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28-10-2006, 08:06 AM
|  | Dame Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North Kent
Posts: 6,762
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Boddie I have already been down to buy my packed lunch for tomorrow.
Baguettes with frikadellen and humous and brie and Mexican and Mediterranean style cheese.
I will have a nice flask of coffee.
I went to Asda in the hope that they still had some of the Collins Birds books as I was going to buy some for WAB members who do not have a store nearby. Unfortunately none left. I did however find that their Wisdom Easy Floss sets had been reduced from £11.97 to £1.97. I was dubious so asked a girl on the pharmacy to check.
They scanned at £1.30. Needless to say I emptied the shelf and now have enough flossing sets for the next 5 years.
What do you reckon to that? | It's nice to see a man looking after his teeth-10/10 Boddie!
All those going today, have a good one. Hope the weather is better than it is here 
Don't forget the photos, all the members will be interested in what you all got up to 
Julie
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The female of the species is more deadly than the male.:p |
28-10-2006, 09:19 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 3,654
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Just got back from a great day out at Titchwell with Boddie, John, Pete, Diane plus a few mates from my own area who were there with the local Ornithological society.
The weather was kind, it kept fine all day but was a bit on the windy side.
We saw plenty of nice birds and generally had a great social day out as well.
Hopefully there will be some photos to show, but at the moment I really need to eat and sleep!! |
28-10-2006, 10:11 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sunny Doncaster
Posts: 4,351
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
I'll second that. Another great WAB day out for me too. Steve was great company, as ever, and John and his posse, who included Pete, Diane and Elizabeth were charming.
Steves mates Mark, Oscar and Nigel were on good form too.
I look forward to the next one. |
29-10-2006, 06:15 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 3,654
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
As promised a few images from yesterdays excellent day out at Titchwell. 
A quiet day on Titchwell beach!! - John is the one in the light blue coat & pale baseball cap. 
From left to Right, Boddie - Fourwings - Fourwing's friend Mark 
My favourite bird of the day, Red-Throated Diver, taken by my friend Nigel. |
29-10-2006, 07:24 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Scunthorpe, Nth Lincs
Posts: 1,667
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Has Boddie stood in something ?? 
__________________ Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. Nature Photo's |
29-10-2006, 08:52 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 3,654
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Tormentil Has Boddie stood in something ?? | No, he's just checking out the sand etc.. on this fantastic beach, I was doing the very same thing minutes before and missed the most stunning photo chance of the day as a massive flock of Godwits took to the air off of the tideline - truely awesome |
29-10-2006, 08:57 PM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
I was going to stay for three days but a bad headache cut it short and i have just got back home.
I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. It was good to meet Boddie and his enthusiasm for this site shines through. It was also good to meet up again with Steve and I feel sure that this won't be the last time we will all get together again.
At the end of the day Steve, Andrew and myself just stood there gassing for ages, so much so that it was dark before we broke up, and even then it was because I was meeting Diane, Pete and others at Briarfields in Titchwell Village.
A good day was had by all and at least most of us got the star bird of the day (Surf Scoter) albeit at an extreme distance. At least three Velvet Scoters and literally hundreds of Common Scoter accompanied it. Plenty of action on and around the water line with Dunlin, Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Redshank, Curlew, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher, Red-throated Diver as well as plenty of Wildfowl on the reserve. Also on the reserve were Avocet, loads of Brent Geese, a Marsh Harrier, a flock of about 100 Golden Plover (which never settled down) a few Little Egret and near the vistors centre were three Brambling.
For me I had no chance of Digiscoping as it was a very grey and windy day, totally against my style of Photography. Today was completely different.
On the saturday night, after I left the Briarfields Hotel i drove to Cley where I parked my car in the car park at the Cley Visitors centre. I settled down with the radio on and listened to an amazing concert by Kasabian on Radio one before making my bed up in the estate part of the car and settleing down to a good nights sleep. I woke up just before dawn, with a lousy headache. Still the day was obviously going to be a nice one, as there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so some breakfast then some tablets and I was on my way to Salthouse, in the hope of Shorelark and Snow Bunting. Unfortunately they had moved on but I did walk into about 10,000 Starlings just past Gramborough Hill. They surrounded me and it was a great feeling being amongst that many birds.
The wind was really getting up by now, which was not helping my head, so I decided to go back to Cley and try for some photography whilst waiting for the others to arrive at 09:30.
I am glad I made that decision because I managed to see the White-rumped Sandpiper that had been there for a few days. It was amongst about 30+ Dunlin and a couple of Little Stint.
