Saturday 31 December 2016

Happy New Year!


Hello

The next indoor club meeting will be on Wednesday 4th January 2017 when Chris Ward returns to present on a photographic expedition of Ecuador. Chris is an enthusiastic presenter and skilled photographer and the evening will be a fascinating insight into the birds and wildlife of this very special South American country.

As usual the evening will begin at 7.30pm, the venue being the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir off the Brixworth Road outside Holcot village. Hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening.

Happy New Year!


Friday 23 December 2016

NEARLY CHRISTMAS

Hello Everyone,

You've probably noticed, the writing is on the wall, yes it's nearly Christmas.
Amazing the last one was at least a year ago!

Blimey! how time flies. I Don't believe (it) that almost all of my mates in the Bird Club
are now retired and some actually receiving the old age pension.
Thank god I'm still only 29.

But I digress I just wanted to give you all my Christmas present list.

Who said Fat Chance?

O K  Anyways up, on behalf of the committee I would like to raise a glass
(or in DJs case a bottle) and wish you all


              A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR, hic,

I'm sure that you will also join me in Thanking all committee members and those that have worked behind the scenes for their sterling efforts.

                                    CHEERZ here's to NEXT YEAR!

                     


                                                 

Wednesday 14 December 2016

Bird Club Photo Competition - Urgent

Somebody has given me a Toshiba memory stick for the competition. It has no name on it so I do not know who gave it to me. 

Furthermore, all the photos are just in a list, each just given a number. They are not put into the categories to which they are being entered and they do not have details of the subject or where it was taken. 

As it stands these are not going to be entered into the competition. If you think they may be yours then  please contact me and we can try to sort it out. However, as soon as I have finished loading all the other entries I shall be sending them off to the judge and then it will be too late.
John

Update - problem solved!

Thursday 8 December 2016

A GOOD EVENING WAS HAD BY ALL

Last night's NBC MEETING was a treat.

Dave J. gave his unique style of presentation on the South African BC Trip. It was both involving and engaging with a great overview of images of his own and other members.
Sadly my name was mentioned, but for all the wrong reasons, (I own up to one of the toilet shots) but happily so were others.
Gentle banter was the order of the evening, I don't think anyone didn't have a laugh or at least a wry smile during the proceedings.

But last night nearly didn't happen. Dave had spent a large amount of time in preparation for his talk.
Just a couple of minor alterations at around 10 pm the previous evening when the right button didn't
get pressed.

Hey Ho the whole talk disappeared never to return,  in Dave's own words Oh! how he larfed !!

All the processed images were also deleted as he went along,  not thinking he would need them again.
How Dave larfed again!!

Around 2am the following morning there was nothing for it but to start all over again larfing all the
while.

But that wasn't the end of it, I had arranged to pick Dave up as he is struggling with a slipped disc.
Coming to the A508 I could not turn left towards Dave's due to an accident so turning right I passed an ever increasing queue of traffic. Going in a large circle I tried to get to him from the opposite direction, that too was cordoned off.

Eventually everything fell into place and the rest is history.

Well Done Dave it was all worth the effort,  now did you say you would be doing a Talk on
The Gambia?



Saturday 3 December 2016

Next Indoor Meeting

Hello

Our next indoor meeting is on Wednesday 7th December 2016 when club member Dave Jackson will be leading the presentation on the Bird Club excursion to Southern Africa earlier in the year. 

Audience participation is anticipated as we learn of the thrills and spills of this wildlife extravaganza as club members started their safari in The Cape with a flat calm pelagic trip followed by lots of bird-watching, African mammals and similar beasts!

As usual the start time is 7.30pm sharp and our venue is the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir situated off the Brixworth Road just outside Holcot village (NN6 9SJ). Hot drinks and biscuits will be available all evening and this is an open meeting for members and non-members alike.

Members of the committee look forward to seeing you there!

Regards

Neil M


Black-browed Albatross
courtesy of Dave Francis

African Cattle Egrets

NBC PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 2016.

