Trip to Isle of Man

Instead of flying east from Liverpool, I went north west, to the Isle of Man. At Liverpool John Lennon airport, there was delay announcement after delay announcement, apology after apology because of the French air traffic controllers strike. I was able to stroll straight through, and just a short 25 minute flight, I was at Ronaldsway before I was able to fasten my seat belt.

I took the bus to Douglas, and wanted to get rid of my luggage and walk the promenade and take in the Irish sea air. I was staying on the fifth floor of a four storey building and was in the fourth chimney pot on the right, my neighbour answered to the name of Jack. My alarm call at dawn was a herring gull calling in gull language “hello world”.

My breakfast was fruit juice, a full English, cereal, toast and tea or coffee, that set me up for the day. I usually like an early breakfast but had to start at 8 am. I took a bus to Port Erin and saw immediately a pair of Eiders in the bay. Although the day was sunny, there was quite a wind blowing. I walked to Port St Mary, taking a detour to the Calf of Man. Here I saw gannets, shags, more eiders, and looked up to see 8 whooper swans, flying towards Martin Mere.

There were lots of seals resting on the rocks. I called in at the Sound café and was fortunate to call in when I did as a coach load arrived shortly after. House martins and swallows were still here, and I was delighted to see stonechats, one of my favourite birds, also rock pipits and pied wags. I continued onto Port St Mary, passing through Cregneash, then onto Castletown, seeing wigeon and teal on the shore line, then that higher pitched call “Jack”, Choughs were performing their acrobatics.

I went to Port Erin the following day and went right towards Peel, I set off hoping to make my way along the coast towards Dalby and then Peel, my book said 16 miles. I made it three years ago. I saw stonechats again, meadow and rock pipits, ravens and choughs, rooks and jackdaws.

I made my way from  Milner’s Tower and down into a valley and then made my way up again on the other side and then I noticed my camera lens cap was missing. My first reaction was to turn back and tried to retrace my steps. Half way down I decided was it worth it? It is only a lens cap, I can get another, so I made my way back up again. Then, a change of mind, I decided to find it, thinking I might not be able to get another cap that fits. It was a needle in a haystack job. I found it right at the bottom of the valley and was relieved. Then I thought I would never make it to Peel, and decided to take a different route back to Port Erin. I saw a footpath through some woods and walked through the tightly packed conifers seeing tit flocks, robins, wrens and goldcrest. The path seemed to fizzle out and I could see the path I had come down towards the valley. The problem I faced was either making my way through about fifty yards of bramble to the path or going back along the route I had just come along. I chose the fifty yards to the path on the steep hill. With hindsight that wasn’t the best option. It is likely that no one had taken that route since Sweyn Forkbeard in 950 AD.  I had cuts on my arms and legs. I was hoping no one would spot me struggling to make my way through the thick bramble. I don't think they did.

I made it back to the path. Walking back up the hill was a struggle and it was now quite warm and my coat had to come off. Eventually I found my way back to Port Erin. I found a park bench for a rest and closed my eyes for five minutes. I woke up, looked down and my lens cap was missing.

The next day, after another hearty breakfast, I stated my next destination to my landlady, who always wore a blue hairnet. Laxey I told her, and I set off passing a post box and posted my application form for the Krypton Factor, after yesterday’s exploits.

I was dropped off by the Laxey Wheel, and made my way along the coastal path. I took detours to two private nature reserves, making sure this time to keep to the main paths. Choughs, jackdaws and hooded crows were showing well along the coast along with many herring gulls. In the second nature reserve I saw teal, tufted duck, mallards, coot and little grebe.

It was warm again and the detours I took made the distance about 14 miles, so was fairly tired when I made it to Onchan Hill. Then down to Douglas, where I saw turnstone, curlew, oystercatcher and redshank on the beach. There were herring gulls, great black backed and black headed gulls, as well as many rock pipits and pied wagtails feeding on the seaweed.

Monday, saw me going in the same direction, but past Laxey through to Ramsey. I didn’t want to walk as much and walked at a sedate pace. On the front I saw Canada geese, mute swan and cormorants in amongst all the boats. Walking along the beach I saw turnstone, ringed plover, oystercatchers and curlew. Later walking along the north shore I saw a peregrine falcon causing havoc amongst the oystercatchers. It was the only raptor I saw. I stumbled across Ballure reservoir run by the Manx Water Authority and although looked a great place for birding I didn’t see any birds on the lake. The notice board did suggest that wildfowl do over winter there, they just hadn’t arrived yet. I walked around a pleasant wooded area and saw a large tit flock, goldfinch, siskin and goldcrest. It was getting on and made the long bus journey to Douglas.

