Saturday 9 March 2024

Tuesday 5 March 2024

L.O.S. Winter Trip to Lincolnshire and Norfolk 2024

I went to Lincolnshire and Norfolk with members of the Leigh Ornithological Society for five days in February 2024.  Here are video slideshow of some of the birds we saw. They are best viewed full screen in HD quality with the sound on. The settings can be changed at the bottom of each video.

Day 1 - Frampton Marsh RSPB 
   

Day 2 - Barton Broad, Winterton Dunes, Hickling Broad and Stubb Mill 
   

Day 3 - Titchwell Marsh RSPB 
   

Day 4 - Strumpshaw Fen RSPB and Buckenham Marshes RSPB 
   

Day 5 - Hunstanton Beach and Cliffs 
 

Friday 16 February 2024

Waxwing Lyrical

It's been a Waxwing Winter this year but I haven't been really motivated to go and see them because there have been so many photos from other people. However, breakfast out in North Wales with my wife beckoned so it would have been rude not to look. Unfortunately the weather was grey and dismal with plenty of rain and so we only got a few distant glimpses of the large flock that has been flying around the Halkyn mountain area.


So after a hearty meal at Billy Jean's cafe, we set off and this is what we saw. Only blurry distant record shots I'm afraid but with around 60 birds in the flock we saw it was an impressive sight as they raided the Hawthorn berry trees.






Thursday 8 February 2024

Drake Ring-necked Duck in St. Helens

It was great to get close to this lovely little North American visitor at Taylor Park in St. Helens today. But why is it called a Ring-necked Duck and not a Ring-billed Duck?

Well, the reason is only obvious in good light when it raises its head slightly, thus revealing a faint cinnamon ring around its neck.

My only previous sighting of a drake Ring-necked Duck was at Llyn Brant in North Wales a few years ago, and it was very distant.


From a distance it looks quite like a Tufted Duck, to which it is related and often interbreeds.  But close up it shows the differences quite clearly, particularly the lovely white markings on its bill. It also has a peaked head with no tuft and the flanks are pure white only at the front, unlike in a Tufty where all the flank is white.

This is a first winter male distinguished by a few remaining buff coloured rather than light grey feathers on its flanks.  Full adult males show a much clearer vertical white 'spur' on the flank below the neck.


But although I really enjoyed photographing this bird very much, what I most enjoyed was meeting up with a few fellow bird photographers and having a good chinwag.  It was really nice to catch up with Mike Barth, Steve Round, Kerry Round, Dennis Eagling and John Raynor too. I've not been out for so long I'd almost forgotten what it's like. A great day out.

Friday 19 January 2024

Everyone Loves a Stonechat!

Everyone loves a Stonechat!

Short-eared Owls Hunting at Dusk

It's been a long, long time since I photographed any Short-eared Owls, well before COVID struck.  So it was nice to get out and find some today at this undisclosed site.  It was actually my second visit here, my first lasting over five hours in the freezing cold temperatures and seeing nothing.  At only four hours, this session was a little shorter because I went out later.  And then just before it got a bit too dark, two of them appeared!









Monday 1 January 2024

Shorelarks at Newbiggin-by-the Sea

My wife Sarah is now working as a paramedic for the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) and so has bought a house in Ashington, Northumberland.  I made a short trip up there from Greater Manchester and stayed a few days over the New Year. It's a great county for birders with many well-known sites for a good variety of birds. But I never though of Newbiggin as being one of them until very recently. The best that I've seen up to now are this wonderful pair of Shorelarks at Beacon Point, Newbiggin. A great start to the New Year!




Friday 26 May 2023

Garden Warbler - A Bogey Bird Finally Captured!

I don't know why but Garden Warblers have been one of my main bogey birds ever since I started birding. I've been told I've seen them as they flit past as well hearing their wonderful song, but I've never nailed one down until today. It was all down to my friend Dave Wilson who had been told of one singing and perching quite well in a favourite tree at Pennington Flash. So off we went early this morning to find it and, as if by magic, there it was! Well, for a short while anyway, until a dog walker inadvertently flushed it. 





Dave had actually heard the bird quite a long way and as soon as he pointed it out I'd latched on to it's song. I've probably heard this song countless times in the past, but without seeing the bird, I've not recognised it for what it was. Some say it's a bit like a Blackcap, but Dave disagrees and says it's quite different when you listen carefully. Apparently Blackcaps sing a snippet of Dvořák's New World Symphony at the end of their song. Trust Dave to hear that! 


