Spectacled Guillemot

We ended up in Esashi this afternoon......................

Meet the locals #10

Red Necked Stint. (Calidris ruficollis)

Also known as Rufous Necked Stint

Roadblock

North Hokkaido trip 2014 #5

The last afternoon at the campsite was a little overcast and I tried one last time with the Siberian Rubythroat......................

North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #4

I went back to the tame Siberian Rubythroat when the light was a little less harsh..............

North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #3

The weather improved after the first misty couple of days.............

North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #2

There are lots of coastal grasslands on the Ohotsk coast of Hokkaido...................

North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #1

We just got back from a trip up north.................

Phoned in Wryneck

Wryneck near Monbetsu this morning. Processed in camera and on phone again.

Phoned in Rubythroat

Siberian Rubythroat near a mountaintop today.  Processed in camera and then on my phone.

Another quiet one

A day of errors.............

A Japanese Green Pigeon just outside Hakodate late this afternoon...............

A lazy Sunday afternoon

After 5 days at the grindstone looking at the sunny weather outside I finally had a day off and the weather was crap again. Grey, misty, drizzly.

The above Japanese Green Pigeon was at its usual place near Shikabe, the flock was very skittish though and after an hour I gave up.

A bit bored at the moment.................summer is my least favourite season (even when England aren't being crap at major football tournaments) and we're now entering 6 or 7 weeks of mostly downtime. I was so bored I watched 'Pompeii' last night..............what a silly little movie that was. Actually judging by its shape and the large rocks scattered everywhere the volcano at Onuma must have had a huge eruption in historical times, wonder if there are any ash entombed Green Pigeons anywhere?

Busy

A Black Browed Reed Warbler at Oshamabe and an Osprey at Yakumo last Monday.

Very busy this last week and despite the fine weather I couldn't get out much. Among the usual summer stuff I did notice an influx of Intermediate Egret into the ricefields though............

So work work work and a disastrous World Cup...............not the happiest June of my life!

Some more Owls..................

I went back to the same forest on Monday and there was a different Ural Owl family in a different place.............

A Babe in the Woods

A baby Ural Owl this afternoon.

2 weeks of nothing

Well it's been dark, foggy and drizzly for the last 12 days. The above Black Browed Reed Warbler was taken on this day just outside Hakodate 5 years ago (with my 400D/100-400). The weather was crap then too I see.

Hopefully I'll get out and about soon and take some pics, I'm also as busy as I've ever been workwise (I'm self employed so this is mainly a good thing).

Mind you my only immediate plan involves me getting up early tomorrow to shout and scream curses at the TV.

I may go to Onuma after the Italy game, perhaps both England and me won't have a fruitless visit to a humid mozzie infested forest.

Kites

Stoners on the weed

We took a short trip to central Hokkaido last week. Not much birding, the highlight was a stop at Yakumo (near home) where there was a very tame pair of Siberian Stonechat.

What the **** are you looking at?

Siberian Stonechat giving me the eye. RAW file converted in-camera and uploaded via my smartphone. I am away for a few days in the middle of Hokkaido...