My last day I didn’t want to spend too far away from Douglas and went to Summerhill Glen, on the way to Onchan, where I used to stay in the early seventies in the summer holidays with my Aunty. It was again a lovely warm day and I was fortunate that hairnet Harriet allowed me to keep the luggage at the hotel after I had checked out. I later went on the promenade and was delighted to see two red throated divers in the harbour. One was being harassed by a herring gull whenever it resurfaced.

I collected my luggage and bussed it to Ronaldsway for my 5 pm flight. As I entered the airport I was thinking how things had run smoothly. I looked at the tv monitor to check my flight, and was surprised to see a message I hadn’t seen before: “bag drop suspended”. Not sure what that meant I sat waiting for it to change. Then an announcement, the entire network for my airline was down and no check- ins for taking place until it was fixed. Another flight to Gatwick had been delayed for 2 hours.

I was glad when I heard that the check in was reassuming and could all Liverpool passengers make their way to leave their luggage. I presented my boarding pass and passport to the assistant, she looked at the computer and said my name wasn’t on the list. I was surprised as I had just given her the boarding pass. She called her supervisor and then printed off a new boarding pass. I made my way to the departure lounge and then went to go through Customs. I was just about to hand my pass over when I saw that Loopy Linda had given me a pass for London Gatwick. I quickly made my way back to the check in desk and she had the correct pass waiting for me. I was in a bit of a panic as the flight was due to depart in 20 minutes. No problems getting through Customs but whilst I was boarding the plane I had a horrible thought. Where was my luggage going to end up, Gatwick or Liverpool? I had an uncomfortable flight wondering what would become of them.

I nervously waiting at the baggage reclaim area, and breathed a sigh of relief when my case came out of the conveyor belt. Out of interest I looked at the stickers on the case and saw one for Liverpool and one for Gatwick. I had somehow got away with it.

I had an enjoyable few days in the Isle of Man despite changing boarding passes and missing lens caps with about 70 species of birds seen. If I make it over there again I might take the Isle of Man Steam packet ferry.

Rob

Hungary trip

Fourteen of us went on a memorable Hungarian trip to Bukk Hills. This was the Peckers and Liszters second trip to Hungary, with 6 of us having made the trip in spring last year. For many of us, there were plenty of birds we have never seen before in store, including eight species of woodpecker, white tailed and imperial eagles, and long eared owls. Some lovely treats later when the weather improved with Queen of Spain Fritillary, Clouded yellow and Eastern bath white butterflies. Three things that come to mind about our trip. Lowra, shelduck and Manu, more about them later.

We all arrived at the Rocket just before noon for a mini bus ride to Manchester airport. The flight arrived on time, and we were met at the airport by Ged, author, tour guide, expert on woodpeckers and wearer of dodgy Hungarian hats and Atilla, the driver. A two hour drive to the Nomad hotel in a small village called Noszvaj. Ged has been living many years in Hungary and his pronunciation has been influenced by speaking Hungarian, because Laura became “ Low” (sounds like Pow) ra.

The anticipation was building, when we saw the hotel. We had ten minutes to grab a key for our rooms, a quick wash and the meal was ready for us, the first of many excellent dishes. We were given the itinerary from Ged. He likes to keep things simple and we were told, seven, eight and nine to remember for the next morning, seven for the pre breakfast walk, eight for breakfast, and nine for the mini bus ride.  We were introduced to the tour mascot: Manu, that was not appreciated by everyone, but adored by the Everton contingent of the group.

The next morning, most complained about not having slept very well, but we all made the pre breakfast walk at 7. Whilst waiting for the walk to start, we saw great spotted woodpecker, song thrush, blackbird, jay and great tit. In the road leading to the park we saw black redstart, tree sparrow, marsh tit and nuthatch. In the boating lake there were four mallards that greeted us each morning.

Within the first hour, surrounded by wooded hills we had spotted some fantastic birds, including for most a “lifer” grey headed woodpecker, also great spotted woodpeckers. Ravens were soaring high, as well as buzzards and sparrowhawks. Also flying were redwing and white wagtails. We saw chiffchaffs and willow warblers flitting about in the branches.  It was amusing to compare the long tailed tits from those that we see in the UK with their white heads. Whilst on our way back some were fortunate to see a black woodpecker, flying away from us. The bird appeared to wake up at 7.45 am.

After a good breakfast, we made our own sandwiches and rolls for a packed lunch for later. The highlight being the Eggy bread, and the owner was christened by Rhodie as the eggy bread lady.

