Finally on the Birdstack Map

Bristol Ornithological Club’s sightings page has revived. It stopped, dead, at the end of May but by returning to the Club’s home page and clicking sightings again, I’ve refound it. Actually it moved from one Blogger site to another and nobody told the world. So I had to refollow it and then Google Reader could pick it up again, and I had to bookmark it on the iPod…

With my webmaster‘s hat on this demonstrates one of the cardinal sins. Never lose your old readership. You’ve sweated blood to get that much attention.

Still, the page is back and reporting a quail between Easton-in-Gordano and Lower Failand – easy to pin down on my local OS Explorer map. I figured on an afternoon visit when the bird would be more likely calling. Before that I could take in Pill, which the map also makes easy to work and where a grasshopper warbler is reputed to be.

It didn’t materialise but a peregrine falcon did, after I’d mistaken it for a sparrowhawk. A large female sparrowhawk, that would have to be. Too large in the event and the bird’s facial markings gave him (probably) away when he flew into better light. Then cronked a raven and flew from a Portbury Dock pylon across the river to Avonmouth and in to my Bristol list at number 73.

Dominated by the docks and M5 bridge, Pill isn’t a lovely spot but that has the advantage of deterring the masses and their dogs so birds thrive there. And it has an art gallery, as you can see above.

Of the quail later there was also nothing, its barley field possibly having been harvested. But there was a cute enfolded valley, from the top of which this view of the industrial Severn contrasted with cornflowers.

So, two patches about three miles distant finally on the Birdstack database after 18 months of my being in the area. Having the OS map is an incentive to explore and even I need that.

Related posts:

1. Birdstack Data Entry
2. Birdstack Import Problems
3. Finally an Angus Kingfisher, 2004