Author: Clare Topping

Now that I am equipped with spotting scope I feel the need to justify the expenditure and go out and about looking for exciting birds. But, fortunately I also have a greater urge to not bother going anywhere in the car. This led me to Daventry Country Park on a dull Saturday afternoon.

Was it exciting, did I see new and exciting birds? Well, that depends on your definition of new and exciting. This year I have decided to do a bird list. It seems that this is something that “serious” birders regularly do and some even describe themselves in terms of the numbers of species that they have seen. I have decided that I would just keep a list of those species that I see on my travels on my local patch (I rarely stray far from this patch unless it is a rare visit to the in-laws in Derbyshire). I am hoping for about 80 species.

Well, I am now past 50 thanks to the treecreeper and lesser redpoll that I saw at the CP. My spotting scope allowed me to see all the different shades of brown on the treecreeper, but then so did standing about 6 feet away from it at the bottom of the tree it was in. The scope did allow me to recognise the redpolls though as they were hiding at the very top of a tall tree. I would like to mention at this point though that I know that binoculars are better in a wooded area, but I was looking at the gulls on the reservoir when I decided to look behind me.

I watched an old episode of Birding with Bill Oddie and he pointed out that looking at a bird through a scope just put them in an entirely new light. I couldn’t agree more – I love my scope and now could not imagine life without one.

So, in addition to seeing thirty different bird species in one trip, watching a pair of grebes performing their courtship dance, I also managed to get a few OK shots of some of tamer wildfowl by the visitor centre. Not bad for a dull afternoon in February.

I have never really been interested in ticking all of the bird species boxes when it comes to bird-watching. Apart from there being a hint of the train spotter about it, I also have an environmental crisis of conscience when it comes to driving anywhere to go birdwatching, so there is no way that I would go out of my way to go and see a rare bird. I see myself more in the Bill Oddie mould, preferring to stick to my local patch. However, this does conjure up the question of what is a rare bird.

I, in common with most people have a number of birds that I really want to see. I have a friend who is desperate to see a kingfisher, and I must admit to a small amount of smugness when I tell him about all of the kingfishers that just keep jumping out at me. For me, one of the birds that I have always wanted to see is a Smew, not just any old Smew, but a male Smew. This has been the case since I saw one in a pen at Martin Mere when I was younger. They just look so neat and smart.
So, today when I waved goodbye to my beloved on my way out to Brandon Marsh I just happened to take my tripod with me in case I felt like popping in to Draycote on my way back. I didn’t mention to him that I had seen reports of a male Smew off the Farnborough bank on the Warwickshire bird news – the mickey taking would be relentless.

I got there and wandered along the bank to about the halfway mark until I saw a large flock of gulls in the distance. Time to see what my scope could do I thought. Let me see lots of black headed gulls was the answer. Then I spotted a flotilla of goldeneye and goosanders. Ah ha, if I were a Smew I would potter about with these chaps I thought. Obviously I am not a Smew and therefore I was disappointed.

I then came to my senses, who am I kidding, birds laugh at me as they fly away just at the moment that I fix them in my sights. Back to the gulls for some identification challenges (I had heard tales of things other than black headed gulls being present). Just at that moment what flew straight into the middle of my field of view in front of the gulls – Mr Smew – he just sat there for a few minutes bobbing about and looking straight at me.

How good was my day!! (A Smew is not a rarity, loads of people have seen them and therefore I am not even a semi-twitcher. Besides I was passing on my way home from somewhere else.)

I decided today that I would make another attempt at digiscoping. However, this time I thought that it would be a better idea to choose somewhere with a bit more shelter (and comfort), so somewhere with a hide. Therefore off I toddled to Brandon Marsh where, although the birds may not be the most plentiful or exotic, there are always good views from the hides.

I started off marvelling at the detail that I could see through my still lovely and new scope before attempting to take some pictures of teal (after waiting for the other birdwatchers to leave the hide and save my embarrassment). Two lessons learnt, ducks are awkward and only stick their heads out of the water when you don’t have your camera ready and I still need that scope adapter thingy for my camera. (Hence the remarkably poor pictures as demonstrated below).

Having learnt from lesson one I thought that I would be a bit more cunning and thought I would find a more co-operative subject.

Hence I fell back on the old favourite, cormorants. This time they were perched on posts and not on a constantly moving boat – very cunning indeed. So I duly waited until everyone had gone before taking my pictures, and was rewarded with what are still pretty poor shots, but which were nonetheless better than last time.

As for the second lesson, I have decided not to take my camera with me until I have bought the adapter. It is next to impossible to focus the scope, hold the camera still and capture the moment that the bird is actually looking at you all at the same time.

