Fantastic tripod but never figured out how to spread the legs, anyone know?
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A Tale About Storks – part 2
Recalling myself from the useless wishful staring at the empty spot in the field beside me, I found a news article that told me that one of the pole’s support beams had been rotten. Being close to the cycling path, it had been taken down for safety reasons. Permanently. Typical Dutch overprotectiveness was my rebellious first reaction, getting more grumpy by the minute.
It was getting colder now, the sun hiding behind ever darkening clouds, so I quickly skimmed over the article. Not quite taking it all in, my eye did fall on the mention that around Deurze – as the pretty brook and nearby village are named - one pair of storks had nested in a tree last year. In the village. Good heavens!, I thought...
A Tale About Storks Part 1
The storks are back!
Three weeks ago I sighted my first stork of the year gliding through the sky in front of our high rise apartment block, right on the edge of town. I spotted the first couple foraging in the nearby field a few days later, and had heard bill-clattering welcome greetings several times in the distance.
Having a break from the rather awful April weather, I got on my bike on the first sunny opportunity. Patches of blue sky lined by huge fluffy white clouds, it was eleven degrees Celcius, with just a breeze of wind. Unaware at first of the very black and threatening rain clouds also up there in the sky, I thought it a perfect day to check out the nearest three stork nests.
Packing a note...
Avid readers will have worked out by now that I’m most definitely not a morning person. Which is unfortunate, given the amount of bird ‘life’ I miss out on by virtue of being a barely- functioning shell of a man before about half ten. My ‘birding hard reset’ though seems to have worked wonders for early morning. The Friday after my Sma’ Glen/ Loch of the Lowes trip I was due to be in the office. Normally such mornings are spent pondering life choices and ruminating about why I never play the lottery. This Friday, however, was something special.
A wall of noise struck once I left the house. A handful of house sparrows had been feeding in the garden and scattered to the shelter of my neighbour’s hedge. A song thrush called from close by-...
Bird Stories – A Tale About Storks (coming up soon)
Last week, on April 16th, I became a member of this Bird Forum. I posted an intro about myself that day in the Say Hello forum. In my intro I refer to my late brother, who was a passionate lover of birds and keen observer, teaching me enough about birds to consider myself a reasonably informed layperson. In our 59 years of life together we went on many a bird watching walk, at home in The Netherlands, and abroad.
In my Say Hello post, I also referred to a second message - Opportunity for book lovers and collectors - that I had posted in the For Sale forum that same day. I posted this second message because my brother left me a legacy of some 1000+ bird and nature books, which I...
https://stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2024/04/1241-windy-dundee-sunday-7424.html
The local bird club had an outing within Dundee recently and I helped out with 'local knowledge'. Despite less than ideal conditions, and unfavourable tide times, we still managed to exceed expectations and also saw some pretty decent birds.....
So much for the joy of being out......
Following my moan- fest in Dunbar I was desperate to get back out, find space and time, somehow and somewhere. I had booked a couple of days off work to give me a (very) long weekend, and had a set-in-stone plan to visit the Sma' Glen. The 'plan' if you can call it that beforehand was to fit in as much 'guerilla birding' as possible. Fit in birding amongst the taxi- duties and man- tasks. Dropped eldest mini- Sand at work, and headed for Cathkin Marsh. Not in the expectation of great birding, but more as part of a back-to-basics approach. That, and the chance of a willow warbler....
Predictably, the micro- climate meant the wind and rain arrived early, and a useless driver (parker?) in a...
After an exhausting term 2 in university physics, I realised I had not been out birdwatching since the start of the year! Three trips to Thetford Forest followed, which resulted in incredible great grey shrike photos. Currently hoping for a golden eagle encounter in Spain, as well as seeing common eider and lady's slipper orchids in the north of England in April and May.
https://naturalistgb.blogspot.com/2024/03/thetford-forest-spring-2024.html
I can often be a bit grumpy. I’m happy to admit it, I often revel in it, as a joke my kids bought me one of those mood bracelets, and have since expressed concern about what I’d be like without it. Sometimes, though, my grumpiness is well warranted.
I love being outdoors, and I struggle with the fact that I have to work, and have other family- related duties to fulfil, and can’t actually go birding 7 days a week. I suppose I could but would remain neither married nor employed for long. I need days out to maintain my equilibrium. I’m not a twitcher of birds, but I twitch if I don’t get to go birding.
After my highly enjoyable, soul- restoring Musselburgh trip my birding became very stilted in March. One of the perks of being employed...
Sometimes as a birder, you just have to grin and bear it....
I've realised I need to stop listening to my mate Bill. Sure, he's a repository of a lifetime's worth of birding knowledge, and is damned good company to boot, but his other- worldly luck with birding sets an exceptionally high bar, and an unrealistic expectation of "well, my mate Bill can do it, so can I...." This is a chap, remember, who birds go to see.
My trip to Fairlie, as challenging as it had been, was still good enough to reignite the warm, happy birding glow, after my January stutters. I resisted the urge to do a comparison with January 2023, and instead focused on my next adventure. Bill had happily let me know he had had an excellent day in Dumbartonshire...
I am more confident about this set of pictures. The bird has black legs and bill, yellow feet and was wading and fishing on the shore line. Location: south of Caleta de Fuste (c. 1 mile). Some pictures are sharp, other balletic. What a lovely bird. I enjoyed following it along the shore line, though I never got as close as I wanted.
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