Spring is almost here

It's always worth a trip to New Brighton in winter. On the highest tides, the pontoon in the marine lake becomes a refuge for local waders. There will dozens of redshank with a good smattering of dunlin. Often there will be a local speciality, the Purple Sandpiper, but on this occasion the highlight of the day was tucked in with the redshank, this Greenshank showing a nice contrast in leg "shank" colour. 

Another local treat was this Kingfisher, not a mile from home. The poor light robs the colours from the picture, but a real delight to see. We've seen reports of a bird at this site for some time, but this was the first time we'd actually seen him. It seems such an insignificant bit of water, with all sorts of junk dumped both on the banks and in the water itself, yet there must be enough life to support this fisher, and hopefully we'll see many more times.

We managed a return trip to Pennington Flash, near Wigan. The hides there provide great views, such as these of a Reed Bunting and a Bullfinch. The only downside with a popular place is that it can get crowded, and sometimes you meet a 'character'; we found one photographer with a lens the size of a rocket launcher running up and down in the hide, pushing the lens right out of the window in an attempt to get a 'better' shot.  Needless to say the end result was the sight of lots of bird's bottoms disappearing rapidly into the trees. Sigh - time to move to a different hide...

Not quite as far away is Woolston Eyes; this is a much quieter place, not least because you need a key to get in! Woolston has been the scene of some amazing Starling murmerations this year, with some estimates as high as 500,00. The Starlings have been starting to arrive just before dusk, groups of birds flying in from all directions to merge with the growing mass. Sometimes a large group of maybe a 1,000 birds, other times just dozen birds at a time, indeed, even single starlings, each flying up to the main stream, and disappearing into the mass. Every now and again a sparrowhawk flew into the mass, and each time clear air formed around the hawk, like an invisible forcefield was around it. The mass of birds stratched from as far left as we could see to as far right; the sky was full of swirling wings. And then a group would peel off and dive into the reeds with a sounds like that of heavy rain, and then another group, and another, and another, until there was one final group. They too would dive into the reeds, and the sky was empty. Fascinating, and well worth the rushed trip from work, and the dark trip home.

 

Not far from Woolston is Moore Nature Reserve, no key needed, yet still much quieter than Pennington. From wigeon and teal whistling in the ponds, to the raptors soaring over, the wary goldcrests flitting around the trees, to the raucous great spotted woodpeckers pushing all out of the way at the feeders, there is much varied birdlife around. Even waders dropped in, these curlew feeding in fields by the road in.

Wherever you find woodland you are likely to find a great spotted woodpecker. These large birds, about the size of a starling, are easily identified, black and white with a bright red spot on their underparts, like this one.

As well as the great spotted, Moore has a small number of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, it's star resident. The Lessers are a smaller bird, not much larger than a sparrow. They lack the red under-spot, and have more white on their backs, in almost a polka-dot pattern. 

Alas, they are not just lesser because they are smaller, they are also lesser seen - this is an increasingly uncommon bird. The most likely threat to them is from loss of habitat; they need an established wood with a good canopy. It's very important for the survival of this delightful birds, and many like them, that we protect established woodlands. The government is keen for economic growth - with good reason. However, they have indicated that they are willing to allow developers to destroy established woodlands, to replace them with newly-planted woodlands elsewhere. This policy makes no sense from a wildlife point of view - it could take a hundred years or more for a new woodland to mature sufficiently to again support Lesser Spotter Woodpeckers. So, please, support your local woodlands, and help to protect them.

 

And to finish, a 'cutey' shot, again at Moore, of a Grey Squirrel nonchantly munching on his lunch, seemingly oblivious to our presence.

 

What a busy end of the year - and some other highlights through the year...

We've been out as often as we can in the latter part of the year. With the very mild weather through end of October to end of December, there have been all sorts of sightings/ Perhaps the strangest looking was this hoopoe near Rhyl. There's something about it's eyes that make it look like a stuffed toy, but I assue you it was moving around ! I've seen a similar effect in other people's photoes too, so it's not just my camera, though as usual I had to push the zoom right out to get this shot.

Distance wasn't the problem with this Tawny Owl at WWT Martin Mere; just seeing it was hard enough. As we walked around one Saturday we came across around a dozen people staring up in a tree. Obviously something was there, but it took a minute or so to get the eyes focussed in...  There, in broad day light, straight above one of the main paths, this owl was quietly sitting. I wonder how many people had already walked straight past, as I'm sure we would have as well, had not one sharp-eyed birder picked out the shape in the leaves.

