Today I arranged to meet
Dave Broome at Penny to collect some unwanted Birdwatching magazines from him that were otherwise destined for recycling. It was a beautifully crsip and sunny morning but being below freezing I was not hopeful that I'd see much as much of the water would be frozen. I did have another aim and that was to try to see some
Siskin which have been reported there this week.
On arriving at 9:30am I had a quick look in
Horrocks Hide before returning to the car park to meet Dave and collect a big box of magazines. From the hide I could see that the
Lapwing had returned in great numbers, with well over a hundred of them on the ice at the bottom of the Spit. There were also some small groups of
Teal and a single
Shelduck as well as all the usual suspects. A quick look over the main Flash which was only partly frozen revealed some male and female
Goosander, which I've not seen in this location before - I usually see them from
Teal Hide.
This report is still to be completed, but for now here are some of the better pictures I took today at Penny:
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| Song Thrush at Bunting Hide |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Male Chaffinch at Bunting Hide |
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| Stock Dove at Bunting Hide |
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| Meadow Pipit behind Ramsdale's Ruck |
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| A pair of Meadow Pipits |
u
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| Meadow Pipit on fence |
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| Not a great picture, but is it also a Meadow Pipit ? |
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| Kestrel near Ramsdale's Hide |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Part of a Skein of Pink-footed Geese |
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| Mute Swans landing on the main Flash |
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| Mallard Splash 1 |
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| Mallard Splash 2 |
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| Male Teal on main Flash |
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| Female Teal on main Flash |
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| Teal and Mallard from Horrocks Hide |
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| Teal Cuddle |
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| Teal head on |
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| Teal close up |
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| I call this one 'Rock and Teal' |
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| A poor picture of a Siskin |
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| Another poor picture of a Siskin |
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| Yet another poor picture of a Siskin |
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| Are my ears frostbitten ? |
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| My daughter thought this was cute - until I told her it was a rat! |
I posted this message on the Manchester Birding Forum and go the replies shown underneath:
ReplyDeleteCan anyone help me to positively identify three birds I saw at Penny this weekend please. I think they are:
1) stock dove - or is it just a pigeon?
2) Meadow pipits - are they all mpits or is the one in the grass different ?
3) Siskin - very poor picture
Pictures of all of them (along with some others I do know) are here:
http://gt-birding-scrapbook.blogspot.com/2011/01/pennington-flash.html
You'll need to scroll down until the birds in question come in to view. I know these are common birds to most of you, but I'd just like confirmation if that's OK.
You can put any replies in the comments underneath all the pictures at the bottom of the post.
Thanks in advance, Martyn
Hi Martyn,
ReplyDeleteCorrect on all three birds!
Cheers
Riggers (Mark Rigby)
Re-posted here on behalf of Riggers
Martyn,
ReplyDeleteJust read your post about bird ID and also the looked at your photo's from your visit to Pennington (really impressed with your blog by the way). The answers to your questions are all yes.
The dove you shot is a Stock Dove and they are seen fairly regularly at the flash.
The Pipits are all Meadow pipits. I'm no expert at all on pipits but one of the key identifying features of the Meadow pipit is a very long hind claw. Not always easy to see when you're watching them but it can be seen in your photo's. The only other obvious pipit it could be is the Tree pipit but they are summer visitors.
The final bird is a Siskin - well done on that one, I've still to get one of those for my Pennington list.
Good birding.
Nick.
Re-posted here on behalf of Nick Isherwood