Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington

Had a great day out at Moore Nature Reserve in Warrington today.  Met some nice birders and saw some great birds.  The highlights were:

• Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (female) - lifer
• Kingfisher
• Redhead Smew
• 2 Great Crested Grebes
• Seven Jays

I'll write a fuller report later, but for now some 'moore' record shots of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are over on my Flickr site - the link is on the right of this page.  I'll be adding the Kingfisher, Smew and Grebes later.

Female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Great Crested Grebes

At last! A decent Kingfisher shot

NestCams Live 2013

I've moved the NestCam live video stream to this link on the right as it slows down the loading of my website when it's on the front page.
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Snapshot from Tuesday 19th February 2013

Unfortunately no birds nested in any of my boxes last year but I live in hope for 2013.  As you will sometimes see here, I currently have a Blue Tit roosting overnight in one of my nest boxes and I just hope it will nest here too.

Please be aware that it is usually dark at roosting time (but you knew that didn't you!) and so the image quality will be poorer and the colours will have turned monochrome.

The Blue Tit is currently coming in to roost at about 5:45pm each night, usually just after dark (although sometimes as early as 5:00pm depending on the weather) and leaves at around 6:45am each morning.  Obviously these times will change as the daylight lengthens.

Click here to see the NestCam live video streams which have been moved to a new page.

Note to Self

Need to write up the following with photos:

• North Wales trip with Mike Baron (Jan 2013)
• Solo trip to Anglesey and North Wales coast (3, 4 and 5th Feb)
• Solo trip to Dumfries and Galloway and the Solway Firth area (10, 11 and 12th Feb)
• Wirral trip with Mark Cain (19th Feb)
• Martin Mere trip (March)

But please don't hold your breath for them!

Barn Owl Record Shots

Barn Owl

I've found a location for seeing a Barn Owl quite regularly in the afternoon around 4pm and so I visited it a few times last week.  Unfortunately, due to interference, the locations of Owls is generally kept quiet so I won't be publishing the details here, only the photos.  However, this place is quite well-known and I've seen two Barn Owls at the same time here which don't seem phased by the presence of people or dogs.

I first saw the Owls this year in January when it was snowing and I didn't manage to get very close, but this week I've got my best photo yet which is shown at the top of this post.  I've still a long way to go in getting a good photo, but this location bodes well for managing it, as I'm sure that one day the bird will fly past me at close range - I just need to be ready for it!

Whilst I was there one evening I met up with local photographers Darryl and John who have been photographing birds here for a long time.  They gave me some useful tips for getting a good shot of the bird as well as some other nearby locations for other birds.  A key thing that I learnt is the importance of covering your face with a balaclava or some netting to avoid the light reflecting off your skin. Although this is not much of an issue for this particular owl, other birds can see you a long way off without this cover.

So if the sun is shining this afternoon I'll be off there again in search of some better photos.

Goosanders at Moses Gate Country Park

Male Goosander on the edge of the ice

I took advantage of some sunshine today and shot over to Moses Gate Country Park near Little Lever in Bolton.  I had a target bird in mind - Goosander.  I'd seen them in the middle of the largest pool on Sunday when the weather was a little overcast, and I'd even followed a male bird them as it flew over me and onto the nearby River Croal - but I couldn't get close enough for a decent photo.

Male Goosander close-up

Today however was very different.  At first I spotted three male and three female birds all sat in the middle of the pool, equidistant from all the banks and just about as far away as possible - this is their most usual behaviour.  So I took some long shots (as I've done several times before) and thought that would be it.  I then practised taking some birds in flight (BIF) shots on the various gulls and Mallards as they shot past me - I'm pretty hopeless at BIF, although I've recently examined my techniques and have got a little better.

Female Goosander

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was pretty much done and heading for a home when I noticed a lady feeding the ducks from the boardwalk.  By accident she had managed to throw her plastic bag in with the last lot of food, and so I went to help her retrieve it. Luckily she had one of those alpine walking stick thingies, and just as I was using it to lift the bag out of the water, I noticed that there was a female Goosander in with the pack of ducks.  I was so excited I nearly dropped the stick and bag back in to the water (I didn't though).

