Eccleston Mere

Little Ringed Plover 1
Oystercatcher 2
Kingfisher 2
Whitethroat 5 singing
Blackcap 4 singing
Reed Bunting 5 singing

The Little Ringed Plover was present again at 5:10am and was still there when I left at about 6:00am.

Eccleston Mere

Willow Tit 1
Tufted Duck 6
Swift 50
Swallow 50
House Martin 50

The Little Ringed Plover was seen again this morning at 5:25am!

Eccleston Mere

Common Tern 2
Oystercatcher 3 flew over
Kingfisher 1
Swift 50

The Little Ringed Plover was seen again this morning at 5.25am, and was watched for 25 minutes before it flew off to it's mystery destination. Thanks to Damian Pendlebury for allowing me to use this photo he took this morning.


A great little bird, well worth the effort!

Eccleston Mere

Little Ringed Plover 1
Kingfisher 1 (nice view sitting on yacht club roof!)
Pink-footed Goose 1
Tufted Duck 8

There were two Spotted Flycatchers at the mere yesterday, not seen by me.

It's getting predictable. The LRP was seen in the usual place at 5:45am but by 6:10am there was no sign of it. Strange how birds can stick so rigidly to a routine. There were no dog walkers between 5:45 and 6:10, and it's not me that's flushing it. I was extra careful today and walked past it without it flying and when I looked back it was still there. When I returned 25 minutes later it was gone.

Loggerheads

Pied Flycatcher 1 singing male
Blackcaps
Willow Warblers
Chiffchaffs
Whitethroats
Buzzards
Nuthatch

Year 195 (Pied Flycatcher)

Moel Famau from Loggerheads. There's lots of great woodland habitat here.


I'm pretty sure that this bracket fungus is Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus. A cracking looking fungus!


Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon.

Eccleston Mere

Little Ringed Plover 1
Pink-footed Goose 1
Whitethroat 5 singing
Blackcap 4 singing
Willow Warbler 6 singing
Chiffchaff 1 singing
Reed Bunting 5 singing
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Kingfisher 1
Tufted Duck 6


The mere at 5:30am. I didn't see the LRP on my first walk around, I picked it up on my second lap. It's a surprisingly small bird, not much bigger than a long legged House Sparrow and nicely camouflaged in amongst the grass, daisys, goose feathers (and droppings!). If it doesn't move it can be a challenge to spot. Hopefully it will stay for a bit longer to let others see it, but it looks like an early morning visit is essential, before the dog walkers get there. It was apparently gone today at 6:15am and yesterday at 8:15am.

Little Ringed Plover, Eccleston Mere

I was at the mere for 5am today, in the hope of seeing something good following the heavy overnight rain. It was worth the effort! On the grass just past the gate, a Little Ringed Plover, my first at the mere. Interestingly, yesterday I met a fellow birder who told me that he had seen a LRP in exactly the same place on Wednesday, so presumably this is the same bird returned.

Little Ringed Plover 1
Pink-footed Goose 1
Gadwall 2 (male and female)
Swift 40
Swallow 50
House Martin 40
Kingfisher 1

Eccleston Mere life list 163, Eccleston Mere 2013 list 100.


Little Ringed Plover. I hope it doesn't get bullied by that Canada Goose chick!



I spent some time this evening looking for signs of White-letter Hairstreak larvae on the Wych Elm, but without success. However, I can obviously only see the lower branches of the tree, and I'm not sure if a species which spends much of it's time in the canopy would lay eggs so low down.

Horrock's Flash, Wigan

Black-necked Grebe 2
Scaup 1 male
Common Tern 11
Reed Warblers
Sedge Warblers

Year 194 (Scaup, BNG)

I called in at Horrock's Flash in Wigan to see a drake Scaup which has been present for a few days. While I was there I "found" two Black-necked Grebes, which were a nice year tick bonus! Turns out that they had really been found this morning, but I didn't know that at the time so I'm claiming them as self found!


Scaup.


Black-necked Grebes. It was dull and drizzly and not the greatest day for viewing and even worse for photography, but summer plumage Black-necked Grebes are always very special. Fantastic birds!


