IdleRich
IdleRich
Anyone into this? I was when I was younger but I guess it kinda fell by the wayside when I discovered other stuff. Anyway, I'm on holiday with my parents right now in the Inner Hebrides and we've been going round with the binoculars and the bird books again just like we used to do when I was little and it's really exciting. Seen some good stuff up here as well.
Yesterday was our last day on Tiree but we'd been talking to this woman in the museum about birds and it turned out that her husband was the RSPB chap posted to Tiree. She told us that this year a non-resident bird called a gyrfalcon had ended up on Tiree. Apparently different ones have different markings and this one was white-faced and when flying "looks something like a seagull". We thought that was interesting but that we had no chance of seeing it as there was only one here and although the island is small (about three miles by twelve or something) it would still be a bit of a needle in a haystack looking for it. Then that afternoon we went up the hill and we were looking out over the flat land with the bins when I saw a large bird soaring in the distance. Joked to Dad that it could be the gyrfalcon and then suddenly realised that it actually could be. It was definitely a bird of prey about the size of a buzzard but it wasn't a buzzard and it did look something like a seagull in a weird kind of way although it was flying much higher than they do. Can't be sure (it was a long way away) but I reckon there is a good chance that that was it. Pretty cool looking bird and very rare in the UK I think
http://pie.midco.net/dougback/gyrfalcons.htm
Also seen hen harriers, loads of waders and finches and God knows what else. Then today (we're now on Coll) we saw a corncrake. Turns out my dad has been trying to see this thing for ages and although he's been to several places where they breed and even heard the distinctive noise they make he's never actually laid eyes on one. Anyway, although it's rare as fuck I think about half the uk population is on these two islands so today we went and stood on the corncrake viewing platform (basically a piece of wood) near some marshes where they are supposed to breed and waited for ages. Heard the noise loads but finally saw one, really close up but so hard to see in the undergrowth. Even though I had it in sight and it didn't fly away I somehow lost it but not before being sure what it was - no chance of not recognising it really 'cause it's on all the booklets and stuff round here being so near to extinction and all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environme...rvationandendangeredspecies?picture=330112716
It's not as cool as the gyrfalcon though obviously.
Anyone else ever get into this?
Yesterday was our last day on Tiree but we'd been talking to this woman in the museum about birds and it turned out that her husband was the RSPB chap posted to Tiree. She told us that this year a non-resident bird called a gyrfalcon had ended up on Tiree. Apparently different ones have different markings and this one was white-faced and when flying "looks something like a seagull". We thought that was interesting but that we had no chance of seeing it as there was only one here and although the island is small (about three miles by twelve or something) it would still be a bit of a needle in a haystack looking for it. Then that afternoon we went up the hill and we were looking out over the flat land with the bins when I saw a large bird soaring in the distance. Joked to Dad that it could be the gyrfalcon and then suddenly realised that it actually could be. It was definitely a bird of prey about the size of a buzzard but it wasn't a buzzard and it did look something like a seagull in a weird kind of way although it was flying much higher than they do. Can't be sure (it was a long way away) but I reckon there is a good chance that that was it. Pretty cool looking bird and very rare in the UK I think
http://pie.midco.net/dougback/gyrfalcons.htm
Also seen hen harriers, loads of waders and finches and God knows what else. Then today (we're now on Coll) we saw a corncrake. Turns out my dad has been trying to see this thing for ages and although he's been to several places where they breed and even heard the distinctive noise they make he's never actually laid eyes on one. Anyway, although it's rare as fuck I think about half the uk population is on these two islands so today we went and stood on the corncrake viewing platform (basically a piece of wood) near some marshes where they are supposed to breed and waited for ages. Heard the noise loads but finally saw one, really close up but so hard to see in the undergrowth. Even though I had it in sight and it didn't fly away I somehow lost it but not before being sure what it was - no chance of not recognising it really 'cause it's on all the booklets and stuff round here being so near to extinction and all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environme...rvationandendangeredspecies?picture=330112716
It's not as cool as the gyrfalcon though obviously.
Anyone else ever get into this?