Ruddy shelduck with Pink-footed geese at Newburgh

I was looking through a flock of around 2500 pink-footed geese at Newburgh near Parbold today when I came across this cracking ruddy shelduck. I can't say that I've ever seen this species with pink-feet before and in fact it's such an unusual occurrence that it would seem to be almost certainly the same individual that has been seen with pink-feet in Norfolk for at least the past two winters and as recently as nine days ago was in a flock of 10,000 birds at Cley. 

What this tells us, if anything, about the birds provenance is hard to know, but since it's been seen with the geese for at least two winters, it's presumably returning to Iceland with them in summer.

Ring-necked duck, Leighton Moss

Today I finally caught up with this female ring-necked duck at Leighton Moss. It's been around for a few weeks but also goes missing for long periods.

Storm Isha and a Storm Wigeon

At the beginning of November a drake American wigeon was found at RSPB Cors Ddyga on Anglesey but was not seen the following day. When I saw the video, it immediately grabbed my attention because it was not just any old American wigeon, this stunning bird was a variant known as storm wigeon, which apparently occurs in one in every 500 - 1000 birds. Basically the crown and cheeks are so pale as to be almost white, making the iridescent green mask stand out even more than usual.  

Surely such a striking bird could not remain hidden for very long, yet it was five weeks before it was seen again, this time at Malltreath, also on Anglesey, where it stayed for four days before disappearing again. I desperately wanted to see this bird because I have a fascination with races and variants, but unfortunately I was in Madeira during this period and so had no opportunity to go for a look.

Another six weeks passed with no further sign of the storm wigeon, until finally today it reappeared at Burton Mere Wetlands, right on cue, in the teeth of Storm Isha which is currently battering the UK. Of course the storm didn't bring the bird here all the way from North America, it was already in the UK, but it did probably bring it off the Dee saltmarsh to the slightly more sheltered BMW.

I was not going to pass up the opportunity to see it locally and so after babysitting duties this morning I headed off to Wirral. I could have waited until tomorrow when I'll be working nearby, but given the bird's track record of short stays followed by disappearing acts for weeks, I thought it prudent to get there today. After all, it was first found nearly 12 weeks ago but has so far only been seen for six days in total during that period, including today. 

The bird showed well despite all of the usual problems associated with viewing from the BMW reception hide, e.g. viewing through glass and against the light etc.

A storm wigeon sheltering from Storm Isha! What a great bird. To be honest, I'd never even heard of storm wigeon before this bird arrived on Anglesey. If it had been just a plain old American wigeon I probably wouldn't have gone for it, but I was never going to be able to resist a storm wigeon on a day like today, it's just too good to be true!

Bittern and marsh harrier, Pennington Flash

My first visit to Pennington Flash in two weeks and and it turned out to be a good 'un! At 9:30am I was talking to Bill at what we now call Penduline reedbed, i.e. East Bay, when suddenly all of the gulls went up on the spit and an immature marsh harrier flew over heading south. 

Only my third ever marsh harrier at the flash, but my second this winter. It was never going to be a great photo! Also from here we could see seven little egrets roosting in a tree at the west end.

It was a beautiful, still winters day, with 90% ice cover on the flash, and I'd actually gone in the hope of seeing bittern. Half an hour at the leaning posts in Ramsdales proved fruitless on that score, though there were a couple of water rails squealing in the reedbed. Ducks today included around 30 each of goosander and goldeneye, plus just three drake pochard.

When I reached Sorrowcow farm I looked back at Ramsdales reedbed as I always do, and there it was. A bittern at first walking on the ice and then standing on the edge of the reeds for a few minutes before walking back into cover and out of sight. 

Much too far away for a photo, but this image from almost a year ago to the day gives a good impression of the calibre of todays sighting ! Oh well, at least I saw the bittern!

Barn Owl, Martin Mere

Barn owl from the Ron Barker hide today. Also today all of the usual which have been present recently, plus ruff and kingfisher, the latter a year tick.

Mealy redpolls and a Slavonian grebe in Cheshire

I'm never really sure what's going on with the redpolls, one minute they're split, the next they're lumped. The last time I heard lesser and mealy were just different races of the same species, but today I learn that they are in fact currently classed as different species. However a lumping may be imminent. Oh well, they're on my list as separate species and that's the way they'll be staying for the time being at least. 