Female Goosander in closeup

Quickly putting the stick on the boardwalk I grabbed my camera off the tripod and began shooting and the results are shown here.  They're the best Goosander photos I've ever taken, mainly because they rarely come so close.  A few minutes later, the male bird appeared a short distance away on the other side of a strip of ice.  I couldn't believe it when it dived and swam under the ice to appear on the edge of the pack of birds being fed - I've never seen a male Goosander come for food like this before.

Wot u looking at?

However, the male was quite skittish and didn't stick around for long before going back under the ice and out into the main pool.  With a dark head and eye, it was very difficult to get a good exposure on such a sunny day - I wanted to get some eye detail, but that has resulted in the white breasts being 'blown out' in most of the photos and they lack any real feather detail.  They could probably do with some work in PhotoShop but I haven't got round to doing this yet.



That said, I'm pretty pleased with results on the whole and it just goes to show that you can't beat good light and getting close to the birds if you want decent results.

Marshside RSPB

A good day out with Leigh Ornithological Society to Marshside RSPB produced a variety of birds, starting with a Buzzard in the trees on the approach road from Southport Town Centre.  The highlight of the day though was undoubtably the Spoonbill, of which at first we only had distant views.  However, later in the day I managed to get a little closer.

Spoonbill at Marshside RSPB

Spoonbill at Marshside RSPB

The Spoonbill was showing well from Marshside Road along with several Little Egrets, although it would disappear down the ditches and streams quite often which made distinguishing it from the Egrets difficult at times.  The light and weather wasn't good for photos, so I'm fairly pleased with what I managed to get.  It even started sleeting towards the end of these shots.

Spoonbill in a ditch

Spoonbill heading back to the ditch

There were lots of Wigeon, Teal and Lapwing also in the fields too as well as a single pair of Greylag Geese and a large flock of Canada Geese.

More photos to follow ....

From inside Sandgrounder's Hide, the Great White Egret could be seen on the left side of the reserve, along with a few Black-tailed Godwits and more Wigeon and Teal. Two Little Grebes popped up in front of the hide here.

From Nel's Hide Shoveler, Pintail, Golden Plover, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen and Carrion Crows could be seen, with a Robin and a pair of Dunnocks along the path to the hide. A Peregrine Falcon was also seen perched on a dead trunk out on the salt marsh.

Out on the Sand Haul Road the high tide didn't come in as quickly as last time I was here (when it was quickly surrounded my wellies) due to the lack of wind, but eventually a lot of the Marsh was flooded. The only raptors were distant views of a Peregrine Falcon and a Merlin. Several flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew over as well as a few Redshank and Curlew, but hardly any Oystercatchers or Knot. There were also several Shelduck, Great Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls. A large flow of Meadow Pipits with some Skylarks was flying around the road and landing in quite large numbers at times. We didn't see any Twite.

On the Marine Lake on the way home I had good close views of three Cormorants and a single female Goldeneye as well as the usual Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans and various Gulls.

I think that's everything - this area rarely disappoints me.

Some photos to follow soon ....

North Wales

I had a great day out with Mike Baron to several locations along the North Wales coast today, the highlights of which were seeing my first Hawfinches as well as sitting amongst the Snow Buntings at Kinmel Bay.

A full report will come soon when I've selected the best photos out of the hundreds which I took - this may take me some time!

Here's a few to be going on with ....

Dunnock at Conwy RSPB

Lesser Redpoll at Conwy RSPB

Chaffinch at Conwy RSPB

Lesser Redpoll at Conwy RSPB

Robin at Conwy RSPB

Robin at Conwy RSPB

Meadow Pipit at Kinmel Bay

Meadow Pipit at Kinmel Bay

Meadow Pipit at Kinmel Bay

Meadow Pipit at Kinmel Bay

Meadow Pipit at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Bunting at Kinmel Bay

Snow Buntings at Kinmel Bay

Dunham Massey Park

Kestrel by the Smithy Pool at Dunham Massey Park

Waxwings at Howe Bridge in Leigh

Happy New Year!  

