Richard's pipit, Ulverston

I was working in the area today so on my way home I called in at Ulverston to see a Richard's pipit which has been present for at least a week and probably all winter. Always a great bird, this one showed well first on wires and then later on the ground. I love the long legs and long hind claw in this photo. This was only my 7th Richard's pipit and my first for seven years.

The return of the black-necked grebes

News that a couple of black-necked grebes were back at nearby Woolston Eyes convinced me that Houghton Green Pool could be worth a visit today, because they are often here, especially early in the season. Sure enough there were two in the middle, an adult summer plumage bird and a non-breeding adult. 

Houghton Green Pool has changed dramatically since I first starting visiting. Thirty years ago there were no trees and water levels were considerably higher, and this was a great local birding place. The best I saw here in those days was a lesser yellowlegs, but the site has also had laughing gull and it held good numbers of duck, and waders. In more recent times I found a yellow-browed warbler here. 

Over the years the pool was reduced to a puddle thanks to pumping and levels have been up and down ever since. Only in recent years have the trees been this abundant and they grow in rings around the pool reflecting the differing levels. In 2016 I wrote a blog post describing the site as it was then which makes interesting reading (to me at least!) The blog post is here (opens in a new window).

Ring-necked duck at Eccleston Mere

The ring-necked duck that turned up at Taylor Park in St Helens just over three weeks ago moved to nearby Eccleston Mere after a couple of days and that's where it's been ever since. Eccleston Mere of course used to be my local patch until I moved to Leigh about eight years ago, so I was keen to see this bird here because it would a new addition to my Eccy mere list. 

Unfortunately it's no longer as simple as that. Since I left St Helens, Eccleston Mere has become a fortress for the anglers, the sailing club has been kicked out and all none angling access stopped, with an eight foot fence erected to enforce the rule. Viewing is extremely difficult and only really possible in winter when there are no leaves on the trees and vegetation is low, and even then only about 30% of the water is visible and the mere is at least 200m distant.

Still, I was in St  Helens today so decided to try my luck. Fortunately I managed to see the bird, though as you can see from the photos it wasn't easy. Nothing like the views at Taylor Park but I was delighted to at least see it. Also today only my second ever little egret at the mere and probably best of all I found a willow tit. This species used to breed at the mere in small numbers, but since access became difficult records have dried up, so it was great to confirm that they are still here.

Kumlien's gull at WSR recycling Widnes

The difference between watching gulls at a recycling centre and waiting for them to arrive on a freezing cold evening at the Pennington Flash gull roost is like chalk and cheese. At the flash, the vast majority of the gulls arrive around sunset and many later than that. Perhaps 5000 birds arriving within a 30 minute period in rapidly fading light, after which it's pitch black rendering shade of mantle obsolete. On top of that they can be up to 400m distant and all sitting on the water looking straight at you, stretching optics to their limit. Not a chance of seeing leg colour even if there was enough daylight, and try taking a photo of a bird in these conditions and see how you get on. Identifications need to be made quickly or you risk not being able to scan through the whole flock before it goes dark. Some birds you just have to skip over because you just don't have time for a detailed examination.

At the recycling centre there are less birds and with luck they'll settle on a convenient roof at relatively close range and stay there for a while to allow you to carefully examine the vital identification features of each species. Best of all, it's still daylight! Yes they might keep flying around every time another batch of food is delivered and when they return to the roof some of the back birds may be difficult to observe in the tight packed ranks, but believe me it's infinitely easier than at the gull roost. So today we headed for WSR recycling at Widnes where we had a really enjoyable few hours trying to hone our gull identification skills.

We saw the third winter Kumlien's gull almost immediately and it showed as well as I've ever seen it. Unfortunately there was no sign of the adult glaucous gull that was present yesterday.

The Kumlien's gull is a really smart bird but prior to today I hadn't really noticed the features which make it this subspecies and not just a regular Iceland gull. I'm told that it's at the pale end for a Kumlien's.

Third winter Kumlien's gull © John Tymon

However today we managed to see some of the features of Kumlien's, such as the dark markings on the outer webs of the outer primaries, as captured in this photo by John Tymon.

