On this day (December 11th)....................

December 11th 2007.

Common Kingfisher on the river near my apartment. Normally a shy species, for a week or two 4 years ago this individual was surprisingly approachable. It's a shame that most of these trees have been chopped down since.................

This is a common bird across south Hokkaido but I've struggled to get decent shots of it. A big lens and a lot of patience is needed I think, alas I have little of the latter and none of the former..........

Japanese Waxwings

A quick hobble over to a small park near my flat today resulted in a nice find: a flock of 6 Japanese Waxwing. Note the red tip to the tail and the yellow flash on the belly (adults only) which distinguish it from Bohemian Waxwings (which tend to be much commoner in Hokkaido).

They were mostly high up in the trees against a grey sky but this individual came down a bit just as some afternoon sunshine peeked out from behind a cloud............

Great result in the cricket, not counting my chickens yet though. The last time England won a series in Australia I was in my first year at University, it seems like a lifetime ago. I was also 15kg lighter and 24 years younger...............

I wish the Botham v Chappell fight was on youtube somewhere.

Still fairly mild in Hakodate and no snow in town.

My back and leg are still f***ed and outside is still construction  noise hell.

But you just gotta love Waxwings................

Not much else around on my very short walk (my right leg hurts after 10 or so paces so I have to walk very slowly with lots of stops). Several Hawfinch and a few Dusky Thrush and that's about it.

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Hobbling

Thanks to Tomohiro for driving me up to Yakumo yesterday and waiting patiently as I limped behind him. There were plenty of eagles again but apart from a couple of White Tailed Eagles here most of them were high in the sky............

Rather mild here, it appears the UK has gotten our snow and ice. You can keep it for a couple of weeks until I get back.............

My leg still hurts and I can only hobble around and there is still loads of construction noise outside but i'll try not to moan. As much.

I've hardly been out of the house, I struggled down to the river for 10 minutes the other day, there were a few Hawfinches but not much else around.

I've watched most of the Ashes so far, god I hope we can go 1-0 up tomorrow. Online 'illegal' streaming is excellent (although it occasionally goes off), I've been watching most of the Sky's broadcasting.

I've also been watching 'Mid Morning Matters' on youtube, Alan Partridge's new online comedy.

See, if I hadn't f***ed up my lumbar disc I wouldn't have watched all the cricket. One silver lining. Mind you i'd prefer to watch the cricket without any back or leg pain at all.

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Painkillers on a dark day

A Varied Tit at Onuma this afternoon. It was a dark dark day with driving wet snow but a trip to the hospital a couple of days ago at least resulted in painkillers that seem to have taken the edge off my limp. Slightly.

They're pretty tame, as you can see.

Not much around except the resident woodland birds, I spent half an hour watching a flock of Long Tailed Tits, these are much harder to catch in a nice pose and they aren't like the Varied Tits which behave like pets.

The northern race is very cute it has to be said.

So a real crappy week comes to an end, I have to endure yet more construction noise from tomorrow (the house next door enters its seventh month of construction, the building to the rear of my flat is being pulled down leading to god knows what future noise and oh yeah for no apparent reason other than using up its' budgets  Hakodate f***ing City hall is gonna spend 4 months fixing the b****rd road in front of my flat from next month) and I also have to go back to hospital in a few days too.

At least I can escape to the UK for a while from the middle of December. I'll be jaded, bitter, angry and frazzled inside but serene on the outside as you can see from this pic my wife took of me this afternoon.

Looks like England will manage to save the First Test, I spent most of the second day following the commentary on cricinfo on my cellphone as I waited in various waiting rooms scattered across one of the local hospitals........

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2010 Best of #1

I'm bored and housebound for the second time this year. I've herniated a disc in my lower spine and can't walk any distance, dunno why or how exactly but years of poor posture and latterly hunching over a computer and also carrying 2.5Kg of camera gear over my shoulder several times a week for the last 3 of those years probably haven't helped.  So whilst I sit here listening to the construction noise outside cursing sciatica, noisy men with hardhats and life in general I've sorted out some photos from the first part of the year.



January 2010 was a good month in Yakumo for both species of Sea Eagle and I got some OK BIF shots compared to previous years................thanks to the 7D for that.

The above two are Stellers Sea Eagles and the following two are White Tailed Eagles.





Here's one in a tree.



It was a good winter for eagles, much better than the previous one due to the large numbers of salmon.

In amongst the Sea Eagles this Mountain Hawk Eagle at the end of the month was a nice find..........

This individual attracted quite a kot of attention. We found it and another photographer stopped, looked and thought it was just a Black Kite (!). He was about to drive off when I told him what it was. This is quite a scarce bird in Hokkaido and was only the second one I'd ever seen. Unlike the other eagles this one was not harassed by crows, looking at those talons I can see why.



The Long Tailed Ducks provided nice photo opps at Oshamanbe.



As did the local Brent Geese in Hakodate..............



Small birds were thin on the ground in what proved to be a very cold winter. I did manage to get some nice shots of Daurian Redstart at last though.........



There were no Waxwings at all in early 2010 and also no winter finches. Not a single Crossbill, Asian Rosy Finch or even Siskins or Redpolls. Only Hawfinches............



The tame Tits and Nuthatches at Onuma were around for the third winter running.





The slow winter for passerines was compensated for by some great birding in the local harbours in Hakodate in March and early April. Both Black Throated and Red Throated Divers were around.





And lots and lots of Black Necked Grebes too..........coming into summer plumage too.





And quite a few Red Necked Grebes also put in an appearance...........



And how cute are Ancient Murrelets?



Spring began with a nice scarcity right near my apartment with this Hoopoe..........



Plus the returning Night Herons on the local river.



Common migrants in the bushes in town included Red Flanked Bluetail and Eastern Crowned Warbler, both birds I seem incapable of taking a decent shot of...........






And waders on the local beaches included Whimbrel..........



Overshoot migrants included this Intermediate Egret at Onuma.



The usual colourful summer migrants arrived, my fave has to be the Narcissus Flycatcher, an abundant summer visitor to Onuma.



Nearer home the Red Cheeked Starlings looked great in among the cherry blossoms.





The Oriental Reed Warblers returned in mid May to set up shop along the river...........



And at the same time the Siberian Stonechats were arriving in the padis.............



Part 2 to follow soon.................unless my back miraculously heals in the next few days and I can get out and take some new photos.


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