Osprey on the way to Asda

I'd just got home from an early morning visit to the flash when I got a call from Bill at 9:15 informing me that there was an osprey over East Bay. Having had some decent views over the past week I didn't feel the need to rush back, but waited until I'd got my shopping list together and was ready to head to Asda which would take me past the entrance to the flash! 

I arrived back at the main car park at about 9:45 and saw the osprey through the trees even before I'd parked the car. I walked down to the shoreline and joined a couple of other birders who were watching it and stayed until about 10:25 when the bird flew right over our heads and was lost behind trees. I left then to do my shopping, but messages from John who arrived after I'd gone confirmed that the bird was still present up until at least 11:00 when it was seen to head towards Lightshaw.

This is clearly the same bird that was present on Tuesday, you can see the damage to the tail which is obvious in photos from both days. This bird is an adult and probably a female.

Further analysis of photos from last week confirm that it is a different bird from the two which were present between 4th - 7th. One of those birds was clearly a 1st summer while the other, which I didn't see, looks like an adult male and has damage to a primary feather which is not evident in the photos from this week. The bird which I saw on 24/04/2026 is a different bird again, so that's at least four ospreys at the flash so far this year, two of which have stayed for a couple of days or more, quite unprecedented.

Temminck's stints, spoonbill and ruff at Marshside

May is the month for Temminck's stints, in fact in the UK I've never seen the species outside May. So today I decided to call in at Marshside since I was in the area, to catch up with two that have been in front of Nel's hide over the past few days.

They performed admirably, coming as close as 5m but unfortunately the light was always a little against them. Still, can't complain, these were probably the closest view that I have ever had. Now we just need one at Pennington Flash.

Knot Martin Mere

On the Mere today, a summer plumage knot, only my fourth ever at Martin Mere, this was the second this year.

Another day, another osprey at Pennington Flash

I nearly went to Martin Mere this afternoon to see the reported turnstones which I thought would be a new species at the Mere for me. On checking my database, it turns out that I've had several sightings over the years, including a flock of 20 in 2004 which I've somehow managed to forget about. So I decided to stay at Pennington Flash.....

At about 14:20 I was watching a 1st summer drake pintail and four dunlin on the spit from Horrock's hide when suddenly all of the gulls went up. I dashed outside and there was and osprey flying over East Bay. 

For about 30 minutes it was flying around East Bay and for a while it was even over the bay off the car park. Then it moved towards the sailing club so I also moved there. When I arrived it was still flying around the western end and I watched it for a few minutes, before it headed back to East Bay. Finally it returned to the sailing club for another 10 minutes before flying high and heading off west at about 15:50. A fabulous sight. Also at the sailing club, a ringed plover.

Comparing photos, I'm pretty confident that this is a different bird to the one that was roosting at the western end last week. Todays bird has a much more prominent breast band and looks like an adult to me, probably a female. Last week's bird I think was a first year bird. That's the third osprey I've seen at the flash so far this year and probably the fourth in total.

Osprey at Pennington Flash

Early Monday morning and again yesterday, an osprey was found roosting in trees at the western end of the flash, so yesterday evening I went to Green Lane and waited to see if it would come in again to roost. Sure enough at 7:15pm it did. I watched as it approached from the direction of Lightshaw surrounded by it's entourage of lesser black-backed gulls, before circling around the western end and then appearing to land in trees near Mossley Hall, but out of view from Green Lane.

Today I decided that I needed to be back at 5:30am to see if the bird was still there. There were a couple of other birders present and at first we couldn't see the osprey in the half light. However, at about 6:30am it was picked up on top of a telegraph pole clearly eating a fish. It was hard to believe that it had been fishing before we found it, the calls of the gulls alone would surely have betrayed it's presence, so perhaps it was a fish from the night before.

After a short while it flew into trees at the side of the outflow and perched there in full view for at least another 90 minutes. I moved to Mossley Hall Farm and watched it from there.

Dragonflies emerge at Bickershaw

The first dragonfly action of the year at Bickershaw Country Park today, with the highlight being a recently emerged broad-bodied chaser drying out next to its exuvia. 

