Zac Hinchcliffe's Birding Blog

Red Backed Shrike - Brockholes Wetland/Boilton Wood LWT - 20th June 2009

2009-06-21T11:49:00.003+01:00

Red Backed Shrike - Brockholes Wetland/Boilton Wood - Photo by Bill Aspin

A text off Bill Aspin regarding a Red Backed Shrike found by Nick Green just north of the Quarry at 16.50 came whilst I was stranded at home with no way of quickly getting to the quarry...luckily I was able to contact my parents and was able to be onsite by 17.30.
I was expecting a full car park when I got onsite but no! I was only the 2nd Birder after Nick!
Harbouring a bad chest infection, the treck up through Boilton Wood with Camera equipment was certainly a test of will power!
finally reaching the top I met up with Nick who was watching the area of scrub above Boilton Woods and said it had been flushed by a dog walker so hadnt been seen for 5 minutes.
Nick decided to have a look further round so he left me alone and went elsewhere for about 5 minutes. Pretty swiftly after he left, a small bird flew from some vegetation and perched on a branch...it was the Shrike! It was lacking most of its tail feathers so was certainly presenting a stumpy appearence.
I was in a pretty big rush so couldn't stay long, so I waited for Nick to come back and let him know i'd connected with the bird and to note as many features for myself. The bird even sung once which was excellent!
This is the fourth new bird for the site this year which is an impressive acheivment especially as all four have been top birds - Summer Plu Red Necked Grebe, Avocet, Fulmar(I didnt see this bird...) and a male Red Backed Shrike

Wood Warbler - Barbondale, Lancs - 25th May 2009

2009-05-25T12:09:00.002+01:00

It's been a long time coming but I've finally seen a Wood Warbler!

There were 2 singing birds in the Barbondale Woodland, however, only this bird was seen. It showed very well c100 yards from the gate at the entrance to the wood.
Other Sightings included:
5+ singing Redstart
2 Spotted Flycatcher
Tree Pipit
Green Woodpecker
mutliple Grey Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Treecreeper, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff (less of the latter)

Barbondale is a site I am hoping to visit much more often as it is one of the nicest place I have visited in Lancashire to birdwatch...I feel the 19oC Sun at 09.00 made a difference mind you

Bowness-on-Solway - 22nd May 2009

2009-05-22T16:56:00.002+01:00

single Dark Phase Pomarine Skua Sea Watchers companion!

Arriving on Site at 9.17 I was able to enjoy an hour before High Tide and then a few following hours of Watching. I had great expectations, as arriving on the end of the Viaduct, I joined c10 other birders whom announced that 2 Poms had flown past about an hour before I had arrived.

It wasn't long before I saw my first probable skua sp at 09.35 shortly followed by 'I've got 3 probable poms in the distance'. They began to get closer and started circling at c1 mile distance clearly showing 'spoons' even at this distance. It wasn't until 9.47 that they had come over the viaduct so I has 11 minutes to get to grips with their behaviour which came in handy later on with other skuas. The 3 birds passed High over the viaduct all being pale birds and at the same time, a pale phase Arctic Skua didn't mess about and flew straight up the solway quite low...2 species down.

It remained pretty quiet after this starter until 11.30 when a merlin was picked up across the river and began chasing a presumed meadow pipit and eventually caught it in the air.
I picked up a Fulmar at 11.34 and that came up river passed the viaduct.

Between then and 12.11 there was very little except 9 Gannets which came quite far up river and then at 11.50 a large flock of c100 Kittiwake were flying extremely distant at about 3 miles.
12.11 came and a group of 9 skuas appeared and begun coming closer. At first they appeared like Poms as they were behaving similar to the first birds but as they got nearer, our suspisions were that these weren't Poms and were possibly Long Tailed. At this range, we would have suspected to pick out Spoons which we didn't. To our horror, they turned round and carried on out of the firth!!! A potential Lifer slipping out of my grasp! (Arctic Skua just don't show this behaviour on the Firth, so they were either Pom or Long Tailed...75% Long tail)

Nothing now for the next hour until 13.00 when one of the regulars picked up 2 birds. I got onto shamefully slowly but these quickly joined a group of 7 to make 9...these just had to be the same birds! A second chance!

