End of Year Round Up.

Short-eared Owl (you can just see it in the centre if you look hard), Bowland 28 December 2008.

We ended the year on a leisurely note with an afternoon visit to the Forest of Bowland in Lancs on 28th December. The highlight apart from a Barn Owl and a couple of Short-eared Owls was undoubtedly the stunning views at dusk across the moors. Thanks to Mrs B for taking the pics that afternoon.
No complaints about 2008 with some interesting trips abroad, of which the latest Brazil tours were the most enjoyable. It was great to see Harpy Eagle, a couple of Jaguars, Giant Anteater, Giant Otter and my old mate Rick Simpson out there! I look forward to starting the New Year in Ecuador closely followed by Guyana and then Mexico.
Birding in the UK in 2008 has undoubtedly been the best I've ever had. Bumping into the Ross's Gull at Fairhaven was nice but venturing into our favourite birder-free zone in Dumfries and Galloway was incredibly enjoyable and profitable. Discovering Lesser Scaup, Citrine Wagtail, and Pacific Golden Plover was nice but my favourite day of all didn't involve one single rarity. I don't get to visit the west of the region that often but March 11 2008 in the Loch Ryan area was just magic. Snow Goose, Velvet Scoter and Red-necked Grebe were all D&G ticks and we enjoyed our first Long-tailed Ducks of the year along with Black Guillemots, Slavonian Grebes, Black-throated Divers and Med' Gull. The full write-up and some less than inspiring digiscoping can be seen here.

I don't make New Year's resolutions (or at least I don't keep them!), but I would like to get back up to Mersehead on the Solway for a better look at that putative American Wigeon we saw last week .........

Happy New Year everybody and thanks for dropping by on my blog.

SOLWAY: Otter Steals The Day.

Another superb day on the Scottish Solway in Dumfries & Galloway started with a quick stop at Redkirk Point. With little on show as we pulled up we broke open the coffee but the peace and tranquility was soon disturbed by honking Barnacle Geese overhead.

A lone Cackling Goose of the form minima was amongst them but as always at this site it was devilishly tricky to pick up on the saltings as more Barnacles joined the feeding flock. Mrs B and I agreed on 3,000 Barnies as a good "guestimate". Eleven Pink-footed Geese were about the only other birds before we moved along the coast to Browhouses.
As usual Browhouses was alive with birds with the incoming tide but without doubt the highlight was this Otter that disturbed our counting this morning. So good to get great views of Otter in D&G after a couple of near misses (corpse plus distant silhouette) over the last couple of years. And this was a total surprise as it surfaced nearby before swimming along to the exposed mud and running across with a fish in its jaws, pausing briefly for a quick nibble. After watching this magnificent beast for as long as possible (it disappeared behind the lumpy saltings) we settled in for a bit of birding! Highlights at Browhouses
included Kingfisher, 200 Pink-footed Geese, 78 Golden Plover, 7 Goldeneye, 25 Bar-tailed Godwits, 7 Goosander and 9 Red-breasted Mergansers but to be honest after the Otter we didn't care!
Our short drive to Seafield Bay at Annan was interrupted by a stop to count Golden Plovers (all 513 of them).
At Seafield the bay had been covered by the tide so we headed inland counting 496 Golden Plovers, 376 Lapwings, 41 Redshank and 32 Oystercatchers in the fields. The old railway leading to the viaduct was leaping with Blackbirds in the Hawthorns and returning to the bay we counted 108 Redshank on the mudflats.
With the fine rays of the fine afternoon's sun lengthening the day we decided to head out to Castle Loch at Lochmaben - perhaps it would be frozen yielding that elusive D&G Bittern?


As we drove towards Dalton we checked a flock of about 2,000 Pink-feet in nearby fields but couldn't find that much wanted Bean Goose. We spent a very pleasant hour or so at Castle Loch watching male Long-tailed Duck, redhead Smew, Kingfisher and 26 Whooper Swans (right), 3 of which were immatures. A fine day was ended off by a flyover Woodcock as we headed south along the A74.

LANCS: Xmas Urban Square Bashing.

Needed a walk after the usual lunchtime "blowout" today so I took a stroll (well, a real yomp actually) to check out a less than desirable part of Lancashire. Why? Well, it's been left on its lonesome as a blank square on the BTO winter bird atlas but it needs doing so I thought I'd check it out. I was too late to do anything meaningful apart from note a few Long-tailed Tits, Grey Wagtail and 78 Mallard on a pond but as predicted there were quite large gatherings of CHAVfinches, HOODIE Mergansers and ASBOhemian Waxwings in force. Rib-breaking, side-splitting stuff. Ho, ho, ho.

