Biro Bird of the Day: Pheasant

Definitely the most interesting bird I've seen today, on the train back from Hull.

... And the most time consuming draw.

Biro Bird of the Day: Med Gull

Soo, I saw my first Med Gull yesterday, as I already blogged, so I thought it would be fitting to draw one. Unfortunately I have no pic to draw yesterday's so this is just a random pic of a 2nd winter from google images.

18/09

So yet again, another weekend spent at Tophill. My last weekend for a couple of weeks because I start university next week!  I was up early on Saturday to look at the moth traps, which was interesting, as I learnt a few more species, my favourite of the day being the burnished brass. The rest of the day was spent looking at Galls and Gulls, but still no Med. Highlight of the day on the gall front was a nice bright pink one, and highlights of the day bird wise were definitely the hobby, and marsh harriers.
             Today I was back at Tophill for volunteering, but the torrential rain meant we didn't get a whole load done (also down to the fact there was only two of us), and so the majority of the day was spent scouring D-res for med gulls. And I saw one, eventually! Much harder to pick out than I'd thought, but now I know exactly what to look for hopefully I'll be able to distinguish them from the black heads. Other birds were a barn owl, which we got great views of, buzzard, and eleven curlew on the way back home, and that was about it for today.

Biro Bird of the Day Kingfisher

I've been really lucky with the Kingfishers this 'summer', and there's no doubting they are one of the nicest looking British birds.

This is copied from Ian Traynor's image on the Tophill Low blog.

Biro Bird of the Day: LBB

Soo, with my new found interest in Gulls, here is my second drawing. A lesser black backed gull. Not the one I saw today, but a recent image taken on the Approach road, from the Tophill Blog.

15/09

Incredibly, I managed yet another Osprey today, my 5th or 6th in just over a month! Despite it being much higher than the ones I saw from Borough Pits earlier in the month, it stuck around for a good few minutes meaning I got a good look at it, shortly before being joined by a buzzard above it, which was great for comparative purposes! And that wasn't all on the raptor front, Kestrels and Sparrowhawks were present, along with 2 other unidentified raptors! 


When the work was done, I went over to the Car park hide to test out my newly acquired Gull knowledge (not very much at all yet) and practice id'ing the more common species, which was a nice end to the day!

Biro Bird of the Day: Common Sand

I have seen three common sandpipers in total, but I got some great views on Sunday from south marsh, when one went looking for worms on the sandy island directly in front of the hide. This is drawn from Richard's Picture on the Tophill Blog.