What a noise from a Corncrake in Hale, Merseyside - Lifer!

I took the chance of bagging a lifer on a sunny Sunday evening tonight. A singing male Corncrake had been seen in a paddock off Carr Lane in Hale, Cheshire. Note that this is the Hale near Merseyside not the one in Greater Manchester, which I know a few birders turned up at only to be disappointed!

I was right on the bird as soon as I got there as there were several birders all looking in the same direction.  I took this video to record the marvellous sound of it singing.

The bird would disappear amongst the tall vegetation for periods of time and then reappear calling from somewhere else. Most of the time it was only visible from the neck upwards, but I did manage one shot of it out in the open.

At one point it seemed to be getting very familiar with a red grouse that wandered across the paddock, but its advances were rejected.

 

The rider to this story is that later in the week I was contacted by the Rare Bird Alert website who wanted permission to use my first photo (above) in Mark Golley's Weekly Birding Round-up email which is sent out free to subscribers.  Unfortunately they asked me the day before the deadline and for once I didn't read my emails that day. So when I sent them the photo with permission to use it, I didn't realise that the deadline had passed - oh well, you can't win them all!

NestCam Live 2015

Today saw the closing moments of my NestCam Live 2015 when the last chick fledged.  All I'm left with now is 'empty nest syndrome'.  I'll do a proper report about this year's events with photos and videos later, but for now I'm just recovering from a very stressful few days with these birds.

Everything was been put on hold here while the Blue Tits were nesting and I've got a backlog of photos and videos to upload. Thanks to everyone who has been viewing my NestCam Live 2015 - hope you'll visit here again soon. when I restart my normal birding blog postings.

Burrs Country Park in Bury

Today I popped out to Burrs Country Park in Bury with three target birds in mind: Dipper, Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail.

No decent photos but a little more text to follow ...

Martin Mere WWT and Marshside RSPB

As I hadn't been out birding for  quite a while, I decided to spend the afternoon in West Lancashire.

I started at Marshside and saw the following birds:

• 2 Tawny Owls
• Avocets
• Ruff
• Black-tailed Godwits
• Buzzard

No Marsh Harrier, Kingfisher, Kestrel or Barn Owl today.

I then went on to Marshside RSPB in Southport where I saw:

• Avocets
• A Little Gull
• Wheatear
• Gadwall
• Peregrine Falcon
• Skylarks
• Meadow Pipis
• Little Grebe
• Shelduck
• Black-tailed Godwits
• A few Wigeon
• Pink-footed Geese
• as well as the usual suspects

To be continued with photos and some more text ....

Easter in Oban

Sarah and I have just come back from a wonderful five days and four nights in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. As our motorhome is still not back on the road (another long story), I decided to buy a package coach tour so that I could reccy the area for future birding and wildlife visits. Neither of us had ever been to this area before and we weren't disappointed.

The coach picked us up in Manchester and two hours later we were still in Greater Manchester due to all the other pickups it had to make.  We had a lovely tour of Ashton, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury before our first stop at Rivington Services on the M61 motorway!  From here it took a further nine and a half hours to get to Oban via a coach change at Tebay Services, and then on to Carlisle, Glasgow and Lomond Shores. The scenery was beautiful in the Lake District and once we had passed Glasgow, and although it did take a long time to get there the journey wasn't too bad.

Our hotel, the Alexandra,  was in a great location on the sea front at Oban where it overlooked the island of Kerrera. The room was good and the food was pretty good all week. As a package tour there were trips out each day to different locations including a non-landing ferry trip to Mull, a tour of the hydroelectric plant at Craughan (the Hollow Mountain), a trip up through Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe and a visit to the disused slate works at Seil Island.  There was also an afternoon Celidh concert in Oban town centre.

I didn't take my full set of camera gear as I didn't want it to dominate what was supposed to be a holiday and I thought it might be cumbersome on a package tour .In fact I only had a short 18-105mm zoom kit lens and a small 70-300mm zoom lens, but I managed to get some fair wildlife and scenery photos even with this. I'll be uploading them here shortly.

