Camo Burka Man.

How many birders in this photo then?

Doesn't have quite the same effect from this angle, does it?

I'm off to Lesvos again in a couple of days and it reminded me of this poor chap doing his best to be anonymous at Mitochi Lake last April. I'm not sure that the other guy in the top photo quite realises what's going on.

Be the latest fashion around Marshside in the winter months I dare say .......

Cold and breezy on the Ribble today; two singing Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Wheatears and 2 Common Terns in the north-easterly wind this morning. A quick jaunt out over Longton Marsh mid-afternoon was no better with just 3 Wheatears.

Ribble Whimbrel Roost.

Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve, 25 April 2011.

23 April 2011.

Early morning at Hesketh Out Marsh doing the hedgerow survey for the RSPB. Apart from the usual common birds (Chaffinches, Linnets, etc) the highlight was undoubtedly the presence of two Lesser Whitethroats (a calling bird 'off survey' and a singing male on survey site). Pretty rare at HOM so it'll be interesting to see if any hang around.
Four singing Whitethroats, 2 Sedge Warblers, my first local House Martin of the year and a late Fieldfare were seen as I walked the footpaths. Three Corn Buntings around the RSPB reserve perimiter but no Yellowhammer so far this spring. The saltmarsh was pretty quiet apart from a flock of 22 White Wagtails and a pair of Ruff.
Two Whimbrel calling overhead were my first Ribble birds this year and this inspired me to an evening walk out to the river to check the Whimbrel roost off Longton Marsh. I could hear their calls on the Douglas as I walked up to the seawall and on reaching the Ribble many could be heard. So it was no surprise to find 70 Whimbrel on the exposed mud, grazed saltmarsh and grassy landfill banks. By 8.15 PM I'd counted 212 Whimbrel but not all roosted. Indeed most flew off north before I left, presumably to roost on the Wyre Estuary or even Barnacre Reservoir on the Lancashire uplands. Only 10 departed to the east upriver but I seem to remember that Brockholes received most of its roosting Whimbrel from the west in the days when I birded there before it resembled Charnoch Richard Service Station with a water feature. Half-a-dozen Black-tailed Godwits, 8 Grey Partridges, 7 Wheatears and six Corn Buntings on territories were the other noteworthy birds.

25 April 2011.

Out with the clipboard early this morning once again, walking the local patch for the BTO breeding bird survey. I've been walking the footpaths through and around Longton Brickcroft quite frequently this year, without to much to shout about. Lesser Whitethroat rattling away in the hedgerows was a nice find though and I ambled very slowly through the reserve on the way back in case a migrant Wood Warbler burst into song or something like that. Nope ..... Great Crested Grebes now have a couple of chicks, Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Shelducks and many Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers in song but little else.
Angie and I had a stroll around Hesketh Park in the late morning. It looks like a likely migrant spot to me but we were a little late on a Bank Holiday and overrun with grockles. Several Blackcaps in full song and Nuthatch is always good to see locally(ish). Marshside was blustery in the fresh north-westerly but we managed to see the 2 drake Garganeys from Nel's along with Little Stint, many Ruff, 4 Dunlin and 95 Black-tailed Godwits. A few Reed Warblers and Whitethroats could be heard around the reserve and at least 4 White Wagtails were on Rimmer's Marsh too.

D&G / Ribble 16 - 22 April 2011.

Drake Garganey from Nel's Hide, RSPB Marshside 21 April 2011.

16 April 2011.

Late afternoon visit to RSPB Hesketh Out Marsh produced Short-eared Owl, 10 Avocets, 40 Golden Plover, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Grey Partridge, 2 Swallows and 13 White Wagtails.

17 April 2011.

Surely Dotterel must occur on the mosses just south of HOM. Well, not this morning anyway. No such luck on Tarleton Moss today. A walk from Old Hollow Farm to Crossens was a little quiet with 18 White Wagtails. a Merlin, 12 Avocets and still 2000+ Pink-footed Geese on the Ribble Estuary NNR at Banks Marsh. No migrants at all in Cross Bank Covert today.

Wheatear at the Marshside Sandplant, 21 April 2011.

Drove up to Southerness Point on the Solway late evening, arriving at our caravan in the dark with the full moon illuminating Gillfoot Bay and Natterjack Toads making a heck of a racket in the reed bed on the beach.

18 April 2011.

Waking to the sound of Pink-footed Geese over the caravan is a marvellous experience. Still 200+ Barnacle Geese in the fields north of Southerness too.

19 April 2011.

Plenty of Painted Lady Butterflies heading across the uplands in Dumfries & Galloway.

20 April 2011.

Carstramont Woods near Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway April 2011.

