........a bottle of Marston's Pedigree I brought back now safely in the fridge......

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............

Tokyo blossoms

So I'm in Tokyo on my way back to England and updating my blog painfully slowly on my cellphone. Dunno if this photo is resized or even the right way up.

Spring, homecomings and bye bye lens?

It's been an odd kind of a week. Very very mild springlike weather plus last minute preparations for my visit back to England. Nothing much happening on the birding front although the owner of the 100-400 lens I've been using over the winter will be shortly reclaiming it, on Tuesday perhaps. A bit of a wrench to let it go (and the photo quality on this blog will no doubt suffer, from average back down to fairly poor no doubt) but it's been great using it these last 4 months so merci beaucoup to Franck.

The Crossbills are still popping up around town and the last 'keepers' from the lens are likely to be these birds photographed today and yesterday.





I haven't left town all week. Furthest I got was Kamiso where this Pelagic Cormorant was fishing in the harbour.



This is the smaller and less common of the 2 local species of Cormorant.



The 2 Mute Swan were still present, this is fairly rare in Japan (though these are no doubt part of a small feral population found in Hokkaido).



The common Ducks and Gulls a are all still present. Here's a portrait of Black Tailed Gull, the commonest summer Gull.



Here's a yawning adult Glaucous Winged Gull on the river near my flat. A common winter vistor across the region.



The commonest resident Gull is the Slaty Backed Gull. At least this one is doing something interesting, eating a freshwater crab near my flat again. Shame the first pic is out of focus.





The right wing propaganda buses were out in force again today. I wonder what life is like is a Japanese rightwinger's home. You can imagine it.......

"What shall we do today dear? It's a beautiful spring day. A walk in the park perhaps followed by a spot of lunch? A round of golf maybe? A visit to see the grandchildren? Nah. Let's drive around town in the black bus annoying the whole city blaring out crappy military style music and mouthing off racist slogans that wouldn't be tolerated in any other civilised country. Ok! Sounds like a plan!"

Here's some shots of little Japanesey things that would warm the cockles of their little pure Japanese hearts.





I walked down to Mt Hakodate last week and took a look in the forest. It's eaxctly a year since I got the camera and one of the first places I went after I got it was the feeding station at the bottom of the hill. For some reason the active feeders weren't even close to the hide (unlike last year)....these were 2 of the better shots I could manage. A Great Spotted and a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker.





Not much else in the forest, certainly no spring visitors. A male Bullheaded Shrike has been the only migrant I've seen so far. Other stuff around has included Redpoll, Kingfisher, the aforenmentioned Crossbills, lots of Hawfinch and Dusky Thrush, Brent Goose, 2 species of Cormorant, a Blue Rock Thrush, 7 species of Gull and a dozen or so species of Duck, a few Brambling, Jay, 5 species of Tit, Nuthatch, Wren and Black Backed Wagtail.......here's a Dusky Thrush and an overexposed pair of Brent Goose.





So an interesting 12 months with my first DSLR. I got some ok shots, especially with the 100-400 but also with the shorter 70-300. It'll be back to that one until at least the autumn.

Unless something dramatic appears in front of the camera on my short walk tommorrow my next post should be from England. It's been a long time since I've been back. I'm prepared to be shocked by prices, lots of semi-awkward conversations with people I haven't seen in ages and ages, delighted by decent bread and Indian food and am really looking forward to going to my old local patch with a scope and camera. I'm dreading the long uncomfortable journey, though we at least have 24 hours in Tokyo on Wednesday/Thursday at the beginning of the trip.

So Liverpool have FIVE huge games coming up and I'll be in England for 3 of them. I have a sneaking feeling they'll finish the season extremely strongly. Exactly how strongly and to what end we'll have to wait and see. But please god at least let's not lose to Man U again.

*EDITED TO ADD*

Mascherano is an idiot, Steve Bennet is a moron, Ronaldo is a smarmy w*nker, Kuyt is useless and football I hate you.