Mallard digiscoped through Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece, Apple iPhone 4S and bodged-together adaptor |
Friday, December 30, 2011
iPhonescoping: the return?
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digiscoped,
iPhone,
iPhonescoping,
mallard
brought to you from
Bedford MK44, UK
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The shortest day
Like last year, I spent 21 December on the farm trying to catch some birds. 21 December 2010 was cold and snowy, we caught lots of birds and had a big jar of Quality Street to devour. Sadly 2011 was not quite as successful.
Coal Tit was a good catch for the farm, with only a couple ever caught there before.
'Fascinating' fact: You can tell how old Coal Tits are at this time of year (though I forgot to photograph the relevant bit). Young birds don't moult all of their greater coverts, so if you look carefully you can see difference in colour between the old ones and the new ones.
photos taken with Apple iPhone 4S
But we caught a few birds around the farm orchard.
'Fascinating' fact: Both adult and juvenile House Sparrows do a complete moult after the breeding season (though obviously not all at once - that would be silly). So once that's complete you can't tell how old they are. But you can tell whether they're male or female.
male House Sparrow |
female House Sparrow |
Coal Tit (sex unknown) |
'Fascinating' fact: You can tell how old Coal Tits are at this time of year (though I forgot to photograph the relevant bit). Young birds don't moult all of their greater coverts, so if you look carefully you can see difference in colour between the old ones and the new ones.
photos taken with Apple iPhone 4S
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Red and white and frosty
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fly agaric,
frosty,
hawthorn,
red,
telephone box
Monday, December 12, 2011
BOOM!
Waiting for high tide and birds at Beaumaris |
I've been for a wet and cold weekend in Wales (who'd have thought that Wales would be wet and cold in December?). But there was a good reason: to see cannon netting for the first time. After much briefing, we arrived at Beaumaris on Anglesey before dawn and set up the net. Then we waited in freezing cold temperatures for a few hours until high tide had pushed the roosting waders into position.
One of the 90 'retrap' Dunlin |
Inside the hide at Bangor |
On Sunday we tried again at Bangor harbour (having failed on Saturday). It was horribly rainy and we then had to wait for the tide again. I was pretty lucky to wait inside the [leaky, hessian] hide instead of outside.
It would have the ideal place to have seen the red button being pressed... but unfortunately, the birds didn't get into the right position for us and once more, we didn't get to fire the net.
Pretty exciting stuff. And we had a great pizza (with free pint) at Gallt y Glyn on Saturday night. Thanks to the SCAN crew for showing me the ropes!
photos taken with iPhone 4S
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Anglesey,
cannon netting,
dunlin,
ringing,
Wales
brought to you from
Beaumaris, Isle of Anglesey LL58, UK
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