Day 1 | Train Trip

The other week I was fortunate enough to recieve a free weekend's travel from Northern Rail to make up for delays and being rubbish etc. I emailed my good friends James and Robert, and after a few weeks planning (by them) this weekend was time for the excursion!
       We were up bright and early on Saturday morning, planning to go to Askham bog, and set off for the station at 6.30 am. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the station James had vomitted up most of his insides and so he decided to head back to Robert's. At the station we met up with Emma, Robert's friend and the three of us pondered what to do now. After looking at the leaflet for a space of 5 seconds Emma and I decided that Appleby looked nice so a couple of hours later and after a hopeless search for a map, we set off for Cumbria. The journey between Leeds and Appleby was stunning, and was a successful nature trip in it's own right with Green Woodpecker and Fox. Three and a half hours later, we arrived at our destination. Within 30 minutes of leaving the station the day had already peaked with a surprising Red Squirrel being spotted by Robert. It was very obliging, much more-so than any I had seen before and I even managed to get an (albeit crap) record shot with my iPad! After this we carried on through the woods for a while, eventually arriving at a farm with a river running next to it, which yielded a stunning Grey Wagtail but not much else.
        A quick stop for lunch, and then it was on to the castle. Unfortunately, yet again our plans fell through as this was closed so we decided to return to the woodland to try for another look at Red Squirrel, but to no avail. Nuthatch and Treecreeper were a nice end to the day though, along with a second Fox for the day!

iPad Red Squirrel record shot

Train-trip Day 2 to follow!

A trip to enemy territory｜Patch League

Yesterday, I paid a visit to the patch of one of my fellow patch leaguers, Africa of Wild at Hull (ABugBlog).
The sun was shining, and, apart from a bit of wind making it a little chilly it was a lovely day for birding. We started off at Springbank Cemetary, and within a few minutes heard the unmistakable call of the Chiffchaff, a first for the year for me and at long last. Other than the Chiffchaff, bird wise there we weren't too lucky with the only others being the typical residents Wren, Robin, and Dunnock. Invertebrates, on the other hand, we a plenty. The first rock we turned over immediately yielded one new member of the patch list, the Black Millipedes below (Tachypodoiulus niger), and a new harvestman for the list (Nemastoma bimaculatum), as well as some other nice specimens:

Black Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Oxychilus spp. ?

Something which I had gone without noticing, but which was pointed out to me by Africa, was the enormous number of Tawny Mining Bee nesting holes, both at the cemetery and our next destination; Pearson Park. This is a bee I'd never really seen much of before, though I can't say I'd ever looked for it, but I am now definitely keen to find some on my own patch as they are a stunning species. However, not quite as stunning as another bee we found later in the day...

Tawny Mining Bee Andrena fulva

        We began at the Wildlife Garden, and whilst having lunch had a Sparrowhawk fly overheard and a sole Swallow (spotted by Africa but missed by me). We then went on to the park itself, where we didn't see a great deal in the way of birds but after hearing it's loud call, were drawn to a tree close by where we were treated to amazing views of a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming, something neither of us had seen before but awesome to watch. If only I'd had my proper camera!
         After Pearson and a much needed coffee break, whilst walking close to Princes Avenue Africa spotted  a bee on the pavement. Only seconds later, the bee was almost run over by a small child riding a scooter, but fortunately had it's like spared. It was a Cuckoo Bee Melecta albifrons, and the most beautiful bee I have ever seen. The picture really does not do it justice! Africa said how it must have started flying at the wrong time of day and not been able to gather up enough energy to continue on it's way, so we put it on one of it's favoured plants to regain some energy...

Cuckoo Bee Melecta albifrons

A wonderful species to end a great day with! 

Top 10 Wish List | España, verano 2013

Indian Winter | Patch League

When I went to my patch today, I thought I would go with the intention of doing something I don't usually do: getting some decent pictures. I first went to the feeders where I got some mediocre shots of Blue Tit, Great Tit, and Coal Tit. I then went across to the ponds where I got some close ups of Greylag, Mute Swan, and Mallard which I'm pleased-ish with.

After a quick walk around the rest of the site without any further success, including a second stop at the feeders where I heard the Ring-necked Parakeet I'd seen a few weeks prior pipe up but only for a split second, I set off home, slightly disappointed with my results. 