The accompanying picture has nothing whatsoever to do with the above drivel but Choughs are nice and it's a shame if the picture goes to waste. And why does a looser like me get to blog on Xmas Day? Cos Mrs B watching Dr bloody Who, that's why (Strictly Go Birding for me).

Oh, and I'll do the square .....

Happy Christmas.

SOLWAY: American Wigeon?

Here's a post I've been holding back for a few days:

22 December: After a quick look from the Mersehead RSPB reserve centre we headed to the Brauich Hide stopping to watch the Barnacle Geese and a couple of Bullfinches on the way. There were plenty of ducks on the wetland, mostly Teal and Pintail with a sprinkling of Wigeon. We were just about to leave when I decided to give the marsh one last scan with the 'scope and spotted an unusual wigeon. It was in the company of several Eurasian Wigeon at first but frustratingly made its way to the back of the wetland with some Teal. The conditions were getting progressively worse but the grey head with bottle-green mask and pale crown stripe were obvious as were the orange-chestnut flanks. I rattled off a series of what I knew would be "record-only" shots in the poor light feeling quite convinced that we had an American Wigeon. My only concern was that at some angles the crown stripe showed a yellowish wash (rather than cream) even in the poor light so the dreaded hybrid theory raised its ugly head. After parting from the Wigeon and Teal and swimming around alone for a bit it suddenly took flight towards the Meida Hide in the distance. Even in the now misty conditions the white "wing-pit" was obvious but I lost the bird in the murk at the back of the wetland.

Making our way to the Meida Hide we could barely see more than a couple of hundred metres and it was no surprise that I failed to relocate the bird so we called it a day as visibility worsened. We alerted the reserve centre staff about "a drake with at least some American Wigeon in it".
The sky was clearer inland as we headed towards Dumfries so we pushed on to Lochmaben where we saw the drake Long-tailed Duck but no sign of the Smew in the late afternoon.

So, what about the American Wigeon then? It looked pretty good in the murky conditions at the back of the lagoon, didn't it? The top photo hasn't been changed at all apart from a bit of cropping to highlight the bird. But when the bird started to swim away just before it flew the crown stripe appeared a different (more yellow) colour. We never saw it again unfortunately.

SOLWAY: Southerness Point 22/12/08.

The 22nd was a cracking morning in total contrast to the previous day - clear and calm with a flat sea on the Solway Firth. We parked up near the lighthouse at Southerness and munched on a snack with coffee before venturing out onto the point. There were plenty of Barnacle Geese flying around inland and a few V formations made their way along the coast as we scrambled around on the rocks in search of Purple Sandpipers. We eventually found just 5 in their favourite spot on the rocky peninsula with Turnstones.
It seems that the days of flocks of 20+ Purple Sand's at Southerness are gone forever now but it's difficult to get an accurate count here unless there's a big tide covering most of the rocks.
The sea off the point was pretty quiet with just a few Great Crested Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers and fly-by flocks of Oystercatchers and Knot but a Kingfisher was a big surprise!
Plenty of waders on the beach too including a pack of 300+ Knot, 45 Ringed Plovers and 30+ Dunlin. We counted 27 Grey Plovers on the sands to the west of the point and single Greenshank was a bonus.
Making our way back to the car we found a flock of at least 56 Golden Plover and then spent a bit of time in search of Twite and buntings on the beach without joy. A quick check on our caravan revealed the Barnacle Geese feeding in the field directly behind the pitch.
After a full morning at the point we decided to head for Mersehead for lunch seeing 40+ Fieldfares on the way.

Right: Southerness Point - Just begging for an Ivory Gull!

SOLWAY: Shortest Day.

Mrs B and I spent 21 December touring the D&G lochs starting in Castle Douglas. We birded the Threave Estate in rather poor conditions seeing 50+ Redwings, Nuthatch and what were probably small groups of Greenland Whitefronted Geese overhead. The weather deteriorated at Carlingwark Loch were the only notable birds were a couple of Whooper Swans and a female Scaup. As usual for this time of year there were plenty of Goosander and Goldeneye on the loch.
The Ken-Dee Marshes was our next port of call but apart from a few perched Red Kites it was very poor. We failed to find any Greenland Whitefronts at Mains of Duchrae and they appear to be in low numbers this winter and rather elusive. Auchenreoch and Milton Lochs were poor and Lochfoot had little to offer. With the afternoon improving and given an extra bit of light due to the clear sky we headed up to Lochmaben for a quick look at Castle Loch. Although we didn't get time to cover the area completely a female Smew saved the day, spotted in with the Goosanders. Plenty of BHGs coming to roost but hardly any larger gulls this time in contrast to my last visit when I found a Glauc' in the roost. A tough day - lucky it wasn't any longer!

