Red-throated Diver at Fairhaven Lake

I'm still more or less 'birding from the car' and so today I returned to Fairhaven Lake at Lytham in Lancashire.  You may remember from my previous post about the Great Grey Shrike and Drake Scaup (ha-ha, as if) that I spent quite a lot of time here as a child because my Grandad used to live only half a mile away in the Ansdell area of Lytham.  I occasionally used to stay with him over the summer holidays and he would sometimes take me crown green bowling at the club where he as a member. Anyway, I digress ...

Birdguides and the North West Birding Facebook group were showing that a Red-throated Diver was present on the lake, and as it's such a great place to get good photographs without having to walk more than a few hundred yards from the car, I decided to go for it today.

More of a report will follow later, but for now here are some of the best photographs I took:

My First Half-Decent Goldcrest Photograph

This photograph isn't that great (although some people on Facebook seem to like it), but it's historic for me!  It's the first half-decent photograph of a Goldcrest that I've ever managed to take.

You see, Goldcrests are bogey birds for me - I rarely ever see them and never normally get anywhere near as close as this when I do.  I was driving slowly with my windows down on Rindle Road near Astley Moss (in a town you'd suspect me of kerb-crawling, but not here) and it just caught my eye in the bushes.

I stopped the car immediately, reached for my camera and for once the bird did not fly away. I didn't have time to think about settings and just shot four quick photos from inside my car, before it did disappear deeper into the bushes.  It was greatly underexposed when I looked at it on the back of the camera, but that's better than the other way round - at least you have got something with which to work.

After a bit of post-processing, this was the best of the four shots and I quite like it because it pretty much captures the essence of the Goldcrest.  As a photographer, you always want a better shot, but this one will do me for a while - well at least until tomorrow.

Find a Lamp Post ....

Find a lamp post and you will very often find a Kestrel just leaving it ....

This was the only decent photo I got after a failed attempt to to Burton Marsh Wetlands to see the Long-eared Owl which has been causing a bit of a stir there recently.  I was also going this part of the Wirral to check out my motorhome after it been looked at for loss of coolant and before embarking on a longer trip to Dumfries and Galloway.

But it wasn't to be, because after an enjoyable 19 miles down the M6 and M56 motorways in brilliant sunshine, the engine coolant came on and I had to pull over to check it out.

There was no way that I was going to continue on the motorway now and so I decided to head for home through Warrrington, stopping to let the engine cool down and refill with water a couple of times.
One of the places  I stopped was at Rixton Clay Pits where I had a quick look round, but nothing much was showing apart from four Shoveler on the water, a Common Buzzard which exploded out of the trees, a Cormorant landing and a few Blue Tits and Great tits in the woods.

On my way back to the car I noticed some Starlings and Mistle Thrushes in a field and when I looked closer there were also two Fieldfare and a single redwing in amongst them. I tried to get some photos but they were a bit to distant.  Whilst doing this a Kestrel spooked the winter Thrushes which all took off for the trees. I followed the Kestrel down the main road as it had landed on a lamp post, but as I got near it took flight as they nearly always do - and that's the story of this photo.

As  made my way back to the car I also spotted a couple of distant Buzzard, some Long-tailed tits, a Robin, some Goldfinches and two blackbirds.  It just goes to show that in some areas birds are all around you, even when you are not looking for them.

Long-tailed Duck at Crosby Marina

I'm kicking off my resumption of posting with one of the North West's star birds this winter - the long-staying female Long-tailed Duck at Crosby Marina.

I'll write a brief report shortly

Snow Buntings on Wallasey Shore

Here's a few shots of the very confiding pair of Snow Buntings in winter plumage which I took in front of the Harvester pub on Wallasey Shore, just a mile or so down the road from New Brighton Marina where I saw the Laughing Gull earlier today.

It's great when you get out of the car and can pretty much instantly see where the bird is, usually due to the array of birders and photographers all camo-ed up and pointing their scope and long lenses in the same direction.  This was the case today, so I didn't have far to hobble down the promenade to get to the birds.

There were two birds, a male and a female Snow Bunting, but getting a photo of both of them in focus was quite challenging.  Here's my best effort at that:

These two have been around for a few days now and it's probably due to the fact that someone has been feeding them - there was clear evidence of seed on the small concrete slope which runs down to the beach.  A big thank-you to that person, whoever you are!

A cracking pair of stunning birds, easy to approach and in good light - what more could a bird photographer want?  Well maybe just a male Snow Bunting in breeding plumage, but that would be rude to ask wouldn't it?

You're Having a Laugh

Here are my photos of the Laughing Gull which has been showing so well at New Brighton Marina on the Wirral:

There are so many photographs of this particular bird on the internet now that I guess we all had the last laugh didn't we?

Little Owl at Banks in Lancashire

Following my road traffic accident I couldn't walk very well at all, so I needed to find places to go birding without walking very far or even leaving the car at all.  Banks in Lancashire was the first place I chose, because I could get close and take photos of this wonderful Little Owl from inside my motorhome.

Here's a short video I made at the same time:

Here's a short video slideshow I put together from these images which I've called 'The Many Faces of the Little Owl':

Orrell Water Park

Whilst still being unable to walk long distances, I decided to go to Orrell Water Park where you can bird from the car park if necessary. Here I spotted this Cormorant which for some reason didn't seem to bothered about people getting close.

There was also a Mandarin Duck on the water, associating with Mallards but keeping it's distance from me!

Common Buzzard on Lower Green Lane

I photographed this beauty just before my day and the next four weeks were going to take a turn for the worse.  It's a Common Buzzard and nowadays they are getting very common.

Just Swanning About ...

I'd had a tip off that there were some Bewick Swans amongst the Whooper Swans at Hundred Lane End in Banks and as I've never seen a wild one, I headed off for the darkest depths of Lancashire today.  The flock was quite well mixed, but the Bewicks are slightly smaller with a shorter neck and more black on the bill.  Pick them out if you can!

Here are some Whooper Swans doing the Hokey Cokey:

Actually, there may be a Bewick in there (back right).

Shrikey !!!

The long-staying Great Grey Shrike at Lytham Moss was my target for today as I'd missed it previously on my way back from seeing the Shore Lark at Rossall Point.  I saw the bird as soon as I got to the traffic lights on the main road and so I was fumbling with excitement as I parked up and grabbed my camera. This is one of the first shots I got:

I'm quite pleased with this photo as it's pretty close and shows the eye and beak detail quite well, despite all the flipping branches in the way.  But after about 30 seconds the bird flew off and unfortunately never came close again. Here's the only other I shot that's any good.

Although distant, this one shows the typical habitat it's been frequenting here.  The Great Grey Shrike is actually our smallest bird of prey, although you would hardly think of it as a raptor.  It eats insects and rodents and sometime even small birds such as Wrens.