The Lincolnshire Bird Club

It seems to me that we spend a great deal of our time either looking at features at ground level or just above or doing seawatches. Has anybody ever concentrated on doing "skywatches". I ask this because I only saw my first Golden Eagle (years ago) on Applecross by lying on my back in the (dry) heather and looking straight upwards. I have noticed that where I live it is all too easy to just look at the trees and hedges around (there lots of them) and not looking straight upwards. It appears particularly useful for spotting raptors and high flying geese and gulls. We see buzzards here quite often and some at a considerable height, my sighting of a red kite last year was whilst on the top of the church tower looking up at a new flagpole halyard we had just fitted, and the pink foots this morning were spotted whilst looking skywards at an A-WACS flying over. It seems it would be an ideal activity on a warm lazy day when you can lay on the lawn, sitting up only to sip that wine etc. Any comments or experiences on this?

Regards

David

david have only just got over my stiff neck from watching for late swifts etc, haven't been like that since i accidentally chewed my viagra instead of swallowing it, still i will try,

terry whalin

I am the worlds worst, i miss so much in the air with other people first on the birds flying over, i would say im a tree top birder.
And most places now where there are dog walkers you aint got time to look skywards (you know what i mean) no offence to dog walkers as i have one...

Oh and Terence

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Kind Regards

Steve

http://www.southlincsrspb.org.uk

Nothing beats laying in the grass looking skyward on a summer day - particularly when skylarks are singing and displaying The late great Miles Hopper once said to me that if you lay on the ground anywhere in Lincolnshire and look to the sky you can guarantee that within 5 minutes you will see a raptor!

Mandy

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http://mandywest.zenfolio.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51013318@N06/

Mandy, you brought back memories! It's many years since I last lay on my back looking skyward on a balmy summers day. If I remember correctly, raptors and Skylarks did not feature high on my list of priorities. Hey ho - those were the days!!

Steady lad you will be having a bit of a flutter

terry whalin

Well this did bring back a few distant memories, not necessarily ornithological! Seriously though, its good to chat and exchange ideas and experiences. I'll have to think of another aspect to birding now to generate a few other interesting experiences.

Regards

David

A few years ago I laid on my back in the Dominican Republic and shortly afterwards found myself surrounded by turkey vultures - true

hI aLL,,iNTERESTING,take caps lock off!,
As for Raptors,dare i say it-Goshawk!,one day in march(a few years ago) all the birds got up off msq reserve,if i had not nearly sprained my neck,sticking me head right out the hide and looking right up i would not have spotted a huge female gossy.
Ive got on more raptors at msq when birds have been disturbed,in that way.
e.g.-Osprey
Red kite,harriers,peregrines,buzzards etc,that ortherwise would have been missed,people say often to me,how do you get on so many raptors??,patience and more patience!!!,spraining my neck regulary,watching other birds constantly,i.e,if they are jittery,calling out more than normal figitty,etc,,its paid off,while others are in the hide talking,and not scanning,im constantly scanning the fields,woods for possible raptorish activity,..heck im giving all my secrets away!!,hope s routledge dose"nt read this he gets enough raptors!!!,but i will try the lying down technique,seems a good notion to me!!.
Roger Raptor.

Hi Roger,
You hit on one interesting point - the value or not of sharing a hide with others. Certainly more pairs of eyes can spot more birds but do more tongues and pairs of ears detract from this? As Marston is my regular haunt I usually have the hide to myself but occasionaly meet others there. It may be worth noting when this happens if the "score" is up or down (on avarage) on solitary observation. This may take a season or more to produce any results and of course they would be statistically useless and wholely unscientific but it would be interesting!

Comments?

Regards

David

Hi David,
If there is a few in the hide talking and maybe not particulaly looking much,im not impolite,i talk but they will have noticed im scanning at the same time!!!
its easier to do one thing at a time but its a habit now with me,
cheers David,
Roger.