Willow emerald completes the set at Bickershaw

With the summer rapidly drawing to a close, bringing more unsettled weather, the pressure was on if I was to complete the set of odonata at Bickershaw in 2026. I mean, how many more suitable days will there be for dragonfly watching this year, especially since I have a holiday to Scotland approaching soon which will take out a sizeable slice of the available time. So today, with a bright sunny afternoon forecast, albeit 15 degrees Celsius, cooler than it was a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was an opportunity to seek out the last remaining species on my personal site list that was missing so far this year.

Since I started visiting the site in June 2025, I've managed to record what I think is an amazing 24 species of dragonfly and damselfly. The only one of those 24 species that I hadn't managed to see this year was willow emerald, a late summer and early autumn species. Last year we saw it on a small pond near Fir Tree flash and later on the stock pond in the north of the site. 

Frustratingly when I arrived at the small pond today, the sun was behind a cloud and there was nothing flying so I continued to the stock pond. Miraculously when I reached the stock pond the sun was out again and almost immediately I managed to see this stunning willow emerald perched on exactly the same tree where we saw them last year. What a fantastic looking damselfly this is and easy to recognise, being obviously larger than common emerald (up to 4.8cm long) with no large patches of blue in the abdomen, pale pterostigmas (the rectangular patches at the end of the wing) and a prominent spur like mark projecting into the cream on the side of the thorax.

So that's it, if I'm to add to my total for this year I'll have to find something new for the site. Red-veined darter springs to mind, or possibly scarce blue-tailed damselfly. 

Clifden Nonpareil, St Helens

What a week it's been for moths in St Helens, hot on the heels of Mondays striped hawk-moth, last night brought a Clifden Nonpareil to Ray's trap in Parr. Another migrant, this is a big moth, larger actually than the striped hawk-moth with a forewing of up to 48mm (just under 2"). Unsurprisingly it's in the same family as red underwing. A first for me and the third for St Helens.

Glossy ibis on Teal scrape, Pennington Flash

The glossy ibis from yesterday evening was still present this morning in exactly the same place on the gull raft island just off the spit and showed no inclination to move away from the island. It's routine was sleep for 20 minutes, wake up, preen for 5 minutes, walk right feeding for about 5m, fly back to it's original position, preen for 5 minutes, sleep for 20 minutes, repeat, repeat, repeat etc......  

It continued more or less in this way all morning up until 11am when it suddenly decided to fly east over Horrock's hide, was lost to view behind trees, and was presumed to have gone. However, at 12:25 it was relocated on Teal scrape, viewable from Charlie Owen hide.

I called in again after lunch on my way to do the weekly shop to find only one other birder present in the hide but the ibis showing well and much closer in far better light. 

Why it decided to relocate here is hard to know, it seemed to be feeding quite well in it's original position, but perhaps it just fancied a change of scenery or diet. I wasn't totally surprised, the only other glossy ibis that I have seen at the flash was also on Teal scrape on 8th May 2018 (opens in a new window). 

Glossy ibis on gull raft island

A phone call from Phil had me gulping down my tea and shooting off to the flash this evening in an attempt to see a glossy ibis that he had just found. It was only viewable from the ruck so I headed for Common lane, parked up and crossed the footbridge over the canal then dropped down to the Point. It was on the island with the gull raft on the north side of the spit. It spent some of its time out of view depending on which side of the raft it was on but when it was feeding it was a decent enough view. My second glossy ibis at Pennington Flash following one on Teal scrape on 8th May 2018.

Striped hawk-moth, St Helens

A Striped hawk-moth caught by Dave Owen last night was a first for St Helens and also a first for me. This is a migrant species and it's appearance is not completely unexpected in a year when so many other migrant insects have been seen locally, such as hummingbird hawk-moth, clouded yellow butterflies and lesser emperor dragonflies.

More days of dragonfly hunting at Bickershaw

It's easy to forget that I saw my first small red-eyed damselflies just last year. This year they seem to be everywhere, even in the crane pen at Martin Mere! This pair were at the stock pond, Bickershaw.

Last year we failed to find ruddy darter at Bickershaw but there's been quite a few so far this year.

Juvenile Mediterranean gull at Pennington Falsh

A cracking juvenile Mediterranean gull on the car park at Pennington Flash today. Also today, female common scoter and juvenile whinchat, the latter not seen by me.

Another wave of clouded yellows and black darter at Bickershaw

A decent couple of days at Bickershaw, highlights being another three clouded yellows and an excellent array of dragonflies including my first black darter of the year bringing my Bickershaw total to 22 species in 2026. Also today a few ruddy darters, common darters, four species of hawker and a lingering keeled skimmer. Just need willow emerald now to complete the set at Bickershaw this year.

Spoonbills, quail and avocets on the Ribble

I was at Hesketh Out Marsh for 6:30 this morning, my second visit of the weekend following a late afternoon visit yesterday. With Marshside and Banks now little more than dust bowls, HOM is virtually the only place with water on these marshes, and even here it appears to be drying rapidly. I walked east for about a mile and a half, to the point where the River Douglas joins the Ribble. 

I was accompanied on the way by the song of at least four quail in the fields, while on the pools there were three spoonbill, an adult and two juveniles, 16 avocets, spotted redshank, 600+ black-tailed godwits, around 40 common terns, many redshanks and perhaps most impressively, 26 greenshank. 

On reaching the Douglas I found even more avocets, 40 in total, plus another two spoonbills, the adult and juvenile in the photo at the top of this post.

Quail have bred here this year with adults and chicks seen on at least one occasion, spoonbills breed in the local vicinity and avocets are now long established. It's impossible to walk here these days without seeing at least 20 little egrets and two or three great white egrets. Should we be happy or concerned? Short term happy I guess, but long term? Who knows?

Wood sandpiper and yellow wagtails at Martin Mere

After a long, hot, dry summer there is very little water left at Martin Mere. Vinsons and Woodend marshes are completely dry and there's just a puddle left on Sunleys. The only water really is on the Mere and at the reedbed. Langley's brook still flows, albeit with more mud than normal, but Boat House sluice looks as full as ever. 

Even so, there are still plenty of good birds to be seen, with up to five great white egrets on site, plus 20 cattle egrets and a few little. Wood, green and common sandpipers are all still around and there's a growing flock of 22 ruff. The damp mud of Sunleys is attracting decent numbers of wagtails, with at least 20+ yellow and probably around the same number of alba wagtails today. A kingfisher fished on Boat House sluice.

This wood sandpiper has been on the mere for about four days and can show really well at times, as it did yesterday. However, today it was right at the back of the mere and for a brief spell relocated to Langley's brook where it joined four green sandpipers.

The mere is actually looking really good for waders and if it can stay like this for another month it may be the place to be during late August / September. With so many other places completely dry, it may become a magnet for passage waders.

Hungarian black-headed gull at the flash

A black-headed gull with a yellow ring H2Z8 was on the car park at Pennington Flash today, ringed at  Királyszentistván, near Budapest, Hungary on 18/01/2026, a distance of 1619km from Leigh.

This is a first for me from Hungary which means that I have so far recorded black-headed gulls from Poland, Finland, Holland, Germany, Norway and now Hungary all on the car park at the flash. Reading the rings and submitting them to the relevant authorities makes life so much more interesting than just walking past a group of gulls.