Scaup and Black-necked Grebe join a long and growing list of quality birds I've seen at Horrock's Flash over the years, including Great White Egret, White-winged Black Tern, Ring-necked Duck and Green-winged Teal. It's even more impressive if you include the adjacent  Flashes of Scotsmans and Pearsons, where I've seen River Warbler, Cetti's Warbler and Bittern. What would I give for habitat like this at Eccleston Mere!

Martin Mere

Knot 14
Grey Plover 1
Whimbrel 1
Ringed Plover 15
Dunlin 5
Redshank 5
Curlew 1
Avocet 30

I went to Martin Mere to try to see a Temminck's Stint which had been found yesterday. No sign of the stint, but 14 Knot is an amazing number at an inland site, and possibly a Martin Mere record! Also a rather grotty looking Grey Plover, which itself  is not a bad inland record. There were very few birders at Martin Mere today, and only a handful of us saw these birds, which flew off at 11am.


14 Knot and Grey Plover. Note the diagnostic black armpits of the plover and one of the Knot is in it's red summer plumage.

Eccleston Mere

Peregrine 1 over
Common Tern 2
Swift 80
Pink-footed Goose 1
Nuthatch 1
Tufted Duck 5
Lesser Redpoll 2
Goldfinch 10

One of the terns (the male?) caught a small fish and offered it to the other (the female?) which was sitting on a bouy. The offer was rejected and the female flew off to another bouy, followed by the male. This went on for about 5 minutes before finally the male gave up and ate the fish! Later, I was watching one of the terns on a bouy, and saw it look nervously skywards. I followed its gaze up and saw that there was a Peregrine overhead!


I don't know if this Pink-foot started out as a wild bird, but it's now quite tame in the company of the Canada Geese, and it doesn't look injured and feeds quite happily.


No, this is not an exotic flycatcher in the tropics, it's a juvenile Long-tailed Tit at Eccleston Mere.


I found this Wych Elm Ulmus glabra growing in the woods adjacent to the car park. This species is the food plant of the butterfly White-letter Hairstreak, which was recorded breeding on one tree in the Sankey Valley a few year back, until the tree was chopped down. This tree at Eccleston Mere looks quite young, so it's probably a longshot to hope that the butterfly will occur here, but it will be worth a look during the flight season, assuming that the sun comes out this year of course. As you can see in the photo, the tree is covered in seeds, which are prominent in bright green bunches before the leaves appear. The butterfly larvae initially feed on the flower buds of the tree so in that respect at least the tree would appear to be old enough and suitable.

Dairy Farm Road

Yellow Wagtail 3

Eccleston Mere

Tufted Duck 7
Swift 10

I'm back to counting Tufted Ducks. Very quiet at the mere at the moment, though perhaps 6:30pm on a Thursday evening isn't the best time to visit, with the mere full of yachts and no less than three motor boats.

Pennington Flash

Black Tern 2 adults summer plumage
Garganey 1 drake
Arctic Tern 1
Common Tern 10
Lesser Whitethroat 1 singing
Turnstone 3
Swift 1000+
Swallow 100's
House Martin 100's
Sand Martin a few
Reed Warbler 5 singing

Year 192 (Black Tern)

The weather might have been awful this morning, but what it did do was bring in a lot of birds! These were by far the largest numbers of Swifts and hirundines I have seen this year, and there were lots of terns present, the numbers given being the minimum because counting was quite difficult due to the large numbers of birds involved. I was there of course to see the Black Terns which had been found this morning, and I wasn't disappointed, with good but fairly distant views of both birds from Horrock's hide.

Then I went to Ramsdales hide where there was a drake Garganey. It had been asleep for most of the day, but when I got there it had just started feeding and provided excellent views.



Garganey


The view from Ramsdales and Horrock's hides. You can see how much rain was put down this morning by comparing the photo taken from Horrock's today with that I took from the same hide just two days ago!

