Ivinghoe Beacon (16/4/12)

On monday I went to the Beacon by bike to see the Ring Ouzels which were migrating through and also landing.  I caught the 8:59 train to Tring and then cycled to the Beacon. On the way I saw 6 Yellowhammers and 5 Linnets. I walked at a steady speed from the car park and so saw nothing till the beacon. When I arrived at the Beacon there were already about 3 people there including me. The first bird I saw were 2 Mipits fighting. After that I went on and saw the Ring Ouzels. I took photos then but they were to far away to get any good pictures. As the day went on I saw about 8 Ring Ouzels and 6 Wheatear.

Paxton Pits (14/4/12)

I arrived back from Germany at 3 o'clock on Saturday and got to sleep about an hour later which meant I was reluctant to get up in the morning to go to a RSPB trip to Paxton Pits. We arrived a bit later then usual because the group had decided to change their starting time. When we arrived and got out of the car the first bird that I saw was a Swallow and after that 2 Sparrowhawks. As we walked on we saw a Willow Warbler and we all stopped to take pictures.

We walked on and stopped at a lake and looked around we saw 3 Gadwall and a Great Crested Grebe. Unfortunately half of the walk was uneventful only seeing Blackcaps, Commen Tern, Great Spotted Woodpecker and another Great Crested Grebe. But then as we walked to the Kingfisher Hide we heard the call of a Bullfinchand then behind that a Nightingale. We walked to were we had heard it and looked for what felt like hours but then it came out right in front of us.

It stayed there for about 5 seconds and then quickly flow away to another bush. Every now and then it did come out and show it self but not as good as the first time. After seeing that we walked on to another lake which had about 5 late Goldeneye swimming on it. After looking at the goldeneye we decided to make our way back to the caffee. On the way we saw Greenfinch, Reed Bunting and Red-legged Partridge. After having something to eat at the caffee we went on but nothing was worth mentioning other then the Cetti's Warbler that was heard singing, a Treecreeper and a few warblers.

Schwansener See (17/3/12)

The map above shows the route I took to get to the reserve in blue and the route I took around the reserve in green.

I left to go to the reserve by bike at around 8:30 am. On the way to the reserve I didn't see many birds mainly just the normal stuff like Skylark, Eider, Goldeneye and Grey Heron. The trip took me about three quatres of an hour. When I arrived the first thing I saw were Greylag Geese. as I started to walk more onto the reserve I relised how cold it was, at first it was very cloudy and after maybe about an hour or so it began to clear up. As it began to clear up it enabled me to see the birds better. As I walked along a bird began to call after a while it started to get a bit annoying and so I decided to look for it it turned out to be a Reed Bunting as I was looking at it another one flow past and I decided to follow that one it then brought my attention to two Shelducks and a swan behind them at first I thought the swan was a Mute Swan but then as it lifted its head from its bely I saw the yellow bill and black on it and relised it was a Whopper Swan. As I carried on I believe I flushed a Kestrel Which made some crows fly up. I carried on walking and found a very small lake which looked like it could have been made by rain fall I looked through my bins and saw some Teal at first then I looked to the side and saw Shoveler and Shelducks. After a while of looking at the small lake I saw a Lapwing wading around which made me see a Plover which in the end I was unable to ID (most likely a Little Ringed Plover). I lost it and then found another which this time I was able to ID it was a Little Ringed Plover. Then two Ringed Plovers flow over from the sea and passed me and I was able to ID them because I saw some yellow on the bill. As I carried on I saw nothing interesting other then some more Lapwings and Reed Buntings. When I came to the sea and walked along every now and then two Ringed Plovers would fly up and onto the reserve. Aswell as that I managed to see 4 Red-breasted Merganser 3 males and 1 female the males were courting with the female as seen in the second photograph. They also came very close at one point which allowed me to get some good photographs.

The first picture shows how the lake and the sea were so close together.

Photographic trip to the beach (26/2/12)

26/2/12
On the 26/2/12 I went with Elly (my exchange partner) to the beach I alos brought my camera to see what I could photograph. We ended up throwing stones in the water and making stone sculpturs.

