BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND...............................................................RED GROUSE HAWTHORNTHWAITE PETE WOODRUFF

Sunday, 9 December 2012

A Bit of a Mix!

I'm desperate, and I think Birds2blog may be beginning to fall apart, mainly due to the lack of birding opportunities for me. This post may well fall below the quality of the last one which in itself was pretty moderate to say the least, but anyway....here goes with a bit of a mixed bag. 

Blackcap Warren Baker 


I think these two images of the female Blackcap are brilliant for their quality and originality, and if you wanted a humorous slant to them they would have to be titled - top to bottom - 'This looks good' - 'Anybody looking'. What a stunning little bird, I really do think these are excellent and thanks for letting me share them Warren.

Male Hen Harrier.

There was two interesting reports yesterday evening/dusk from two locations, one in the east and one in the west involving an excellent number of 12 Hen Harriers, being six seen at Blacktoft Sands in East Yorkshire - three of which were male - and six at Parkgate Marsh in Cheshire. I get a great deal of pleasure seeing any records of the Hen Harrier, but twelve all seen at one time in two locations is exceptional. A bird on the road to extinction at the hands of the slaves of the rich and sometimes famous 'moorland owners'.  

Tim Kuhn: Bighorn Sheep  Bighorn Sheep
Bighorn Sheep Tim Kuhn 


The Bighorn sheep originally crossed to North America over the Bering land bridge from Siberia. An ancient land bridge which connected Asia with North America during the Pleistocene ice ages which spanned from about 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago. The horn of this sheep can weigh up to 14kg, whilst the sheep can weigh up to 140kg. Thanks Tim for this brilliant portrait of the amazing Bighorn.

I have to say the prospects of some birding tomorrow verge on being a certainty. I can feel the excitement coming on....WOW!

9 comments:

  1. Enjoy your birding tomorrow Pete.

    Brilliant news about the Hen harriers - not quite extinct yet :-)

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  2. Great to hear reports of Hen Harrier, Warrens pics are great. As Warren says hope your birding goes well.

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  3. Dont you dare fall apart Pete, your posts are a constant joy to read and see the great pics you post, as in this one. Keep up the great work!

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  4. I echo what Gary says - your blog would be missed by many and posts are a pleasure to read whether you've been birding or not - hope you get a great day out tomorrow

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  5. I visit many birders blog on a daily basis, one of them claims to reply to every comment made to his posts and I like to do the same if I can remember.

    So....Warren/Alan/Adam/Gary/Sharon thank you. As for the last two, thanks for ganging up on me you two, if you see what I mean.

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  6. I too enjoy your posts, don't you think of leaving this blog unattended!
    I hope you'll have many more opportunities to go birding!
    Cheers Pete!

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  7. Thanks Noushka....Viva la France.

    Thanks Ana....Viva España.

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