SOLWAY: Gretna Green Starling Roost 20/12/08.

Site of Gretna Starling roost: Take the B7076 in a NW direction from the Old Smithy Shop out of Grena Green and stop in the lay by on left (approximately at "Hill" on map above). The Starlings appeared to roost just south of the A74 (M). Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

Mrs B. dodges a "direct hit" in the shelter of the car. Worth wearing a hat, waterproof jacket and booking a car wash for the following day!

The Gretna Starling roost is probably one of the most spectacular sights in UK birding for me. Thousands of Starlings gather in the sky above the A74 just NW of Gretna and whirl around over the farmland before dropping down on the other side of the motorway. The flock numbering hundreds of thousands (at least - some have estimated it in millions) makes an impressive noise overhead.

LANCS: Ribble Estuary.

Warton Marsh, Lancs 15 December 2008.

Fieldfares at Warton Bank.

Mixed flock of Redwings and Fieldfares today.

Fieldfares.

Redwing.

Spent high tide on the Ribble Estuary at Warton Bank this morning in perfect winter conditions. Undoubted highlight for me was a superb male Hen Harrier (at last!) over the marsh at Warton. He looked superb in the cold frosty sunlit conditions as he quartered the salt marsh gracefully. A close runner up was the adult Glossy Ibis followed by a male Twite in the company of a Reed Bunting and male Chaffinch. Twite are not common here, or at least not easy to see on the north shore. I did see a small flock a few years ago (15 or so, I'd have to check my notes) at Lytham and another small group of 3 or 4 at Warton the same winter. Otherwise I rarely see them on the North Ribble Marshes.

Still plenty of winter thrushes around with 300 Fieldfares and 50 Redwings at Warton Bank but pretty quiet on the passerine front this morning. Pink-footed Geese were in evidence flying north across the Ribble (350+) and there appears to be a bit of a northbound movement across Morcambe Bay today but the Ribble birds could just be commuting to the north Fylde I suspect. At least 35 Whooper Swans visible from Warton Bank and 5 Little Egrets with a Peregrine perched on a stump and female Sparrowhawk putting up all the thrushes.

I called in at Freckleton / Warton Marsh on the way home but it was fairly quiet apart from 4 more Little Egrets and a Grey Plover. Passing Newton Marsh I noticed at least 100 Black-tailed Godwits from the car.

LANCS: Mrs B gets a tick!

Mrs B. and I found ourselves with some free time this morning so we decided to take a trip up to Leighton Moss RSPB for a change. Heading north up the M6 after our usual leisurely Sunday breakfast the weather looked OK with cloudy conditions and an icy feel to the morning. We decided to have a go for my favourite bird first and called in at Woodwell near Silverdale in hope of Hawfinch. I've been pretty lucky with these at this site in the past, usually seeing them straight away or not at all! Plenty of Nuthatches, Marsh Tits, Goldfinches and a few Bullfinches about but no sign of any Hawfinches this morning for us. So it was a short drive down to the causeway at Leighton next after a quick coffee and a stroll to an open patch in the reed beds. Initially no indication that there were any Bearded Tits around but the high "ping" calls lifted our spirits as we kept an eye on the grit trays. Mrs. B was pleased to announce the arrival of a pair moments later, especially as it was a bird she'd dipped on many times. Wonderful views for a few minutes before they disappeared again.

There were plenty of birds at the public hide, including a Bittern (apparently) which kept out of sight while we were there (we could see reeds moving but not the bird). Wildfowl included a couple of Pochards, several Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Tufties and a few Goldeneye. A pair of Goosander were at the back of the pool and Water Rails squeeled from the dense cover.

We finished our afternoon at the Allen and Eric Morcambe Pools where Spotted Redshank, Greenshank and a Peregrine were the noteworthy birds.

I finished a fine afternoon by dropping Mrs B off for a "social" with her work mates and getting great views of the Clifton Marsh Barn Owl on the North Ribble Marshes at dusk.

LANCS: Winter Thrushes and lingering Waxwings.

Birding has been restricted this week despite the fine and frosty conditions. Anyway, it looks like the weather's about to change (up here at least if the BBC website is to be believed) so might as well round up the week so far.
On Tuesday 9th I finished the day on the outer Ribble Estuary at Warton Bank on "harrier watch" again. It was hard to believe that a nice male Hen Harrier would fail to appear on such a clear afternoon but that's just what happened. A couple of Peregrines, single Merlin, 27 Whooper Swans and mixed flocks of winter thrushes kept me (reasonably) happy though. There were about 50 each of Redwings and Fieldfares on the Hawthorns there.

