White-front spectacular in North Lancs.

With ever increasing flocks of Russian white-fronted geese being reported at various places in North Lancs over the past few days there was only ever going to be one place for me to go today. 

I headed first for Bradshaw lane on Pilling Moss where yesterday 500+ white-fronts had been reported in a single field. Parking is difficult down here and viewing almost impossible, but miraculously I managed to find a spot for one car and then walked down a track for 100m which gave me an open view of the field, albeit at a distance of about 500m (1/3 mile). The wind was blowing on a dull day with occasional showers and viewing was still difficult at that range, but even so I managed to count at least 300 white-fronts and a few barnacles in amongst the pink-footed geese. 

The largest flock of Russian white-fronts I have ever seen is 3000+ at Slimbridge back in 1983, but since then I've never managed more than 150 even at Slimbridge, so to get 300+ in North Lancs where the species is historically quite scarce was a thrill to say the least. Prior to this year my highest count anywhere in Lancashire was 23 at Marshside in 1993, but more usually I'm lucky to see more than two or three a year in the county. 300+ is just mind blowing and an experience not to be missed. It may never happen again in my lifetime.

Nearby just south of Stronkey I counted 67 white-fronts with 1500 pink-footed geese and then I moved on to Cockersands Abbey, which is where most of the photos in this post were taken with the exception of the last two. 

There were no geese at all in the field where we had seen so many on Sunday, but on that walk two days ago we had also come across 38 white-fronts just east of Crook farm. Since I could hear the murmur of geese on the ground in that direction, I decided to check out the area again.

Geese from the east continue to flood in

The influx of geese from the continent continues apace amid impressive scenes at Cockersand Abbey just south of Lancaster today, with at least 68 Russian white-fronted geese and 60 barnacles in amongst 1000s of pink-feet. Thirty Russian white-fronts were in the main pink-foot flock just north of the abbey, with another 38 just east of Crook farm a little further north. All but three are in the photos. I didn't have a scope with me so may well have missed a few more white-fronts, especially 1st winters, so goodness know how many there were in total. 

The barnacle geese are also here in unprecedented numbers and will have originated from the same areas as the white-fronts. These are not from the Svalbard population which winters on the Solway or from the Greenland population which I see every year on Barra and overwinters on the Hebrides, these are from the Russian population which overwinters in Germany and Holland.

A white-fronted goose chase across the mosslands

A wild goose chase across the mosslands today, hoping not to miss out on the (unprecedented?) Russian white-fronted goose influx that has been happening all over the UK in recent days, with double figure counts in many places and over 100 at a few. I started at Plex Moss where there had been a few white-fronts reported yesterday in amongst large numbers of pink-footed geese. Finding the goose flocks was not a problem but picking out the white-fronts was still a challenge. Probably at least half the flock was hidden and out of view, but even so I managed to pick out at least 10 adult white-fronts with around 1500 pink-footed geese and a few greylags. Then I headed down Carr Lane on my way to Martin Mere and found another couple of goose flocks but no more white-fronts.

Three Russian white-fronts had been reported at Martin Mere this morning, but when I got to the UU hide and viewed over Plover field, I immediately saw eight adults, then suddenly there was another and finally three more popped out from behind some reeds! Twelve birds at least, all adults. Later I made my way to the Ron Barker hide and found another adult on Sunley's marsh with greylags, bringing my total for the day to 23 birds. That'll do for starters, at least now I don't feel left out.

Mediterranean gull EW31770 sets a new longevity record

On Saturday I reported seeing a ringed Mediterranean gull at Pennington Flash. By taking a few photos of the ring from different angles I was able to get the number which I sent off to the BTO. Turns out it was ringed at Belmont reservoir, Lancashire on 23/06/2007 by the late DJ Sowter, an amazing 6797 days ago or, 18 years 7 months and 9 days!

That's impressive enough, but amazingly this makes it nearly 5 months older than the previous oldest known Med Gull in the UK from a ringing recovery, and of course at the time of writing, the bird is still very much alive and continuing to set new records.

I've also received further information that the bird was the only young to hatch out of a clutch of three and was not large enough to be colour-ringed at the time, hence the metal ring only.

Mediterranean Gull EW31770
 as a chick in 2007.
Photo © Steve Martin. 

Remarkably this is the same bird as a nestling, being held by the late Roy Rhodes, on the day it was ringed by Dave Sowter in June 2007.

It just shows how worthwhile it is to read these rings.

Russian white-fronted geese, Martin Mere

Martin Mere joined in with the influx of Russian white-fronted geese today, with four flying around the mere for 10 minutes. It appeared that they were going to land on Plover Field but finally they headed off south, a family party of two adults and two juveniles by the looks of it. 

