On this day (October 7th)...........................

October 7th 2013.

A Pomarine Skua close inshore at Yakumo 4 years ago today. Still a heavy crop (it was before I got my 500mm lens) and not a good photo by any means but an interesting species that I haven't seen much of . Actually my only real experiences of skuas were on a trip to the Orkneys over 20 years ago.

There were loads of them heading south that day visible from shore, I have no idea why. It wasn't even particularly windy. I saw 3 species of skua at Yakumo that autumn but not one before or since...............

A Late One

Beautiful autumnal weather today but not much about................

A grey Thursday in late September

A grey day today...................

Another summer gone............

A sure sign autumn is just around the corner is when I notice loads of  Night Herons skulking in the bushes along the local river.........................

End of wader season...........

The wader season for 2017 seems to have come to an end in SW Hokkaido................

Some Kingfishers

Some Kingfisher pics from near Yakumo the other day.................

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

We went camping the last couple of nights and we had to hastily change our plans after we heard a Spoon-billed Sandpiper was present near Sapporo.....

After the Storm

The typhoon came and went..................

Before the storm

A big typhoon is due to hit tonight................

On this day (September 16th).................

September 16th 2011.

2 Black-tailed Godwits in town six years ago today.

This species is scarcer than Bar-tailed Godwit in Hokkaido and I don't see them every year.............

A very quiet week.............

A Black-crowned Night Heron hiding in the thinning vegetation near my flat this afternoon..............

Autumn will begin soon: a few birds passing through included Asian Brown Flycatcher and a flock of Grey Starling.

A pretty dull few days though. The above image was processed in ACDsee, Not a very good image to start with but I'm giving the software a try as I'm thinking about Lightroom alternatives. That is sadly the most interesting news I have...............

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A Bar-tailed Godwit near Oshamanbe today........................

A lone one

There was the grand total of ONE Red-necked Stint at Kamiiso the other day.............

Another Weekend Away #2

Last weekend there were small flocks of Red-necked Stints on many of the beaches north of town.............

Another Weekend Away #1

An Eastern Curlew near Yakumo a couple of days ago..................

On this day (August 30th)...................

August 30th 2011.

A Long-toed Stint on one of the local beaches 6 years ago today.

This very tame individual (the above picture is uncropped) stuck around for several days, I took lots of shots of what is usually a very shy species..............

World War 3

A Red-necked Stint in town yesterday.............

On this day (August 26th)................

April 26th 2011.

A Red Knot in town 6 years ago today.

This is one of only 3 I've seen in Japan (Great Knot is much more common, in fact this was with 2 of its larger relative). I think it is an adult moulting into winter plumage (you can just about see some red on its bell).

A night away

We went camping a few days ago.................

On this day (August 24th)...........................

August 24th 2014.

A Red-necked Pharalope near Tomakomai 3 years ago today. This is a bird that can occur locally in very large numbers offshore (usually in spring) but I've only ever seen them away from the open ocean 2 or 3 times..................

Shame it wasn't in summer plumage.