We were viewing the birds for 10 minutes at c1 miles range. The Wing beats were a lot more 'flappy' than the poms and they certainly seemed a lot slimmer and less barrel chested than the poms. They begun to turn again...NO! as they did, they revealed more features that were pro Long Tailed. Much Paler underneath, paler head, very tern like flight, spiralling fights that i was told was a feature that they had never witnessed coming from Pomarine Skua. We were almost certain that we were onto Long Tailed Skuas...Fantastic but again these failed to come up river.

At 13.16 I picked up 2 Arctic skuas (dark phase and pale phase) and came up the river and begun circling 1/2 past the viaduct. 13.46 came and I picked up 2 more Arctic Skua (again dark and pale phase) at the same time, a regular picked up a Pom at the same place and range that the flock of 9 were picked up and it was clear that this was nothing like the flock, it was a much bigger bird, with a barrel chest and spoons visable almost clearly.

These 3 ended up joining each other and circled for several minutes above the viaduct clearly allowing the two species to be seperated (this is the Dark phase Pom in the picture above)

Based on the information given by the birders on-site and the views I had of the birds, I and the ohter birders were happy that the flock of 9 were definatly Long Tailed Skuas - A lifer!

Final tally of birds:

9 Long Tailed Skua

4 Pomarine Skua (3 pale, 1 dark)

5 Arctic Skua (3 Pale, 2 Dark)

Amazing Fall Conditions eh? - Spurn - 16th May 2009

2009-05-17T10:14:00.004+01:00

Humber Estuary from Crown and Anchor Pub.

Above below: rubicola Stonechat at Sammy's Point

Pied Flycatcher in Churchyard

Barn Owl at Sammy's Point.

With discussion on most bird related wesite of amazing fall conditions for the weekend, I simply has to pay a visit to Spurn. The idea was to go up on Saturday afternoon later on and stay over so I could start first thing on Sunday morning. On Saturday morning it looked clear that the weather front was changing all the time and we would only have a very little time before everything 'buggered off'. This in mind, we set off on Saturday morning and arrived at about 13.00.

My worst fears had come true as it was clear that everything had either gone overnight or mid-morning or become very elusive. There were 5 individuals I had in mind to see - Thrush Nightingale at Kew Villa, 3 Iterine Warblers at Beacon Lane, Sammy's Point and Easington, and Wood Warbler at Sammy's Point. Amazingly, we dipped everything even giving the Nightingale c4 hours of our time up until 20.45!

I decided to not be disheartened by the seemingly uneventful Spurn and take notice of the commoner migrants and obvious 'off course' birds.

acredulas Willow Wabler*, Spotted Flycatcher at Beacon Lane, rubicola Stonechat*, 4 Whinchat, Turtle Dove*, Lesser Whitethroat, Little Egret, Yellow Wagtail and Barn Owl at Sammy's Point. 1sts male Pied Flycatcher* and Chiffchaff at Kew Villa/Chruchyard. Also an immature ringtail Hen Harrier was seen near Easington over the Oil Seed Rape feilds.

*The acredulas Willow Warbler was a very grey bird on Beacon Lane that was lacking almost any sign of a warm yellow colour. The rubicola Stonechat was a very striking and seemingly unapproachable bird. The Pictures can hopefully allow the key features to be noted (it also has a white/Pale rump) Pied Flycatcher and Turtle doves were actually, amazingly, only the second time I have ever seen either of the species in Britain.