Eccleston Mere

Swift 50
Whitethroat 4
Blackcap 4
Kingfisher 1
Coal Tit 1
Bullfinch 2 male and female
Lesser Redpoll 2 displaying

Doxey Marshes, Staffordshire

Wood Sandpiper 1
Whimbrel 1
Little Ringed Plover 3
Dunlin 10
Common Tern 1
Reed Warbler 5
Sedge Warbler 5

Revised year 191 (Wood Sandpiper)


This was my first visit to this reserve which is just off junction 14 on the M6, on the outskirts of Stafford.


I had a go at digiscoping today. Neither my camera or my telescope are ideal for this type of photography, but anyway, here are the results. One photo of the Whimbrel and three of the Wood Sandpiper.

Pennington Flash

Turnstone 1 adult summer plumage
Dunlin 4
Ringed Plover 3
Common Tern 5
Redshank 2

Sankey Valley

Reed Warbler 3 singing
Sedge Warbler 1 singing
Blackcap 3 singing
Whitethroat 3 singing
Willow Tit 1

Year 189 (Reed Warbler)

I met the Sankey Valley Ranger Dawn Chorus duo (Foggy and Compo) and walked back to the visitor centre with them.

Eccleston Mere

Common Tern 1
Mandarin 1 male
Kingfisher 1
Whitethroat 4 singing
Chiffchaff 2 singing
Blackcap 2 singing
Swallow 100 mainly roosting in a Poplar tree
House Martin 20 in the same Poplar tree

Martin Mere

Little Egret 2
Dunlin 20
Ringed Plover 8
Little Ringed Plover 1
Avocet 40


I spotted this Moorhen on its nest with 3 chicks.


Later I was passing the same spot and two of the youngsters were on the path.

Eccleston Mere

Common Tern 1
Peregrine 1 adult over west at 15:30
Sedge Warbler 1 singing in hedge on west side of mere
Pink-footed Goose on the water
Greylag 2
Whitethroat 4 singing
Chiffchaff 1 singing
Willow Warbler 4 singing
Swift 30
Swallow 200
House Martin 40
Sand Martin 10
Mute Swan 2 adults
Lesser Redpoll 5 displaying

Revised Eccleston Mere 2013 list - 99 (Peregrine)


Great crested Grebe with chicks


Common Tern and Bluebells.

Eccleston Mere

Common Tern 1
Swallow 100
Sand Martin 10
House Martin 20
Swift 5
Kingfisher 1

A few days surveying newts, birds, bats and hedgerows

Great Diving Beetle Dytiscus marginalis. A formidable predator in any pond!


Two female Great Crested Newts in a bottle trap. All surveys fully licensed of course.

Carr Lane Pools, Hale

Garganey 2 males

Year 188


This was only my second ever visit to this site, following the Pectoral Sandpiper on Saturday. I called in on my way home from work, to see two cracking Garganey. Ok, I know the photo of the ducks is awful, but bear with me, it keeps me entertained!

While I was up in the loft getting the camping gear down for the weekend just gone, I came across my old Bushnell Spacemaster telescope. I decided that it was wasted up there and that it would be better spending it's time in the boot of my car just in case I ever needed a scope unexpectedly. Today that decision paid off, and the Garganey were the first birds I had seen through the Spacemaster for several years! A decent quality view as well, not bad at all for the £140 or so I paid for it back in 1983.

Riggindale Crag and High Street

Golden Eagle 1
Whinchat 1 singing male
Redstart 1 singing male
Common Sandpiper 5

Year 187 (Golden Eagle, Whinchat)

A day of great extremes. We set out from the car park at Haweswater wrapped up in several layers of clothing and wooly hats and gloves, to face the cold, almost gale force wind. In truth it was touch and go if we could face the slog up Riggindale Crag in these conditions. However, by the time we reached the summit of High Street, the sun was out and it was roasting hot, so much so that we were walking in t-shirts and Skylarks were singing all around us!. Our return route took us over Kidsty Pike and Kidsty Howes, where for the third year running we saw Englands only Golden Eagle. We completed a truly beautiful day in the beer garden of the Haweswater Hotel, with only distant memories of the bad weather earlier in the day.


Harter Fell from Riggindale Crag, and Riggindale Crag and High Street from Kidsty Howes.