Author: galtrym

Our walks continue to be productive, with a good crop of raptors, including our local Peregrine.  A check under the pylon says that it’s partial to a Black-headed Gull.  The local Little Owl has started sunning itself, and on Thursday evening it even had a go at its neighbour, a Barn Owl.  This morning we had more success with a male Pied Flycatcher and a couple of Ring Ouzels, who refused to be photographed.

Peregrine

Red Kite over the garden

Grumpy

A closer view of last weekend’s Hares

Pied Flycatcher

Ring Ouzel

Cowslip

Having had the day’s exercise, I was scoping out of the window and I noticed some movement on the down.  It turned out to be three Hares, not new for the house, but scarce enough to be interesting.  It turned out very interesting, as they started boxing.  It turns out that Mad March Hares are also out of sync this year.  Here’s a terrible digiscoped picture of them.  The female is on the bottom, with her partner between her and the interloper.

Now that the Japan photos are done here’s a few pictures from the garden and the walks around the locality from the last couple of weeks.  We’re incredibly lucky to have the Downs on our doorstep, although this weekend’s stupidity in Brighton might result in us losing even that freedom.

We’ve had some good luck with migrants, although terrible luck with either available camera equipment or the bird sitting in the worst possible place.

One of two Ring Ouzels from today’s walk. Both selected terrible backlit perches.

Brimstone

Comma

Peacock

The Long-tailed Tits seem to be nesting near us this year.

Dartford Warbler (it is, honest)

Green Woodpecker

Corn Bunting

Kestrel

Small Tortoiseshell

Little Ringed Plover

I’ve finished the Japan photos now.  There’s a page here or on the Trips page, with a link to my OneDrive, which has a lot more pictures (and higher resolution and better quality versions of the ones here) and a few videos from the Eagle cruise.

One last post from Japan, this time from our extension, which started with a day in the Tokyo area, followed by an overnight ferry to the Izu Islands in the hope of albatrosses from the boat.

Oriental Turtle Dove

Meiji Jingu Shrine

Varied Tit

Barrels of Sake donated to the shrine

Black-faced Bunting

Brown-cheeked Rail

Wryneck

Chinese Bamboo Partridge, an introduced species

Chinese Hwamei, another introduced species

The Izu Islands ferry

The rising sun

Short-tailed Albatross

Short-tailed Albatross

Laysan Albatross

Black-footed Albatross

Streaked Shearwater

Pomarine Skua

Karen ponders the sunset

Mount Fuji peeks out of the haze

One last lot from Hokkaido, starting with a return to Notsuke, the Fish Owl and Sable at the magnificent Yoroushi Onsen, a visit to Lake Kussharo, some volcanic springs and a return to Tsurui for some more cranes.

Asian Rosy Finch

Blakiston’s Fish Owl

The fish-free option

Sable

What’s it seen?

Sable

Ubiquitous and noisy, it’s difficult to miss a Brown-eared Bulbul

All Long-tailed Tits are gorgeous, but the caudatus subspecies is a totally cute fluffy snowball.

Hawfinch is quite a common bird in Japan

Nuthatch

Eurasian Jay

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

The sulphurous emisions were quite unpleasant, but I love her anyway.

The light was worse today, but the Red-crowned Cranes were dancing.

Red-crowned Crane

If you don’t like eagles look away now.  This post is very edited highlights of our boat trip from Rausu to see the Steller’s and White-tailed Eagles being fed.

Large-billed Crows are always after a scrap, but are also very deferential

White-tailed Eagle

Smaller, faster and smarter, the White-tailed Eagles win most races for a fish.

Steller’s Sea Eagle

The Steller’s Sea Eagle may be slower, but it’sfar more powerful in an arm wrestle.

Victory!

Sliding tackle

One of the few benefits of the lockdown is that I have more time to spend on my photos.  I need it: there’s not that many species on Hokkaido, but they are superb, so I shot more than half my of photos in the few days we spent there.  Here’s a sample from the first few days, starting in Tsurui for the cranes, moving on to Nemuro for some seabirds and then to our night in Rausu.

