About Graham Clarkson

Born & brought up in Marshside, I started birding there in the mid 1970s & made my first birding trip to Martin Mere in 1977. I've lived, worked & birdied in Abu Dhabi, Northern Ireland & Gloucestershire & I've spent time working in Kazakhstan & Madagascar. I enjoy birding my various West Lancashire patches, making frequent birding visits throughout the north-west of England and North Wales. I stray elsewhere in the UK & enjoy birding abroad from time to time. I'm particularly interested in wildfowl (especially pink-footed geese) with an interest in waders & raptors, bird counts & surveys & conservation. I'm trying to get the hang of photography & digiscoping - I'll get there eventually.

My degree from Edge Hill University is in conservation biology. I've guided on numerous birding days out & trips & guided birding holidays to Lesvos, Andalucia, Extremedura, Majorca, Camargue, Hungary, Finland & Florida. I enjoy showing people birds & habitats & helping them learn more about birds & enjoy birding. I'm currently involved with the Birdwatching and Beyond course at Edge Hill and a brand new venture; Skein Birding.

As well as birding I'm interested in captive breeding & reintroduction projects & zoos, how they're managed & how they contribute to conservation. I'm a proud Lancastrian & love the Lancashire countryside & landscapes. I'm an Evertonian & also keep up with what's happening at Southport, PNE & Bristol Rovers. Gardening, dogs (I have a Labrador & a Tibetan Terrier) and keeping chickens (especially Marsh Daisys & Scots Dumpy Bantams). Ruth & I have two marvellous boys who both love nature too. I hope you find the blog and subjects covered interesting; please feel free to leave a comment.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Last WeBS of 2012

 
Waders on Birkdale Beach 30/12/12

Due to high tides earlier in the month we decided to move the Ribble WeBS to 30th December. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the howling gales today made life difficult for counters. Local ringing legends Dave Fletcher and Brain Hopkins have recently started helping me with the large sector I cover (stretching from Southport Pier south to Pontins at Ainsdale) and the help was most welcome today in miserable conditions. Between us we counted; 4897 Dunlin; 1145 Knot; 420 Sanderling; 2365 Bar-tailed Godwits; 322 Grey Plover; 12 Turnstone; 3675 Oystercatcher; 2165 Cormorant; 3152 Herring Gulls and 270 Great Black-backed Gulls.  Not a bad haul considering. Bumped into John Dempsey and had a good chat, he's off to Thailand soon to spot some rarer waders with some of the areas finest twitchers. Spoon-billed Sandpiper should be on the agenda. I hope they see some, I really do.

Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits, Birkdale Beach 30/12/12
 
Wader cloud, Birkdale Beach 30/12/12
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