Recording an Advert for Hive™

A while ago, earlier in the year, an advert popped up through my Facebook fed asking if anyone was interested in doing an advert for a company called Hive, a subsidiary of British Gas. They sell interactive smart products like light bulbs, thermostats, plugs and a few other items that link together with your smart phone and allows you to control your home from anywhere in the world, providing you have an internet connection.

I contacted them and received a reply asking me about myself and what my hobbies were, well I guess you can guess my hobby to be honest, but I think it was initially drawn them into contacting me further. After a few more rounds of questions they said they would like to come to my home and record me for the day both at home and whilst bird watching.

I chose my favourite location, Brandon Marsh, as you all know it’s close to home and a beautiful location.

All in all it was a twelve hour day, both at home and out at Brandon, but my family and I had a lot of fun.

Here are the two main adverts to come out of that day, I hope you like them as much as I do.

Rutland Water

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking out the window at the depressing, damp, greyness of today and remembering last Sunday's Walk at Rutland Water. In contrast, it was a cold, sunny, crisp day. The drive across Leicestershire's rolling countryside was a pleasure. This day's walk was ably led by Nev and Graham. Angie and John, Bev, Wendy, Terry and yours truly all made the journey. We met in the car park at Egleton surrounded by fieldfare before we set off for the North Arm. Many birds were on the water - mute swans, tufted ducks, shoveler, mallard, wigeon, greater crested and little grebes etc. but in amongst them were a pair of pintails, beautifully marked, showing off their dabbling talents. On the far bank two waders were spotted. After much deliberation it was decided that they must be green sandpiper rather than common or wood sandpiper due to the lack of a white gap in the plumage on the shoulder with a very definite horizontal line separating the belly from the wing and breast. Egyptian geese, 50+ dunlin and a great egret were other notables at this site.

From there we went onto the dam where Nev spotted the great northern diver in its beautiful fish scale plumage. We had hoped to see the red-necked grebe and the red-breasted mergansers which had been reported here, but to no avail. There was, however, a distant sighting of a red kite; one of only two raptors we saw that day. On the field by the dam were 50+ rooks with starlings amongst them - a sight you don't see often enough nowadays.

After a quick drink we walked along the lakeside the other side of the cafe watching the many ducks close by the shore. We were treated to views of a female kestrel hunting from a branch halfway up a barren tree. She swooped to the ground several times with little luck constantly returning to her perch.

As we said our goodbyes to a wonderful day, the intrepid explorer, Nev, was last seen heading off to Eyebrook Reservoir in search of the ferruginous duck before the light failed.

Thank you to all those who came out for the company and good cheer.

Madeleine

Draycote Water - 15/10/17

With a misty and cloudy start to the day 8 intrepid birders arrived at Draycote water that was comprised of the following bunch: Neville, Graham, Angie, John, Beverly, Julie, Ellen and I. We were immediately greeted with the view of a Green Woodpecker, was this to be a good omen?

Recent rarity records found via twitter prior to our visit at the reservoir included the Little Stint and the Rock Pipit which we all had an eye for and were all hoping to see.

Guided by the ever knowledgeable Neville, the eight of us set off down the Farnborough bank of Draycote reservoir; within moments of being bombarded by a large volume of birds to see. From the start there were a number of female Goosander, Linnet, Little Grebe, and Meadow Pipit alongside all the common birds you would expect to see in a location such as this like: Moorhen, Coot, Crow, Mallards, Magpies and Pied Wagtails.

We continued the walk stopping multiple times for extended periods scouring the Meadow Pipits for that elusive Rock Pipit, searching for that longer, heftier bill and the dark coloured legs, but alas, it was not to be found on this day.

Roughly half way down the Farnborough bank the group came across a Greenshank and a Ruff, walking together in an almost symbiotic relationship which was something to see as they continued to walk together for the remainder of the day. Also seen on this section were: Little Ringed Plover, Cormorant, Teal, Little Egret, Common Gull, Herring Gull and a little Wren singing its heart out.

Just as the group approached the first bird hide, the glorious sun burst through and set some outstanding views as it highlighted the reservoir, sailing boats, fishing boats and all the greenery in between. In this area was a 500+ strong group of Tufted Ducks and Great Crested Grebes that had to be seen to believed, but sneaking around in this group was the odd anomaly and thanks to eagle-eye Angie, a lone female widgeon was spotted hanging around on the back of this group; also trying to blend in with the Tufted Ducks was a Goldeneye. By this point the group was up to a strong 26 total species for the day.

The hide itself was wasn’t particularly busy with wildlife, with a squirrel and a pair of Great tits. From leaving the hide we continued through a small forest type area, which added a few numbers of bush and tree dwelling birds including Blackbird, House Sparrow & Goldfinch.

The walk back looked to be a little less eventful as it was a brisker walk, although about the half way point a lot of commotion was spotted in a hedgerow just off the main path. To our surprise a great many different birds were seen here including: Yellowhammer, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and even a Kestrel. We all then wrapped up the day in the coffee shop with a strong 45 total species for the day. For the full list, check out the bird list available on the walks page.

Pictures from the day (taken by myself) are available alongside this post.

Thanks for reading!

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Green Woodpecker

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Linnet

Cormorant

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Meadow Pipit

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Greenshank

Ruff

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Yellowhammer

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