I also bumped into Barry Spence who had with his a Purple Cloud moth - c21st for Britain and first for Spurn/Yorkshire

Spring Migration - Brockholes Wetland LWT - 14th May 2009

2009-05-14T21:01:00.005+01:00

There was a certain amount of Spring Migration today with potentially 13 Black Terns Passing throughout the day (Bill Aspin - 1+1+2 >East AM, Carl Partington - 4 >E PM, Myself and other - 5 Mid PM)
Whilst onsite 5 Black Terns were present on No1 pit. There was a Male Garganey On Main Pool between spoon and central Island which was a first for the year.
On the Wader front, there appeared to be a good number of birds onsite - Sanderling (very pale bird), 9 Ringed Plover, Dunlin (S plu) 3 LRP, 2 Common Sandpiper, 19 Lapwing, Whimbrel, 4 Oystercatcher.

A very enjoyable May evening down at the patch.

Red Necked Grebe - First Site Record - Brockholes Wetland LWT - 10th May 2009

2009-05-11T20:57:00.005+01:00

Red Necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena - Courtesy of Bill Aspin.

I would like to know of any birds that can compete for the 'Phwarr' factor than an Adult Red Necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena in summer plumage!?!
Allen Holmes found the bird after 10.00am on the morning of the 10th actively feeding on No1 pit. Personally I beleive this is a long overdue site tick sinse No1 and No2 were opened up into the No1 we now know.
It also asks the question that maybe with the opening up of No1 pit, the past records of fly-over Red Throated Diver Gavia stellata and Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus could have landed on the pit and potentially become twitchable records.
During the hour or so that I viewed it, a steady passage of East Lancashires finest appeared as well as 5+ Buzzard Buteo buteo flying high overhead.
A Fabulous site first and the 2nd first in 3 weeks at Brockholes Wetland LWT

Crosby and Barley - Lancashire and North Merseyside - 3rd May 2009

2009-05-03T19:33:00.005+01:00

Today saw a double twitch of a British Rarity and a Lancs Scarcity. We Started off at Crosby, Merseyside to see the Pallid Swift Apus pallidus which has been hawking over Seaforth and Crosby Marine Lakes for a couple of days now

Onsite I spotted the Bird almost straight away, with the help of the birders present. I was hawking with c30 Swift in the southern end of Crosby Marine Lake over the Carp Park. It showed incredibly well for at least 20 minutes mid afternoon and allowed me to note most of the key features of a very nice bird, e.g. Pale appearence, bold pale throat patch, translucent primaries and secondaries into the sun and occasionally at very close views, the scaled body feathers. It even called whilst onsite. A fabulourly educational bird. I also met Chris Batty onsite who really got me into bird watching in the beginning, which was great. [British Lifer too]
Next stop was Lower Black Moss Resr near Barley, Clitheroe. Here I twitched the Female Smew Mergellus albellus that was found this morning by John Metcalfe. The Bird was again located very swiftly after my arrival and fed actively on the northern end of the Res near to the inlet. This is a very good bird in Lancashire nowadays and certainly in May this is a fabulous record, however, i somewhat doubt its credibility as a true wild bird. For now however, this is an overdue Lifer!

This constitutes my 3rd and 4th Lifers for 2009 and in 2 weekends. My List now stands at 256 BOU

Wood Sandpiper - Mythop, Lancs - 26th April 2009

2009-04-26T16:03:00.005+01:00

2nd Trip, 2nd day, 2nd Lifer in a weekend... those 3 occurances havn't happened in a long time.
A fabulous Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola fed happily on the flood at Mythop with the occasional attack from 2 accopanying Redhank. The light was great with the bright sun so most key features were noted, e.g. pale/speckled upperbody, pale underbody, obvious supercillium, and wing/tail pattern were also noted. Sadly the views were too distant with too much heat haze for any chance of a record shot, hence no pictures.
also on site: singing male Whitethroat, 7 Black Tailed Godwit, 3 Linnet, 5 Buzzard, 9 Lapwing, 14 Teal

Life List - 254
Fylde List - 188
Fylde Yearlist - 120

Cattle Egrets - Plex Moss - 25th April 2009

2009-04-25T17:10:00.003+01:00

2 summer adult Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis - Plex Moss

Finally! a Lifer!

