Goose watching on the Lancs mosses.

Pink-footed Geese, Downholland Moss (W Lancs) 8 February 2012.

 Spent a few hours goose-watching on the W Lancs mosses this morning. It took me quite sometime to find any grounded birds though. Not that I minded as there were plenty of other birds took look at including countless Buzzards (not that many, I just didn't count them!), Red-legged and Grey Partridges, Sparrowhawk and 26 Golden Plover with Lapwings.

Mediterranean Gull, Barton Moss (W Lancs) 8 February 2012.

Mediterranean Gull on Barton Moss this morning.

 One nice flock of about 300 Common Gulls between Plex and Barton Mosses looked worthy of inspection and a black hood immediately grabbed my attention. A quick check revealed white wing-tips and the it woke up.

 Cracking birds Mediterranean Gulls; I expect to see a few more as February progresses and they appear around the south Ribble marshes.

 But it was the geese I was mainly there for and I found about 5000 or so on Downholland Moss, very flighty at first but once they settled I spent a couple of hours with them.

Pink-footed Geese on Downholland Moss today.

Spot the Bean!

 I soon picked out a nice Tundra Bean Goose (centre) and then three neck-banded Pink-feet (PZL, TJS and PBH).

The flock would hop fields from time to time and I reckon I picked out the same Tundra Bean Goose on at least two more occasions before I found another pair, making at least three Tundras present today. Lots more geese scattered around in dead ground and against the light, so could be other goodies there?

Bittern plus.

 Apart from a worrying twelve hours or so wondering if the return from Mexico would be delayed because of snow or freezing fog, I was really pleased that the cold snap continued. Presumably the bird that was present even before I headed off to Mexico, this Bittern showed well out on the ice in front of the Rufford Hide at Mere Sands Wood this afternoon.

 Nice place with singing Nuthatches, some Tree Sparrows and Long-tailed Tits in the woods and Teal, Gadwall and Wigeon on the ponds. I didn't hang around once the hide began to fill and my phobia got the better of me and I thought better of looking in another one for Water Rail.

I started the day at Hesketh Out Marsh with 3 Bewick's Swans in a herd of 75 Whoopers, point blank range views of Merlins, a Peregrine, pair of Grey Partridges and at least 100 Golden Plovers. The frozen saltmarsh was pretty quiet until the tide filled the creeks with 3 Little Egrets and a few hundred Teal and Wigeon appearing.
Marshside was frozen over so I moved on to the Marine Lake (15 Pochard, 10 Tufties, 12 Pintail and some Dabchicks, but little else) before the customary bacon and sausage barm at TC's. Then it was a cruise by Martin Mere WWT (where there has also been a Bittern today) checking for geese (no luck but 4 Corn Buntings made it worthwhile), before Mere Sands Wood. A quick check of some rough ground on nearby mosses, waiting just long enough for the first Short-eared Owl to appear (thanks Graham) and then home.

San Blas (Nayarit), W. Mexico.

Golden-cheeked Woodpecker.

 Coming to the end of the Ornitholiday's W. Mexico tour now so it was refreshing to visit a new site for me at Tecuitata today. Some nice forest on the hillsides above the mango and coffee in the Nayarit foothills with plenty of birds including Sinaloa Wren, San Blas Jays and a handsome male Grey-collared Becard.

Black-throated Magpie-Jays, Tecuitata 3 February 2012.

Golden-cheeked Woodpecker.

Yellow Grosbeak.

Black-throated Magpie-Jays.

 Final day in the field here in Mexico tomorrow ......

Hola amigos!

White-eared Hummingbird, Cerro de San Juan (MEXICO) 1 February 2012.

 Leading Ornitholiday's first tour to Western Mexico, based at San Blas at the moment. It's my fourth time here, although I've never stayed exclusively at San Blas during a trip before. 
With over 220 species recorded in the first five days there can be few complaints, all sites within an hour's travel (most twenty minutes or less) of the Hotel Garza Canela in San Blas.

Female Ring-necked Duck, San Blas.

 A marvellous variety of birds already recorded - Crested Guans, Rufous-bellied Chachalacas, White-fronted Parrots, Mexican Parrotlets, Collared Forest-Falcon (is there anywhere better than Mexico to see this beast?), Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Northern Potoos, Russet-crowned Motmots, Citreoline and Elegant Trogons, Grey-collared Becard, Golden Vireo, red-breasted Chats, Rosy Thrush-Tanagers and a host of migrant Nearctic warblers, waders and wildfowl.

American Avocet, San Blas.

Return to the mosses and the mere.

Juvenile Glaucous Gull at Weld Road car park, Birkdale 25 January 2012.

Tundra Bean Goose (centre) with Pink-feet on Downholland Moss, Lancs 25 January 2012.

Hesketh Out Marsh was back to something resembling "full fitness" on Monday morning (23 January) with ringtail Hen Harrier on the approach road to the reserve and then over the weedy field next to the car park as I pulled up.

For the first time this winter there were respectable numbers of Pink-footed Geese in the eastern fields, some 2000 or so with an adult Greenland Whitefronted Goose and two adult European Whitefronts arriving with Pinks from the south later.

The 70 Whooper Swans were accompanied by 3 adult Bewick's and a Merlin could be seen perched on the fenceposts nearby.

Back on the RSPB reserve the saltmarsh was rapidly being flooded by the incoming 9.4m tide with 2 Marsh Harriers and a Merlin present, 8 Gadwall, hundreds of Wigeon and Teal, single Little Egret and 14 Snipe present. A walk to the end of the seawall revealed 8 Barnacle Geese amongst another 2500 Pink-feet present and a couple of Grey Partridge.

