Tuesday 25 January 2011

Bangor in Drizzle - 25th January 2011

For various reasons, I was not able to get across to Moore NR at the weekend. Chris Bridge went on friday and saw nothing of interest, so maybe it was a good thing that I saved the money on trainfare!
I put up some feeders on Friday night and have regularly had 3 Blue tit and up to 5 Great Tit entertaining me whilst I drink one of my many cups of tea in the kitchen!

A couple of tits and the occasional Raven overhead just didn't fulfil my birding quota, so I thought I'd make a trip to Bangor harbour. The weather was literally awful, as was the light so the few photos I managed to take with my phone and binoculars (phone-binning?) were almost embarassing!
On the walk down to the harbour, a 'takking' caught my attention, and a female Blackcap brightened up a very miserable day. Also in the same area were atleast 5 Goldcrest (I checked for Firecrest, but no joy)
The playing field by the front held a small flock of Oystercatcher and Redshank forced onto land by the high tide, aswell as a couple of Jackdaw*.
Little else was seen on my journey into the harbour itself except a single Turnstone, plus an adult shag and 4 Little Grebe (one in full summer plumage) feeding on the calm water.

*One of the 2 Jackdaw seen showed a definite pale collar at the base of the ear coverts, which definitly suggested there is some sign of 'Nordic' influence. The collar was obviously present, but wasn't especially striking like you would expect on a pure bird. I suppose this could suggest hybridisation with a Nordic and one of 'our' birds. It could also just be an abberant individual showing uncharacteristic variation. I will try and get some decent pictures of the bird when the weather improves, but for now, I remain unsure

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