Friday 31 January 2014
Posted with Blogsy
Saturday 25 January 2014
Swanning about taking it easy
First bird action of the day was a female Blackcap in the garden, only the second ever winter record here; the first being a a male last week; they seem to love the fatballs.
Pair of Grey Partridges. Burscough Moss. 25/01/14.
Bewick's Swan with Whooper Swans near Rufford. 25/01/14.
Orange-legged Whooper Swan and Bewick's Swan near Rufford. 25/01/14.
Grey Heron trying to eat a frog at Mere Sands Wood.
Female Goosander at Mere Sands Wood.
I set out birding and headed to Curlew Lane to look for two Patchwork Challenge targets species; Grey Partridge and Bewick's Swan. The first birds I saw and heard were a group of Corn Buntings, Curlew Lane is an excellent, year round site for this local speciality. the next species heard was a group of rasping Grey Partridges, I stood still next to the car and sure enough a covey of twelve revealed themselves in a weedy carrot field across the road on Burscough Moss - lovely birds, another local speciality. As I watched the Partridges a flock of 65 Skylarks flew past and a large herd of a Whooper Swans was constantly growing up at the Rufford end of the lane.
At the top end of the lane the Whooper Swan where in the usual place, grazing on winter wheat. I scanned through and was delighted to pick up my second target bird, a smashing adult Bewick's Swan, presumably the same bird that has been visiting the local WWT for free wheat handouts and stinky potatoe meals. Nice to see it in the 'wild' though, along with 256 Whooper Swans and 16 Mute Swans. One of the Whooper Swans was orange-legged, rarer than Bewick's Swan which it obligingly stood next to.
After enjoying watching the Swans I headed over to Mere Sands Wood for a walk. Nothing rare or unusually there, the usual species in the usual places. I enjoyed watching the ducks, and it was fascinating to watch a young Grey Heron literally and metaphorically make a meal of a frog.
Drake Eurasian Teal at Mere Sands Wood.
After Mere Sands Wood I dodged the heavy downpours and took Marty out across the local stubble field (off Red Cat Lane) and we flushed a superb total of 67 Yellowhammers.
The final birding of the day was a very brief visit to Martin Mere to look for Tawny Owls, I did see one, albeit poor and briefly. Beaten by the cold and wind I popped into Infocus to see Andy and compare Patchwork notes.......
I shall try again tomorrow!
Tuesday 21 January 2014
Quicky in the sun
Nipped out for a few minutes this morning while the sun shone. I parked down Curlew Lane and soked up the singing Corn Buntings on the telegraph wires - a lovely sound from a rather dull, if enigmatic bird. As usual plenty of Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese on both Tarlscough Moss and Burscough Moss; no time to look through them though. Good to chat to Andy Bunting who pulled over. Andy gave me some ideas regarding the patchwork challenge recording area. Cheers Andy!
A typical West Lancs drive past view of Corn Buntings.....
Male Bullfinch
Male Chaffinch
A very quick walk (more exercise than birding) around Mere Sands Wood was great in the sun. Bird highlights were the usual gathering of wildfowl and a Chiffchaff roving about with a big flock of Long-tailed Tits, which also contained Goldcrests and a Treecreeper. Bull finches were showing well at the Lancaster hide and I managed a couple of reasonable shots (for me anyway!). Bumped into a lad who works at Tesco in Burscough, he was carrying a pair of bins and so I pointed out the Chiffchaff to him. Turns out he's on a conservation course at Myerscough College and is doing a study of the Red Squirrels in the wood -ace! He was telling me he's from Kenya, nice chap, hope his studies get him out of Tesco....
Female Bullfinch
A new dog breed for the year in the wood; a pair of Gordon Setters. Also a Manchester Terrier as I was driving home through Rufford; 85 on the dog year list - sad but true.
Sunday 19 January 2014
Wonderful WeBS day
As I was driving across the moos to the count site this morning I was distracted by a spindly legend jogger - it was my old mucker Sinesy. I pulled over and he mentioned an funny animal he'd seen dead on the pavement up the road. We set off to look for it and duly found and particularly we'll rotted and rancid medium sized mustelid. We had a good look at it and concluded it was a Mink - have a look at the photo and see what you think.
I dropped Jim off and headed across New Cut Lane counting 180 Whooper Swans on the moss there, couldn't stop though - waders to count.
Chris Hughes joined me on my BIrkdale sector and Dave Fletcher headed towards Southport Pier and Brian Hopkins took care of AInsdale. A group of 60 PInk-footed Geese on the rapidly expanding green beach were typical of a growing trend and a male Stonechat was good to see.
