Saturday 9 March 2024
L.O.S. Winter Trip To Lincolnshire and Norfolk - February 2024
Tuesday 5 March 2024
L.O.S. Winter Trip to Lincolnshire and Norfolk 2024
Friday 16 February 2024
Waxwing Lyrical
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.
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.
Friday 19 January 2024
Short-eared Owls Hunting at Dusk
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!