Another to do list

If you regularly come here to read my blog I can only apologise for the lack of recent updates.  I've still been birding and taking photographs as usual, but I haven't been finding the time to update this blog, mainly due to work and other voluntary commitments and the volume of photographs I have to look through before deciding which ones to work on.

With this in mind I'd like to point you to my Flickr site (www.flickr.com/geekteacher) which is updated slightly more often than this blog and a Facebook group I have set up on behalf of Leigh Ornithological Society (www.facebook.com/groups/leighos). You will find some of my latest photos and comments on both these groups.

That said, I fully intend to update this blog in the near future and keep it updated as best I can.  Some of the reports that I will be writing include the following:

• Short-eared owls in Sefton, Merseyside
• A short trip to Dumfries and Galloway with Whooper Swans, Barnacle Geese, Great Northern Divers, Purple Sandpipers, Oystercatchers, Yellowhammers, Red Kites and a host of others
• A Kittiwake on the Bridgewater Canal in Leigh
• Dippers and a very close Great Crested Grebe at Yarrow Valley Country Park
• Black Grouse lekking at World's End, Llangollen
• Skylarks at Kinmel Bay and a Red-breasted Merganser and Stonechats at Gronant Beach

And possibly some more.  I do hope you will return to read some of my reports with photos of the birds I've seen so far in 2014.

Red Kite at Bellymack Hill Farm

Red Kite at Bellymack Hill Farm Feeding Station in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

I've just got back from a few days birding in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.  Here's one of the first photos I've processed - I've only got a few thousand more to look through!

This photo was sent to my blog from my Flickr album - Red Kite 1, a photo by GeekTeacher (aka Martyn Jones).

Second Time Lucky looking for the two Tawnies at Three Sisters Nature Reserve in Ashton, Wigan

Another Glossy Ibis turns up locally

After the spectacular displays given by the long-staying Horwich birds, it was quite a surprise to find that another Glossy Ibis had turned up even more locally to me in Pennington Hall, Hindley.  The weather conditions were poor and got worse, so the photos aren't that great, but it's a nice local record for me.

Whilst I was there I was approached by a couple of the locals who were very friendly and interested in what all the fuss had been about over the last week or so.  When I explained they seemed to go away happy.  Another couple of birders also turned up in the next hour.

On returning to my car I found that my battery was flat due to having left the lights on and not running it much over Christmas. This wasn't entirely without surprise as recently I'd been having an ongoing intermittent battery drain problem, but I had thought it had cured itself - unfortunately not it seems. To add insult to injury, my phone was also flat and I couldn't charge it from the car!

So this now prompted a saga of asking a passersby for jump leads and ended up with me going into the local farm to ask for help.  A very nice lady took some time to find some leads for me and another kind young lady then moved her car and gave me the jump start I needed.  During the process I had got completely soaked from the ever-increasing rainfall.

With the engine running, I  quickly thanked everyone who had helped me and set off for home in the hope I wouldn't stall on the way.

Slavonian Grebe in Leigh - a rare visitor here

Slavonian Grebe in non-breeding plumage

You don't see Slavonian Grebes around these parts very often, so it was great to get such close views of this one on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Leigh today. Previously it had been in Ramsdale's Flash at Pennington Flash where many birders had struggled to get good views of it. But today it was out in the open and down to just six feet at times. It may stay around for a while as it was feeding well on small fish in the canal, despite being occasionally harassed by a juvenile Mute Swan.

Slavonian Grebe in non-breeding plumage

Slavonian Grebe in non-breeding plumage

The video has been highly compressed by YouTube so the quality is not as good as the original.

Slavonian Grebe in non-breeding plumage

A Trip to Denhall Lane in Burton on the Wirral

Male Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Female Stonechat

Redwing

Redwing 

Redwing

Siberian Chiffchaff 

Siberian Chiffchaff

Starling

Starling

Kestrel on the rocks

Glossy Ibises on Horwich Moors

This is just a quick post to put up some video and photos of four Glossy Ibises that have been near the Bob's Smithy pub in Horwich since last Friday.  I'll add some more text later.

Long time - no post

I've not posted anything here for quite a while now for lots of reasons including not finding the time after starting a new job. I've still been out a few times taking photos and I've got an even bigger backlog to publish than I mentioned in my last post, but I just had to put up these images of a Kingfisher which I took from Horrocks' Hide at Pennington Flash yesterday:

Whilst on a sponsored Bird Race last week, I'd learnt that the bird was becoming fairly regular on a couple of new tree branches put in front of the hide this summer.  Whilst on the Bird Race, we saw the Kingfisher but I didn't have my camera with me, so I vowed to return this week for some shots.

I turned up at about 8:15am which was roughly the time I'd seen it previously, only to be told by another birder that it had been around five minutes since but had not returned.  I stayed for another half hour but it didn't put in a appearance, so off I went for a walk round the other hides.

It was generally very quiet at the Flash, but I did get a glimpse of a different Kingfisher flying away from its perch at Pengies Hide.  It's thought that there could be up to four birds in this area at the moment.

Anyway, I thought I'd try again at Horrocks' Hide before leaving for another location.  I had no luck for ages and resolved myself to taking some photos of a Lapwing, Moorhen and finally a Grey Wagtail which landed in front of the hide.  I was just thinking of leaving when this Kingfisher chased the Grey Wagtail away and landed on the nearest perch to me. My camera was on the right settings, the bird was close and still and the light was great - I couldn't believe my luck!

So here they are, the best Kingfisher photos I've ever taken.

Backlog

Well, I've just got back from two weeks holiday in Normandy, France and as you can imagine I've got a mountain of photos to get through. But first I need to clear some of the May to July backlog that I had before I even went away! So starting today I'll be adding a few posts with photos in the chronological order in which I took them, which means you'll need to scroll down and perhaps even click on 'Older Posts' at the bottom of the page to view them.

But just as a taster of my visit to France, here's a few photos of a Spotted Flycatcher and its young which were nesting in the eves of our rented house - the two young birds fledged whilst we were there and this made my holiday.

My backlog of photos includes:

• Grey Partridge on Moss Lane, Astley 24/05/13 - done
• Grey Heron over my back garden 31/05/13 - done

• Doffcocker Common Terns, Cygnets, Grebe - 01/06/13
• Hindleys Farm Swallows - 06/06/13
• House Martins - 14/06/13
• Bedford Canal Crow, Linnet, Mallard, Heron - 18/06/13
• Peregrines and House Martins - 25/06/13
• Woolston Eyes - Little Ringed Plover, Black Necked Grebe (poor quality) - 30/06/13

• Culcheth Farm Swallows - 05/07/13 - done
• Peregrine, Hobby, Kestrel, Brown Hare - 07/07/13 - done
• Anglesey Sandwich Terns 12/07/13 - partially done
• Penny Heron Egret - 16/07/13

• Various Peregrine days in June and July 2013

• France Holiday July / August 2013

Short Movies to be inlcuded

• Oystercatchers fleeing high tide at Rhos
• Tern colony at Cemlyn
• Peregrines in Leigh
• Juvenile Wrens sandbathing at Pennington Flash
• 
  

Day Trip to Anglesey and North Wales

I'd been promising myself a trip to see the Sandwich Tern colony at Cemlyn Bay on Anglesey all this year and, with my holiday to France looming ever closer, I decided it was now or never.  If I left it until I came back in the first week of August, the Terns would probably have left and it would be too late.

This current post is just a placeholder with some taster photos for what will be a slightly longer report when I get round to selecting and editing the hundreds of photos I took at Cemlyn Bay and South Stack Lighthouse on Anglesey and late in the day on the Conwy Estuary in North Wales.