I thought the day couldn't get any better, but then I managed to relocate a knot that was reported yesterday, only my third sighting ever on the reserve. Other birds today included 32 oystercatchers, 29 ruff, 50 black-tailed godwits, ring-necked duck, three species of egret, plus the usual wildfowl and raptors. Not a bad day. 

Great northern diver, Scotman's Flash

 A juvenile great northern diver has been on Scotman's Flash at Wigan for the past two or three weeks and often shows well.

Mediterranean gull, Pennington Fash

Adult Mediterranean gull on rocks just off the car park at Pennington Flash this afternoon, also 63 pochard, 22 goldeneye and a single great white egret. I think I've managed to read the gulls ring from various other photos that I have, and I've submitted it to the BTO. I'll post the results here when I get them.

A 65 species day at Martin Mere

Another great visit to Martin Mere today where I managed to record 65 species, including ring-necked duck, glossy ibis, 2 merlin, 6 marsh harriers, 3 great white egrets, 5 cattle egrets, 2 little egrets, 50 black-tailed godwits, 20 ruff, 7 redpolls, 63 pochard, 4 chiffchaffs including 1 tristis, 7 oystercatchers, treecreeper and barn owl. Also 4 species of mammal, roe deer, stoat at the Rees hide, bank vole and grey squirrel. 

Velvet scoter and the scoter flock at Ainsdale

It seemed like perfect conditions for looking through the scoter flock at Ainsdale this morning, with bright sunshine and light winds. The only problem was that high tide was 06:09 with low tide 12:52. Surely that would mean that the birds would be further out? Perhaps not though, because I remember last year when there was a black scoter off Hoylake, the recommended viewing time there was actually low tide because the scoter flock didn't really come much closer in at high tide, they more or less stayed in the same position. I assume that the reason for this is that they stayed over the mussel beds where they feed, and in fact this food source might actually be more accessible at low tide. So if you were prepared to walk a mile offshore you could get a lot closer to the birds at low tide. It's the same flock and the same beach really, just that the River Mersey is in between, so presumably the same rules apply? Anyway I decided to give it a go. 

I arrived at Ainsdale at 09:30 and walked out to the edge of the sea and scanned the flock. There were probably about 500 common scoter spread across the sea at reasonably close range, i.e. < 0.5km (1/3 mile). Then there were probably another 500 up to 1km out at sea. Finally there were uncounted hundreds (thousands?) that were just dots in the distance, even on 60x magnification. They were so far out that I pondered for a moment if they were the same birds that I could see distantly from Colwyn Bay last weekend! And the answer is yes, they probably are part of the same impressive flock, which stretches across the whole of Liverpool Bay.

Fortunately I managed to find a drake velvet scoter with one of the closer flocks. It was close enough to see the white mark behind it's eye and I could see the bill shape and pattern pretty well. Other birds seen today included 6 red-breasted mergansers, 10 great crested grebes and at least 3 red-throated divers.

I stayed until 12:00 following the tide out but unfortunately there was no sign of the recent surf scoter.

Redpolls, Martin Mere

I was pleased to see a flock of six redpolls outside the Janet Kear hide this afternoon, and that turned to delight and amazement when I got home to discover that they were actually new birds for the reserve for me! There's lots of habitat at Martin Mere so I'm sure that I must just have been unobservant in the past, but that brings my Martin Mere total to 196 species. Perhaps I'll make it to 200 this year!

Common scoter off Fisherman's pier, Old Colwyn

The common scoter flock off the North Wales coast is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the UK, yet probably most non-birders, and perhaps even a fair few casual birders, don't even know of it's existence.

Tens of thousands of birds can be present and they are constantly active, often chasing each other around both on the water and in the air. Sometimes hundreds of birds can take to the air at the same time and fly a short distance before dropping down, only for smaller groups to fly up again almost immediately. Rarer species such as surf and velvet scoter are occasionally with them and in 2005 I saw a drake black scoter off Llanfairfechan.

The reason why they are so little known outside the mainstream birding community is that they are usually so distant and viewing is often very difficult. These flocks can be miles offshore, with only the very edges of the flocks visible even through a 60x magnification telescope. To add to the difficulties, the birds are often diving or disappearing behind the swell, and the wind shakes the scope making 60x almost unusable except in perfect weather conditions. Most of the time you need to drop down to a slightly more manageable 30x, but at that magnification most of the birds are little more than black dots.

A small number of birds do come a lot closer inshore but it's only a tiny fraction of what's out there and in my experience the rarer scoter are never with them. Until today (see next post).....