For now, here's a short list of the main things of interest:

• Black Guillemot
• Iceland Gull - lifer
• Hooded Crow - lifer
• Great Northern Diver
• Puffin
• Two dolphins (or porpoises)
• Roe Deer

In summary, this is a place to which we'll definitely come back in the motorhome and a trip over to Mull for a week or so seems to be favourite.  We need to avoid the midges in height of the season so it could be later this year in the Autumn or Easter next year. I'm desperate to see the White-Tailed and Golden Eagles that are doing so well here and there is also the promise of Corncrake on Iona and Ptarmigan on the higher ground on Mull.  But for now I'll have to make do with those fantastic Tysties on the promenade at Oban.

Orrell Water Park ... Again!

It's not long since I'd been to Orrell Water Park to see the Mandarin Duck and Cormorant but I just had to go back to get the only view of a Waxwing that I'm likely to see this winter.  This solitary bird had been regularly in Pete Alker's garden next to the park over the last couple of weeks and so with a good chance of seeing I decided on a quick visit today.

In the Water Park itself I spotted my first Great Crested Grebes of the year, one starting to build a nest.

 

A Song Thrush landed right next to me as I was looking at the Grebe and it pulled a long worm out of the grass before flying off.

After failing to find the Mandarin Duck on the water, I decided to have a quick look at the feeding station:

I tried a few experimental shots of capturing birds hovering around the feeders, but the light was poor and I had to ramp the ISO up to 4000 just to get a half-decent shutter speed for these shots.

 

 

Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB

I returned to work this week after injuring my leg four weeks ago.  I can't say I was really looking forward to it as I'd got used to being early-retired again without the pressures of the daily work ritual.  It's not that I don't like my part-time job, but the journey to and from work each day is a real pain - it takes me an hour and half each way to do a 35 minute trip and it's traffic jams and stop/start all the way. So I was really looking forward to going out somewhere today on my day off and Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB is the place I chose.

The main reason for coming here today was to see the Long-eared Owl which has been around for a few weeks now.  I didn't doubt that I was going to see it, but the main question was how good a view would I get.

The bird has been seen by many people over the last three week including birders, photographers and the general public.  However it seems that some people are just not satisfied with the view they get, and they have to get even closer.  Apparently, some members of the public have even thrown things at the bird in an attempt to make it fly. This type of behaviour from whosoever is just not on - the birds' welfare and protection is paramount and all those who perform such selfish acts should consider their actions and think about whether or not they did the right thing.

When I at arrived the Burton Mere Visitors' Centre I quickly asked if and where the Owl was showing and then made a bee-line for its location. The bird had recently been flushed by the aforementioned people from its original position close to the Inner Marsh Farm Hide to a new location a little further down the path.

When I arrived another bird photographer pointing his lens at the bird, so locating it was quite easy.  It was only 15 metres or so off the path and 3-4 metres off the ground. However, from a distance it did look like it was actually part of the tree!

I spent quite a while here trying to get a decent shot without leaving the path.  Although this is the closest I've ever been to a Long-eared Owl and it wasn't particularly deep in the vegetation as they so often are, there were quite a few annoying pieces of bramble criss-crossing it's face most of the time as well as leaves with spots on that sometimes looked like the bird's eye. And to cap it all, the bird hardly moved at except for the very occasional bit of preening.

After a couple of hours here I went off to the Inner Marsh Farm Hide, a few hundred metres down the path. Here I saw Teal, Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen and Mallards and that was about it.  I didn't stay too long as a bloke sat down next to me and started eating a large biscuit in a very crinkly package that made a lot of noise. I moved on quickly grumbling to myself.

On my way back I stopped at the Owl's roosting place again, but all that had changed was that there was now a different group of people looking at it - the bird hadn't moved an inch. So the shots you can see here are the best I could do today under the prevailing circumstances and, with everything considered, I am fairly satisfied with the results. Incidentally, a Goldcrest also put in a brief appearance in the same bush as the Owl, but there was no chance of getting a photograph of it.