A few weeks ago my parents-in-law, who have a passing interest in birdwatching, were at Carsington reservoir, which they visit quite often. When they got there they saw a lot of birdwatchers and associated expensive paraphenalia lining the dam. There, putting on a fine show in front of the dam, diving down, carrying out a triple salko, and then finishing with a bit of a song and a dance, was a Great Northern Diver, busy frolicking about in the water, close enough so that a spotting scope was definitely not needed.

Last week, as previously posted, I went along to Draycote Water to play with my new scope. I got some lovely views of grebes and goldeneye, what I didn’t notice was the Great Northern Diver that many members of Warwick Birding appear to have had the pleasure of seeing that day and all weekend. Unfortuately I had chosen that weekend to go and do the obligatory trip up to see my family so that I don’t have to bother at Christmas. Now, I have to go to work, and as it is dark I can’t even go in the evening.

I know that I am not the unluckiest birdwatcher in the world, I have heard plenty of more frustrating tales, but with the Law of Sod operating, do I go to Pitsford Reservoir, Draycote, or stick with the usual favourites this weekend? And, more to the point, will the fog lift soon enough for me to see anything, and late enough for the birds not to have made the effort to fly away before I get there?

Well, I have the scope so I went out to use it. I certainly gave it a good road test. I chose to test it out on the dam at Draycote Water, on a cold, dark, windy winter’s day. Testing conditions for both the scope and me. So off I went to practise focussing, moving the scope and deploying the tripod. It certainly went better than expected. To start with there did not seem to be very much in the way of birdlife to be seen. However, when I started to have a proper look there were quite a few lapwings and cormorants, as well as quite a few great crested and little grebes.

The scope definitely proved to me that the extra money was a good investment. In the poor light conditions I managed to see so much detail, particularly on the goldeneye that were bobbing about further up the dam. I particularly focussed on these because, unlike the little grebes they spent most of the time above the water, rather than waiting until I had just got them in my sites before disappearing under the choppy water.

The next investment has to be an adapter in order to fit a camera to the scope, as testified by my attempts to hold the camera on the end of the scope shown below – please try not to laugh – it was cold and the boat kept moving.

A number of lessons have been learnt – always put the bottom set of tripod legs down first, buy an adapter to attach a camera before attempting to take a photograph, although I can see more detail on the birds on the water I am still rubbish at identifying the small brown birds laughing at me from behind, and, finally, buy some thermals!!

For some time now I have been thinking about buying a spotting scope, partially with the hope of being able to get into digiscoping. I have been thinking about this for about eighteen months now, and the limitations of a pair of binoculars in the world of reservoirs and winter migrants, coupled with the limitations of my memory (I am hoping to be able to photograph any birds that I don’t recognise) finally persuaded me to part with my hard-earned dosh. (Yes, I do believe that it is hard-earned because it is only the thought of being able to afford the finer things and scopes in life that allows me to keep going to work.)

So, I did my research (sort of – I did get very distracted by all of the pictures shown on digiscoping sites) and thought about what I wanted from the scope and prepared to persuade myself that I did not need the top of the range scope. I went along to Focus Optics in Coventry as I had never used a scope before and thought that it might be useful to see how heavy these were and compare the different sizes. I have to say that the staff there were incredibly helpful, and didn’t try to force me down any particular route. However, I have to admit that I came away with the top of the range scope and tripod. Now I will have to justify these with some articles for this blog, and hopefully, some good pictures.

I have now discovered where all the birds are that most people seem to be reporting as missing from their garden – Focus Optics have stolen them all so that customers have something to focus their binoculars and scopes on. Whilst there I saw woodpeckers, chaffinches (far too many to count) bullfinches, pheasants, great tits, long-tailed tits, greenfinches, moorhens and doves – not to mention the squirrels.

To finish a fantastic, if expensive day (I was also tempted into a new bird feeder and some new walking boots), I called in at Brandon Marsh on the way home – only to buy some Christmas cards you understand. Anyway, whilst there I accidently stumbled into one of the hides. I was mainly confronted by an awful lot of water (most of the small islands had disappeared) upon which there were some ducks floating about – the best of which was a male Goldeneye and a couple of females. On the way back to the car I also saw lots of bullfinches, a flock of redpoll (my first ever, I am assuming that they are the common type otherwise they would have been invisible to me) and a small flock of redwing. Hurrah! Although this may seem a little bit of an over reaction for a common migrant I was beginning to think that they were avoiding me. I kept seeing reports of redwings all around, could I find any, could I arse, I had seen more kingfishers this year than redwings! (This is just a comment for my friend Nick who is desperate to see a kingfisher, but they see him coming and scarper.)