Iceland

I have just got back from a few days in Iceland with 5 friends. A lovely country with some stunning scenery. We saw Orcas, White-beaked Dolphins and thousands of gulls. We visited Strokkur and watched the regular eruptions and managed to find some low level Northern Lights.

For more details check my travel blog.

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Arthur's Seat

As it was a nice day and I had never been there we decided to go and explore Arthur's Seat. We managed to find the lower road and stopped by St. Margaret's loch. The weather deteriorated a bit but we walked round it avoiding the muddy patches. There were several Mute Swans, Tufted Duck, and Black-headed Gulls with a few Mallard, Greylag and Coot. A Moorhen pecked around the tree roots and 2 Blue and 1 Great Tit twittered in the trees.











Just as we got back to the car a ranger turned up and closed the Queen's Drive, despite it supposedly being open till dusk. Following a chat with a local we went back and round the other side, the cliffs are quite spectacular.









We parked by .... Loch and walked up to Dunstapie loch up a long flight of steps. It was great to see 'wild' tots of snowdrops.





The views were great, despite the weather closing in and it was great to be out. Hopefully we will be back in better weather.















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Week in Edinburgh

As my aunt needed some help, following a knee operation, we agreed to go up for a week. We left home at 5.30 am ahead of the forecast storms and had a really good run up, arriving around 3.30.
Sunday was such a lovely day that we decided to go out for walk along the coast. We negotiated our way through to Musselburgh and parked in a car park near Prestongrange. The sun was shining and, though the wind was quite sharp, it was a lovely walk with Pied Wagtail in the car park, Oystercatchers on the beach and Eider duck, Goldeneye, Scoter and gulls on the sea.

A daisy flower showed up and the gorse flowers really brightened up the path.


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A month of rain.

January started off mild and this continued throughout the month with grey skies and rain and just the odd sunny day. We recorded nearly 9inches of rain over the month.
We tried various walks including the old railway line and Turner's Field,






Park Wood and Hamstreet Woods, donning wellies and waterproofs.









Park Wood
The mild weather has brought so many flowers out early. The snowdrops have been in flower since Christmas, with a group of narcissus also blooming all month. The primroses and crocus have thrown out some blooms as have the campanula and one or two hawthorn branches have broken into leaf.


Along the railway line we found hazel catkins blowing in the wind along with a single dandelion flower.


Across the marsh the incessant rain has raised the water table and flooded dykes, fields and areas of the shingle through the trapping area and the desert.
The flooding of the Dowells is an amazing sight, although it isn't bringing in many birds.











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A Winter's Day

There was a real increase in the water levels across the marsh this morning, Fairfield church stood on it's mound while the combination of sun and dark rain clouds resulted in a rainbow which had disappeared by the time I stopped.












There were the usual small birds on the feeders at Baynham Farm, a Mute swan flock which included a Black Swan and the Bewick Swans are still from Caldecott Lane. The road into Lydd was axle deep but passable.





After a cup of tea and a chat with BB we decided to wander out in search of the Hume's warbler, as the sun was shining and it had been seen this morning. The water levels are higher than I have ever seen them and trying to navigate through the underwater paths was interesting. We did see a Robin, a Blue Tit, 2 Great Tits and a Chiffchaff but no sign or sound of the warbler. A rapid return to the obs just avoided the next heavy shower.











A hungry Kestrel was hunting in the gardens as we drove out, pouncing onto the grass from the fence posts.












The afternoon was spent on the beach chatting with DW, MC and MB, dodging the heavy showers and sheltering behind the boats. There were thousands of gulls loafing around, flying off, swirling round and settling again. The Glaucous gull came and went, allowing some nice photos in the sunshine. The storms and high tides had left a variety of seaweeds and starfish on the tideline as well as lots of sea mice.



More vicious squalls and strong winds eventually persuaded us that it was time to retreat to somewhere warm and dry.

Around the Point

A quiet drive past Fairfield Church and across Walland Marsh with a few pairs and a flock of about 30 Mute swans, the mixed flock of Tree Sparrows, chaffinch and tits at the feeders, the Bewicks still from Caldicott Lane and a Marsh Harrier floated across the road and off into the fields.
The ducks on ARC were clustered near the road feeding in the shallows and several flocks of gulls were loafing on the shingle on the point.
After a quick cup of tea we were heading out when some very welcome visitors turned up. After a chat we all went out into the area in search of the Hume's. As we began to wade through the water it was heard to call so we headed towards the bush and after a short wait it was found flitting around the twigs.


We watched it for about half an hour, getting good, though short views as it never seems to sit still. Sag and SM left and we then wandered round the trapping area as far as the Long pits with little in the bushes except for the odd blue tit and a long-tailed tit and a coot on the pit. It was the highest I think I have ever seen.


We spent the afternoon looking at gulls, auks, kittiwakes and grebes on the sea before the light went and we went home.



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Here we go again - another New Year!

New Year's Day started off quite nice, with all the usual birds in the garden. There weren't many bird on the drive across the marsh but tree sparrows, chaffinch, greenfinch and moorhen were to be seen around the feeders and the Bewick's swans from Caldecott Lane. There were lots of ducks on ARC and from the point a few seabirds were moving around. The weather by this time was abysmal and enough was enough by 1.15.


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