On my way back to the car we were treated to a fly-over by a couple of thousand Pink-footed Geese which were flying up the estuary towards the sea.  They made amazing fractal-like patterns with their overlapping v-shaped flight formations.  I'll put a couple of photos here later, but none of them do justice to the spectacle - you had to be there to appreciate how wonderful it was.

I picked up a pair of Wrens on the marshy land crossed by the boardwalks and several Grey Herons flew over me on their way to a Heronry in the tall trees bordering the reserve. On my way down to see the Owl I'd heard a Green Woodpecker yaffling in the trees near the mere, so I had a look for it on the way back, but I didn't see or hear it again.

I also stopped at a couple of the feeders hoping to see some Siskin (which have been very scare this year) somewhere, but all I saw were Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit and a Brown Rat feeding on the seed droppings under a feeder.

I decided to go home via Denhall Lane where I could have something to eat in the car whilst looking out for Short-eared Owls and Hen Harriers on the saltmarsh. I was also hoping to see a Great White Egret and after a short while I did.  At one point a Little Egret landed alongside the Great White which looked huge in comparison.  There weren't any raptors around though which was a little disappointing.

So I'd had a pretty good day on the whole - funny how seeing just one bird can make your day and your trip worthwhile.

High Tide, Cottage Lane on the Wirral - 20/02/15

With the prospect of a 10.3 metre high tide and fair weather today, I set off for the Wirral just before 9am this morning. After doing a bit of research last night, I decided to try a different part of the coastline than last time, a mile or so further north than Parkgate down a small road called Cottage Lane.  I and many others were expecting a raptor-fest but yet again it didn't really happen.

I arrived in good time and there were only a couple of other birders that were present, which was in total contrast to the madness that is Parkgate on one of these days.  From my vantage point on the old sea wall I could see the many car windscreens glistening on the 'old baths' car park there in the intermittent sunshine.

The first view of a distant raptor was that of a Merlin sat on some driftwood branches on the edge of the saltmarsh. As the tide came in the driftwood became surrounded by water and the Merlin was replaced by a much larger Peregrine Falcon, at first low down and then later sitting on top of the dead branches. It remained here for a very long time even when totally surrounded by water and was eventually joined by a Carrion Crow sitting almost alongside.

The water didn't seem to make much progress for ages and then suddenly around 11:40am it started to flood in at some speed and did reach the sea wall here.  This was great because I've never seen it come this far in before. Small flocks of Redshank, Oystercatcher and a few Godwits were on the move now, being displaced at the water's edge by the incoming tide.  There were also plenty of Shelduck, Teal and the odd Canada Goose on the water and quite a few Little Egrets started to pop their heads up and fly. A skein of about thirty Pink-footed Geese also flew up the estuary making their trademark 'wink-winking' call.

As I was looking at a very nice Grey Heron through my scope, I spotted a Short-eared Owl flying low against the tideline - it was a fleeting glimpse that no-one else in my little group of birders picked up on.  It was quite a while before another appeared and it may have been the same bird.  In this second view the bird was on the ground and looking round - it had pretty long 'ear' tufts for a Shortie and it had those wonderful staring eyes.  It was possibly sat on some prey as it flew off not to return.

However the best bird for me today was my first ever Water Pipit, thankfully pointed out by another birder as I'd never have spotted it myself.  It was in amongst a whole crowd of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and even a couple of Rock Pipits all feeding on the marsh.  Today was definitely the day of the Little Brown Jobs: I've never seen so many Reed Buntings, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits feeding in one place.

Just before I left and whilst I was busy trying to get at least a decent Reed Bunting photo, a Kestrel landed on a vole or mouse not five metres in front of me and flew off before I had chance to photograph it.  I've got a couple of blurred shots of it flying away carrying something - typical.

And that was pretty much it for today, no close views of Owls, no Hen Harriers or Great White Egret for me, but not bad to come away with a Lifer.

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