The tour really started at 9am when we set off for the Bukk Hills in the mini bus. We arrived at Hor Valley, the weather was getting colder and a bit windy, autumn was here. Buzzards were soaring, linnets, goldfinch and chaffinches were seen, everyone with their binoculars at the ready, not wanting to miss out on our target birds. Neil volunteered, or was he deliberately chosen?, to search for a tawny owl. With a stick he tried to flush one out from a hole in a tree, with Ged calling to “keep your face away from the hole”.

He didn’t manage to flush the owl, the hole was empty. Neil had trouble getting back to the path. We were searching now for the white backed woodpecker. It was proving elusive, despite Ged’s calls to attract them. There was evidence of them, and Ged pointed out the signs on the hornbeam trees, where the white backed feed on the wood-boring beetle larvae. 

Along the way we saw treecreeper, nuthatch and robins, middle and great spotted woodpeckers were also seen. A few managed to get a glimpse of some crossbills, Fantastic views, but still no white backed. Some were beginning to wonder whether we would see one at all, then when all appeared to be lost Ged heard the call, and Neil spotted the white backed. As it turned out the bird was voted the bird of the tour and was a “lifer” for most of us.

 It flew from tree to tree and then landed allowing great views and those who were alert were able to get a photo of the wonderful bird. On our way back to the mini bus we managed to see the Lesser spotted too. We were all relieved and feeling pleased with ourselves, we hadn’t doubted for a minute that the bird would show.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Cserepfalu, in search of the Syrian woodpecker, but we couldn’t find one. We also stopped at the Bogacs Reservoir and we saw mallards, small numbers of teal, heron and a few white wagtail. A debate started and continued about whether Tomo had seen a shelduck on the water. It gave rise to the creation of a new tour operator: Shelduck Tours.

We arrived back at the hotel and had an excellent meal with duck on the menu, apart from the Veggies. We wondered if there might be a duck less on the boating lake in Noszvaj. A check list of the birds spotted and everything else, including mammals, butterflies, insects and amphibians. 

Curiously shelduck was missing from the “official” list. We all dressed for the occasion and bright green, or any colour that stood out in honour of Arnie’s trainers. Sadly Arnie had changed the colour of his footwear at the last minute to the colour of royal blue. After many beers, palinkas and bacardi and (not very much coke) we headed back to our rooms, hoping that we hadn’t drank too much for the 7 o’clock walk next morning.

Most made the early call, with only a couple late, and they soon caught up. The wind was stronger and the temperature had dropped over night. It was a lot quieter than the day before and no grey headed woodpecker. The three drake and one female mallards were there to greet us and they weren’t caught for last night’s evening meal.

After another hearty breakfast and making up the packed lunches for later we set off on time, passing through Szentistvan, Tiszababolna and Poroszlo. In Szentistvan, we saw a roost of eight long eared owls. We had fabulous views and surprising for most that we were able to get so close, compared to viewing them in the UK. Tomo spotted a great grey shrike on a post, as we were driving, we managed to get some great shots. Later, we walked across a field and we had about an hour of a wonderful raptor experience. We saw hen harrier, buzzard, marsh harrier, imperial eagle, white tailed eagle, sparrowhawk and kestrel. Also we saw many swallows, skylark and crested lark, linnet and some lucky to spot a red throated pipit. Also spotted were Brown hares zigzagging across the fields.

In Tiszababolna we had a further treat when we saw Common crane (about 50), pygmy cormorant and Tyno was reminded every time a bird was flying by Ged, reference to us missing out on this small cormorant on the peckers and Liszters tour last year. We saw white tailed eagle, magnificently flying high. From a tower hide we saw spotted redshank, ruff and dunlin. In the fields walking back great white egrets, curlew and lapwing were seen. We saw common spadefoot toad and tree frog, and in the distance roe deer and a wily fox.

Later at lake Tisza, approaching our platform by the sluice gate, we flushed a purple heron. With our telescopes we saw little and great crested grebes, mallards, shovelers, teal and four ferruginous ducks in flight. In the distance we saw White tailed eagles, imperial eagles and marsh harriers. We were just packing up our telescopes when Tyno stayed behind for a short spell and we were grateful, as a little crake showed from the reeds. The nervous bird then was disturbed by a coot and didn’t make another appearance.  

The highlight of the day were two stops to see 20 roosting long eared owls, that had everyone out of the mini bus with their cameras, often risking crossing the road with plenty of traffic to get a better view.

We had had a great day with over 60 species of bird seen. We made our way back to the hotel and had another excellent meal, followed by our check list and the beer continued to flow. Despite a cold day, we had all thawed out.