6/3/12
On the 6/3/12 I decided to go to the beach but not to see what birds I could see but to photograph what I see.
Luckily on that day the sea was nice and choppy and wild. This enabled me to get some good pictures of the sea. Also on the way I saw some Goldeneye and a Eider close enough to photograph.

Aas See (24/2/12)

I looked at the map of my local area and decided to go to a nice little lake called Aas See (See is german for lake not sea).

This is the route I took

After having my breakfast I set off to go to the lake. The trip was not more then 8km so I plan to go again soon. On the way I saw some House Sparrows and a Buzzard in the woods. The first thing that I saw on the lake were a few Tufted Ducks mainly males. There were also Goldeneye which were swimming and diving a lot. There were also a few Pochard swimming including 1 maile and 4 females. Then when I was looking at some Goldeneye a Great Crested Grebe came up from diving. In a feild next to the lake there were a lot of Greylag Geese laying around with a Grey Heron. Then suddenly when I was loooking over the field I heard a woodpecker drilling away. I went back to woods to try and find it but then when I arrived I heard it call and it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker call. When I was at the woods I saw 6 lapwings fly over and c.40 Goldfinches. Then when I went back to the field I saw 3 Buzzards circling the woods. Then I decided to park up my bike and walk around the lake. While I was parking my bike up I saw 2 Cormerants fly over. While I walked along the lake I took out my camera so that if I saw a Goldeneye up close I could photograph it. Unfortunately all the Goldeneye I saw close flow away to quickly even if they were far away. Then at one point were I stopped I saw c.800 Tufted Ducks swimming very far away. I looked into the group just incase there was something rare and I found 6 SMEWS 3 males and 3 females.

They were very far away so couldn't get a good picture but in the two photos you can tell that they are Smews. After that I decided to look at the sea which was right next to the lake. I had a nice long walk along the beach looking out for Shore Larks (unfortunately I didn't see one). On the sea I saw hundreds of Eiders, 2 Common Gulls, hundreds of Herring Gulls and both Black-backed Gulls, 2 Ostercatchers and 7 Common Scoters. After that long walk I decided to go back to Klein Waabs. On the way back I saw 2 more Buzzards and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Two Mute Swans flying over the sea.

The beach at night (15 and 16/2/12)

15th
On the 15th the mum of my host family took me to the beach at around 17:30. When we arrived I had a good look over the sea. There was not much to be seen but then suddenly two goosander flow past and landed on the sea. If I can remember correctly they were both males. I also saw some Eiders and thousands of gulls floughting on the sea. There were also a few unIDable birds but it was to dark to see anything by the end of the walk.
16th
On the 16th the mother took me again to a nature reserve this time. Because it was getting dark and it was raining it was hard to see anything let alone ID it. but by the end I saw c.100 Goldeneye, c.100 Scoters ( unIDable most likly common) and about 20 Eiders.

At the beach (12/2/12)

Today I went down to the beach with my exchange family. I was not expecting to see much but as soon as we arrived on the beach I saw 12 Red-breasted Merganser fly past. Then I looked over into a bay were I saw some Goldeneye and some possible scaups but I was to far away to tell. Later I saw some more Red-breasted Merganser and some Eiders. Over the half hour I was there I managed to see at least 100 Eiders male and female. Behind the Eiders a lot further away I saw some Common Scoters. I saw lots of gulls aswell but nothing new with them. As I was looking at an unIDable bird 5 Long-tailed Ducks flow in and landed on the water. A bit later I saw another 2 Long-tailed Ducks swimming around which brought my count to 7 (oh yes). I managed to take some notes on the bird I couldn't ID and hopfully I will have a sulotion Solution by tomorrow of what it was. I also hope I will go again tomorrow because I have a free day off of school tomorrow.

Morning surprise (13/2/12)

This morning after I had said goodbye to my perents I looked outside and saw a lot of Tree Sparrows some were sitting on a nest and so this means I could have a pair of Tree Sparrows nesting in the garden.

The Tree Sparrows did get close but I was behind a window which was annoying

My first day

My first day in Eckernförde. First I went to a circus which was performed by the school it was really good and fun to watch. I didn't see anything of note other than a cormerant.

My exchange

For my exchange I went to Germany. In Germany I went to a small village called Waabs which was close to Eckernförde. I made another blog for it and now I will be transferring the posts. The posts will began on the 1/4/12.