Not long after seeing it a Merlin flew through and spooked all the waders and just as they settled back on the scrape some other, unseen, raptor must have spooked them again, along with all the other birds on the scrape. When they settled back down again the W R Sandpiper couldn't be found, which meant none of the party saw it when they got to the reserve.
The Merlin that had spooked them actually landed ten feet from me on a fence but had gone again within five seconds. Still that was a nice surprise to have such a close encounter with the bird. It was also good to watch two Marsh Harriers quatering the nearby reeds and it is moments like this when I wish I had a DSLR because I have no chance with my set up of getting images of these birds in Flight. I have tried but I haven't had the chance yet to see how they turned out.
After a while we all decided to walk to Cley's East Bank to see if there was anything on the nearby pools but it was very quiet. At about that time the pager was announcing a small movement of Little Auks around the North Norfolk coast so we carried on to the beach to see if we could find one.
First birds seen were a couple of Puffin flying westwards, a few Razorbills, Gannets and a few Red-throated Divers. After about half an hour I latched onto a distant small bird and tracked it for a while as it kept on dipping below the waves. Eventually I got a good look at it and congratulated myself on findin a Little Auk. Diane's husband,Keith, found a second one and he put me onto it. I have only ever seen one Little Auk before and that was a wrecked bird, also at Cley, on a small piece of water west of the coastguards so this was my very first flying Little Auk.
We decided to call it a day by then. It was only about 1pm but I decided to go home, with just one stop at Holme for the reported Shorelarks that were there. Unfortunately it was a fruitless session at Holme as the birds had moved on. There were plenty of waders around but nothing different from anything seen earlier in the day.
I have taken a few photos, mainly of Widlfowl, and once I have checked them out I will post the best ones to this thread.
John |
29-10-2006, 09:08 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 3,654
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Thats a great account of the weekend John, I hope your head is feeling a bit better.
It was a pleasure to see you again my friend and hopefully it won't be too long before the next time. |
29-10-2006, 09:38 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sunny Doncaster
Posts: 4,351
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Yop. I will certainly be up for another meet if the company is as good. That fresh air did for me too as I had a lovely kip last night and well into this morning.
Looking forward to the next planned trip.
Andrew |
29-10-2006, 11:52 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
I have uploaded ten images taken this morning. Not many species but there weren't that many species within range.
Black-tailed Godwit 
Moorhen 
Wigeon (Drake) 
female Wigeon 
Shelduck 
Marsh Harrier 
Teal 
Shoveller at rest 
Gadwall (Drake) 
Female Gadwall 
John |
30-10-2006, 07:52 AM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: N.E.SOMERSET
Posts: 6,815
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Nice images John,it is a shame that these do's are too far for some of us
this was my weekend off and I have spent it with a heavy cold and
headache (how is your head now?) and achieved nowt
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You cannot maintain an ecology, if you lose any of the pieces. |
30-10-2006, 08:23 AM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by nightshade Nice images John,it is a shame that these do's are too far for some of us
this was my weekend off and I have spent it with a heavy cold and
headache (how is your head now?) and achieved nowt | Boddie, Fourwings and myself were talking about trying to organise a few meets next year. You never know between us we might be able to come up with a meet down that way.
You could well do a day taking in Bowling Green Marsh and also Dawlish Warren and those with a bit more stamina could then go to Haldon Forest for the Nightjars. Would you be up for that? I would probably make a long weekend of it as I always like to take in Slapton Ley and Prawle Point (for the Cirl Bunting) when I'm in that area.
BTW my headache's ok now (thank goodness).
John |
30-10-2006, 08:34 AM
|  | Dame Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: exmouth devon uk
Posts: 5,359
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by John Boddie, Fourwings and myself were talking about trying to organise a few meets next year. You never know between us we might be able to come up with a meet down that way.
You could well do a day taking in Bowling Green Marsh and also Dawlish Warren and those with a bit more stamina could then go to Haldon Forest for the Nightjars. Would you be up for that? I would probably make a long weekend of it as I always like to take in Slapton Ley and Prawle Point (for the Cirl Bunting) when I'm in that area.
BTW my headache's ok now (thank goodness).
