130. Red Grouse
The Buzzard continued surveying the area so I followed him, he put another Grouse up which I followed noting the main features, the most obvious of which was the white bars across the top of the wings. I was unsure if this was a red or black at this time but on consulting Collins realised it must have been a Black Grouse, this was sufficient for me though as Black Grouse is a lifer for me so I wouldn't count it unless I could positively identify it. Luckily whilst scanning again a male rose up and flew toward me, he landed on the edge of a clearing and although still about 1km away I could clearly identify him as a male Black Grouse. I attempted to get some phone-scoped photos but the wind was too strong to hold the telescope still, this is the best I could manage so won't be counting it for the Big Bird Race.
Black Grouse
Happy with my find I could have stayed longer to look for more but I wanted to get up to Pensarn to look for the Surf Scoter. I pulled up at the beach car park and was blown away by the number of off-shore windmills, there must have been over 100. Now I knew that finding the Surf Scoter would not be easy to find being out to sea but I lost all hope of success when I took my first look through the binos. There were loads of ducks, all Common Scoter, I estimated there to be about 2500, so real needle in a haystack time plus I didn't really know what I was looking form other than from the bill and white neck but had no idea what would be obvious from this distance. After some painstaking searching and some guidance to some local birders, I managed to get on to 2 Surf Scoters. They were quite obvious once you'd seen them and then relatively easy to pick our. I took loads of phone-scoped photos but again there was a strong wind and the Scoters were about 1.2kms out so the shots were not good, I took loads of the area where the Surf Scoter were but they do not show up.
129. Common Scoter
129. Common Scoter
129. Common Scoter
I had a number of Oystercatcher and a few Ringed Plover.
Ringed Plover
On the route home I checked Bird Guides and saw the news of a Ruddy Shelduck at Doxey Marsh in Staffordshire which I need for the year. I arrived at the Doxey but the skies had opened up and I couldn't be bothered with walking round and getting soaked so I made the decision to go for the Long-tailed Duck at Sutton Park as I could swing by on the way back without too much impact to the time. It took a while to get through Walsall but I got there in the end, as I pulled up to park I could see the Long-tailed Duck about 20m out! Great views through the binos but the light wasn't that great for photos as it was now about 16:30 and the sun was low and I was facing it. I still managed a couple of shots though.
131. Long-tailed Duck
131. Long-tailed Duck
131. Long-tailed Duck
So I guess that's it for the Big Bird Race 2013 as I won't get out between now and Friday as I'll be back at work. I managed to photograph 131 species that can be identified in the photo. I have had other but not so you can identify like the Black Grouse above. I think the aim of the race has partly paid off as I do understand the settings of the camera a little but I've not been out enough or had chance to play with the camera enough. I've not even looked at photo editing software but will eventually get round to it. It's been a good year as it's made me think more about what I'm seeing and has forced me back into note taking which I had given up on. I will have to rename the blog next week as I'm not going to start another, nothing worse than coming across a blog via Google only to find it finished over a year ago.
I saw 22 new species in the UK during the course of the Big Bird Race, of which I've managed to photograph 19 so not too bad, those missing are Black Grouse, Rough-legged Buzzard and Goshawk.
Well, adieu for now, see you again next week under a different title of which I will have to have a think.
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