After being laid low with a virus over the Christmas period and with the weather being so poor for ages, I was straining at the bit to get out today when there was a brief glimpse of the sun.  I knew the window of opportunity was going to be small, so Sarah and I decided to stay close to home and go to Howe Bridge Crematorium in Leigh where up to 12 Waxwings have been regularly reported over the last week.



At first I was a little unsure about whether it would be OK to take photographs in such a solemn place, but when we arrived there were as many photographers as Waxwings!  I soon met up with David Shallcross, Chairman of Leigh Ornithological Society, and Alan Flavell from my 'Birds and their Habitats' class in Whitefield, and I could also see Pauline Mellor Greenhalgh with her husband Ian there too.



True to form, the Waxwings perched in one of the higher trees and tinkled away before a few periodically flew down to the one berry-laden tree in the area - a small ornamental Rowan tree.  The birds were not at all bothered by the attendant people, and very close views could be had without them flying away.



During our short stay here a large group of about twenty or so leather-clad bikers arrived and, from a distance, I could hear them making jokes and comments about the birders - I briefly thought we might be in for a bit of trouble as they made their way towards us.

As it turned out they just asked what we were looking at and why they were special and so I duly told them and showed them some of the photos on my camera.  One or two of them were pretty impressed with the colour and form of the Waxwings and one girl even took a photo of the photo on the back of my camera!  They went off to lay some flowers on a nearby grave and even came for another look on the way back.

Well all this just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover, and that works in both directions!

Woodcock at Risley Moss

I'd recently noticed that Woodcock were being seen fairly regularly at Risley Moss and so I contacted Jonathan Platt, a regular contributor on the Manchester Birding Forum thread.  Jonathan very kindly agreed to meet me at 3:30pm outside the visitor centre there to show me where the Woodcock could be viewed. There was also a chance of also seeing a Short-eared Owl.

When we got to the observation tower we were met by Dave Beeton, Brian Riley and another birder who had been there for a while.  However, they hadn't seen any Owls or Woodcock.

Although there was a small break in the dismal weather we've been having recently, the light didn't last long at this time and it was also getting quite misty across the moss.  I was quite astonished at Jonathan and David talking about birds I couldn't see in the far distance across the gloomy landscape - they must both have far better eyesight than me!

We saw quite a lot of Jackdaws and Carrion Crows going to roost, and heard a few Snipe moving through the vegetation in front of us. There were also some Yellowhammers setting down in the bushes and a fairly constant stream of Blackbirds flying into Rhododendron bushes on the moss.  Jonathan told me that he'd previously seen a Sparrowhawk waiting along the Blackbirds' flight path trying to choose which one to 'pick off' before finally going for one.

By now it was quite dark and normally I would have set off for home a while ago, but both David and Jonathan kept saying that the Woodcock would come.  And sure enough they did - nine of them flew past in ones and twos over a ten minute period with their unmistakable shape and rapid wing-beat silhouetted against the lighter parts of the evening sky.

It was quite an experience that I would have missed had I been out there on my own.  The Woodcock is another 'lifer' for my slowly expanding list, so thanks very much lads, hope to see you again sometime.

Brambling at Bunting Hide

OK it's not the sharpest of shots, but at least I got one!  The lighting conditions at Bunting Hide, Pennington Flash were poor resulting in a high ISO / low shutterspeed shot, coupled with the fact that the bird stayed as far away as possible - but it's my best Brambling shot to date.

Male Brambling

I'll probably return for another go sometime soon - lovely little bird.

Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve

Here's a selection of photos from a recent trip to Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve:

Here's the full list of what I saw:

• Water Rail - superb views for photographs from Lancaster Hide
• Brambling - only a brief glimpse at the visitor centre
• Reed Bunting - great to see lots of them in the reed beds
• Jay
• Nuthatch
• Great Spotted Woodpecker
• Chaffinch
• Bullfinch
• Greenfinch
• Tree Sparrow
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Coal Tit
• Long-tailed Tit
• Dunnock
• Robin - loads of them being very aggressive with each other
• Starling
• Woodpigeon - a good few thousand in a single flock
• Blackbird
• Magpie
• Carrion Crow
• Teal - a good few hundred on the frozen water - never seen so many
• Goosander - five or six males circling the water, landing and taking off again
• Cormorant
• Great Crested Grebe
• Mallard
• Coot
• Moorhen
• Pheasant
• Kestrel - over nearby field
• 3 rats
• 1 rabbit
• 1 grey squirrel

Rindle Road Feeding Track

The sun was shining this afternoon so I took some bird food down to the feeding track at Rindle Road, Astley.  The track has been used for feeding birds for some years now and Leigh Ornithological Society (L.O.S.) are one of the main contributors of food along with a few other generous individual birders. 

