The Day of the Yellow-brow, Barra

Today was the Day of the Yellow-browed warbler on Barra with at least 14 on the island at several locations. We managed to connect with four at Nask (2), Ardmhor and Northbay. Really nice and surprisingly showy and vocal birds.

Birds seemed to be arriving during the day as more and more were reported. Encouraging stuff for us, surely if there's a fall of yellow-broweds then something rarer can't be too far behind????

Magnificent white-tailed eagle at Eoligarry, Barra

An magnificent adult white-tailed eagle put on a great show today, hunting greylag geese and later sitting on a fence post eying up sheep. One of the best views I've ever had of the species. 

Also today, a male and female hen harrier and a couple of great northern divers at Allasdale Bay.

American golden plover, Allasdale, Barra

There was a cracking juvenile American golden plover at South Allasdale today, this morning with a flock of 180 European goldies then this afternoon with just four. A really smart bird, it really stood out in amongst it's European cousins, being much greyer with a bright supercilium.

Back to Barra

Back to Barra today on the MV Isle of Lewis for our now annual visit in October.

A very quiet crossing with just one common dolphin and no whales, but we did at least see an adult white-tailed eagle sitting on a small island in the Sound of Mull. Apart from that we had three great northern divers, a single bonxie and smallish numbers of kittiwakes, gannets and auks.

Wheatear and small copper, Moss Lane

Moss lane continued to produce the goods today in an unexpected way with a small copper butterfly in grass next to one of the horse paddocks. I don't see that many small coppers these days so this was most unexpected at the end of September.

This 1st winter wheatear was in the same horse paddock that the "eastern" yellow wagtail was in last weekend. 

Spotted flycatcher, Moss Lane

Photo: © Ray Banks. 

I was going to give Moss Lane a miss today and went to Pennington Flash first thing instead. However, Ray's find of a spotted flycatcher had me rushing my lunch and heading off to St Helens. Not a bad drive at midday, just 21 minutes from home.

The bird was showing well in trees around the farm buildings in Moss Lane and occasionally flycatching. Also today, a magnificent hunting peregrine over the stubble field where the barnacle geese were on Monday and at least 60 swallows.

Photo: © Ray Banks

Stonechat, Pennington Flash

An excellent few hours at Pennington Flash this morning cumulating in the discovery of a 1st winter stonechat on the ruck. It might not seem much, but this was my first stonechat at the flash since 29th November 1981! What a beauty it was. I love this photo, the rose hips really set off the orange breast of the bird and what a contrast with the green leaves.

While I was watching it a great white egret flew in high from the north and landed on the side of the ruck. Again nothing too unexpected about that you might think, yet I'd just been watching two in view at the same time, one on the south side, the other at the western end reedbed. Although I could no longer see these birds, it seems very likely that this latest sighting was a third bird. Quite amazing if it was!

Other birds included the common sandpiper still at the sailing club, two swallows at the western end, 28 shoveler, two little egrets and two willow tits.

Swallows on the move

Swallows are on the move, there was a small passage west at Dairy Farm Road today, including this group of 18 which rested briefly on overhead wires.

Feral barnacles at Moss Lane, St Helens

I called in again at Moss Lane, St Helens this morning, half hoping that the yellow wagtail from Saturday would still be present, but mainly hoping to finally connect with the feral barnacle goose flock which frequents the area. No sign of the wagtail but fortunately the geese were present on the stubble fields next to the rugby ground and a count revealed at least 261 birds, along with 200+ Canada geese. The two species were right next to each other in the field but there was hardly any overlap and I didn't see anything which looked like a hybrid. 

I do find it quite amazing how scarce barnacle goose is at Pennington Flash, just 10 miles down the road. In 40 years I've only seen four at the flash, yet these birds do wander at least as far as Martin Mere occasionally and individuals from this flock have been recorded as far as Surrey, something we know thanks to a colour ringing project.

"eastern?" yellow wagtail, Moss Lane, St Helens

I was walking along Moss Lane, St Helens this morning, hoping to catch up with a flock of feral barnacle geese that had been reported on fields near Liverpool St Helens rugby ground. I was halfway along a section of the lane that has a high hedge on either side when suddenly I heard and then saw a yellow wagtail fly over and immediately disappear behind the hedge as it headed west. 

I was intrigued because I knew that this was a late date for me to see yellow wagtail, especially in the local area where I only had two previous records for (early) September.

It only took me seconds to get back to a gap in the hedge where I could see the fields, but even so the bird had long since disappeared. It hadn't been particularly high though, and it didn't look like it was just passing through, so I guessed that it might have headed for one of the many horse paddocks in the area.

I searched each horse paddock in turn without joy, until finally I heard the bird call again and there it was, in the very last paddock with about 10 each of meadow pipits and pied wagtails. I was immediately struck by how grey it was!

I couldn't see any yellow on the bird, except perhaps the fringes of the tertials and primaries which looked a little yellowish. The bird's underparts including the undertail coverts were very pale grey.

As soon as I saw it on the ground I thought that it might be eastern yellow wagtail which is considered a separate species these days, but my heart sank a little because I was also aware that without a sound recording and/or DNA it would never progress much further than a possible.

I did hear the bird call a couple of times, but I had no opportunity to record it and I'm not even sure that my phone would have picked it up in any case. The clearest call was when I first heard it flying over when it just sounded like a very clear and crisp yellow wagtail call. It certainly didn't stand out to me as anything unusual, but I wouldn't necessarily take that as a negative or otherwise for eastern yellow wagtail, because it's a species that I'm not familiar with and I'm generally not great at distinguishing subtleties in call. 