        Half way down the road, I saw a few of the dog walkers I'd seen earlier. One of the guys asked me if I'd seen the Parakeet, and I replied that I had a few weeks ago but not today. I asked him if he had seen it, and he told me that he had almost daily since before Christmas, and tipped me off about a Peanut feeder, a little off the beaten track where you could get within a few metres. He told me he hadn't seen it today, but I turned around immediately and went to find it for myself. Despite the fact that my gloveless hands were practically ready to drop off it turned out to be a great decision, as I got amazingly close views of a couple of metres and for once some pictures I couldn't be more pleased with! Here are the results: 

I am aware that these birds are very much a pest in many urban areas, but there's no denying that they are absolutely beautiful to look at, and being able to get so close to one has been a real treat! So far my patch has been full of surprises so looking forward to see what it's got in store for me next!

Note: As I'm sure many of you may have noticed (stupidly, not myself), the Parakeet is in fact Alexandrine not Ring-necked (Thanks to my good friends of IveNeverKilledAPipit.wordpress.com for pointing that out to me).

Plants | Patch League

These are just some of the plants I found on the patch today. From Left to Right: Epilobium spp., Hedera helix, ???, ???, ???, Hedera helix, Typha latifolia, Galanthus nivalis, Lamium spp. 

Any help with identification would be much appreciated! My plant ID skills and resources clearly need improving (though probably mostly my ID skills really..)

Hoping to visit my patch as much as possible this week, and hopefully add some nice Inverts to the list!

Time for change

Hi everybody!

I'm writing this post because Pink Cuckoos is boring me a little. I've been pretty lazy with it in the past couple of months, partly because I haven't been out a massive amount, but also because I'm feeling my posts are getting a little boring and repetitive, and I'm fed up of just listing what I see and not saying much else.

I would really really appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions/ inspiration on styles of posts you would like to see, and what you like/ dislike about my blog, because I really want to make it better and much more exciting to read!

Thanks for reading!

Patch League

So yesterday I paid my first visit to my 'patch' (not just my garden) of the year. For those who don't know, my patch is King's Mill in Driffield. It's a pretty good patch because it has a variety of habitats, but I'm not going to lie, I didn't go in with a positive head. I expected to see the usual garden birds and maybe if I was lucky a Kingfisher. I was right on the 'usual garden birds' Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Collared Dove etc etc. But actually, I have been rather pleasantly surprised, which is only motivating me more to get out (and win (probably not going to happen)). Either way, I am really enjoying it and am enjoying putting my ID skills to the test already which brings me to the first treat the patch had in store.
        After ticking a few Wildfowl species, I heard some noise coming from a tree close to the ponds. I had a quick look and ticked Great Tit and Coal Tit. And then they flew across to some brambles nearby so I tried to get a better look. Only then did I realise it wasn't in fact a Coal Tit I had been looking at, but one of two species; Marsh Tit or Willow Tit. Then I managed to latch onto about three of them, but unfortunately failed to many really sustained looks due to them being so flighty. Being the idiot I am, I had also decided against bringing my camera. Well, obviously the best way to ID between the two is call. Perfect, I'd heard them earlier. Of course, being me and having a non-existent short term memory I had forgotten the call. From the views I did get, I am inclined to say Marsh although I'm not 100% so I'll go back again armed with my camera.
        My next visit gave me two real treats. Walking down the path towards the feeder, I saw a couple of trees full of finches. Fortunately I had my camera with me this time, and rather than risk not ID'ing them prior to them fleeing I decided to take some photos as a back up before I got any closer. Before moving closer, I zoomed in on some of the photos to see what was around. I was thrilled to find that I had, unbeknownst to me, got a great record shot of a Brambling, my second ever! Patch gold, for me.

I didn't have much time on my patch because of dog sitting duties, and at this point planned to turn around and go home but before I did I heard a strange call. It wasn't like any I'd heard before and sounded sort of exotic. It continued for a long time, only with short pauses and so I tried to track down the source. At this point I was hoping for a mega (as usual) but Ring-Necked Parakeet did cross my mind and seemed like a more viable option! I decided to record the call on my phone, but only managed a bad quality recording because the sound of the mud swallowing up my feet was too extremely loud. I got what I thought was quite close to the source of the sound and two minutes later a slender, very long tailed bird flew out from the trees. I was almost certain it was Ring-Necked, and after checking it's silhouette in flight with that in the Collins it was spot on. A lifer (if you count it), and an ace bird for me; patch gold again! But then again at least there was only one...