2 Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis were steadily feeding amongst Cattle on the Western side of Plex Moss, Lancashire. Initially at our first location from the road, the views were very distant but acceptible, however photography was almost impossible due to heat haze. We changed location after c10 minutes and viewed from within the Caravan Park and the views here were excellent with the birds showing down to c40 ft. These birds represent my first British Lifer since early November and 4th lifer sinse Jan 08!

3 Avocets - Brockholes Wetland LWT - 24th April 2009

2009-04-24T17:31:00.005+01:00

Its been a long time coming but finally after a period of 10 and a half years (10th August 1998-24th April 2009), Brockholes has had its first Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta.

there were 3 adult birds on Main pool, first seen at 15.55 and still present by 16.50. 2 of the birds stayed together and another was to the eastern side of main pool generally roosting but accasionally looking alert and calling. Incredibly the 2 that stayed together appeared to be 'checking out' the accomodation as though they were looking for a place to nest and the male was certainly aggresive to nearby Lapwings...oh well there goes the chance of any more rarities haha.

Great Birds nontheless and an extremely overdue site record.

Mere Sands Wood and Martin Mere - 17th April 2009

2009-04-19T10:46:00.007+01:00

Mere Sands Wood

Highlights at this sight:- Common Crossbill Loxia curvirostra curvirostra 'heard' over conifers but was not seen. 3 Lesser Redpoll Carduelis cabaret singing around the reserve, 25+ Siskin Carduelis spinus, numerous Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita, Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus and Blackcap Sylvia articapilla singing. Also me and my uncle had an extreme close encounter with a Roe Deer which walked across a whole field and came within about 5 meters of us!

At Martin mere, a few Year Ticks were added - Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus (from Ron Barker) and 81 Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta. In the Captive area, I observed some of the more regular species that would never allow you good enough views to observe certain aspects of their behavior - Smew, Lesser Scaup, Ferruginous Duck, and the above Mandarin.

We walked back to Burscough Jn train station from Martin Mere stopping off enroute at the Western end of Curlew Lane. Here I observed my second ever Blue Headed Wagtail Moticilla flava flava - the nominate form of Yellow Wagtail. I would have liked to have seen the bird with Yellow Wagtails Moticilla flava flavissima to compare the two but this was not possible. I did however see the bird with c20 White Wagtail Moticilla alba alba

Brockholes Wetland LWT - 13th April 2009

2009-04-13T17:42:00.003+01:00

(sorry that the last two posts have been without pictures)

3 rather impressive sightings came from the 12th April so I felt that I should have a go today - these were a Red Kite (2nd site record), Probable White Stork (to the north of the site), the First Whimbrel of the year.

13th April

3 Pinkfeet were with the group of Canada Geese present which is a decent record for the site, esp. in April.
5 LRP
5 Willow Warbler,

Sophie opened the Sluice on Main Pool last Monday so the level on the pool has dropped dramatically.

other wildlife present - Peacock, Orange tip, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Green Veined White, several Hare,

Marton Mere - 11th April 2009

2009-04-13T17:18:00.002+01:00

Grasshopper Warbler - this was a singing male on the northern side of the Mere between the path and the Bridleway. Here the bird was heard and seen on and off throughout the Afternoon, Whilst I was there, the bird was heard on a few occasions by myself, Maurice Jones and Dave McGrath. Just before I left I managed to briefly see the bird atop a bush but only very briefly before it dissapeared again. This was my earliest Record of the species and a good addition to the Fylde yearlist.
other additions to the Yearlist were:
Sedge Warbler - a male was singing in the south west corner near to the dam.
Reed Warbler - 2 Were singing along the Eastern edge of the mere in the reedbed.
Gadwall - several on the mere
Willow Warbler - several singing males around the site.
Blackcap - singing male