Chris and I headed south along the beach enjoying the warm sunshine in our faces and enjoyed watching the growing wader roost we were tasked to count. Count we did, the following totals adding to an enjoyable walk; Dunlin 5130, Knot 2780, Sanderling 173, Grey Plover 374, Bar-tailed Godwit 230 and Oystercatcher 745. No Cormorants was a major surprise give the regular four figure counts over the past couple of winters, but I did notice reports of big numbers in the RIbble counted on the Fylde side by Stephen Dunstan recently. A Merlin blasted through putting all the waders up and I was pleased to see a couple of dog walkers show real restraint and stop their dogs charging through the flocks - made a nice change.
One of the dog walkers leaving the wader roost alone today
Post counting I drove Marshside and regretted not being able to marvel at the water bird spectacle (I see Chris Fyles had two drake Hen Harriers there this afternoon), I felt the same way as I drove down Fish Lane noticing thousands of PInk-feet on Tarlscough Moss - can't count everything or look through every flock through eh? This did remind me though what a bird rich are I'm in the middle of; I wouldn't swap it for anywhere in the world.
Headed out again with the family this afternoon and took a walk down Southport Pier. Lovely.
Pier tram
Thursday 16 January 2014
Piscivores Park
Hesketh Park is one of my old 1970s playgrounds, a great place for a good mess about then and now. The only scarce bird I've ever seen in there was a Yellow-browed Warbler found by Dominic Rigby back in the late 1980s. I still nip,in there from time to time usually with the kids, as their is a decent and clean playground. Anyway, I was on an errand is Southport yesterday so I had half an hour pottering in the park, I was keen to see the Goosander that's been on the lake since November; it wasn't hard to find - tucked up on the bank, fast asleep with mallards.
Goosander, Hesketh Park, Southport. 15/01/14.
One of the happy and fulfilled Cormorants on Hesketh Park lake. 15/01/14.
Grey Heron, Hesketh Park. 15/01/14.
Ross's Goose RSPB Marshside. 15/01/14.
A small part of the Marshide spectacle
Cormorants are are one of those birds that seem to split opinion; folk either seem to love them or loathe them. I'm okay with them, they bring back happy childhood memories of counting them on the breakwater in Southport Marine Lake when I was a lad. They're certainly doing well locally, WeBS counts of well over 2000 in the Ribble nowadays, I expect to see over 1000 in my sector on the beach at Birkdale during the WeBS count this coming Sunday. Great to see some in the park, I guess they and the Goosander are finding plenty of fish in the lake.
The final fish eater showing on the lake was a fine breeding plumage Grey Heron, no doubt looking to be fit for the soon to commence laying season.
The park also proved, as ever, to be popular with dog walkers and I added Wire-haired Fox Terrier, Shar pei, Akita, Yorkshire Terrier and German short-haired Pointer to my canine year list - just over 60 if you're interested!
A very brief stop at Marshside on the way home provided me with distant views of the Lind staying first winter Ross's Goose and the most amazing bird spectacle, with thousand and thousands of waterfowl covering the flooded fields of Marshside and Crossens.
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Funny ducks, funny day
Nipped down the road to Martin Mere again today for work reasons. I had a chat with a couple of the staff about a neurotic crowned-crane and a young flamingo. Generally all good though. I took a couple snaps while I wandered around, while doing so I noticed a familiar hybrids duck that I've seen on Southport Marine lake a couple of time and also at Martin Mere earlier this winter. He's a funny looking beast and I'm certain he's a mallard x red-crested pochard hybrid.
Drake mallard x red-crested pochard hybrid (free-flying and not of WWT origin) Martin Mere 14/01/14.
Captive drake bufflehead. My favourite duck species, beautiful, tiny and full of character. I've seen them in the USA a few times.
Juvenile drake comb duck (captive, Martin Mere).
Grey crowned-crane (captive, Martin Mere).
Nuthatch at Mere Sands Wood. 14/01/14.
As usual when I'm at Martin Mere I nipped into the Infocus shop to say hello to Andy Bunting and get the up to date reserve info. Andy was otherwise engaged but it was a pleasure to bump into Chris Galvin from Opticron (top man - a birding Evertonian!) who was demonstrating a new Opticron product - a tiny ED zoom scope. I had a look at it and I have to say I was very impressed. Do take a look when you're next in Infocus.
Chris Galvin showing off his brilliant new Opticron product.
I finished my duties at Martin Mere and headed over to Mere Sands Wood for a lunchtime walk, adding pied wagtail, great black-backed gull and chiffchaff to the Patchwork Challenge year list. Plenty of goosanders, gadwalls and over 400 teal present so a pleasant walk. Also had nice views of nuthatch, some of the other common woodland birds and a cracking Dandie Dinmont Terrier (dog year list now on 59)
Monday 13 January 2014
Fatballs, hoodies, spuds and mud
I looked up from my computer screen this morning and noticed some movement on my fatballs out in the garden; a male Blackcap was eagerly picking away at the fatballs, much to my delight. I've had a couple of singing spring migrants briefly in the garden but this male was the first winter record for the garden in over ten years of being here. Nice.
Filthy faced Whooper.
King of the castle?