The next, our last full day in Hungary, was a case of catching up on what birds that had been missed. The weather had improved, the wind had dropped, and the sun was shining. The seven o’clock start was notable for the green woodpecker, as well as the great and middle spotted woodpeckers.

Making our way at 9 am prompt we started at Hor Valley and were rewarded with some great bird including hawfinch, which had eluded us in previous days, linnet, yellowhammer, goldfinch and chaffinch. We saw plenty of buzzards and ravens flying high and jays flying from tree to tree. As the weather was warmer we saw lots of butterflies, including Queen of Spain Fritillary.

  

Carol took an excellent photograph of a Swallowtail caterpillar.

We stopped in two villages in search for the, so far, missing Syrian woodpecker. The first village was unsuccessful. The second after a refreshment break, whilst Anne and Lowra were showing off their table tennis skills, a Syrian was spotted and was proving to be difficult to get good views, but eventually, thanks to Neil again, we had great sightings, and we also had the local villagers out wondering who had invaded their peaceful day. Neil, had set the wheels in motion for his Shelduck tours venture, he could rival Ged in spotting the important birds.

The next stop at Bogacs Reservoir a surprise was in store for us, four black storks. We saw the magnificent birds in flight and in the water feeding. Also seen were grey plover, ruff, dunlin, pintail, teal and mallards. Butterflies were plentiful with Clouded Yellow, Small White, Red Admiral & Comma . Here, we saw a murmuration of starlings with a sparrowhawk disturbing them.

A wonderful beef goulash meal was awaiting us for our final meal, apart from the two vegetarians, who no doubt had an equally tasty meal. Second helpings were given to those who wanted more. Happy birthday wishes were sung, ever so slightly out of tune, to Atilla’s partner. More practice needed I think.

Everyone was getting ready for the evening when Arnie received a ransom note, written in Hungarian, Manu had been kidnapped and to ensure his safe return, Arnie was instructed to pay for the beer all night. Arnie was in a state of shock, how dare someone remove his beloved Manu and demand such things. He took it out on a startled Phil, and using an instrument usually reserved for slicing salami, Phil turned a whiter shade of pale, and swore his innocence. Arnie, taking great care, placed the knife in his trousers and took an unusual walk back to the kitchen to ensure the safe return. It was noticed nobody ate any salami in their sandwiches the next day.

A great debate had started, accusations and pleads of innocence were thrown from both sides. Then, suddenly the mystery had been solved, Barbara’s brother came into the room, with Manu. The safe return was ensured, without any ransom being paid. Arnie,  most relieved, slept soundly that night with half an eye open watching out for Manu on his bedside table.

The next morning, Friday and our last day, was a lovely morning and all the usual suspects were present in the park, with great, middle and lesser woodpeckers showing well. The four mallards were fed by Lowra, we would all miss them.

We set off on time again at 9 am getting much of our driving out of the way early, today we were in search of the great bustards. Making our way to Kiskunsag, Ged spotted a pair of black woodpeckers and we hung around for them to make a reappearance.

We set off again and called into a wooded area nearer to our destination  but no black woodpecker. We then tried for the bustards, and over lunch, a saker falcon was spotted in the distance, wonderful views. We thought we saw the bustards in the distance but it was a false alarm, just hooded crows.  Here we saw Eastern bath white and clouded yellow  butterflies.

Then whilst driving Ged called for Atilla to stop, he had spotted the great bustards, 8 of them, that later increased to 13. Then when watching them Rob spotted a goshawk that was flying low right in front of us. Another excellent day was now drawing to a close and when we stopped at a service station to say our goodbyes to Ged and Atilla before the airport, there was still time to see a distant Imperial eagle perched on a pylon, crested larks were in the car park, in amongst the Hungarian truckers.

Neil was supposed to be first to leave, for his flight to Barcelona, but as it turned out he left after us after the flight was delayed. We made it back to Manchester in one piece and everyone was rather tired after being travelling for most of the day. Two became one when we heard one of our coaches had been stolen, but that wasn’t going to spoil our holiday.

A big thank you to Ged, Chris, Laura and Tomo for the way the trip was organised, to Atilla for his excellent driving and patience. For everyone for sharing their expert knowledge , especially Carol and Rob and not forgetting the soil specialist in the group; Peaty. To Arnie, Neil, Rhodie, and Phil for keeping us entertained with their wit. Thanks also to everyone who shared their photographs. Everyone contributed to this holiday and it won’t be forgotten for some time.

Shelduck tours will be putting out flyers for the next tour, watch this space….

Rob