Cormorant on Scotman's Flash

This is my favourite photo from yesterday. I've done very little processing in this shot, it's just the way the light hit the water a that particular moment. The Cormorant is almost incidental. Worth viewing at full screen size, IMHO.  Here's a cropped version too. Which do you prefer?

Great Northern Diver at the Wigan Flashes

I finally caught up with this juvenile Great Northern Diver on Scotman's Flash in Wigan today. I started looking on the yacht club side of the flash before driving round to the canal side where I quickly found the bird. However I could only get a record shot as the light was poor and the bird was quite mobile. When the sun actually came out for a while I decided to stay for a few hours in the hope it might come closer, but it was always distant and eventually I lost it altogether.

Whilst I was waiting for the Diver to reappear I took a couple of shots of some feral birds on the canal. I don't care what anyone thinks about them, you can't deny the Canada Goose is a handsome beast! 

And the same goes for the drake Mallard, especially in good light. Such beautiful colours on a very common bird on our canals and inland waterways.  What a shame it isn't appreciated a little more.

Great-tailed Grackle in Speke, Liverpool

With recent reports of a long-staying Great-tailed Grackle hanging around in Liverpool, I decided to head out to Speke today to get myself another lifer.  After three hours of looking in all the reported spots, and in miserable damp, dark, drizzly weather, I still hadn't found it until I was joined by some other birders, one of whom eventually spotted it feeding in the distance though a fence bordering the nearby industrial estate. 

There was no chance of even a record shot here, and there was no access to the industrial estate. After waiting for over four hours with only a couple of brief and distant glimpses of this bird, I eventually settled on just waiting for it to come back to one of its favoured roost sites.

By now it was 4:30pm and the light was fading fast with accompanying drizzle, so I had to ramp the ISO up high to be able to see anything among the branches. It eventually returned at 4:38pm with a couple of Magpies and settled here for about two minutes, calling a couple of times before flying away to its second roost site. Five minutes later and I would have set off back across the field for home and missed it.

I'd liked to have approached a bit closer, but there were other people present and so I didn't. We had a nice craic during the afternoon so all in all a good result, despite the miserable weather.

I was quite disappointed to find out later that although the BOU has classified this as a Category E bird, it does not form part of the British List.  This is because it's not a natural vagrant, but most likely human-assisted, having probably come in on a boat via the Liverpool Docks.  

It's only the third ever record of this species in the UK, the first being in Pembrokeshire in 2023 and the second being seen currently in Hampshire. I'm told that the exact species isn't really known with a DNA sample as it ever similar to the Boat-tailed Grackle, one of which has also been seen on the south coast. Still a lifer for me though and my first of 2026!

Snow Goose on the Marine Lake in Southport

A distant record shot of the Greater Snow Goose roosting with the Greylags on the marine lake at Southport yesterday.  It spent a lot of time sleeping on the opposite side of the lake, so I couldn't get any close shots.

There's a lot of discussion about whether this bird is truly wild or a feral escape. Apparently it has come in with the Pink-footed Geese in the autumns of 2024 and 2025. Although of unknown origin, one very experienced birder asked me how many Greater Snow Geese have ever been in UK collections and of course neither he or I had ever heard of any. So there's a good chance it may be truly wild.

The low, bright sunlight was very harsh and made photographing such a white bird very difficult, so I may try again if it's still around in a couple of weeks, hopefully on the main RSPB Marshside reserve.

Little Egret on Bank's Marsh near Southport

As a bonus to seeing the Ross's Goose mentioned in my previous post, I walked a little further round the sea wall at Banks and saw this beautiful Little Egret taking off. 

Little Egret are small, all-white herons with black legs, yellow feet, and a black bill. They are native to warmer climates but have expanded their range, possibly due to climate change, into the UK. The first significant numbers appeared in the UK in 1989, with the first successful breeding in Dorset in 1996. 

Although once a highly switchable bird, Little Egrets are now a common sight in the UK, particularly around the coasts and estuaries of southern England and Wales, after a range expansion from continental Europe. They first bred in the UK in 1996 and are now established with sustainable breeding populations, though they are still expanding their range further north. 

They are now a resident species with sustainable breeding populations in the UK, though their numbers increase in the autumn and winter with arrivals from continental Europe.

Ross's Goose on Crossen's Outer Marsh, Southport

For my first time out birding in a very long time I decided to go to RSPB Marshside in Southport to see the Ross's Goose which had been mingling with the newly arrived Pink-footed Geese for a week or so now.  Unfortunately it was out on Crossen's Outer Marsh making it a touch distant for good photos - It had been on the Inner Marsh where you can get a little closer.

However, it was possible to see the distinctive bill and black wing tip feathers, so I'm happy enough with these shots. It's always difficult to know whether a goose like this is truly wild rather than an escaped bird, but after talking to several people about this, I'm happy enough to tick it.

Ross's Goose is a white goose with black wingtips and a relatively short neck. It's the smallest of the three white geese that breed in North America. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase snow goose, but about 40% smaller. Other differences from the snow goose are that the bill is smaller in proportion to its body and lacks "black lips". 