Bispham Marsh

here a Male Mandarin was still present

Brockholes Wetlands LWT - 6th April 2009

2009-04-06T19:32:00.002+01:00

1st Summer Female Scaup

wing pattern of 1st summer female Scaup

very convincing Female Aythya hybrid
1sts Fem Scaup(left) and Female Aythya Hybrid (2nd from right)

A 5 hour vigil for Osprey produced very little, certainly not an Osprey! Sightings that were noteworthy - 4 House Martin over Mound, 2 Raven flew north (low) over mound, 11 Swallow, White Wagtail, 3 LRP, 1sts Fem Scaup and Aythya Hybrid. Also there were several Hare and Roe Deer that were seen regularly

Waxwings still about... - Longsands Preston 2009

2009-03-26T18:47:00.002Z

15 Waxwings - Longsands

Tuesday 24th March

c5Waxwings in Beech Trees next to Longsands Primary at c0850

Later on in the day there were 15 in trees of a garden at the start of The Blossoms in Longsands and remained here till late afternoon (the photo's were taken in Rain nearing dark hense the darkness)

Thursday 26th March

14 Waxwings flew South over Bowlers Close, Longsands at 08.13

lets hope they stay for longer so I can get some decent pictures as these can regularly be seen from my bedroom window!

Brockholes Wetlands LWT - 21st March 2009

2009-03-21T15:13:00.002Z

Meadow Pipit

Little Ringed Plover

I visited Brockholes for a couple of hours this morning:

2 Little Ringed Plover (first of the year)

2 Redshank

22 Curlew over

3 Buzzard

c250 Meadow Pipit

7 Tree Sparrow

2 Linnet over

2 Goosander on river

(20th March - 5 Waxwings on Church Street, Preston (Fylde List - 103))

Latest - March 2009

2009-03-16T18:23:00.002Z

Not been out as much recently due to other commitments, so Fylde list remains dormant for the time being.

11th March - Raven flew over my House, Longsands, Preston - 2nd House tick.

14th March - an unsuccessful trip to Moore NR for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, but 2 Willow Tit, Peregrine (over), Great Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Lesser Redpoll. Also c35 Waxwings flew over Sherwood Car Park, Preston at c3.30

15th March - 24 Waxwings flew over Sherwood Pub car park, Preston at again c3.30, 6 Goosander on River Ribble at Avenham Park.

16th March - Whilst walking to the bus stop at 08.11 I heard the rather enigmatic call of Waxwing as 8 flew over Longsands, Preston (a nice target house tick!)

Over Wyre - 21st February 2009

2009-02-21T16:07:00.002Z

Pale Bellied Brent Goose with Pinkfeet - Pilling

Short Eared Owl - Scronkey

One of the main targets of the trip over wyre was to look for the ever popular Geese flocks. We found very few groups but towards Pilling Lane end a Group of Whooper Swans caught our eyes and with them, a flock of c300 Pinkfeet. Pretty much straight away we found a Pale Bellied Brent Goose with them.

At Glasson and Condor Green I added a few Birds to my Fylde Year List - Grey Plover, Spotted Redshank, Bar Tailed and Black Tailed Godwit, with Merlin and Peregrine also being seen.

On the Trip Back we stopped at Bradshaw Lane Head to tick Corn Bunting for the year and we came across a Short Eared Owl hunting near the Chicken (?) pens at Scronkey...an Excellent Bird and a Great Days Birding (shame that the light had gone by the time the Shortie was Showing)

Fylde Year List - 102

Over Wyre and Highlights of 2009 so far - upto 10th January 2009

2009-01-11T18:41:00.003Z

Not exactly National Geographic but its a record...and a digiscope in no light...