John | Oh how wonderful if you come to Bowling green Marsh and the others you mentioned I would be up for those as They are in my area.I would love to meet you all.Go for it
All the other meets you have are too far for me and Devon is a beautiful place to be.Of course I am biased I was born in Exmouth and have lived in Littleham near Exmouth for most of my life.All my family live here Except one daughter in Surrey.Oh I hope it gets of the ground I am looking forward to it already
fantastic photos John.Stover Park is another good place to go  |
30-10-2006, 09:06 AM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by cherrybee Oh how wonderful if you come to Bowling green Marsh and the others you mentioned I would be up for those as They are in my area.I would love to meet you all.Go for it
All the other meets you have are too far for me and Devon is a beautiful place to be.Of course I am biased I was born in Exmouth and have lived in Littleham near Exmouth for most of my life.All my family live here Except one daughter in Surrey.Oh I hope it gets of the ground I am looking forward to it already
fantastic photos John.Stover Park is another good place to go | I will mention it when I have spoken to Andrew and Steve but I always visit that area at least a couple of times a year. In fact I am coming past that way on Saturday as I am having a week near Lands End. I will probably use the day that I am coming back (Nov 11th) to call in at Prawle Point and then Bowling Green Marsh.
I know Stover well. In fact I had a Sora there a few years ago.
John |
30-10-2006, 01:15 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Lincolnshire/Cambs/Norfolk border right on The Wash
Posts: 2,213
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Nice pics John, love the mean gleam in the eye of that male shoveller..
jaki
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30-10-2006, 02:53 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sunny Doncaster
Posts: 4,351
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
I am always up for a meet. I have the luxury of a fully expensed company car so fuel costs etc are never an issue. Given a tent and a few beers I sleep like a baby so I will definitely be up for more. |
30-10-2006, 03:13 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Boddie I am always up for a meet. I have the luxury of a fully expensed company car so fuel costs etc are never an issue. Given a tent and a few beers I sleep like a baby so I will definitely be up for more. | Hi andrew
Nightshade asked if there was a chance of a meet in the SW of the country. I suggested Bowling Green Marsh (Topsham), Dawlish Warren and perhaps Haldon Forest (for the Nightjar), would be an ideal itinerary. That could take place around June/July next year.
What do you think regarding that as part of a fixture of meets we were talking about.
John |
30-10-2006, 03:16 PM
| | Dame Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: exmouth devon uk
Posts: 5,359
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Boddie I am always up for a meet. I have the luxury of a fully expensed company car so fuel costs etc are never an issue. Given a tent and a few beers I sleep like a baby so I will definitely be up for more. | Well I hope you will all get down this end of the country i look forward to meeting everyone but you more than most.I am curious to see if you live up to the personality you show on here |
30-10-2006, 03:17 PM
| | Dame Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: exmouth devon uk
Posts: 5,359
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by John Hi andrew
Nightshade asked if there was a chance of a meet in the SW of the country. I suggested Bowling Green Marsh (Topsham), Dawlish Warren and perhaps Haldon Forest (for the Nightjar), would be an ideal itinerary. That could take place around June/July next year.
What do you think regarding that as part of a fixture of meets we were talking about.
John | Nice if you make it in June my birthday is in June I can celebrate it at the same time |
30-10-2006, 03:20 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sunny Doncaster
Posts: 4,351
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by John Hi andrew
Nightshade asked if there was a chance of a meet in the SW of the country. I suggested Bowling Green Marsh (Topsham), Dawlish Warren and perhaps Haldon Forest (for the Nightjar), would be an ideal itinerary. That could take place around June/July next year.
What do you think regarding that as part of a fixture of meets we were talking about.
John | Yep, that sounds great. I am bound to be down there before then as my old nan lives in Porthleven so I will be sure to check out the venues.
June/July in that neck of the woods sounds ideal |
30-10-2006, 04:17 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by cherrybee I am curious to see if you live up to the personality you show on here | Oh dear!! I don't know if that is good or bad.
I have seen Boddie's answer so I think a meet is definitely on the cards around that time. it also gives us the longest days and the Nighjars are usually a bit more co-operative at that time.
John |
30-10-2006, 04:19 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Coventry
Posts: 6,162
| | | Re: W.A.B Titchwell day out
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Boddie Yep, that sounds great. I am bound to be down there before then as my old nan lives in Porthleven so I will be sure to check out the venues.
June/July in that neck of the woods sounds ideal | We can make a weekend of it if you like Andrew. On the Sunday I can take you down to Prawle Point for the Cirl Bunting. We can also take in the river running up to Kingsbridge then onto Slapton Ley.
John |
30-10-2006, 05:02 PM
| | Commander of th | | |
