Two rushed weekends...

After several fruitless trips looking for the Glossy Ibis, last weekend started as intended relaxed day.  Just a potter round our local RSPB reserve to see what was about. The usual culprits were about, a largish gathering of lapwings doing their usual impressions of squeaky toys, and weaving through them were a small group of curlew sandpiper. We were treated to a brief view of a Water Rail slinking for cover. Suddenly the lapwings sprung into the air, and wheeled around alarm calling... Then above we saw the grey and white shape of a sparrowhawk coming over. The hawk wasn't interested in the lapwings, but in something behind the reeds; probably one of the snipe who were being rather elusive this morning. Anyway, it didn't seem to get anything, as it came stomping around the reeds with no sign of a kill. For a few minutes it looked more like a gull hunting worms than a hawk! And then it decided enough was enough, and headed off  to the other side of the reserve. By sheer chance I got a shot mid-takeoff - it's very grainy as the light was bad, and quite a distance away, but gives a good view of the underwing patterns.

So there we were, gently relaxing, when the phone gave a quiet tinkle - a facebook alert saying that the Ibis were back at Horwich, and this information was less than an hour old... Quick decision to be made, but in reality there was only one answer - quickly pack up and dash back to the car for the hours drive to Bolton.  All the while thinking, how long would they stay this time??

We needn't have worried; as we arrived there were a couple of birders by the side of the road, and a quick glance into the field as we pulled into the layby confirmed that the Ibis were still there.

We got out, and watched as the four birds worked their way around the field, at times less than 6 feet away from the wall where the watchers were gathered. Thankfully they didn't seem at all bothered by our presence, which was just as well as there was quite a stream of  cars and vans arriving, birders tumbling out and scuttling across the road; it seems we weren't the only ones who had been struggling to catch up with these delightful birds.

Why this field? These birds had visitied several local spots, and clearly found some safe spot to roost at night, yet again and again they were returning to this spot; there must have been something particularly attractive to them. Perhaps it's the slight hollow at the bottom, where water seems to gather, not as a pond, but rather a distinctly more marshy patch? Talking with a local who had grown up in the area, he said that this field had always been a hot-spot for visiting birds, so it seems that whatever it is that is there, this was no mere random choice of field.

Having finally caught up the the Glossy Ibis (and clocked up something like 460 miles in the process!), we decided to stop off at Pennington Flash on the way back, and resume the leisurely day.. This was our first visit to this country park, and a right gem it turned out to be. Each of the ponds had a hide, and each hide revealed something different. Nothing particularly rare, but such a variety of woodland and wetland birds. One pool revealed these goosander amonst the many teal. These look similar to the female red-breated merganser, but can be distinguished from them by the sharp border on the neck and the slight downward dip on the end of the bill.

On another pool there was an pinky-orange colour on a distant post; suddenly it became an electric blue flash as the bird came to a closer post; a kingfisher!  Then it came even closer, to a post right in front of the hide, and gave a five minute display of fishing before heading back down the pool. There is something special about these birds, and the experience was electrifying...

Moving on to another pool revealed this character. A shy bird, usually heard cackling at the top of trees rather than seen, this Jay was moving to and thro on the mound in the scrape, oblivious to our eyes. Seen in the open, the plummage seems quite exotic with it's own blue flash.

Another pool, by now to dark for photographs, revealed a group of cormorants, lined up with their wings streched out to dry, and then a mass of rooks and corvids taking off from the trees above and circling above calling, a good ending to a long day.

This weekend was by necessity much shorter, enforced by other commitments. We could just grab enough time, first to dash to West Kirby at high tide to see the Brent Geese that gather there at this time of year, and then to Derby Pool to catch the Snow Bunting that has been on the embankment there for the last few days. This bunting, like the Glossy Ibis, seemed to show little fear of man, only flying off as cyclists passed within inches, and then returning straight back to the sea wall, working it's way along the edge looking for insects.

 Hopefully this little beauty will stay a while, but only time will tell. In the meanwhile it's back to work, and beginning to plan for next weekend!