It was nice to meet up with Dave Thacker at the feeding track as I hadn't seen him for quite some time.  Dave is an avid birder and he almost treats this area as if it is his own back garden.  He is very knowledgeable about all wildlife matters, particularly in this area and so we had a good chat about such things.  And it turns out that Dave is now a grandad, so congratulations to him, his daughter and family.

Whilst I chewed the fat with Dave we saw a Brambling, a Yellowhammer, a Jay, two Willow Tits as well as several Blue Tits, Great Tits and Chaffinches.

After Dave had left to go the dentist, I took some bird food down to the track. Unfortunately the hanging feeders have been stolen several times in the past and so recently L.O.S. had put just one more feeder there - it was with some dismay that I noticed that it had been taken yet again.  The only way to combat this is to spread the food on the floor and that is indeed what I did.

I then viewed the track from a distance using my scope, getting good views of all the birds previously mentioned but particularly good views of the Brambling which was my target bird for today.  A couple of Collared Doves, a Robin and a Blackbird also put in an appearance just before I went back to the car for my camera.

When I returned a Buzzard was circling low over Rindle Wood but I was quick enough to get a photo before it disappeared behind the trees. I took a few photos of the birds feeding on the track, but the sun was very low and quite harsh, casting shadows over parts of the birds - nevertheless I got a few record shots of the Brambling.

I then walked down towards Rindle Wood in the hope of seeing some different birds but there were very few about. So after only fifteen minutes I decided to go back to the feeding track and take some photos from a different viewpoint.  By now a Mistle Thrush was making quite a lot of noise in the tallest birch tree and two Tree Sparrows, two Greenfinches and a single Goldfinch were feeding on the track along with the Brambling and other birds.  As I took more photos along the feeding track, I noticed a Kestrel land on another of the taller trees and a second Mistle Thrush chased the first one out of the tree.  There were also a lot of Woodpigeons flying over the fields in this area.

The last two birds I saw today were a pair of Fieldfare which flew swiftly out of Rindle Wood, over the feeding track and into the hawthorn hedge along Rindle Road.

Jay goes nuts for a bag of monkeys!

The monkey nut trick worked in my own back garden today!  I put some down late yesterday and when I got up today they had almost all gone - I thought it must be either a squirrel or a Jay that had taken them.  As Sarah had arisen earlier and was working in the room overlooking the back garden, I asked if she had seen any largish birds in the garden, to which she replied that she's seen a pinkish bird which she thought might have been just a collared dove.

Well, I thought it might in fact be a Jay and so I kept looking out of the kitchen window for the next half hour. All of sudden a Jay appeared on the fence and it was trying to get the last few nuts out of a home-made feeder I had suspended from one of my feeding stations.  The bird flew off the fence and picked out a nut in flight before returning to the fence.  It did this four times and so could store at least four monkey nuts in its gullet, which is quite an amazing feat on it's own. Then it flew off to bury them somewhere for the winter.

Whilst the Jay was away I opened the patio windows and threw some more monkey nuts on to the lawn about four metres from the house and lay in wait in the house with my camera. However, it was so cold I couldn't leave the windows open for any longer than about 10 minutes and I had to close them.

Five minutes or so later the bird returned and, after flying from tree to tree for a while, spotted the nuts on the lawn and came down to collect them.  I couldn't reopen the patio because I knew it would scare this skittish bird. So I had to shoot the photos through the glass, but even so I'm quite pleased with them.  This is the closest I've ever had Jays in my garden and it's all thanks to Alan Flavell's monkey nut trick.  Cheers Alan!