However, having distributed the photos to various people asking for advice and comment, almost everybody including a current member of BBRC seem to think that it has good potential for eastern yellow wagtail, though one person did say that in his opinion it is most likely flava (blue-headed). Unfortunately as expected all comments have the caveat that a sound recording and/or DNA is required to confirm the identification.

So as expected I'll never know for sure, but we are in the middle of a run of east / north easterly winds which have been with us for at least the past three or four days, so given this fact and the relatively late date in this area, it's tempting to think that whatever the true identification of this bird, it's origins are most likely not Britain but much further afield. 

Hunting dragons along Langley's Brook

It was a glorious late afternoon at Martin Mere, I was actually hoping to see a Russian white-fronted goose, but in the end it was a couple of breathtaking hobby's that stole the show. They were perching in a tree at the back of Sunley's marsh but frequently flew off and hunted dragonflies along Langley's Brook. They're always fabulous birds when they're hunting and they seemed to be doing alright since I saw them eating from their talons on several occasions. I've seen hobby's hunting like this before but never at Martin Mere.

Langley's Brook to the right of the photo.

This Russian white-front has been with greylags for about a week. It may seem strange that the bird is associating with feral greylags rather than the pink-feet which are all around, but it's not particularly unusual. I've seen white-fronts and bean geese with feral greylags previously, most notably a small flock with greylags at Leighton Moss in 2015. 

Three egret day at the flash

This morning I spotted a cattle egret flying over the ruck and then over the flash away south east at 07:10. I'd already seen the great white and little egrets so for the first time ever we had a three egret day at the flash and it had barely gone daylight. 

Cattle egrets are surprisingly scarce still in Greater Manchester and also St Helens. Last week there were 35 birds at Martin Mere and there are often double figure counts at nearby Hale (near Speke), Frodsham and Helsby. Yet the borough of St Helens has only ever had one cattle egret way back in 2008.

Black tern at last

As usual I was at the flash early morning and managed to find a juvenile black tern hawking for insects at the western end. I'd more or less given up with the species at the flash this year, not surprising when when you consider that today is the 14th September and my latest ever here was 17th. Other birds today included a female shelduck and common sandpiper, plus the usual great white and little egrets.

Late swift and a hobby, Pennington Flash

A decent morning at Pennington Flash turned into a very good morning when I got a message from Ian informing me that there was a swift over the sailing club drifting towards the western end. Fortunately I was at the western end and managed to pick it up straight away and better still, while I was watching it a hobby flew over, circled around and then disappeared behind the trees at Mossley Hall Farm. The hobby was my first and probably last at the flash this year, whilst the swift was my latest ever at the flash and my 8th latest ever in the UK. It would need to hang around for another week to break that record.

Earlier two common sandpipers were at the sailing club where I also accidently flushed a great white egret from the shore below the gap where we view from, while 50 swallows flew south east and joined a larger flock of 150 over the fields on the south side. Chiffchaffs are still on the ruck in double figures, some singing, a few meadow pipits went over, a redshank was heard and a flock of 130 pink-footed geese went over heading east.

Pink-footed geese over the flash

A flock of 27 pink-footed geese heading west this morning were my first of the winter at the flash. Also today, two common sandpipers at the sailing club, two female / immature common scoter, two great white egrets, four little egrets and 10 each of house martin and swallow.

Kittiwake, Carr Mill Dam

A smart adult kittiwake was at Carr Mill Dam this morning, found by Bill Harrison. As is so often the case with these wind blown seabirds it looked a but knackered but by 13:30 is was gone, having hopefully flown back to sea rather than been attacked by a larger gull.

There were some pretty dreadful showers today, if you caught one you got a real drenching.

Knot at the Flash

A juvenile knot was at the sailing club this morning, along with two common sandpipers. My fourth knot at the flash.

Two common scoter were in the middle of the flash this afternoon. This is the third consecutive day that I have seen common scoter in the afternoon but not in the morning. 

Wilson's Phalarope, Marshside

A Wilson's phalarope on Junction Pool at Marshside, Southport today showed reasonably well in the poor light conditions and was my 11th in the UK. Four of those birds were at Martin Mere and given the history of movement of birds between Marshside and Martin Mere, there's still a chance that this could become my 5th at Martin Mere! Always great birds

Otter at the west end

Otters have been reported at Pennington Flash for a few years now but they're very rarely seen. I visit the flash almost daily but I've only had one previous sighting which lasted about 5 seconds. Today I was amazed to see an otter at the western end fishing for almost one hour. Occasionally it caught a small fish and would lie on it's back in the water eating it and then start fishing again, until finally it came up with a large eel which it took to the shore to eat, sadly out of view for me. Even in Scotland I've rarely had views so good. Possibly the highlight of the year at the flash for me.

Egrets at Pennington Flash

Photo: Great white egret
Ramsdales, Pennington Flash.

There's been an explosion of little egrets at Pennington Flash in the recent years and they even breed nearby these days. In the past week there's been at least seven around the edge of the flash as well as up to two of the somewhat rarer great white egret. Cattle egrets remain surprisingly scarce.

A day of passage at Pennington Flash

A fabulous start to September began when I found a wheatear on the ruck at 7am. It might not sound like much, but my first of the year at the flash was as recent as Wednesday and these two records are my first and second ever at the flash in autumn! 

Whilst walking around the ruck I heard the distinctive call of two tree pipits flying over and then the seven whistles of a whimbrel. The latter kept flying around the flash, occasionally looking like it might leave, before returning and looking like it might drop on the spit. A little later I called in at Horrock's hide and found the bird down on the spit, before it finally left at 9am.

Other highlights today included a great white egret and another juvenile black-necked grebe.