Steph' Thorpe. Bird Artist and Illustrator

Hummm, not keeping up with this at all am I?!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:10:00 -0100

Bad show this, not added anything on here for ages, well since spring in fact..... I badly cut my right hand at easter, and have been unable to work for a long time. I am just getting back into working! I added some of the recent, and not so recent, field sketches on a new page. Not a lot done this year though....hope to get back at it soon but we have a family illness at the moment so time is short for birding and sketching.

If you would like to keep up more often check out my Birding website... gonebirding... through the link on the homepage or by clicking here.

North Norfolk 16-02-2008

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:28:00 -0100

We had an afternoon in North Norfolk as it was such a lovely day. First stop was the White-crowned Sparrow, where we had a frustrating one and a quarter hours waiting for the bird to appear...when it did it showed well on the seeded area. Also here was a nice brambling and loads of Chaffinches etc.

White crowned Sparrow, Cley.

On to Salthouse, where the Snow Buntings where showing near the car park...I don't care what people say Snow Buntings are just plain CUTE!!!!

Snow Bunting, Salthouse.

Also here were loads of Turnstones etc. We then drove over to Tichwell for the last couple of hours of daylight. On the way over we saw 10 plus Little Egrets alongside the road at Siffkey. At Tichwell I found the Black Brant, very distant in the flock of Brents in the fields beyond the visitor centre, you could just pick it out with the neck collar when it put it's head up and the odd glimpse of the white flank patch! However as dusk approached it flew on to the freshmarsh with the other Brents, and made life a lot easier!

Distant Black Brant at Dusk.

Little Egrets were here too along with loads of Avocets and a Marsh Harrier...sign of the changing times. We were commenting when we first came to Norfolk well over 25 years ago Little Egrets were very rare, and Marsh Harriers and Avocets didn't spend the winters there as a rule!

Little Egret at Sunset, Titchwell.

Titchwell is always excellent IMO and lived up to this today, with a good selection of Waders and Wildfowl on display, however it soon started to get very chilly so we decided to set off back to Derbyshire and an excellent Chinese meal!

Moon at Titchwell.

Loscoe Dam Derbyshire

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:44:00 -0100

A beautiful afternoon tempted us out dispite my being unwell. We visited Loscoe Dam as the darke Ferruginous Duck seen at Shipley Park last week on the old American Adventure Park Lake had decamped over here.

On our arrival it showed well amongst a scattering of Pochard and a single drake Tufted Duck. The bird looked like it was carved out of an expensive wood as it caught the sunlight. The white eye standing out well along with the sparkling white undertail coverts. As it preened a bright white wing bar was also seen to be present. Also present were a single female Goosander and a hoard of coot. 3 BHGulls dropped in and a sinensis Cormorant paid a very brief visit. A group of Long tailed Tits moved through as we left.

Garden birds etc

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:56:00 -0100

Well after a short break I looked in the garden today and the first birds I saw were both a male and a female Blackcap on the Mahonia....they were still drinking the nectar. The Bramblings have dropped in number to about ten but Dunnocks have gone up to 3 with much display etc. The Robins seem to have paired up too.

Snowdrops are out an I was surprised to find a yellow crocus in flower this pm...very early for here.

Spring gets a false start as the weather looks "interesting" over the next few days with gales and rain then snow.....we shall see.

Garden birds

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:08:00 -0100

Bramblings still number at least 30 with 3+Chaffinch! A single Coal Tit is visiting along with the usual 2+ Great Tit and 3+ Blue Tit. 1 Robin and 2 Dunnock along with 5 Blackbirds and 6 Collared Doves with 2 Wood Pigeons are also present. Plus a flock of about 50 Starlings in area. Black-headed and Lesser Black-back Gulls are moving over and 2 Magpies and 2 Carrion Crows are also visiting.

Strangely a female Blackcap popped up in the Mahonia this am, the second bird in a week! The first the male vanished after two days...

Weekend

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:00:00 -0100

Humm, another quite weekend when we didn't get time to venture out. We had to nip up to Carsington Water on CBC committee buisness so had a quick glance round, 2 Redshank were the wader highlights and we couldn't see the Great Northern so we made do with the common stuff. Interestingly about 30 Common Gulls were present.

Back at home the Brambling flock now numbers over 30 and a single Coal Tit has returned to the feeding station.

Some of the males are getting quite black heads...please let there be a sunny day for photography!!!