Hi everyone,

Just a brief reminder,

Hopefully entrants will be collating  their images in preparation for what is possibly one of the best
meetings of the year.
So photographers please read and adhere to the new rules as set out on the blog, also check out
John's post from 30th October.
You can now enter 3 captioned pics, so enter into the spirit and let's see some funnies.

Last year, as you probably know, only 1 vote separated the overall winner so your votes really do matter.
This will be the second year The Graham Soden shield will be awarded so will Dave hang onto it
or will someone else win?  It's your vote.

Hope to see you all at the next meeting,  The Bird Club's South African Trip presented by our own
Dave Jackson, one not to be missed!






Friday 25 November 2016

TABS 4 U

Hi folks, if you hadn't noticed Nick Parker has kindly reformed our header tabs. We have now all our photographic competitions under one Tab.

Nick has also provided a couple more tabs for members use, For Sale/Wanted and
Other Northants Wildlife.

So if you would like take advantage of these you can contact Nick or myself (robin.gossage@sky.com)


Saturday 19 November 2016

PEREGRINE FEST

It seems that these days Peregrines are seen quite widely in Northamptonshire. But back in the good old days they were and still are  regarded as an iconic species  but an awfully lot rarer.

Most views even now are brief and usually distant especially when they are hunting, but I always
feel privileged on seeing a 'Grin'.

Yesterday at Pitsford Water, Dave J, Wendy and myself watched a Grin for over ten minutes.

It wasn't perched neither was it hunting it was messing with the corvids. Now the large numbers
of corvids harass and make life difficult for most of the Buzzards, Kites, Hawks etc, at Pitsford.

This Grin turned the tables , actively just winding the crows up and when they got too close his
talons showed who was boss.
His twist's and turns were great to watch but when he dived no crow could live with it, superb !

Each time the corvids thought they had got rid of him he returned for more fun.










Also on show has been up 5 Great White Sharks,  just joking, lots of Little Egrets and the odd
Green Sandpiper Kingfisher and Otter.









Its good to know that every now and again those pesky crows get sorted.


Saturday 5 November 2016

Images from Spurn

Hello

Jacob Spinks spent part of his half term break last month with other young ornithologists at the migration hotspot of Spurn. There were plenty of migrants to watch coming in off the sea and a good number of scarcities and rarities too. Jacob was fortunate to find individuals of Tawny Pipit and Little Bunting himself. The following images were taken by Jacob during his time there...

Regards

Neil M




Dark-bellied Brent Geese

Eiders

Long-tailed Duck

Common Redstart

Black Redstart





Eastern Black Redstart

Long-eared Owl


Snow Bunting




Weasel














Friday 4 November 2016

Hugh's Walks Daventry CP



Thursday 3 rd September, Hugh, John, Richard, Tricia and myself (Ken) met at Daventry Country Park for a stroll around the reservoir.  
The wind was a bit chilly crossing the dam, but once in the shelter of the trees it became more pleasant.  There were the usual gulls and odd 
heron, great crested grebe, tufted duck, wigeon and coot first thing  Hugh could hear skylarks and bullfinch early on but these were not 
seen.  Robins & blackbirds were constantly around as were crows and pigeons.  We eventually spent some time overlooking the scrape on the far 
side, where we found three snipe, two green sandpipers, shovellers, numerous gulls, tufted duck and wigeon - the call of the latter is a 
wonderful sound.  We met Garry Pullen (I hope I've got his name right) who could not add to our sightings on the far bank. Continuing on 
long-tailed, coal and blue tits, together with several good sightings of those adorable goldcrests.  We eventually made our way back to the 
car park through some lovely autumn settings.
Thanks once again to Hugh for arranging the walk and the others for making a very enjoyable morning.

Ken Scales.





Looks like you chose a really nice day and had a lovely autumnal walk Ken. Thanks for this.

If any other members have something they would like to be posted on the site just let me know.  Robin.