After spending some time photographing the goose from the wildfowler's pull-in just off Marine Drive, I decided to of round to Banks and walk along the sea wall to see if I could get a little closer.  I think I did.

Long-eared Owls from Lancashire

Today was my first visit to what has become a well-known location for Long-eared Owls, with people coming far and wide to see them here.  There's also been a lot of bad feeling about photographing them and some disagreements have even turned violent.  This has kept me away from the site which I've known about for around 10 years,  I don't like crowds and particularly crowds of photographers, so I'd rather stay away than get embroiled in all the fuss.

However, knowing that the owlets had fledged (you can't keep anything secret for long nowadays), I decided an early midweek opportunity in decent weather should be missed. I needed something to kickstart my flailing birding mojo and I wasn't disappointed.

Long-eared Owls are mainly nocturnal hunters and like to stay buried deeply in vegetation making them normally very difficult to find and see during the day. That is, unless it's the breeding season, when they hunt during the day to feed hungry mouths.  They are very prone to disturbance and will often leave an area if ti becomes too much. That said, these owls have been here a long time, and so whatever has occurred in the past, it hasn't caused them to move.

As the breeding season was largely over, I decided this was the time to go.  As can be seen from the above photo, the owlets have fledged and are almost full size although they still retain their brown faces and some downy feathers.

I've only had one good view of a Long-eared Owl before with most of my previous sightings being partial and distant.  Frequently it's only an eye or ear on show, with most of the bird being covered by vegetation, so to see them out in the open here is a real treat.

I did see one bird fly a couple of times but didn't manage to get a decent flight shot. So I may go back once more this year but now I know where it is I'll definitely be going again next year.

Red-Throated Diver in Amble Marina

There has been a long-staying Red-throated Diver in summer plumage at Amble in Northumberland recently and as it looked to be staying for a while more I decided to go for it today.  I made the three and a half drive from Manchester to the free car park at Amble Braid and after a walking only a couple of hundred yards there it was, happily sleeping in the marina.

I've seen plenty of these birds before both on the sea and sometimes inland but usually in their winter plumage when they don't have the red throat and are mainly grey and white.  So to see one so close in summer plumage was a real real treat.

Apart from the very obvious red throat, I particular like the striping on the back of the head and neck as well as the red eye.

This bird did spend a lot of time asleep or partially asleep and drifting with the flow of water in the marina.  When it did awake it set off fishing amongst the boats and I lost it for a while.  So I left it for a while and had a walk around Amble Harbour, a place I really like. There were the usual Eider ducks and various Gulls in the harbour area and one or two Terns diving for fish, but nothing to keep me there too long.

I returned to find the Diver asleep again but back out in the open. As I was staying in Ashington tonight, which is only 20 minutes from Amble, I could spend as long as it took to get some more photos.  The bird eventually did awake and as the tide was rising and filling the marina, it came pretty close at times.

Woodchat Shrike in Daresbury - Lifer

It's been quite a while since I had a new bird to see, a Lifer as birders call them. This is really all I go out for nowadays as, since Covid, my birding mojo has at an all time low.  This is despite getting a new mirrorless camera over 18 months ago, but I am determined to resume bird photography as I enjoy being out and about so much.

And even if there is a rare bird about, I tend to wait to see if it hangs around for a while - there's nothing more frustrating than going for a bird which departed before you arrived.  Anyway, this Woodchat Shrike was being reported for a few days in Daresbury and so I decided to go for it.

I've seen a Red-tailed or Turkestan Shrike, a Red-backed Shrike and several Great Grey Shrikes before so this makes the fourth species I've ticked of this bird. I often think that it should be thought of a 'bird of prey' because I've seen them catch lizards and frogs and I believe they will take even small birds.

A Long-Expected Visit to Teesside

The Zinc Works Road in Teesside always seemed a rather odd place to go to see Owls, but over the years it has become quite famous for them giving good views there, especially Short-eared Owls. It would be a long way to go just to to see them and there are several places nearer to me where I can, if I'm lucky, find them, but as I was journeying home from Ashington in Northumberland to Tyldesley in Greater Manchester I decided it wouldn't be too much of a detour to call in.

With Hartlepool Power Station in the background, the Short-eared Owls frequent the salt marsh that forms Seaton Common and can appear anywhere in this area.  On my short visit I actually found I had better luck down North Gare Road which runs parallel to Zinc Works Road and eventually on to North Gare breakwater.

There are several lay-bys to pull in a wait along both these roads but I ended up driving to the small free car park along North Gare Road and walking around the area. It's always best to stay in or close to the car in places like this, but as the birds were quite distant most of the time I thought it wouldn't matter being out in the open a little more.

It's a place I shall certainly revisit at some point in the future and hopefully spend a lot longer there without the pressure to get home.

As well as the Owls, there are many other birds on show here and the whole area is part of Teesmouth National Nature Reserve. Unfortunately I didn't have time to investigate further.