Garden Feeders

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:36:00 -0100

Seems to be a very good winter for Brambling, reading around there seems to be big numbers in a lot of places. The Garden flock have gone up to 8 now, and I suspect there are more around... But on the down side the has been no sign of the Blackcap so far today, it was very cold last night so maybe he's moved on?

40plus Starlings are creating mayhem on the feeders this am, along with 5 Collared Doves. The usual Blue and Great Tits are fetching Black Sunflower seeds from the feeders and the resident Robins and Dunnocks are also busy. Strangely this winter, dispite a very good breeding season we don't seem to have a large number of blackbirds, just the usual 5 or so...

Additional:-
By the end of the day the Bramblings had reached 15+ on the feeders...nice. Also Starlings had gone up to around 100 in the area!

My orange friends are still here!

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:07:00 -0100

I think Brambling have to be one of the best looking birds in the UK...sad person that I am!

The numbers in the garden around the feeders seem to have increased, one particularly bright male is superb. Just wish the sun would come out when I'm watching....

One of the Brambling taken in really bad light!!

The male Blackcap that arrived at dusk last night seems to have taken up residence in the Mahonia bush just outside the window. This bush has held virtually every winter Blackcap I've seen in the garden, I think they are attracted to the flowers which are heavy with scent at this time of year. They seem to drink the nectar...as do Blue Tits amongst others. This bush has also held several Chiffchaffs over the last 10 years, including a Siberian (yes a proper one too!).

Male Blackcap....Oh for some sunlight!

A few Gulls knocking around this am, Black-headed of course, I must get over to Ogston to see the white-wingers they are getting in the roost at some point.

More Garden Stuff

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:20:00 -0100

Well after the torrential rain last night and this morning a brief sunny spell produced some excellent garden records in the shape of 2, probably 3 Brambling around the feeders and the first Blackcap (a nice male) of the winter, right next to the window at dusk! The usual other stuff was buzzing around with up to 8 Chaffinches and the usual pair of Greenfinches being the hightlights...

Garden Birding!

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:03:00 -0100

Well today as for the last many days I am limited to Garden Birding, so I'll make a note of whats about!

Today has been good for our garden with a small active flock of Long-tailed Tits moving through (about 8) and a very brief Redpoll, but only of the Lesser variety! Mind you that is the first for a couple of years. The usual Doves pigeons and finches are still hanging around but there still seems to be a lack of House Sparrows..... amazing to think 10 years ago 150 were roosting outside the front door, now we are lucky if there are more than 6 hanging around

Better get back to work!!!

Must try harder!

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:00:00 -0100

Well we have reached 2008 and I have been neglecting the site...various things have got in the way especially the fact that my Father in Law is ill in Hospital so the artwork has had to take a back seat along with the birding!

I have not been birding since early November so when the mega alert went off a week ago informing of a White-crowned Sparrow at Cley you would have thought it would have been a relief...not so, both me and Paul were laid low by the flu! Fortunately for me I was able to go on the following Thursday (10th Jan) but had to set out really late (10.45am) so only just made it! Still what a cracking bird, a sparrow with a humbug head pattern.Especially nice to see since cocking up going for the Seaforth bird many years ago, a good one to get back! Showed well enough to get reference sketches, so I will now try to get a finished painting or two done!

Was shocked on going round to the reserve to see the coastguards car park at Cley and how the shingle has moved around..... Sad to see the beach cafe shut and partly pulled down, a Norfolk birding fixture is lost!

More in gallery

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:43:00 -0100

Finally got some more stuff uploaded to gallery. I notice this site is now on google too...not that I imagine many people will be looking for it at the moment.
Not doing a lot at the moment as my old illness is troubling me (Some sort of Chronic Fatigue/ME.). Did manage a quick trip to Ogston last Sunday to take some shots for the background of the 2006 front cover I have been working on. Was also looking for the reported Baltic Gull but no joy, only bird of note were 1 or 2 Yellow-legged gulls in a smallish roost.
Some of the stuff in the gallery is up in the file at Birdnet in Buxton.

First steps!

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:55:00 -0100

Well here is my first foray into the digital age! People have been asking "have you got a website then?" and I'm tired of saying no! It has been a learning curve doing this but the freewebs site has proved fairly easy so far.
I will hopefully be able to update this blog when something interesting happens and use it to give a bit of an insight into the birding and painting etc. Even if its only a description of a freezing winter nights gull watching at Ogston reservoir in Derbyshire!