Scotland Visit Day 1 : RSPB Inversnaid : 8th September 2011 We had the chance to visit family up north so we decided to make a bit of a break of it by staying at some birding places on the way there and back. We drove from Manchester to Stirling on 7th September. We had…
Summary of August 2011 Weather The month started started with very mixed weather, some days being very wet, others quite hot and humid. By the end of the first week it was raining every day and stayed that way for the second week of August. By the third week it was a little better but…
“The Secret Life of Birds: Who they are and what they do” by Colin Tudge : 15 August 2011. I have not been doing a great deal of birding this month because I have had a bad cold that has meant that I have been a bit house-bound. Having already read any outstanding books on…
RSPB British Birds of Prey by Marianne Taylor & Stig Frode Olsen : 8 August 2011 This book was recommended to me particularly for the photographs by Stig Frode Olsen and it has to be said that it is hard to imagine better photography than this. Each species has eight to ten accompanying photographs each…
Mixed Flock in Garden : 7th August 2011 A very unusual sight in the garden. I looked casually at the back garden feeders as I must do a million times a day and was somewhat amazed to see half a dozen Long-tailed Tits all over the feeders. On top of this there were nine Blue…
Day Out To WWT Martin Mere : 4th August 2011 We drove up to Martin Mere to collect the new scope I had ordered but while we were there we had a look around the hides as well. The weather wasn’t brilliant and it had been raining heavily so the scrapes were under water and…
Day Out To Tatton Park : 3rd August 2011 We drove out to Tatton Park, parking in the usual place at the south side of Tatton Mere. We walked through the woods which were pretty quiet although we did see a Nuthatch and a Song Thrush as well as the more familiar suspects. On the…
Summary of July 2011 Weather Very hot at the start of the month getting wetter towards the end of the first week. By the middle of the month it had gotten very wet. We were away between the 14th – 18th and on return we got the impression that there had been heavy rain throughout…
Day Out To Upper Derwent Valley : 28th July 2011 The Upper Derwent Valley is an area of the Peak District National Park and within it are various sites including Ladybower Reservoir, Derwent Reservoir and Howden Reservoir and their associated dams. From the visitor centre (on weekdays only) you can drive all the way up…
Day Out To WWT Martin Mere : 26th July 2011 We went up to Martin Mere mainly because I wanted to get a part exchange price on my 4 year old Opticron scope from the “In Focus” store there. I spoke to Andy Bunting who works in the shop there and who we have talked…
