There is a rock called Ortac to the west of Alderney
Got closer to it than we meant to once as we we hadn’t adjusted the scale of the chart when sailing from Guernsey to Alderney
I have never seen so many gannets.
Huge birds and astonishing seeing them feeding, absolute masters of their environment.
Found this online.
No idea if gannet cam is still working but it gives you an idea of what Ortac looks like.
Gannets obviously don’t mind neighbours! You can click right in in the pic
Walking about 6 miles today round the RSPB St Aidans reserve. Yesterday I spotted a bird I couldn’t identify so asked at the shop. I was told it was a Cattle Egret which everyone was very excited about.
So armed with my camera and best zoom lens I went back today.
It’s buggered off!
Autumn just turned crazy today, lovely weather hardly a breath of wind and a Yell birder finds a Tennessee Warbler (only the fifth record for Britain)
Much better shots online but as I haven’t got a lens as long as my leg these record shots will have to do.
Good camo
Call those bad pics ? Ha ! This is a bad pic
Taken with my ancient phone just north-west of Hampstead Norreys on yesterday’s walk. The snap is clear enough for me to eliminate sparrow, swan, parrot, toucan … beyond that all I can say is that I think it’s a raptor of some sort. It was doing that ‘wagtail’ thing where it shifts its tail up and down, presumably to keep balance in the slight breeze though rather than as some sort of display strutting.
The original pic, downsized, was this
By coincidence I came across a couple of birders later on, equipped with proper cameras and binoculars. We got to chatting and they said they were hoping to see birds heading south for the winter and, perhaps, harrier, merlin, short-eared owl as dusk was upon us.
VB
Hard to tell from the zoomed image, but it appears Sparrowhawk like. It looks fairly large, so probably a female, or even a Goshawk (scarce)
Cheers Paul. It was larger than the odd hovering kestrel I’ve seen, but round here our perspectives are distorted by the enormous kites which make everything else look small. Looking at online sparrowhawk pics I reckon that’s a good bet.
VB
they might only be starlings, but watching them squabble over the bath has kept me amused for the last hour
You should have returned the favour and put your ankle through the catflap
The big lad that had been seen in Derbyshire has apparently passed through our neighbourhood today - not that I’ve seen him…
Got home from work around 2.00pm and looked out into the garden, mainly to see if there were any rats, but instead I was greeted to a sparrowhawk ripping apart it’s lunch - spent about 10 minutes watching it through my binoculars. Fantastic sight.
Shitty photo due to being taken through the kitchen window on an iPhone, at distance and with bird in near darkness.
Finally we have spotted a barn owl in the garden and managed to get a quick shot before it flew off. We frequently hear them but this is the first verifiable sighting.
It did look fully round at me but I got a very blurry image. Below is my best effort.
Lovely. Well done.
Fantastic.
I hear loads of owls on my very late dog walks round the village but haven’t physically seen one.
It’s a greenfinch
Female goldfinch ?
As Andy said, it’s a greenfinch.
Your neck of the woods (if there were any woods) @Jim ?
I see the twitchers are with the students and the folks carousing in the streets after closing time as far as social distancing and masks go 
.
Surely Rufous Bush Chat is a euphemism, by the way ?
VB
