Hooded Merganser, Cumbria

There's been a drake hooded merganser on Whinfell tarn near Kendal for a couple of weeks and today I finally got chance to call in for a look.  It's been associating with tufted ducks and even displaying. What a smart bird it is, straight onto my North West list at number 377. It's the third hooded merganser I've seen in the UK and at least one of the others was accepted so the pressure is off regarding it's origin and I'm quite happy to count it.

Greater tussock sedge

I came across a magnificent stand of greater tussock sedge in Lothian today, which can be up to 1.5m tall! A fabulous habitat, which reminds me very much of the grasstrees I saw in Australia in 2019.

Jarrah woodland of Western Australia. (opens in a new window).

Lindisfarne

On my way north to a job in Lothian, I took the opportunity of calling in at Lindisfarne today. It's one of my favourite birding spots, so whilst there wasn't a lot around today it was still a pleasure to be here.

Little tern, Pennington Flash

I was at the flash for 6:30am today hoping that the overnight rain and the murky conditions would bring in something good and I was not disappointed with a nice though always distant little tern flying all around the flash, never close enough to the boat club for me to get a decent photo. While I was watching it three Arctic terns flew through looking really good as they always do, there were still five common terns, two little egrets and five common sandpipers, with four of the latter on the boat club foreshore.

Late evening there were three adult little gulls flying around the spit, but apparently the little tern departed north west at 9:30am.

Little gull passage at Pennington Flash

I was a little worried that I might miss out on the recent spectacular Little gull passage having been working away from home for most of this week, but fortunately it continued into today. I arrived at the east end of the Flash at about 8:30am and almost immediately watched in amazement as around 50 birds just dropped out of the sky and started to fly around the the end of the spit. One of the most incredible sights of my life! 

By the time I got to the car park I could see birds apparently leaving to the east, they flew high up right over my head, yet when I got to Horrock's hide there were still at least 20 birds present and more seemed to be arriving. By this afternoon there were still 27 birds off the end of the spit, almost all of them adults in full summer plumage. 

From looking at the reports from today it would seem that the best estimate for the day is 88 birds, but because birds were coming and going with at least one flock of 44 seen to apparently leave east, it's perfectly possible and even likely that around 120 birds passed through today. To put that into context, my previous best day total for the flash was four. 

This is part of a large little gull passage that has been happening over the past few days, particularly in North West England, however I haven't heard of any other site holding as many birds as those seen at the flash today.

Also today, arctic tern, 5 common terns, whimbrel, 2 common sandpipers and my first swift of the year. Oh, and bird of the day, my first linnet at the flash this century 😆. What a day to be alive!

An evening Night Heron on the Calder

Hot on the heels of the alpine swift influx of recent weeks came an arrival of night herons into the country, with several places holding one or two birds, whilst one place in Ireland had nine individuals!

The River Calder at Ossett, West Yorkshire has had two, though it appears that only one has been seen in recent days. I've been keeping half an eye on them wondering if I might get chance to call in and I finally took the plunge this evening on my way to Lincoln. The late evening sunlight shone right onto the bird which was good and bad in equal measure. Good because I arrived only 40 minutes before sunset and if it had been dull and cloudy it would have been a very unsatisfactory view, but bad because it was very bright and harsh for photography. My sixth night heron in the UK but the first for six years.

Cattle egret on a day of migration at the flash

A fabulously murky day at the flash once again produced the goods with only my second cattle egret at the site on the spit until 10:55 when it departed south.

A tree pipit flew north over the ruck calling and three arctic terns joined the single common tern that has been around for a few days. At least three, possibly four common sandpipers were around including two at the boat club.

Ringed plover, Pennington Flash

The first ringed plover of the year was at the boat club this morning and a common tern was sitting on a buoy at 7:30 but not seen later. Ten house martins at Mossley Hall farm were the biggest count yet at the flash this year, though sand martins were reduced to a mere 800 birds. Later in the afternoon a common sandpiper was at the boat club.

My earliest ever common tern at the Flash

At the flash today, a common tern was not only my first of the year but also my earliest ever in the UK. A drake common scoter was present this morning but not this afternoon, but once again it's hard to say that the 2000 or so sand martins were not the highlight. Just an amazing sight in the afternoon rain, but I could still only pick out a single swallow and two house martins. Also today, four little ringed plovers and a little egret.

A swirling mass of sand martins at Pennington Flash

After a fairly quiet walk around the flash this morning I called in again at Green Lane this afternoon just in time for a dramatic deluge of rain which lasted about 30 minutes. There were just immense numbers of sand martins all over the flash with the best estimate 2200 birds, a really impressive sight. With them I managed to pick out a single house martin, my first of the year and two swallows. 

After the rain cleared I scoped the spit and managed to pick out a singles of dunlin and redshank as well as two little ringed plovers, whilst a little egret was at the western end.

Kumlien's Gull, Widnes

Ok, you're going to have to bear with me here and take my word for it that there are considerably better photos than mine available of this bird which clearly show that it is a 2nd winter Kumlien's gull and not a standard Iceland gull. Not helped by the fact that the bird shows wear and bleaching in the primary tips which makes them look as pale as a typical Iceland gull, the light this evening was really atrocious. The birds were often silhouetted in the sun, and even with the sun behind us it was so bright as to completely burn out most features on this almost white bird. However, photos taken yesterday at much closer range and in much less harsh light show that although the primary tips are bleached the base of P7-P10 are brown and not pale grey or white which is correct for Kumlien's. 

With the benefit of that information, even on some of my photos you can, perhaps, see that P7-P10 are darker than the others. Even so, I have to say that if this bird dropped into the Pennington Flash gull roost at 400m, 30 minutes after sunset, on a bleak, wet and windy December evening, I don't think that I'd be calling it anything other than a typical 2nd winter Iceland gull.

This was only my second Kumlien's gull, the first was at Seaforth on 31/01/1998 and was an adult. 

Sea ducks at Pennington Flash

This smart drake scaup was with tufted ducks off the boat club this morning, when there was also a female common scoter. Also today two green sandpipers on the spit, about 200 sand martins, at least one swallow and several each of singing willow warblers and blackcaps.

European white-fronted geese, Slimbridge

I had a pitstop at Slimbridge on the Severn today on my way to Somerset and was pleased to see at least 80 European white-fronted geese still on the estuary. Also today at least five common cranes including a pair with a nest containing one egg.

Alpine swift, Elton Reservoir

My first alpine swift in the UK for 40 years at Elton reservoir, Bury today. After going missing for two and a half hours it conveniently decided to reappear just as I arrived and showed amazingly well for an hour at least, though photography was always difficult due to poor light and extreme speeds by this awesome flier.

There's been an influx of alpine swifts over the past couple of weeks, with multiple records from several locations and as many as nine together at one site in Ireland. Prior to todays bird the closest "twitchable" individuals were at Llandudno, but I've been putting off travelling far in the hope that one would come closer.

I parked at my usual spot to the south of the reservoir and started walking, and within five minutes of setting off I spotted the bird flying high over the fields to the south. By the time I reached the bank of the reservoir and joined the other birders there, it had dropped much lower and showed really well. 

I've seen plenty of alpine swift in Europe and as recently as 5 weeks ago found two in India, but my only other UK bird was at Staines reservoir in 1983. This bird brings my North West list to 376 species.