Sunday 30 October 2016

Changes to photographic competition rules

The photographic competition for 2016's photos will take place on 1st February 2017. The rules are broadly the same as last year as nobody has posted any comments on the proposed changes. However there are some changes which have been made necessary because we are having an external judge and his availability and mine is limited over late December and January. Please note the following:

1 Only photos submitted on CD/DVD or memory stick (the medium) will be accepted. (No emails will be accepted).

2 The closing date is the Bird Club Social on 13th December 2016.

3. All photos must be put into separate folders for each subject category and a clear list of subject and location supplied with the medium. This list can be a Word file on the medium or a legibly written list on a sheet of paper with the medium.

4. Up to three photos can be entered into the caption section (formerly it was only 1).

These rules will not be waived for anyone.

Saturday 29 October 2016

Indoor meeting 2nd Nov

Hello

Our next indoor meeting will be on Wednesday 2nd November 2016 when our guest speaker will be Tim Mackrill of the Rutland Water Osprey project. Tim will again provide a presentation on the project to introduce the unique Osprey to the skies of the Midlands, providing some additional information and an update from his previous talk to the club.

As usual our venue is the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir (NN6 9SJ) and we start promptly at 7.30pm with a few notices and then on to the guest presentation. Free hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening. We invite and look forward to meeting both members and non-members alike.

Regards

Neil McMahon



Osprey

Monday 24 October 2016

NBC Monthly Birding Trip

Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk,  was the meeting place for this months venue. On arrival all the
off road parking spaces were already taken, so we opted to park further up the lane. This was not
as easy as you might expect, the lane wasn't that wide and the verges quite narrow.

Eventually parked, we ambled down the long track toward the dunes. Mark had made us aware of two rare wheatears that might be available so hopes were high.

Good job we had a bit of nosh or "nosebag" as Dave Young would


 call it, before we left as it was a fare trek.The weather was very kind, bright and sunny with a slight breeze. But as a budding photographer a bit contrasty (one excuse).

Isabelline Wheatear




The first rare Wheatear we came across was a Isabelline. A rare eastern vagrant, a second for
me within a week as I had seen the Spurn bird earlier. Shortish tail accentuated by long legs
upright stance with a prominent dark alula , possibly the best features to look for.
Most people with a telescope had good views but it was flighty (excuse two). We only managed
distant shots.

The Stonechats would have looked like this, but with no leg iron


Two or three nice Stonechats performed but as I didn't want to incur the wrath of others they
remained distant.


Desert Wheatear



Desert Wheatear


Moving on the mobile Desert Wheatear was more obliging giving nice views, a more confiding
bird altogether but it nearly caused altercations amongst a couple of photographic plonkers.

Satisfied with the rather cute Desert Wheatear we wandered back toward the Isabelline.
However the small crowd we joined were waiting for a Pallas's Warbler. As ever Mark was quick
off the mark pun intended in locating this little gem. A gorgeous little thing preening in the
bushes. How these tiny mites ever arrive here is just amazing!

John and Wendy







Reaching the Isabelline again but it was still remaining distant. Slowly but surely we made our way
back when ever observant Mark noticed a couple of Grey Partridge slowly wander across the adjacent
field, this number magically rose to 5 or 6.
Now this bird has been in decline in recent years so I was quite excited to get some images even
though they were not that close and in high contrast light.

Last of the summer wine


Wandering up the narrow lane towards Bob's transport I could not believe the parking of vehicles after we had arrived. Virtually in the middle of the road with wing mirrors still stuck out, no way would a tractor have been able to get by.


WHHOOSH


A group of Waxwings  had been seen at Burnham Norton so that seemed a good place to go. Just behind a picturesque windmill a small  flock were perched in bushes.
Within a couple minutes a sparrow hawk appeared, whoosh the lot took flight.


Oops gotta go


Moving to Hunstanton cliffs where a short period  of sea-watching was performed then off home
to watch the recorded F1 qualifying.

Many Thanks to Bob Gill as always and for Trish and John for their pleasant company.