Male Blackcap (taken through conservatory glass)
Late morning I nipped down the road to Martin Mere to meet with staff there and discuss some work stuff. I took the opportunity to use my dinner break there and enjoyed watching the captive Hooded Mergansers displaying - mentalists!
Drake Hooded Merganser doing his stuff
Same Hoody, different angle
After enjoying the Hooded Mergansers I popped into the Infocus shop for a chat with Andy Bunting to discuss Patchwork Challenge. Then on to have a look at the Whoopers from the Hale hide. Lots there feeding on waste spuds donated by local farmers. Some of them get rather dirty....
Sunday 12 January 2014
Local Pain, Local Gain
Three bites of the outdoor cherry today. First was an early walk across the local stubble with Marty. I counted 49 Yellowhammers and c.50 Meadow Pipits come out of the stubble. The Yellowhammer count was the highest in the Burscough area for a couple of years.
Two barm pots having a tussle over a branch
Gutted to see the Rufford Hide had been vandalised (not by Samuel). What is wrong with folk? Hope LWT can afford to put right the damage. Very annoying.
Interesting to see the hazel catkins out in the wood.
One of six Bewick's Swans at Hundred End with c.180 Whooper Swans
Hovering male Kestrel at Hesketh Out Marsh with Emmanuel and Holy Trinity church towers
Truly awful record shot of redhead Smew at Hesketh Out Marsh
The second trip out was with Samuel and Jim Sines, one of my birding pals. Samuel isn't keen on being cold or birding so not a great combination really....
Samuel giving Jim so birding tips early into our walk
Nothing unusual at Mere Sands Wood although a couple of very common species were added to the Patchwork Challenge list; Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush. Plenty of Goosanders and Gadwall again and a single Little Egret. Things got unsatisfactory for Samuel as we trudged round, he demanded I carry him - which I resolutely refused to do and this led him pretty much blow his stack. These things happen....
Nice to see Dave Mallett and his partner Jo and baby Holly when we returned back to the visitor centre. Lovely folk. Jo bakes especially good cakes! That reminds me about food - my mate Jim in the proprietor of Master McGrath's restaurant, in Scarisbrick - half way between Ormskirk and Southport on the main road. Always a great welcome and great food. I thoroughly recommend it. That's a fiver please Jim.
My third and final trip out was over to Hundred End and Hesketh Out Marsh to catch up with some local wildfowl.
After a few minutes perusing the estuary wildfowl I got cold and being soft I headed home via Curlew Lane adding Peregrine to the patch list - not a bad day out and about.
Relaxed Saturday
No birding on Saturday due to the two Fs; Family and Football.
Samuel in his new uniform
We always walk down Leighton St on the way to Goodison. It's now part of the pre fans ritual. Leighton Baines, Leighton Moss; it's all good.
Both the boys attend WLM Taekwhondo. Jacob is doing well, he's a green belt with blue stripe, whereas Samuel hasn't graded yet - he's only four.
Both boys had a good training session. Jacob and I sped off to Goodison afterwards.
Jacob caught a T shirt, that they were firing into the crowd prematch. He donated it to me seeing as it's a men's XL. He caught two Everton mints too. He was happy enough even before kick-off, as were most of the crowd when Aiden McGeady was unveiled as the latest part of Roberto's blue revolution.
I love Goodison with the floodlights on, it's a special atmosphere.
The game itself was quality. Good, attacking, quick football from the Tofffees. We should have scored more and Norwich could also have had at least one. However three points were well deserved. Barry and McCarthy were excellent in midfield and Stones class at the back. Barry's finish was explosive and the free kick Mirallas scored was simply sublime. Happy days at Goodison. Long may it continue.
Arundel flood part II
The first pint of seafarers went down well and I was joined by my former RSPB and current WWT colleague for a couple of beers in Arundel. We scooted off to the Red Lion and enjoyed a couple of Dark Stars and something nice by Arundel brewery.
Dave doing his best David Stott impersonation
The actual Red Lion
A cress garnished eggs Benedict
Arundel castle from Mill Road
Three photos from along Mill road in Arundel showing the flooding.
The lush insides of the 'hangar' adjacent to Swanbourne lake. I heard at least four Marsh Tits calling in there.
View from inside the hangar looking out
The Arundel WWT visitor centre from the car park
Drake Scaly-sided Merganser
Drake Common Scoters displaying
Arundel cathedral
Castle & Cathedral
That was that. Always good to catch up with Dave - top man!
Friday started in mixed fashion, I fancied a change and dodged the full English and with unusual reserve selected eggs Benedict. A great surprise when it turned up garnished with cress. What's that all about? Tasty though...
A quick walk before visiting the reserve again was certainly productive. The first distraction was a gorgeous Sussex Spaniel down Mill Road.
Sussex Spaniel (in Sussex....)
A brief look at the local flooding and a dash around the side of Swanbourne Lake followed.
Arundel Castle
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