We start before sunrise with the temperature at -14°C for some atmospheric shots of Red-crowned Crane

Eurasian Bullfinch – the asian subspecies have grey breasts

Ural Owl

There are plenty of volcanoes on Hokkaido

Red-crowned Crane

Red-crowned Crane

Cape Kiritappu

A Steller’s Sea Eagle and Sea Otter

Another day, another banquet

Karen gets crabby

Cape Nosappu

Black Scoter

Glauous-winged Gull

Black Scoter

Yorkshire birders don’t let a bit of snow stop them.

Ancient Murrelet

Sika Deer

Slaty-backed Gull

Harlequin Duck

Long-tailed Duck

Who can think of Hokkaido without thinking of an acorn riding a cow with a salmon under its arm?

Glaucous Gull

Notsuke is a sand spit, a bit like Spurn Point. On the seaward side the sea ice blows in from the Sea of Okhotsk.

On the sheltered side, the sea just freezes in place.

I’ve never seen Snow Buntings perching on grass before.

Our minshuku at Rausu. There are at least 30 Steller’s Sea Eagles roosting in the valley.

By midnight on our Owl vigil, the only thing we had seen was a Sika Deer.

At 0410 in the morning the Blakiston’s Fish Owl arrived.

Brown Dipper

Down south this time, where spring is springing, with two nights at the cranes in Arasaki and two nights near Miike.

Mudskippers and crabs

Daurian Redstart

Hooded Cranes at dawn

The rising sun

Hooded Crane

A White-naped Crane squares up to a Common Crane in the crowd of Hooded Cranes

There are about 15000 Hooded Cranes in the area

Hooded Crane

The sole Demoiselle Crane is smaller and daintier than the others, and easily bullied

Eastern Buzzard

Black-faced Spoonbill

Eurasian Spoonbill

Japanese (or Warbling) White-eye

Good grub

Indian Red Admiral

Indian Red Admiral

Common Grass Yellow

One of these leaves is a Dark Evening Brown butterfly

Meadow Bunting

Asian Comma

Miike crater lake

Our accommodation near Miike

Another day, another banquet

Beware of the giant rabbit

Beware of the Raccoon Dog

Great and Japanese Cormorants

Japanese Murrelet

What a dump: we even had to cook our own breakfast

Our only moth of the trip

As we headed to Kagoshima airport, the local volcano, Sakurajima, is erupting

Here’s the first batch of pictures from Japan, covering the first section of the trip on Honshu, starting in Tokyo, spending three nights in Karuizawa and a couple of nights in Kaga.

Falcated Duck in the moat of the imperial palace

Mt Fuji sunset from our bedroom window

Bohemian Waxwing, much more cooperative than the Japanese Waxwings

Mt Asama

Daurian Redstart

White-backed Woodpecker

Japanese Serow

Not a Dunnock: Japanese Accentor

Japanese Squirrel

Japanese Wagtail

Beware of the flying Squirrels

Varied Tit

Rustic Bunting

Smew

Dusky Thrush

Grey-capped Greenfinch

Japanese Grosbeak

Japanese Serow

Willow Tit

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Varied Tit

The Willow Tits are friendly

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Shiotsubo Onsen Hotel

Turning up for dinner in our dressing gowns

Naumann’s Trush

Green Pheasant

The Snow Monkey Park near Nakano. For the first time in 90 years there is hardly any snow.

There is a bit of snow, though.

Japanese Macaque

Good handwashing technique

Between Karuizawa and Kaga there were over 50 road tunnels

Our biggest flock of Japanese Waxwings, there’s over 50 here.

Japanese Waxwing

Katano Kamoike bird sanctuary. There are Tundra and Taiga Bean Goose and Bewick’s Swans on the lake

Time for a wild goose chase: there are a couple of Lesser White-fronted Geese in with the Greater White-fronted Geese

Lesser and Greater White-fronted Goose

Eurasian Wigeon

Falcated Duck

Seawatching’s hard looking into the face of a gale on Katanomachi beach

Kasano Misaki Point

Japanese Cormorant

Black-tailed Gull

Grey-headed Lapwing