Today we travelled to Moston Green near Sandbach hoping to see a nice male that has been present for a day or two and came away with not only the male but also a second mealy which we thought was probably a female. 

I don't think I've ever seen such a nice, colourful, male mealy with a pinky / red breast like this. A truly beautiful bird.

Very little streaking on the underparts and a white supercilium.

Egrets at Martin Mere

A sign of the times at Martin Mere today, 21 egrets of three species. Three great white egrets, 13 cattle egrets and five little egrets. All Mediterranean species, all extremely rare in Lancashire 40 years ago. Also today, at least six chiffchaffs and several Cetti's warblers singing, the latter unthinkable in Lancashire 40 years ago. 

 
Meanwhile, just one Bewick's swan in amongst the whoopers, 40 years ago you could expect to see 800 Bewick's at this site, but much milder winters mean that they have all but disappeared from Lancashire these days.

 

Another few days at Martin Mere

It's not unusual for me to abandon Pennington Flash at this time of year and overdose on Martin Mere, I've done it every year for at least the past three. There's just so much happening here in January, especially now that we have the excitement at the sewage works.

However, yesterday it was the more traditional sighting of this juvenile male hen harrier from the Ron Barker hide that stole the show.

I've been watching hen harriers here almost since my first visit in 1974, and it's a sighting that my Dad would have been very familiar with.

Smew, Lunt Meadows

This fabulous drake smew turned up at Lunt Meadows yesterday, so this morning I called in for a look on my way to Martin Mere. It was always fairly distant, usually hugging the distant bank, but it did once come fairly close to one of the screens allowing me to get a photo that is at least recognisable as a smew!

I then headed off to Great White pool where the drake green-winged teal was still present, though asleep on the bank. A couple of times I saw the smew flying around and finally relocated it on Pumphouse pool.

Snow Bunting, Southport

This female snow bunting has spent the past few weeks on the shore near Southport pier. It's an annual occurrence in this area, but whether it's a returning bird or different individuals finding a good area to feed I'm can't answer.

Fifty years of Martin Mere

Fifty years ago today (half a century!), my Dad took me to Martin Mere for the first time. I was aged 11. The reserve opened to members a few months later, but wasn't open to the public for another year,  yet Dad somehow got us a guided tour of the new reserve by the first curator, Peter Gladstone. A few days later we received a letter from Peter which I still have. 

Fifty years later my wildfowl trust membership is the only one which has withstood the test of time. Even when my RSPB membership fell by the wayside for a while, still I stayed a member of the Wildfowl Trust (or Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust as it is now), and I've had two spells of volunteering on the reserve.

My database tells me that over the past 50 years I have been to the reserve on nearly 460 different occasions and seen 186 different (wild!) species of bird there, more than any other single site. 

I wanted to spend some time at Martin Mere this week in order to celebrate the anniversary and remember my Dad, and I've not been disappointed with some great birds and birding. Many things have changed over the years, for example my Dad would not recognise the harrier hide and nearby reedbed which did not exist when he was alive, while the hides around Woodend marsh are very new, having all been built over the past year or two.

Lunt Meadows

One my way home (sort of) from Martin Mere, I  stopped off for what was meant to be a quick visit to Lunt Meadows, in order to see a green-winged teal which has been around for a week or two. In the end there was so much happening that I stayed a couple of hours until dusk. 

As well as the green-winged teal, this Richardson's cackling goose was with the Canada goose flock. It arrived about 10 days ago, but whether it was carried here by the local pink-feet and then joined up with the Canada's or just escaped from a local collection we'll never know. It occurred to me that it might be the same bird that was with greylags and then Canada's at Lightshaw flash and then briefly Pennington Flash a couple of years ago. I'll see if I can match it to that bird when I get chance, but certainly it doesn't appear to be the bird which was at Marshside in January 2022 and which was accepted as wild by BBRC. For one thing, the white face patch is a very different shape.

A few year ticks

This week I've been working near Lancaster on Wednesday and Liverpool on Thursday, so took the opportunity to call for a few of the great birds that were on offer nearby. The juvenile black-throated diver at Crosby marina showed very well on a much calmer day today, with blue skies and no wind.