Lots of migrants back home on the Ribble (check out the excellent Ribble Estuary Nature Facebook Page): Redstarts, Whinchats, Tree Pipits and much more .... So, just had to get an eye-full of some of these birds. A post-work trip up the Cree Valley (Dumfries and Galloway) is definitely in order with cock Redstart and Pied Flycatcher seen in no time at all. Calling Green Woodpecker and Tawny Owl in the depths of Carstramont Wood.

Drake Lesser Scaup with Tufted Duck on Fairclough's Pool at RSPB Marshside, 22 April 2011.

21 April 2011.

Heading back from Scotland with intentions of an afternoon at Marshside for the Little Stint. Chief Bird Finder, Graham Clarkson calls to say that he reckons there'll be something mega this weekend before ambling out to find Garganey and other goodies at Marshside. Back home for a shower and then out to the reserve where the 2 drake Garganeys show well from Nel's Hide along with Little Stint, 20+ Ruff and 2 Golden Plover. Nice to hear Sedge and Reed Warblers from the hide but the Sandplant has little to offer apart from Whitethroat and a pair of Wheatears.

22 April 2011.

A full Ribble Ramble with Angie this afternoon. Dropped one car at RSPB Marshside and drove to Hesketh Out Marsh where we started our walk. Yellow Wagtail, 22 Avocet and 30 Dunlin on the reserve but better views of a fine male Yellow Wagtail near Old Hollow Farm at Banks Marsh even better. Banks Marsh pools held 300+ Dunlin and a winter plumage Curlew Sandpiper (so different to Graham Clarkson's bird at Marshside yesterday) and 2 White Wagtails.
Continuing to Crossens in the breezy SSW wind we saw little apart from 1000+ Pink-footed Geese on the NNR and 35 Avocets on the sluice pools. A couple of Whitethroats singing oin the sluice bushes.
A walk around RSPB Marshside produced 1085 Pink-footed Geese and a single Barnacle Goose. The drake Lesser Scaup was loafing with 5 Tufted Ducks on Fairclough's Pool from the Hesketh Road Platform.
Angie dropped me at HOM in the early evening where the wind had dropped and at least 45 White Wagtails were on view with 3 Yellow Wagtails. Whitethroat singing from the east bank of the reserve.

Adrian Mole?

12 - 15 April 2011.

Black Grouse cock from last year in Perthshire. Another of my top ten birds.

Another 2 hours seawatching up to high tide off Southerness Point this evening produced absolutely nothing apart from my first Sandwich Terns of the spring, 15+ Red-throated Divers, 40+ auks (mostly Razorbills with a few Guillemots) and a Harbour Porpoise.
Black Grouse sightings are few and far between in Dumfries & Galloway nowadays (although I'm sure there are more than get seen or reported) so it was extremely gratifying to see one early this morning near Creetown. This lone male looked very forlorn as he lekked alone (can you lek alone?), wheezing, bubbling and fanning his tail feather for five minutes or so until he presumably realised that I was the only onlooker and then flew off!
Meanwhile in Argyll it's all change since my last visit. No geese but Grasshopper Warblers, Tree Pipits and even two or three Cuckoos around. Particularly pleasing to see Cuckoo up here as they are very scarce on the home patch back in Lancs.

Waiting.

Short-eared Owl at Hesketh Out Marsh. This individual was still around at the weekend.

Another pleasant enough day on the South Ribble Marshes, even if I didn't really 'score' on migrants. A fairly lengthy walk around Banks Marsh from Old Hollow towards Crossens and returning via Cross Bank Covert resulted in a fair number of birds including a nice flock of 27 White Wagtails in a ploughed field at Crossens. At least 14 Wheatears were logged but still no Ribble Redstart for me despite concentrating a bit more on the hedgerows and copses of late. Plenty of staring up at the sky (very blue and no clouds again today) produced 5 Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk up together but no sign of the hoped-for Osprey. Best of the rest included a Little Egret, 2 pairs of Gadwall, 36 Avocets, 3 Ruff, 5 Golden Plover, 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and still at least 2000 Pink-footed Geese on the National Nature Reserve.

Rewriting the migrant calendar.

Cairnsmore of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway April 2011.

I 'facebooked' the picture above the other day with a comment " ........Hopefully get a chance to check for migrant Dotterels there this time next month". Well, maybe I shouldn't wait that long as there have already been a few of these cracking waders in East Anglia and North Wales today. I'm sure I missed the news of a few early birds way back when, but years ago Dotties were always birds I hoped for on the 'Hertfordshire Prairies' (pea fields) near Royston and Baldock in early to mid May. This morning I watched a flock of 100+ Golden Plover at Hesketh Out Marsh thinking, "I'll check them for a stray Dotterel if they hang around a couple of weeks". Better have another look in the morning!
While other Lancs and Cheshire sites enjoyed a splash of common migrants this morning, I had a pretty quiet time on the Ribble in fact. Checking the shooting club copse and hedgerows produced little apart from 3 each of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler with a pair of Wheatears on the fence posts and a couple of Sand Martins overhead being the only sign of any recent arrivals on site. The Barn Owl hunting the ditches as late as 08.00, 2 Avocets (down on the 6 last night), Little Ringed Plover and 5 Corn Buntings (including 3 singing males) didn't go unappreciated mind you and there seemed to be a slight passage of 'redpolls' this morning woith a couple of fly-overs at HOM and many more along the coast this morning at Marshside apparently.
Late afternoon and evening appear to be the best time for birds of prey at HOM at the moment with ringtail Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl hunting there last night. A pair of Red-legged Partridges was a noteworthy HOM recording area sighting yesterday too.