Another hard set of pictures, were of this Willow Tit at Woolston Eyes. Not distance, nor camouflage this time, but sheer restlessness/ We had gone here in the hope of seeing this increasingly uncommon bird, but it caught us quite by surprise. My first reaction was to scribble down Coal Tit, 'cause it hasn't got the white mark on the back of the neck...  WAIT A MINUTE, it's the Coal Tits that have the white mark !!!  Quick, grab another loook, but too late, it had gone....   Twenty minutes later, amid all the Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches and Reed Buntings feeding, there's a flicker of a smaller greyer bird - and just time to snatch a couple of shots before it again flitted away... Still, a great feeling to have seen it, and it underlines the importance of places like Woolston, where wildlife can take precedence... Without being too political, this current Government is utterly failing in it's claim to be 'green'. While I'd support the concept of HS2, it needs far more careful routing, and as for the idea that it's ok to destroy established woodland if you plant some saplings somewhere else, it's sheer madness. It's not the number of trees, it's the TIME it takes to grow them into mature woodland, hundreds of years. It's no use planting something that will be great in a hundred years time, if major numbers of species die out before then. And birds like the Willow Tit are right in the firing line...

Off the soap-box, and back to Martin Mere, which brought these favourites. Oh just common sparrows, you may cry...  But I have a great deal of time for even for the trusty House Sparrow - it was childhood memories of these in my old garden, and then hearing about their population crash that has encouraged me to take more notice of them, and put feeders out for them. We now have a small flock of a dozen or so that visit our bird table each morning. However, this is no House Sparrow; look at that chestnut brown head, no hint of a slate top. This is a Tree Sparrow, and much under threat they are. Martin Mere is one of the few places that we have seen these cheeky chaps. (Tip given to me to help me remember - Houses have slate roofs, and so do House Sparrows).

As we've gone into later November and early December, we've seen increasing numbers of thrushes. We visited one graveyard full of ancient yew trees (remember, 100's of years, maybe even thousand's for this slow-growing tree), and the branches were alive with Redwings and Mistle Thrushes. We've only ever seen one Mistle Thrush at a time before, but here the graveyard was vibrating with the fottball rattle-like calls. This chap posed obligingly on the top of a gravestone, before heading back to the top of a tree.

Nearer to home, this Redwing and Fieldfare were many that were feeding near Burton, providing a little respite from the frutiless searching through the Meadow Pipits in the tidal wrack for the elusive Buff-bellied Pipit (BBP) - the BBP has provided many with obliging views, but not for us yet. So having the chance to see these beauties feeding was a piece of welcome compensation.

Noteworthy, though, is the absence so far of Waxwings; it seems that the mild winter so far has provided lots of food for those Scandanavian birds, so they haven't needed to come across the North Sea in quite the numbers that they did last year.

Another unexpected sight while searching for the BBP was this Robin, who landed virtually at my feet, hence this rather strange camera-angle - that shadow behind the tail is my elbow! These bold birds are a real delight, no matter how common they may be.

As the year drew closer to it's end, we've been treated to plenty of views of the wildfowl that winter locally.  Here are a pair of male Teal; when the sun catches them right, the green markings on their heads look spectacular. Their quiet whistle is ever-present around our marshes and lakes at this time of year, and along with evocative whistle of the wigeon, which also has a distinctive head marking, a bright yellow sploge on the forehead.

Slightly less common, but still present in large numbers are Pintails. That white stripe up the neck and head is really striking, and their plummage looks so crisp. These really are the snazzy dressers at this time of year!

Just to round the year off, here are some photo's that have been taken through the Summer, but for one reason or another didn't make it onto the blog before. This first is a Reed Warbler, seen at Burton Mere Wetland. Getting the camera to focus on the bird rather than foreground reeeds was quite a challenge.

This Kestrel was seen hovering over the fields behind Gilroy Park, West Kirby. Their hovering posture in unmistakeable.

This Grey Wagtail brightened up a wet walk near Lake Vrynwy, a flash of colour in a wet day.

I couldn't resist this Wren; it was scolding a passing cat for all it was worth; I think the cat left because it was getting a headache!

Both Martin Mere and Burton have provided many views of Buzzards; this one posed conveniently at Burton.

 And from the large to the small - all through the year we saw Long-tailed Tits; this one at Leasowe was part of a small flock moving through the bushes.

 I couldn't resist - a Puffin, from the Farne Islands.

And having just worked through a load of Summer birds, I finish with one taken on almost the last day of the year, a Redshank, legs glowing in the morning sun off Red Rocks.

What a way to finish the year, back with the waders for which the area is known. So if you find yourself waking up early one Sunday morning, why not pop down to the beach before you go to Church; it'll put a smile on your face as you greet those sleepy-heads who have had a lie in, and are now wondering why you're wearing boots!

Last Day of 2012

I'm sure that not all birding is like this, but the last day of 2012 brought some comfortable surroundings.  On a windy and stormy day we decided to head down to New Brighton front just in time for High Tide. The tide was right up to sea-wall, and in the marine lake was a jetty. This jetty was obviously a welcome place of refuge, as there was quite a crowd.

Right by the marine lake is a cafe/bar, so we could sit in shelter, with a nice cup of coffee and a bowl of chips, with plenty of space on the table to spread out the field guide and notebook, and try and work out what we could see...

Loads of Dunlin...

Loads of Redshank...

Loads of argumentative Turnstones...

A sprinkling of Purple Sandpiper (we think!)...

And a solitary Greenshank....

A very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours :-)