Another Season Over

Well that's it, another L.O.S. season has come to a close this week with our final field trip and Friday night presentation talk.  Doesn't the time pass so quickly when you're having fun?

We had a great day out at RSPB Blacktoft Sands and North Cave on Sunday 7 May with a nice sized group of 14 L.O.S. members turning up on a cloudy day with sunny intervals.


Highlights included a female Montagu's Harrier, male and female Marsh Harriers, a flying Bittern, many Avocets, some Bearded Tits, Cetti's, Reed, Sedge, Willow and Grasshopper Warblers, Blackcap, countless Swifts and Sand Martins and few Swallows, four summer plumaged (black) Spotted Redshanks, two Greenshanks, Black-tailed Godwits in summer plumage, Ringed and Little-Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Common Terns, Yellow, Grey and Pied Wagtails, Reed Bunting, Ruffs coming into summer plumage, a single Wigeon, Redshank, Tree Sparrows galore, as well as many of the usuals including Little Egrets, Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, Shelducks, Tufted Ducks, Greylag Geese, Mute Swans, Mallards, Gadwalls, Robins, Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Moorhens, Coots, Grey Herons, Carrion Crows, Kestrels and Dunnocks.

And then last night (Friday 12 May) we had an excellent talk by the 'Shropshire Birder' Jim Almond entitled 'Shropshire's Peregrines' with a host of other birds of prey thrown in for comparison.

Jim took us through the complete lifecycle of the Peregrine Falcon from eggs to fledglings and adults using his superb closeup photographs taken under a Schedule 1 license and he gave us a lot of interesting information about these stunning birds.

Jim's a great birder and speaker and a very professional presenter -  we hope to see him again.

So that's it for another year. We hope you have a great summer break and we'll see you all again in September with another programme of talks and field trips.

3 comments:

David Shallcross said...

Derby Room meeting, this evening's presentation by Jim Almond the "Shropshire Birder" was a master class in the art of presentation, super photographs coupled with his knowledgeable commentary made the evening fly by as did the wonderful shots of Peregrines.

Anonymous said...

Thoroughly enjoyed Jim presentation last night. Can't add anymore than David has above.
Blacktoft and North Cave were both excellent birding spots as were all the other venues. Apart for a handful of lifers, Pauline and I really enjoyed all the field trips we attended, so thanks again to all the organisers for their hard work and planning, both for presentation nights and field activities. Brilliant. Paul Pennington.

David Shallcross said...

Thanks for those comments Paul i will inform the committee.

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