Lesser scaup, Woolston Eyes

There's been a 1st winter female lesser scaup knocking around the Woolston Eyes / Rixton Clay pits area for about a week now. The initial identification as a greater scaup meant that only a handful of birders managed to connect with it as lesser before it disappeared from Rixton last Wednesday and it's been missing ever since. 

Today however it was back at the Mersey Weir where it was first seen eight days ago, and it showed well from the footbridge across the river. However it disappeared again late afternoon and whilst it's most likely still in the area, it looks like it's going to be a difficult bird to catchup with. Go while it's showing seems to be the best advice, don't wait until tomorrow.

This is my 11th lesser scaup but my first since 2015. It's the first female I've seen.

Waxwings at Pentre Halkyn

2023/24 has been a good winter for waxwings and the most impressive flock I've managed to see has been at Pentre Halkyn where today I counted 93 birds. It's a great site for seeing them and judging by the number of hawthorn bushes which are still loaded with berries, they could well be here for another week or two yet. The adults are the birds with yellow in the primaries and the waxy red tips, whereas the juveniles lack both the yellow and the waxy tips. Both adults and juveniles have the yellow tip to the tail.

A 10.5m tide at Marshside

Dramatic scenes over the tide at Marshside today.

At least two water pipits were showing well at their usual spot by the Wildfowlers pull in.

 

Snow goose Llay and surf scoters Llandulas

A very dodgy blue phase lesser snow goose was showing well with greylags and Canada geese at Llay pool in North Wales today. Later we called in at Llandulas for a couple of hours over the high tide and had distant views of a couple of surf scoter with a few thousand common scoter, but no sign for us of any velvet. I say distant, and they were, but after a while the surf scoter flew and were as good a view as any I've ever seen on this coast, and they were the best I've ever seen of this species in flight.

  

Local owls

The worst kept secret in Greater Manchester is the location of several short-eared owls and a couple of barn owls on the local mosses. Apparently it's being kept secret so that swarms of photographers don't descend on the site, yet today there were swarms of photographers at the site. In fact it seems to me that keeping it secret simply keeps it from birders who do not know the right people, and ironically, the presence of a few extra birders might actually help police the photographers. 

Ring-necked duck, Taylor Park

I was babysitting in St Helens this morning and we were just about to go out for a walk to the nearest play area when my phone beeped and I had a message informing me that Dave Owen had just found a drake ring-necked duck on Taylor Park lake.

Not quite the nearest play area but not much in it so off we set at a brisk pace and 20 minutes later we arrived at Taylor Park to find a gathering of St Helens finest watching the bird at quite close range. We watched it for several minutes and then headed off for the swings. On our way home we called in for a second look at the duck. 

This was not only a St Helens tick for me (#197) but also a full blown Merseyside tick (#280) having dipped on the bird at Lunt a year or two ago and having been working away when the only other St Helens ring-necked duck was at Newton Lake in 2014.

Birding at Lancaster services (southbound)

On our way home following a walk from Sizergh to Brigsteer today, I persuaded Elaine to call in at Lancaster services and saw these four waxwings in the hawthorn hedge next to Costa. A slightly odd place to be birding but no worse than many other places these birds frequent in winter. At least I was on my own, which probably explains why they came within a couple of meters of me.

Kumlien's and Caspian gulls at Widnes

The Mersey Kumlien's gull was on the sandbanks just west of old Runcorn bridge this morning. It spent a lot of time asleep and the bright, harsh sunlight didn't help,  but it was still a decent view. 

I've now seen this bird three times but never well enough to see for sure the features that make it a Kumlien's gull. It seems to be at the pale end of the spectrum and the only thing I can say with certainty is that if this bird turned up at the roost at Pennington Flash 30 minutes after sunset on a dull rainy day,  I'd be calling it a regular Iceland gull.

This adult Caspian gull is a magnificent specimen and stands out amongst the hundreds of other gulls on the river.

Such a distinctive bill and head shape, a classic Caspian.

Kumlien's gull at Widnes

A third winter Kumlien's gull at Widnes WSR recycling today is presumably a returning bird last seen on the river Mersey in April 2023. A really smart bird.

There's also been few Caspian gulls in the area, including this adult on the Mersey last Sunday.