Norland Moor 1/12/07 & Ramblings

Morning all

Sue and I took the dog up Norland for its usual Saturday morning walk around 8am. Not too much around this morning but we did have wonderful views of a small flock of Bullfinch in the small Birch trees at the top end of Moor. A flock of seven, 3male & 4 female. This is the first time in 15 years of walking Norland regularly we have ever seen Bullfinch on the moor. Large flocks of B/H gulls in most of fields around the Norland area this morning, too many to count but they must have run into the low thousands added together.

Bird field guide; thanks to all who replied, and a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Dean Stables from Barnsley Birders who very generously mailed me a pristine HB copy of the highly recommended Collins guide free. And yes everyone who recomended it, it is indeed superb.

Scope; thanks to all who offered suggestions for scopes as well. Money is a bit tight at the moment as Sue is re-training as a secondary school teacher with the subsequent large loss of salary involved. I did not feel I could justify spending large amounts from a limited income this year so have delayed in purchasing any of the scopes suggested but will do so when finances permit. In the meantime I had a dig around in the accumulated rubbish in the garage and managed to unearth my old Greencat spotting scope which is now around 20 years old. It still works fine and though its not as good as the ones suggested its better than none at all. I have now bought a tripod for this so if anyone spots me out and about with a tatty old scope please refrain from sniggering at my antiquated equipment :-))

Seasons greeting to all