I started today's excursion by looking for some Bewick's Swans which had recently been reported at Hundred End near Banks Marsh. Unfortunately I could only find a small group of ten birds consisting of four Whooper Swans with four juveniles and two Mute Swans.
You can't pass by Gravel Lane in Banks without having a quick look for Banksy the resident Owl. Today I was lucky as there he was sitting in his usual place on the roof enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
I couldn't find the reported Little Stints on Crossen's Inner Marsh, but it was very cold so I didn't stay too long. I did briefly meet local birders Stuart Derbyshire, Mark Nightingael and Pete Kinsella though. Next I had a quick look at Marshside RSPB where a new production entitled 'Gulls on Ice' was being rehearsed.
I finally moved on to Lunt Meadows but, to paraphrase Star Wars, these were not the Short-eared Owl photographs I was looking for. Not a bad afternoon in general though.
"So", she said, "It's your birthday, what do want to do today?"
"Well", he said, "We could go to Whitby for the day". "Why, what's there?", she said. "Well it's a lovely day", he said, "so the scenic drive over the North York Moors will be nice. And then we can have look around the Abbey and walk along the seawall overlooking the sea. And we can finish it all off with pie and mash at the 'Humble Pie and Mash Shop'. You know how you like that."
"Anything else?" she wondered.
"Well, there might just be a little bird that we could go and see too, it’s called a Desert Wheatear”.
There was a 9.77 metre high tide on the Wirral today, so I and some of my birding buddies set off to meet at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB before heading off for the old baths car park at Parkgate.
Funny how you can still see new things any day and how they can knock you back saying "Wow!" I took this photograph on New Year's Day in abysmal weather at Booth Wood Reservoir near Ripponden.
It's a reservoir we in the North West have all seen many times on our journey along the M62 up and over the Pennines, but I wonder how many have actually seen this?
I had another trip to the seaside today with Purple Sandpipers as my main target species. These hardy little winter visitors from the Arctic visit Rhos Point at Rhos-on-Sea each year and the best time to see them is at high tide when they are roosting on the breakwater rocks along the shoreline.
I'd managed to get some shots of Purple Sandpipers last month at New Brighton, but they were roosting on the marina pontoons and this is hardly a natural setting, so I was looking for better natural habitat for my photos today.
As can be seen and heard in the video, it was blowing a gale whilst I was there and this made taking photographs and video very difficult - despite using a heavy tripod and gimbal system, I couldn't really keep the camera steady.
At first I struggled to find these birds, and when I thought I had spotted one it turned out to be a dark Dunlin. But with a bit of perseverance walking up and down the promenade, I eventually spotted one bird feeding on the rocks and then later a group of four roosting.
Other birds present included Turnstones and Ringed Plovers as well as the ubiquitous Oystercatchers. I did think I might have seen some Twite feeding on the beach, but they turned out to be Linnets.
Unfortunately this is not a Twite as I first thought, it's a Linnet.
Later I went on to RSPB Conwy a little further up the coast as I'd heard that a male Hen Harrier had been seen in recent days. I did get a very brief glimpse of it and took the worst record shot in the world!
There was also a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers in front of one of the hides - here's some shots of the male.
And this female Scaup was also present in the deeper water, along with some Pochards.
And finally, this little Robin came incredibly close, but then Robins do, don't they?
