Bandits at 6 o clock (or should that be 3 o'clock?)

Having checked into the hotel, we set off for a quick afternoon trip into Vancouver before the full effects of jetlag set in.  Up to this point, the only birdlife we had seen were a handful of Northwestern Crows and Glaucous-winged Gulls as we made our way in the airport shuttle, though Stanley Park, an oasis on the outskirts of Vancouver was our destination in the afternoon heat.

With throngs of cyclists, joggers and roller bladers coming from all directions, Stanley Park really is not somewhere to try walking around when you are half asleep and struggling to come to terms with the fact it is 6 o'clock in the evening and not 3 o'clock in the morning as your body clock is trying to tell you.  The fact there are so many people around does make the wildlife remarkably tame, none more so than the many Racoons, dressed like highwaymen which appeared late afternoon and harrass passers by for any scraps, though they were very endearing, as was the Douglas' Squirrel eating a burger bun.

Dressed for the part

Even the local Squirrels are partial to fast food in this country

The birdlife was much like many city parks with truely wild Canada Geese and Wood Ducks also coming to look for scraps.  A Great Blue Heron fished oblivious to the many passers by stopping to photograph it with the camera phones and Glaucous-winged Gulls also posed for photos.

Great Blue Heron

Glaucous-winged Gull

Wood Duck

Other birdlife was fairly thin on the ground, though Northern Flicker, Black-capped Chickadee, White-crowned Sparrow, Spotted Towhee and a Belted Kingfisher weren't a bad start to the trip.

Toto, we're not in Kansas any more!

Following an early start, a bumpy take-off from a wet and windy Heathrow and a nine hour flight we finally made it to Vancouver, an hour and a half after we left, or so the clock was telling us.  Normally long haul flights are tedious with nothing to see out of the window, but I'm not sure many people see a mass of Beluga Whales from 30,000 feet in Hudson Bay looking like grains of rice close in to the shoreline like we were lucky enough to and the view over the glaciers of Greenland wasn't bad either!

Lakes listing

Having only been down the Nunnery Lakes reserve a handful of times before this year, despite it being a short walk from where I have worked for the past 8 years, the BTO Vs RSPB TEAL Cup has changed all that and rather belatedly I am now an avid Lakes Lister.

Starting 8 years too late means there are still some glaring omissions to my list, but a text from Lakes resident (almost literally!) Nick Moran had me hotfooting it down to the meadow to successfully twitch 2 Yellow Wagtails this evening, though I only saw them in flight - but they all count.

Typical...

I always remember on my school report card my photography teacher (yes, you really can do an A level in photography!) saying "Neil should always have his camera with him", and so it proved today.

Walking into work this morning and I came across one of the local Otters, merrily playing around in the river, coming as close as a few feet away as I stood watching it.  Then a little bit further along the river, a sudden splash and a Kingfisher rose out of the water carrying a small fish and promptly flew along and landed in a tree a few yards away.  I'm sure that wildlife know when you haven't got your camera with you, and needless to say, with it being quite a dull morning, this was the case today!!

We are going to the Zoo...

I am not always the greatest fan of zoos, too often animals are kept in enclosures which are too small for them and the animals just look very unhappy. A family day out at Banham Zoo in Norfolk was quite refreshing and enjoyable and a few photographs taken.

This was one of a family of 5 Snow Leopards they have there. These guys are the holy grail of big cats but require a trip to the high peaks of the Himalayas to see them and only then if you are extremely lucky. Maybe one day......

In a few weeks time, I will hopefully watching Bald Eagles in British Columbia, but this bird was a nice model for the time being.

 

 

Prairie Dogs, like Meerkats are always popular and always on the lookout...

 

 

Messing about in the river

Spent a delightful half an hour in the company of one of the local Otters on my way home from work.  This is one of four cubs born last year and have become something of local celebrities with at two becoming remarkably confiding, even playing around in the river by the mill in the centre of Thetford at lunchtimes.

Blending in...

The female Nightjar seen and photographed at close range on a nest found a few days ago in Thetford Forest, and several other Nightjars showed well around the area at dusk and Stone Curlews calling nearby.

2 Hobbies present around a probable nest site and showed well and a Turtle Dove heard purring here too, the latter being my first of the year showing how scarce they have become.