Eccleston Mere

Ring Ouzel 1 m
Gadwall 3 (2mm, 1f)
Kingfisher 1

I thought I heard a Common Sandpiper, but couldn't find it in the fading light. It might not have been.

The Ring Ouzel was a great sight in the field behind the yacht club hut. Occasionally it would fly up into the hedge but always returned to exactly the same patch of grass. My first Ring Ouzel at Eccleston Mere. Thanks to Ray for the tip off.

Year 180 (Ring Ouzel), Eccleston Mere 164. At the end of March last year I was on 149 for the year and it took me until 28th April to reach 180.

Appleton Reservoir, Warrington

Willow Warbler 2 singing
Blackcap 1 singing
Sand Martin 2
Chiffchaff 3 singing

Year 179 (Willow Warbler)

Shaw Moss, Hollingworth Lake CP

Garganey 2 (m&f)
Little Ringed Plover 1
Teal 6
Raven 3
Redshank 2

Year 178 (Garganey)

Wildboarclough

Golden Plover 5 displaying and calling
Curlew 5 bubbling
Wheatear 2
Dipper 1
Grey Wagtail 2
Red Grouse 1

Redpolls in Macclesfield

Coue's Arctic Redpoll 1 
Common "Mealy" Redpoll 3
Lesser Redpoll 10

Year 177 (Coue's Arctic Redpoll)

We were in Macclesfield for first light hoping to see the Coue's Arctic Redpoll. At about 6:30am We saw a bird which we were unsure about at the time, but now having looked at the photos and compared them to those of the bird which are available elsewhere on the internet, it clearly is the Coue's that we saw. We also saw a few nice Mealys.

Photos were very difficult given the dark position of the feeders and the poor early morning light. However, below are a selection showing the pale bird which I consider to be the Coue's. Notice how pale it looks compared to the Lesser Redpolls, how small its bill looks and how white its underparts are. I'm happy with the id, but any opinions welcome.

It's the bird on the right in these photos. Notice how white its underparts are compared to the bird on the left (which I think is a Mealy).

Eccleston Mere

Lesser Redpoll 15
Sand Martin 4
Water Rail 1 still in western ditch and showing well
Bullfinch 4
Oystercatcher 2
Gadwall 2 (m&f)
Buzzard 1
Kingfisher 1

Mere Sands Wood

This Robin was singing away merrily at Mere Sands Wood this morning. Also several Chiffchaffs and two Goldeneye (not singing!).

The Uffington White Horse, Oxfordshire

Here's another ancient site to set the spine tingling! Of all of the chalk figures in Britain, the Uffington White Horse is thought to be the oldest, dating back to the Bronze Age (1000 - 700 BC), a good 1000 years or more after the completion of Stonehenge! To put that into context, William the Conqueror (1066) was conquering Britain nearly 1000 years ago. So for the Bronze Age people who carved out the White Horse, the Stonehenge builders were at least as distant and as ancient as William the Conqueror is to us today! Quite a sobering thought...

However, back to the White Horse. It was created by digging deep trenches and filling them with chalk. Strangely, the true shape of the figure can only be viewed from the air. Sounds like aliens were involved to me.

This is about the best view you can get of the horse from the ground.

There was a Red Kite flying around the valley in front of the horse.

Fortunately it did come a bit closer!

This is the horses head from above, looking down the valley.

Yellowhammer.

Lepe Country Park, Hampshire

Lesser Yellowlegs 1

Year 176 (Lesser Yellowlegs)

The long staying yellowlegs was more or less standing in exactly the same position that I saw it in at the end of last year. However it did at least prove that it wasn't plastic by flying around a couple of times, even looking like it might be displaying on one occasion. It also looked like it was coming into summer plumage which was nice.

Lesser Yellowlegs (honest!).


Turnstone.

Ibsley Common, Hampshire

Great Grey Shrike 1

Year 175 (Great Grey Shrike)

At last!  The Great Grey Shrike was in Digden Bottom on the edge of Ibsley Common, and not on the top of the common, which is where I looked yesterday. It was a bit distant but was a very good view through the scope.

It was a frosty start in the New Forest.

A few holiday snaps from Wiltshire

My journey today took me right past Stonehenge. I don't care how touristy it may seem at times (and it was difficult to get a photo with nobody on), Stonehenge is an awesome sight. I don't want to turn all druid on you, but it really makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I see it. A very special place, well deserving of its World Heritage status.

I was delighted to find this Snake's Head Fritillary growing in a field in Wiltshire. This is a rare species in the UK which is commonest in Wiltshire. The significance of this species is that it means that the grassland it grows in is community type MG4 which is unimproved grassland, a rare community type in the UK. Virtually all grasslands in the UK have been "improved" in some way, either by adding lots of nutrients or by over grazing. Unimproved grassland is untouched by nutrients or heavy grazing.

Roe Deer.

Ibsley Common, Hampshire

Dartford Warbler 2 singing
Woodlark 3 calling, displaying and singing
Stonechat 10
Curlew 1 bubbling

Year 174 (Dartford Warbler, Woodlark)

I used to think of the New Forest as a hot, sunny place, but that myth was well and truly dispelled this afternoon as I got a right good soaking high up on Ibsley Common, near Fordingbridge. I failed to see the long staying Great Grey Shrike (surprise, surprise), but I was well compensated by great views of Dartford Warbler and Woodlark.

Dartford Warbler.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Little Ringed Plover 1
Wigeon 9
Redshank 4

Year 172 (LRP)

Eglwyseg Circular, World's End

We walked from World's End, along the base of the Eglwyseg cliffs as far as Rock Farm, before returning to the car via the Clwydian Way and Cyrn-y-brain. The views were superb, the best birds were a Goshawk and a Wheatear.

Don't look so smug, you're not even a year tick!

Beddmanarch Bay, Anglesey

Slavonian Grebe 4 (inc. one in partial summer plumage)
Great Northern Diver 1
Bar-tailed Godwit 40
Turnstone 40

Partial summer (below) and winter plumage Slavonian Grebes.

Holyhead Old Harbour

Black Guillemot 3
Great-northern Diver 2

Year 171 (Black Guillemot)

Great Northern Diver

Glaslyn Ospreys are back! Gwynydd

Osprey 2 (male and female)
Red-breasted Merganser 3 (2 males, 1 female)
Whooper Swan 40

Year 170 (Osprey)

The Ospreys were hanging around the nest, with the male often flying off and then returning with sticks and on one occasion a fish which he passed to the female. When he returned to the nest they were seen to mate.

The Glaslyn nest site with Snowdonia behind.

Red-breasted Mergansers displaying.

The victorious male with his prize!

Eccleston Mere

Gadwall 4 (3mm, 1f)
Chiffchaff 2 singing
Mute Swan 2 adults
Tufted Duck 18 (10mm, 8ff)
Nuthatch 1
Treecreeper 1
Grey Wagtail 2

Eccleston Mere

Sand Martin 3
Water Rail 1 in western ditch
Oystercatcher 2 flew over
Buzzard 1
Kingfisher 1

Year 169 (Sand Martin)

Dolydd Hafren MWT, Powys

European White-fronted Goose 2 ads
Goosander 7 (m & 6ff)
Little Egret 1
Chiffchaff 1 singing
Teal 10

Year 168 (European White-fronted Goose)

European White-fronted Geese. The bird in the foreground is a very pale bird, with a very well marked face.

This was the first time I have been to this conveniently placed Wildlife Trust reserve, which is just off the road from Welshpool to Newtown, and sits on the banks of the River Severn.

This is the time of year for flowering trees and willow species are as lovely as any.