Little time for birding after work this week apart from a seawatch off Southerness Point (above) while I was in Dumfries & Galloway. The strong westerly wind on Wednesday produced very little with just a steady movement of Gannets coming 'out' of the Solway and several Red-throated Divers and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. Two Whimbrel were my first of the year; no doubt the wintering birds from nearby Carsethorn where I later saw 70 Scaup at the mouth of the Nith.
I guess the best birding of the week had to be my long-overdue first visit of the year to Banks Marsh on the NNR between Old Hollow Farm and Cross Bank Covert. Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, Merlin, 15 Eider, 2000+ Pink-footed Geese, 2 Barnacle Geese, Barnacle x Canada Goose hybrid, 2 Tufted Ducks, 2 Wigeon, 10 Teal, Spotted Redshank, 20 Blackwits, 62 Golden Plover, 250 Grey Plover, 200 Knot, 12 Turnstone and 350 Dunlin were packed on the South Ribble Marshes at high tide.

As you were.

Male Ring Ouzel, RSPB Hesketh Out Marsh, Lancs 3 April 2011.

A quick visit to HOM this morning started quite well with Jay (rare on the reserve) and Little Owl calling. I was surprised to see that yesterday's Ring Ouzel was still present too. He'd relocated to the 'Crane Field' fence posts, dropping down from time to time to feed in the grassy meadow in typical ouzel fashion.

Plenty of singing Skylarks and tumbling Lapwings about; Corn Buntings, Raven, male Wheatear, 3 Sand Martins and 3 Swallows on the reserve with flocks of Black-tailed Godwits on the Ribble.

The dead Fulmar was still there too ......


Didn't get time to check the whole reserve so must get back again before travelling north again.

Migrants.

Male Ring Ouzel at Hesketh Out Marsh, Lancs 2 April 2011.

Limited birding yesterday but I did manage a stroll through the local nature reserve in Longton on my way back from the garage after dropping the car off for its MOT. At least 3 male Chiffchaffs around the edges of the Brickcroft pits, two Great Crested Grebes on nests, 19 Tufted Ducks on the water and Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming away. A pair of Bullfinches and a couple of Jays as I left the reserve were, as I thought at the time, the icing on the cake. However a singing Nuthatch at The Grange was a Longton first for me I think.
Migration certainly seems to be getting underway now and with showers forecast for sparrow's fart this morning, I met up with Graham Clarkson and Carl "kiss my new 'scope" Winkley at RSPB Hesketh Out Marsh with an air of optimism. Early contenders for bird of the day included a smart pair of Wheatears by the viewpoint, two Willow Warblers (one singing) in the west hedge and two Little Ringed Plovers on the reserve. These were immediately usurped as potential BOTD's by a ringtail Hen Harrier despite its 'HOM regular' status. Indeed it was a different bird to the bird I'd seen a couple of days ago, sporting nice white flecks on the upper wing coverts and being an appreciably bigger bird. A flock of 20 or so swans heading north over Banks were probably Whoopers but heavy showers dampened spirits a little and after watching the ringtail for a while from Karen's Viewpoint we headed to the ramp to scan the eastern fields. Buzzard, female Merlin and Stock Doves from here but Clarko struck gold spotting a male Ring Ouzel sitting in the east Hawthorn hedge (AKA Ouzel Hedge!). Very elusive, as I often find they are on migration the RZ eventually flew along the hedge, "tack-tacking" as it went, finally feeding in the open with a pair of Blackbirds. I managed a couple of record shots in the blustery SW wind.
Another Willow Warbler, a pair of Wheatears, Corn Bunting, 5 Sand Martins and 40 Golden Plover from the ramp before we were encouraged to walk out to the Ribble by the arrival of the RZ. I ticked the Fulmar corpse (1st HOM record - still there) on the way to the river where we saw a second ringtail Hen Harrier (over Warton Marsh with Black Swan), 20+ Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Wigeon and a Tufted Duck (rare off HOM) in the estuary that had us clutching at various sea duck claims until it finally came up river. Swallow heading north and 15 Golden Plover over the car park with 7 Wheatears in the ploughed field on Dib Road rounded off a very good morning's birding on the Ribble.