Tundra Bean Goose today.

Last chance for a bit of Ribble birding today so I headed out to the SW Lancs mosses early, starting with Downholland Moss in hope of Bean Geese again.

The Pinks were a bit flighty and mobile at first but lucky me, there were a few of the 2000 or so grazing in the short grass. Thankfully one of these birds was a Tundra Bean Goose and I picked up the orange legs on one of the first "sifts" through the flock. 

 I soon picked up a pair together, both having nice bright orange legs, but their bills covered in mud! Even so, the chunky bill of one of the birds was obvious, compared to the accompanying Pink-feet (one orange-legged Pink-foot has been seen here recently). Neck-collared IJF Pink-footed Goose was in the flock again too (it was here Saturday morning).

Tundra Bean Geese, Downholland Moss 25 January 2012.

 A light aircraft flushed all the Pinkies into a nearby enclosure so I opted for a quick tour of the rest of Downholland and Plex Moss where 5 Buzzards and a flock of 30 Fieldfares were the only other birds of note.

 Next stop today was Weld Road on the Ribble coast near Birkdale where this juv' Glaucous Gull was showing very well indeed. Same bird I've seen here in the raging gales over the New Year and a couple of times up at Marshside even before Xmas. First photo opportunity though and there is a second winter bird around that I've still not connected with.
A flock of 25 Goldeneye was all I noted on the Southport Marine Lake before joining Graham Clarkson at the Marshside Sandplant where we saw Great White Egret, 6 Little Egrets, Merlin, Short-eared Owl and hundreds of distant Pinks. Graham headed off for the mosses to look for the Beans as I headed to TC's for a bacon and sausage barm via Crossens Outer where there were 5 Barnacle Geese with the Pink-feet and a Marsh harrier being mobbed by a Peregrine.

 I ended the day at Martin Mere WWT listening to a reserve first in the shape of a Cetti's Warbler, found while I was watching the Beans this morning. At least 2000 Pink-feet came onto the reserve in the late afternoon with 38 Barnacle Geese and of course there were loads of Whoopers. Kingfisher outside the United Utilities Hide was a year tick, 2 croaking Ravens are always a delight and I returned to the reed-bed walk for sunset where the Cetti's was calling frantically (I didn't make a lot of effort to see it) and ringtail Hen Harrier and 3 Marsh Harriers wheeled over the reeds at dusk.
One of my best South Ribble / SW Lancs birding days for quite a while.

Day out to the local duck brothel.

Whooper Swans on the mere today.

 I spent a pleasant six hours at Martin Mere WWT today, the perfect site for birding in these rather unpleasant wet 'n' windy conditions we're experiencing at the moment. Apart from the constant sound of inane drivel, Velcro and smell of flask coffee in the hides it was very enjoyable with some decent birds on the reserve today.

 This Bewick's Swan (adult between two Whoopers, above) showed well from the United Utilities Hide, spending its time on the Plover Field. Thanks to the birder who had already found it, saving me going through the 1700 or so Whoopers.
Female Brambling and Willow Tit at the Janet Kear Hide are good local birds and the only ones I'm likely to see anywhere in the Ribble Estuary regional Park this winter, with Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders too. Plenty of Tree Sparrows around the grounds and I counted 95 Pochard and 27 Tufted Duck between the mere and the Harrier Hide, 30 Ruff with c. 2000 Lapwings and the odd Oystercatcher and two or three Black-tailed Godwits were around the mere. But it was the geese I was really interested in, with a thousand plus Pink-feet coming in late afternoon, dictating a return to the Ron Barker Hide as I was making my way to the exit.

 Glad I took the "about-turn" as I located 2 European White-fronted Geese with the Pinks. They were too far off for a photo but there is a male Sparrowhawk there somewhere. Best of all a Ringtail Hen Harrier appeared while I was going through the geese; the first local bird I've seen all winter. 
The wind was dropping late afternoon so hopefully the next few days will be a bit better for local birding?

Too windy!

A quick SW Lancs run around this morning was a little unproductive, but birding was very difficult in the sometimes gale-force westerly wind, often with the odd squally shower thrown in for good measure.
About 40 Twite were on the beach at Southport opposite the Marine Lake but I failed to find the 2nd winter Glaucous Gull on the beach at Ainsdale so I headed inland to the mosses. An initial circuit of the southern part of Plex and adjacent Downholland was disappointing. Hardly any grounded geese (although there was a fair bit of disturbance today) until I arrived at the western end of Downholland where 280 Pink-feet included neck-banded birds IZU (which I've seen before, more than once) and IJF. I eventually found around 3-4000 Pinks on the deck on the northern half of Plex but the poor light, distance and strong wind defeated me, even in the car!
Not a total waste of time though (with the neck-bands already submitted to the WWT) and I'll be back for more soon.

Lochmaben American Wigeon.

Drake American Wigeon, Kirk Loch (Dumfries & Galloway), 20 January 2012.

With the winter days drawing out a little there was an opportunity for a bit of "spotting" after working in Dumfries & Galloway today. The weather was pretty grim but I had enough time to call in at Lochmaben on the way to the A74(M) on the way home for a quick look at the drake American Wigeon.

Lucky for me I found it almost straight away with Eurasian Wigeons on Kirk Loch. It was a bit distant, but good through the 'scope. This is presumably the returning bird from at least last winter and most likely the bird that Angie and I found at Mersehead in December 2008 (later relocated at Caerlaverock).
Several Goosander, Goldeneye, a few pairs of Gadwall and some Tufties on nearby Castle Loch but unfortunately the weather closed in soon after these photos were taken so I headed south to Lancashire.