10th Jan 2009

Scronkey - Short Eared Owl on top of chicken pens in the driving wind. Barn Owl hunting over farm land near Farm Buildings which the owl went into on 2 occasions. 2 Shelduck flew over, 4 Lapwing, c1,000 Starling flew south
Bradshaw Lane Head - 43 Tree Sparrows, 24 Yellowhammers, 31 Chaffinch, 2 Moorhen, Snipe, 11 Pheasants

Other Highlights from the year so far - 2 Woodcock at Cottam Brickworks, 5 Whooper Swans over Woodplumpton on the 1st.

Fylde Year List - 80
British Year List - 83

Waxwings - Preston(Victoria Street) - 1st December 2008

2008-12-01T14:58:00.001Z

Numbers increased to 74 by Mid-Day on the first of the month. A fabulous addition to the Cities Bird Life.

Waxwings - Preston(Victoria Street) - 30th November 2008

2008-11-30T16:26:00.005Z

Statue of Sir Tom Finney with Icycles hanging off it!

For the third consecutive Day i was awoken to the sight of a pale grey frosting on every surface, and the air just screamed Waxwings. I knew that there were suprisingly decent numbers in Preston so we checked Stocks Road in Ashton first which drew a blank. Next stop was Victoria Street near to the Uni where even from a distance, the camouflaged Lenses of the assembled Cameramen/Birders ironically stuck out like a sore thumb. Present on Arrival were estimated c45 Waxwings...what a wonderful sight! I hope to visit here more often during the working week during my free periods at college

Waxwings

North East Region - 8th November 2008

2008-11-08T18:05:00.002Z

Black Grouse - Langdon Beck

We stayed in the centre of Newcastle on the evening of the 7th and headed back to Preston on the morning of the 8th stoping off at various sites to observe landmarks that the North East certainly isn't lacking! (the Bridges in Newcastle, the Opera house in Newcastle, Angle of the North, St James Park, Stadium of Light, Riverside, Transporter Bridge in Middlesborough, the Train Statue in Darlington as well as Teesdale High Force to name but a few!)

The Morning began with a spot of Sea watching with several decent birds turning up past Seaham south of Sunderland. Phalarops sp >S(presumed Grey Phalarope due to long wing progection and dark grey rather than almost black wings as on red necked...could not confirm however) 2 Black throated diver (lifer) >N, juv Gannet >N, fem Common Scoter >S, (and a rock pipit as my 'sea watching companion') but apart from that the sea watching was a little dull after about an hour so we moved on
Our next birding site was Langdon Beck near Barnard Castle but heading through Darlington a single Waxwing flew over the road next to the railway statue. At Langdon Beck, the Black Grouse were showing rather well until I got out of the car and all 24 of the males flew to a distant field on the hillsides. I did not locate any females just like last time.
On the trip home, I made a few sightings that proved quite pleasing and interesting. A female Kestrel was mobbing a male Merlin near Kirby Stephen, at Least 1000 Jackdaw flew over Kirby Stephen at Dusk making quite a racket and a large movement of Fieldfare over the moors as night fell.

East Yorkshire(and the future 1st for Britain) - 12th October 2008

2008-10-12T11:29:00.004+01:00

A somewhat frustrating trip was a result of a planned visit to the East Coast. We were hoping to have a really exciting day with target birds as follows: Spurn - Red Backed Shrike, Shore Lark, Yellow browed Warbler. Swine Moor - Pectoral Sandpiper. Tophill Low NR - Red Footed Falcon(subsequently identified as Amur Falcon Falco amurensis which if accepted will be a 1st for Britain), Slavonian Grebe, Red Crested Pochard.

On Arrival at Spurn, we stopped at the Crown and Anchor in search of any unlikely new arrivals in the recent South Westerlies, the best we could get here was at the church, with Redwing, Goldcrest in the bushes and a group of 140+ Tree Sparrow flying over.