It's hard to believe that this broad-bodied chaser has just emerged from the exuvia. The adult is considerably larger than it's larval exoskeleton. How on earth did the wings alone fit in there?

Also today lots of large-red damselflies including at least two colour forms of females, melanotum and fulvipes. Large-red damselfly is the 20th species of dragonfly / damselfly that I have recorded at the site in under 12 months. It's actually quite a common species at the site but we only started looking for dragonflies here in June last year so missed the flight period of large red damselfly.

The photo above shows the female form melanotum.

Mediterranean gull x black-headed gull x black-headed gull hybrid pairing

It's starting to get confusing now, if it wasn't already! Two weeks ago I reported on a hybrid pairing of Mediterranean gull (thought to be the male) and black-headed gull on the Mere at Martin Mere. I said at the time that the Med gull was a 3rd calendar year bird because it had black markings on the primary tips. I also said that I'd never seen the resultant offspring of a hybrid pair so was looking forward to seeing the young of this pair. Wrong on both accounts it seems! The bird facing left with the black hood is not only a hybrid Med x black-headed gull, it's also not 3cy, I think it's an adult.

The first clue is in the photo above and I really should have noticed it the first time that I saw the bird. The bill is too slim, the wrong shape and the wrong colour for adult or near adult Med gull. Then there's the hood - I realise that this can be variable depending on how the bird is behaving, but the hood clearly does not extend as far down the nape as a typical Mediterranean gull. There are plenty of the latter about for comparison, at least 10 adults at Martin Mere at the moment, including a pure pair on the next island to this. They're like chalk and cheese!

Finally there is the wing pattern. It's almost adult black-headed gull, with the pale outer primaries. Far from being a 3cy Mediterranean gull, I think that this is actually an adult Med x black-headed gull hybrid. As it's now paired with an adult black-headed gull, the resultant offspring will be 2nd generation hybrids. That should be interesting....

Thanks to Graham Clarkson for pointing this out to me and Ian McKerchar for feedback on my photos.

Grey Plover at the sailing club

A message from Phil had me dashing to Pennington Flash this evening to see a grey plover on the foreshore of the sailing club. It was a good job that I didn't hang around, he found it at 18:10, I was there for 18:30 and by 18:40 it had been flushed by a dog walker and flew off and was gone.

Grey plover is much scarcer than turnstone and Sanderling at the Flash, and this was a first here for me.

Ruff at the Flash

A flock of five ruff on the spit today were my 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th individuals the flash. They all look like females to me, but only the bird in the photo above has bright orange legs, the rest had dull legs, and I did wonder if she was an adult with four offspring. She's certainly a smart looking bird, I love the dark speckling on the side of her breast which extends onto her flanks.

Osprey, Pennington Flash

A very brief visit to Pennington Flash this morning to see a greenshank that was reported on the spit proved very productive! I was standing outside Horrock's hide watching the greenshank when the cries of the gulls alerted me to an osprey that was circling over the southern side of the flash. It was gaining height and ultimately flew south east which seemed a bit of an odd direction. This was my third osprey at the Flash, all of which have been spring birds.

Also today, two black-necked grebes still, redshank, and three common terns. Not a bad 15 minutes!

 

It's not necessary to learn the call of the osprey, just listen out for the irate cries of lesser black-backs as they mob it!

Mediterranean x black-headed gull hybrid pairing

At Martin Mere today, several adult Mediterranean gulls in amongst the black-headed gull colony. When I started birding Med gulls were very much a scarcity but these days it seems that no black-headed gull colony worth it's salt is without a pair or two of these gorgeous white winged birds.

The two species are known to hybridise but I've never seen the resultant offspring. However, there is an apparent hybrid pairing on the Mere at the moment. The Mediterranean gull is sitting in the photo above and is a 3rd calendar year / 2nd summer bird (note the black chevrons in the wingtips). In the photo below the adult black-headed gull is sitting. I'm not even sure that the pair have eggs, but presumably they do and it will be interesting to see what the final outcome is.