Thornton Wag, Bats and Unf***inglievable!

-



Following a phone call from John Hague about a Yellow Wagtail at Thornton Res, I made my way to the reservoir via the weekly food shop at Morrison's.
Parking at the small car park at the opposite end to Thornton village, I met Mark Skev just along the track, as he was trying to take a photo of the local Little Owls.
Although the Little Owls were not showing, I did pick up the male Brambling, which John had found earlier and was showing well in trees further along the track.
Mark took a few shots of the bird until it flew off up to the nearby hedge.Following this sighting Mark showed me the Yellow Wagtail which was in the nearby Cattle field, with at least one White Wagtail and a good number (c.25) of Pied Wagtails.

With time pressing, I left Thornton Res, had a quick tea, and then picked up John, to go to the LRWT ( Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust) Leicester group meeting.
The talk was about Leicestershire Bats by Nathalie Cossa, and was really interesting, and we even had the chance to see Common Pipistrelle, Brown long-eared and Noctule Bat at very close quarters.

After the meeting had finished,myself and John went to our favourite local watering hole (The Crit for short) for a few drinks.
Whilst taking part in the music quiz, I got a text message from Mark Skev, about the Liverpool v Arsenal Champions league match,and found out that Liverpool had won 4-2!
Maybe it was a good idea I didn't watch the match, as I would have probably have no finger nails by now?
Following the match we then came second in the music quiz, and was an excellent end to a good afternoon's birding and a very entertaining evening.
Bird photos supplied by Mark Skev and John Hague, cheers chaps!

Comments

The Drunkbirder said…
Dave, that Yellow wagtail photo looks familiar. I think it's mine. Not wanting to be too funny but if you want to use my photos please put a credit by the photo. I could have sent you a different shot too if you'd asked.
11 April 2008 at 15:28
Skev said…
Dave, that Brambling photo looks familiar. I bloody well know it's mine you cheeky bugger. etc.
11 April 2008 at 19:00
davidearlgray said…
I've just put a credit at the bottom of the post for your snaps.
Hope this helps?;-]
11 April 2008 at 21:07
Anonymous said…
Shame the better side lost.
15 April 2008 at 22:31
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A few bird photos over the last few months...

-
Image
 Over the last year I bought myself a new Leica lens (100-400mm) for my Panasonic Lumix G9 Camera, so here's a few photos I have taken over the last few months. First up the long staying Lesser Yellowlegs at Frampton Marsh RSPB. Next up the Northern Waterthrush at Heyford, Essex...    and finally for the time being one of the Yellow-browed Warbler at Oakthorpe, Leicestershire in Early January 2024.
Read more

Ring-billed Gull OMFL!!!

-
Image
Meeting up with Neil Hagley this afternoon at Shawell Balancing Lake almost the first gull I looked at was an Adult Ring-Billed Gull . Just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating I ask Neil to have a look at this gull in my scope and he came to the same conclusion. GET IN!!! So over the next half an hour we ticked off all the salient features of the bird and then phoned out the news. As this was probably only the sixth record for Leicestershire and Rutland as you can imagine I took quite a few digishots of the gull. Joined later by the Groby crew (Allen, Andy F and Paul) just before the Ring-billed Gull flew off towards the tip, it wasn't long before the group picked at least 3 Yellow-legged Gulls and 3 Caspian Gulls (2 Adults and 1 2nd-winter bird) in the large gull flock. So to put this sighting of the Ring-billed Gull in context, it's probably only the sixth time it has been recorded in the county.It was a county tick for myself, Neil and the Groby crew and Ring-billed G...
Read more