Going to the local stationery stores for stuff in town has never been so exciting as 7 Waxwings over Preston proved on Wednesday (10th). I had a quick look around with envelopes etc under my arm but couldn't locate any feeding. Ten Blackbirds together on berries was all I could find, but that's a pretty good total for "town". Plenty of winter thrushes around home as well with several Redwings overhead as I parked the car.

Today I had another go for the Hen Harrier at Warton at lunchtime as it could be the last decent weather we get for a few days. Still no luck but the adult Glossy Ibis was back on this side of the Ribble on its favourite patch of saltmarsh. At least 8 Little Egrets were out there today - they always are I just sometimes forget to mention them nowadays. Single Merlin and a couple of Sparrowhawks were spooking Snipe, Redshanks and Meadow Pipits and there were at least 30 Whoopers in with the distant Mute Swans. Bit of an increase in thrushes too I reckon with 200+ Fieldfares and 50+ Redwings along the hedges on the bank.
I checked Newton Marsh on the way home and it was packed with birds once again, most noticeably 450 Black-tailed Godwits (a mid-winter record for me here I'm sure). Wildfowl numbers were predictably down with the pool still partially frozen, but 300+ Wigeon, 25+ Teal, 15 Shoveler and 25 Mallard is not to be sniffed at. Shelducks have appeared too with 3 birds on the pool.

LANCS: North Fylde.

Today's omens were not good!

I rarely start birding early on a Sunday when I'm at home and by the time I left Preston the "mid-morning" reports were already on Birdguides. Cockersands Caravan Park and Bank End in the se. corner of Morcambe Bay were my first sites visited on another crisp and chilly morning. All the usual wildfowl were there including several Red-breasted Mergansers and plenty of Pintail. A Merlin was perched on a stick out on the saltmarsh and passerines included a female Stonechat, 30+ Fieldfare, 5+ Redwings, a couple of Song Thrushes and 6 Long-tailed Tits in the hdegrow near the caravans.




I'd been looking for some time when I finally found Twite. A small flock of 7 Linnet and 4 Goldfinches over the saltmarsh rang the alarm bells briefly but there was no mistaking the wheezy calls as about 40 Twite flew past, seemingly in pursuit of firstly a Great-spotted Woodpecker, then a Redshank!





My next stop was Cockerham Moss where I spent a bit of time with mixed flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers but failed to find any Pink-feet on the deck. Plenty overhead all afternoon though! Nearly 250 Black-tailed Godwits in with the Curlews and Redshanks at Pilling Lane Ends was a good count; there seems to be a lot around this winter on the Fylde and n. Lancs. A quick check of the gulls at Cocker's Dyke produced nothing of note but there was a single Barnacle Goose with the Pink-feet on the mudflats. Another 50 Golden Plover put up by a Merlin at Damside was the last notable bird until I headed for Bradshaw Lane and Scronkey.

There had been up to 4 Short-eared Owls this afternoon but they had not shown for half hour or so when I turned up. I was just about to take a ride round the area in the car when a Short-eared Owl perched up on a post on the other side of the field. Great 'scope views of this bird and even a few poor record shots in the fading light. About 25 Whooper Swans flew off towards Pilling as I left.

Sparrowhawk across the A6 near Brock was my last bird of a very pleasant half-day.

LANCS: Late afternoon on the bay.

The Bowland hills from Pilling Lane Ends, Lancashire 6 December 2008.

Mrs. B. and I enjoyed a spot of lunch at Garstang today on another crisp sunny winter's afternoon. We just happened to have the birding gear in the back of the car so what better way to end than the short drive out to the Pilling area? Plenty going on as usual near Bradshaw Lane and we saw 3 Short-eared Owls as soon as we pulled up. Of course there were Pink-footed Geese everywhere, most seemed to be heading to roost somewhere out near the Wyre Estuary, but "Billy No Mates" was left in the stubble.

A flock of wild swans seen in flight just over the hedges must have been Whoopers I'd guess and there was 30+ Tree Sparrows and a Yellowhammer at the feeding station too.

Lots of waders pushed into the fields just inland of Pilling Marsh by the tide as we passed at dusk. Most were Lapwings and Curlew but there were 50+ Golden Plovers and 75+ Redshanks there.

Nice afternoon indeed.