At the observatory it was clear almost everything decent had cleared out in the recent clear nights; all that was left was a Jack snipe and Shore Lark. We only had 2 and a half hours on Spurn so we decided to walk to Chalk bank for the Shore Lark, not knowing just how far this was. On Arrival we had already used an hour of our time so we weren't particularly pleased to hear that it hadnt been seen since early morning. As we had walked all that way we thought it was necessary to have a check of the birds on the incoming tide and in amongst the commoner waders (Bar Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Turnstone, Curlew, Knot, Redshank(as well as several Dark Bellied Brent Geese)) I managed to spot a presumed 1stw Avocet with 11 Oystercatcher. I am not entirely sure, but i think this is a scarce bird at spurn even though they breed at Blacktoft Sands.

Walking back from Chalk bank, I picked up 2 Great Crested Grebe flying south on the sea, 2 Little Egrets on the Humber and several Stonechat. No sign of the Jack Snipe at Canal Scrape sadly

2cy male Amur Falcon - Falco amurensis

Next Stop was suppost to be Swine Moor, but with increasingly dissapearing light and the fact we needed to be leaving by 5.00pm, we headed straight to Tophill Low to the NE of Beverley. On arrival in the Car Park we heard that the Falcon had just been seen flying over the Car Park(this was at 16.00) which was a promising sign, so we headed to the O reservoir which is where they assumed it was heading...no joy! 45 minutes of scanning at the res proved fruitless with the only compensation being a distant Slavonian Grebe on the res itself. we wandered back to the car stopping off at various hides on the way just in the hope of catching a glimpse. It was now 5.00 and we had to leave..I wasn't happy! On the drive out of the reserve we passed the entrance path to O res and saw two birders looking very happy. we stopped and asked them, 'Is it showing?', and this was followed by 'yeh, its perched, theres several birders round the corner looking at it now!' I suddenly turned into Usain Bolt! sprinting to O res with camera, scope and binocs. It was there! I couldnt beleive it - a fabulous 1st Summer Male perched with more than enough light to get all the distinguishing features. Shame that Cameras dont have the same light capabilities as humans...hence the picture quality ;)
On the evening of the 18th Octover, I was informed that the bird I saw has been reidentified as an Amur Falcon. I was filled with mixed emotions as 1. I had never heard of this species before. 2. I was aware it was a 1st for britain and 3. I was a little disapointed that I was not able to tick red foot :)
[Please Note] I will omit this tick in due course if the bird is not accepted...

Rossall Point - 4th October 2008

2008-10-04T17:40:00.004+01:00

Montage of 2 Juvenille Little Gulls at Rossall Point

A sea watch at Rossall Point is somewhat of a rarity for me, as I am quite loyal to Starr Gate. With 29mph SSW winds, I was hoping for my first Leach's Petrel. Unfortunately the birding was very dissapointing:
Rossall Point: 2 juvenille Little Gull, 3 Kittiwake, 2 Common Scoter, 3 Sandwich Tern, 15 Sanderling, c150 Turnstone, 5 Cormorant, Pied Wagtail

Fleetwood Marine Lakes: 320+ Turnstone, 73 Sanderling, 11 Redshank, 2 Cormorant

Brockholes Wetlands LWT - 20th September 2008

2008-09-20T17:44:00.002+01:00

with recent days producing a great number of migrating Honey Buzzards throughout the country, I thought I would make an effort at Brockholes as I would assume migrating Birds of Prey would use a major river valley such as the Ribble for direction. Before I had time to react, I received a text from Bill Aspin saying that John Wright had seen a Juv fly >SW...damn! maybe there would be more.

I went down and because of the last few days producing a juv Hobby on the back pits of the site near Boilton Woods, I headed in that direction. There were several assembled observers and we soon picked up the Hobby. This was by far the best experience I have had with a Hobby and I even managed to hear an Alarm Call as it was flushed by a fisherman. This is a nice late record and a promising bird...

Also on Site was 2 Snipe and overhead there were 7 Curlew and 3 Golden Plover >west, the latter being increasingly hard to see down at the quarry.

No Honey Buzzard but theres still time...