Anyway, Dave was going to a meeting of the Young Birders Club (which I coudn't make due to a prior appointment) so off he went leaving me to try for some better shots, as my initial attempts were only record shots. I stayed around two hours during which time the bird came and went a few times, but I managed something fairly decent on it's last visit to the favourite tree. I can now tick one of the remaining two birds in my child's bird book which I've been keeping since I started. Just need a Storm Petrel now.

Saturday 1 April 2023

Alpine Swift - First Lifer of the Year

I have still not really recovered my birding mojo since just before Covid struck the world and I have only been out for a couple of 'lifers' and a few organised birding trips in the last three years.  But it wasn't Covid that did this to me as I was beginning to feel a bit disinterested in being on the 'birding bandwagon' and photographing the same birds and other animals each year as they came in season.  I'm talking about Owls, Kingfishers, Puffins, Gannets, White-tailed Eagles, Bearded Tits, Deer etc.  I just can't understand how people can photograph the same set of birds each and every year - I mean how many shots of the same subject do you need?

I am also increasingly concerned about the distances people travel to see rare birds, often (although not always) with only a single person in a car.  It must cost them a fortune not to mention the effect this is having on the planet for what are largely unnecessary journeys.  Once (or twice) in while is OK, but some people jump in their car every time their phone pings.

So now I am purely focused on getting shots of birds I've never seen or those of which I only have record shots.  This discounts all the birds mentioned in the paragraph above. And I will always try to tie in a longish journey with some other activity in the area.

That said, today's bird was a rarity and a lifer for me and increased my UK Life and Greater Manchester Life lists by one.  It was an Alpine Swift at Elton Reservoir in Bury one of an unusually large influx across the UK in the last few weeks.  Its diagnostic features are a white belly and throat, with a grey-brown chin strap separating the two.  It's also larger and slower flying than our common Swifts having longer wings and a shorter tail. They winter in South Africa.

Most of the Alpine Swift sightings this year have been on the east coast with some also in North Wales and a few others dotted around the country and so I was very surprised to hear of this one being so far inland.  Elton Reservoir however is a commonly used stop over place for migrating birds with some excellent records over the years.  But the birds often don't stay long as I've often learnt to my cost, so the key is to go as soon as you get a reported sighting, and fortunately its only 30 minutes from my home.

I was day late with this one, but thankfully it was present for a second day and when I got the report this morning I was up and out.  On arriving at Elton, the car park was full but I managed to get a space as one car was leaving. After a short walk to the Withins end of the reservoir I came a across the posse of birders who were all hoping to see it.  Along the way several birders has left without seeing it as it had not been seen since the first report at 9am.  But I had the luck with me today, because while chatting about where and when it had been seen this morning, the bird suddenly reappeared.

For most of the time it remained high and distant, giving decent binocular views but too far away for a good photograph. The sun had been shining when I left home, but the clouds slowly rolled in becoming thicker and thicker as the morning progressed.  So the weather, combined with the distance, meant that I was only ever going to get record shots, and I was consigned to that fact. If the bird is still present and the weather is good, I may go back.

Monday 27 March 2023

'Boy Meets Girl' at Carr Mill Dam

Spring has sprung and the birds are doing what the birds and the bees do at this time of year. Carr Mill Dam near St. Helens is quite famous for its large numbers of breeding Great Crested Grebes, and now is the time of year to go and have a look for them doing their characteristic mating ritual, sometimes known as the 'Penguin Dance'.  Unfortunately I only saw the full dance once and didn't manage to capture it in a photograph. But instead I did see a Noctule Bat catching flies in flight during the daytime which I wasn't expecting.  Photos at the end of this post.






Wren

Nuthatch

Noctule Bat

Noctule Bat

Noctule Bat

Thursday 23 March 2023

L.O.S. Winter Trip to Dumfries and Galloway

This was more of a birding trip than a serious photography trip and so these shots are mainly just a record of some of the birds which we saw whilst we were there.

Caerlaverock WWT

Incoming Whooper Swans.

 

Barnacle Geese
















Loch Ryan near Stranraer






























Carlingwark Lake in Castle Douglas






The Crew