A VISIT TO WEST HAGLEY : PART 3

Some more shots from the falconry at West Hagley.I've left these till last as I'm not sure what all the ID's are which is due to my notes being pretty dismal and the absence of ID plaques on these particular birds.Local help has not been any good and an e-mail to the falconry has not been responded to yet.Oh dear ! !

I'm fairly confident these shots are of a Saker Falcon that come from SW Russia. 

This next shot is a bit more difficult to ID.I believe it's of a Saker/Gyr hybrid.Cracking bird.

This next bird looks like a juvenile Kestrel to me but from what I can remember on site it was amongst the hybrid birds.

I'm OK with the ID on these next birds.They are a pair of Red Tailed Hawks which come from Central/South America.

I'm also OK with the ID of the next bird.It's a male Tawny Eagle from Africa.Couldn't get a full shot as it was heavily caged and all you get is a shot of the mesh.Impressive bird. 

Right now is where I am struggling very much coming up with the ID of these birds.They were all in the same area and I think are all hybrids (? ?).Possibly Gyr/Peregrine. Peregrine/Hobby. Peregrine/Merlin.If the falconry come back to me with the ID I will edit this blog.Fabulous birds whatever they are.

A VISIT TO WEST HAGLEY : PART 2

Some more shots taken last week at the falconry at West Hagley.These are the ones I can ID from the notes I took at the time.Well I think I can.I'll have to do some editing if I'm wrong.

The first shot is of a Rappell's Griffin Vulture which is found in Central Africa.It was a massive and scary bird.Glad it was well caged.

This next shot is of a male African Fish Eagle.It is a really powerful bird that I'm sure would be great to watch in action in the wild.

The next shot is of a male Ferruginous Hawk which is found in North America.Another great looking bird.It called out very loudly quite a lot.

These next few shots are of a juvenile Harris Hawk from Central and South America.The last two shots are of it when it was brought out to be fed.Amazing to see close up.

The last two shots are of possibly my favourite bird of my visit.A spectacular looking bird.It's a Buteleur Eagle (I hope I've spelt that right).It's found in Central/South Africa.

A VISIT TO WEST HAGLEY.

I would love to say that I've just returned from a flying visit round the world and these are my shots of some of the birds I caught up with but alas that's not the truth.What I did in fact was to drive over the border into Worcestershire and visit a falconry in West Hagley.

I've got very mixed feelings about falconries as I don't like to see animals that are captive but on the other hand where would I be able to see some of these fabulous birds.This falconry is situated at the back of a Webbs garden centre and is well set up with loads of stunning birds that appear to be well looked after by the staff.

Most of the birds had details on nearby plaques but not all so I hope I've not got any wrong.Most shots taken with my Canon SX50 bridge camera.These shots of some of the Owls on display.

A couple of shots of a Snowy Owl.What cracking looking birds.Love to see some in the wild.  

This next one was very impressive and is a male Turkmenian Eagle Owl from Kazakhstan/West Mongolia 

A bit more familiar is this Long-eared Owl.I saw one of these at Brandon Marsh deep in a Hawthorn bush.

This also was very impressive.It's a male Eagle Owl from India,Nepal and Pakistan.

  

This one was a very cute and quite small.It's female Northern Hawk Owl from Northern Europe and Russia.

         I will shortly post some of the shots of the birds of prey I managed if I can sort out the ID's that is.

WATCHING SOME SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS FLEDGE.

Sorry about this but more Spotted Flycatcher shots which I didn't plan on doing having posted so many recently.They are however one of my favourite birds and this Summer have been the only decent bird I've caught up with.So when on Wednesday morning my friend and top photographer Kath Everitt told me she had found a pair nesting in an unusual place on the wall of a village church a few miles south of Nuneaton I was unable to resist driving over. 

Got there mid morning and Kath pointed out where they were nesting.It was in the framework of a very old stone church window.I would never have found the nest I would not have checked that place.There were 4 chicks in the nest.

Didn't take many shots of the adults I was just happy to watch them feeding the chicks.

On Thursday morning I thought I'd nip over there again to see if they were going to fledge.It looked like they were ready on Wednesday.Got there at 9.30 AM and soon noted that all 4 chicks were still in the nest.

I noted that the adults weren't going to the nest with food but stayed in a nearby tree approx. 6m away.When they did go to the nest they did not feed the chicks so I assumed they were trying to lure them out.

At 9.55 AM Nr.1 chick got brave and started wing flapping out of the nest on the ledge.

It chickened out and went back to the nest.At 10.08 AM it tried again and ventured out onto the ledge again with much wing flapping.

It did not fly to the tree where the adults were calling out to it but fluttered to the church wall and hung on there for a few seconds before fluttering up to the tree.You can see it looking up to them.

This left 3 chicks left.

Nr 2 soon got brave and at 10.13 AM fluttered straight off from the nest up to the tree.No messing about here.

This left 2 chicks.They stayed quite a while despite the parents calling to them frequently but at 10.38 AM Nr. 3 took off and fluttered up to the tree.

Only one left now and this one did lots of wing flapping on the ledge all the time looking up to the adults in the tree.It finally flew up to the tree at 10.44 AM

   I was so lucky to have been there when they fledged great to watch.After all the chicks fledged and joined the adults they couldn't be seen although I heard lots of calling but I'm blowed if I could see them.

A TRIP TO SYMONDS YAT.

As the weather was still very good on Tuesday I decided to go on another day trip.I thought I'd give Symonds Yat  a go as not only was it supposed to be a very impressive place but there was also a Peregrine viewing point  and as my portfolio of Peregrine shots was not good it seemed a good choice.

I knew I had to head for Symonds Yat Rock but I was taken by surprise how hairy the road was that lead up to it.It was single track with passing places,very steep and with loads of blind bends.

Made it to the car park at 10.30 AM and was surprised how busy it was with loads of more senior schoolchildren engaged in various activities.There were several groups of young ladies who were carrying out survey work about visitors to Symonds Yat.I managed somehow to be interviewed nine times during the day.

It was only a short walk to the viewing point where the RSPB had a couple of staff on duty and a few scopes set up.The views from the viewpoint down to the river Wye were spectacular.Here are a couple of shots showing the river.

In the first shot on the right hand side you can see two exposed areas of the cliffs and this is where the Peregrines have their nest.The good news was that there are four birds there two adults and two fledged juveniles and they flew around a lot.The bad news was that they were miles away and the sun was behind them.

The only excitement in the morning was when one of the adults came a little closer when it had a go at a Common Buzzard but it was too fast for me and I only got a shot of the Buzzard.

After a picnic lunch I went back to the viewing point but the Peregrines would not venture our way and stayed cruising around the cliff face.Getting a little bored I scanned round in the nearby trees and bushes and guess what I saw in a tree about 25m away.Amazingly for the 5th trip out on the trot I saw a :-

Yes a Spotted Flycatcher this time with fledged young to feed.Everyone at the viewing point forgot looking out for the Peregrines and watched the Flycatchers being fed.A bit distant for great shots but great to see the youngsters.

We all were so involved in watching the Flycatchers we nearly missed a Peregrine that had come a little closer.Managed a few heavily cropped shots before it flew too far away.