Agia Triada

A day of contrasts, we started at the small fishing harbour of Agia Triada just outside Paralimni and walked along the coast for a couple of kilometres enabling me to spot a greater sand plover with 7 grey plover, plus an Audouin's gull. The latter was a Cyprus first for me and the sand plover was the first I have seen on Cyprus away from Paphos headland. 

Then we went to Famagusta view point and saw the abandoned holiday resort of Varosha, apparently one of the most exclusive resorts in Europe until as recently as the early 1970's, a favourite of  stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, and Brigitte Bardot. These days it's all distant views, photography is strictly prohibited and I couldn't even look at it through my binoculars. 

A visit to northern Cyrpus - Famagusta South Lake

Local birder Peter Bromley and I visited Turkish occupied northern Cyprus today. It's the first time I've been able to go because car hire companies in southern Cyprus which I rely on won't allow it, but as a passenger in Peter's car there were no problems. We had to show our passports at two check points before driving through parts of the no go zone in Famagusta, with abandoned houses and businesses falling into ruins. 

The reason for the visit was to go to Famagusta south lake where there have been two white-headed ducks for about a week. After spending an hour here, we headed off to Mia Milia just east Nicosia, an outstanding site for water birds, before ending at the completely dry Kouklia wetlands where we saw a good selection of farmland birds including many larks. More of that later.

All of my previous sightings of white-headed duck have been in Spain with the last being at Laguna la Tarelo, Donana north of Cadiz in 2017. Smart little ducks and although there are apparently no recognised subspecies, I was still delighted to see these birds from the Asian population, most likely Turkey.

It's difficult photographing a bird with a white head and dark body in bright sunlight, hand held on your phone, through somebody else's scope at a distance of about 200m when the bloody things keep diving and are seemingly determined not to be on the surface at the same time, so give me a break here.....

Viewing at Famagusta was not particularly easy but the light was good. There were about 50 Greater flamingos, 50 ferruginous ducks, 40 pochard, loads of shoveler and teal, five great white egrets and about 30 cattle egrets, plus a couple each of Armenian and Caspian gulls. 

Continuing our journey in the north - Mia Milia and Kouklia Wetlands

Following our visit to Famagusta south lake we decided to make the most of our excursion into the north and pressed on towards Nicosia and Mia Milia sewage works. Regular readers will know that when on holiday abroad, nothing gets the Davies pulse racing like a visit to the nearest sewage works. In these hot dry countries they're often the only source of water for miles around and of course there's an abundance of food for the birds. In 2018 I spent three weeks in Melbourne Australia, of which two weeks were spent at Werribee sewage works (opens in a new window)! Sewage works are often top birding spots, I read somewhere that Werribee was rated as the second best wetland in the whole of Australia. So I was more than happy to visit Mia Milia today.

Highlight today was a juvenile common crane, a Cyprus first for me, as was an avocet, which obligingly posed in the same photo as the crane. There were good numbers of waders, with 50 spur-winged plover, 10 spotted redshanks, 3 Temminck's stints, little stint, ruff and redshank with 3 green, 8 wood and 3 common sandpipers, plus 110 lapwings.

There were lots of cattle egrets in the area, mainly roosting at the sewage works and feeding in nearby fields.

Shore lark again on the Great Orme

I was on the Great Orme for 8am today and it was a very different day to yesterday. For the first hour I was completely alone, not even a dog walker, and it was windy with very threatening skies but didn't actually rain. Then the threat became reality as a bank of heavy rain hit me and I decided to call it a day. 

In that dry period it was nice to locate the shore lark for myself and be able to watch it without other people about. It's a nice looking bird, and a wonderful location to see it.

Shore lark on the Great Orme

I was pleased to catch up with the shore lark on the Great Orme today after missing out last week. It's been elusive during its two week stay and went AWOL from lunchtime on Monday to Friday afternoon. 

The drive from home was through heavy drizzle and mist as far as Holywell, but then it brightened up and was a glorious day on the Orme with great big skies! 

This was a site tick for me. In recent years I've also seen snow bunting and Lapland bunting here.

Long-tailed duck, Taylor Park

Long-tailed Duck, Taylor Park
Photo © John Tymon

I was delighted to find a long-tailed duck at Taylor Park this afternoon whilst taking the toddler grandchild to the swings. It's the eighth record for St Helens and I've now managed to find three of them. My previous finds were at Eccleston Mere in 2005 and Prescot reservoirs in 2015, so with todays bird being in 2025, my next predicted sighting is 2035!

This coot kept chasing it.

Pochard and Goldeneye at the flash

The pochard flock at the Flash continues to build, with 59 off the car park this morning, apparently my largest flock ever at the Flash though I'm sure that must be more down to my under-recording in the 1980s & 90s. Certainly my largest flock this century. Also a build up of goldeneye today with 20 inc. 5 drakes.

Cattle Egrets

Yesterday I was at Martin Mere and saw a flock of 44 cattle egrets flying over the fields behind Sunley's, the largest flock of cattle egrets that I have ever seen in the UK. Earlier a dawn count had revealed at least 51 birds. Like little and great white, cattle egret has really spread in recent years to the extent that they now breed in the Southport area and last year I heard of a roost containing over 500 birds in Somerset. 

Even so, despite their dramatic increase they're still quite localised. For example, there's only ever been one record of the species in St Helens and that was way back in 2008, despite there being many square miles of suitable looking habitat on the Rainford mosslands. As the cattle egret flies, it's just 14km (9 miles) from the herd of cows at Dairy Farm Road to the flock of 51 cattle egrets at Martin Mere, but they never seem to make it. 

Greater Manchester does a little better but not much. I've seen five at Pennington Flash over the past 45 years, but it's still classed as a Greater Manchester mega. Meanwhile, Brockholes nature reserve near Preston on the Ribble, recorded it's first ever cattle egret just a few weeks ago.

Today I went for a walk on the Great Orme with Elaine. The birding highlight was this cattle egret flying over the sea below the lighthouse. It's certainly the first that I have ever seen at the Orme and when I checked my database, it turns out that it's only the second that I have ever seen in Wales. Perhaps I should get out more......

Billinge Hill vismig

Billinge Hill vismig 8am-10am most birds heading SSW: Woodpigeon 2939 in 50 flocks almost all before 9am & included one albino bird, redwing 93 in 10 flocks, fieldfare 61 in 3 flocks, stock dove 11, skylark 32, chaffinch 60 mainly in groups of 1-3 birds but one flock of 11, reed bunting 6, pink-footed goose 170 with 25 S & 145 E, song thrush 4.

Greater scaup, Pennington Flash

I don't normally bother with the greater part of this birds name, but I feel that in this instance I need to make clear that I am not referring to last Saturdays lesser scaup, which incidentally has not been seen again since. These birds showed quite nicely at the western end from Mossley Hall farm.

Jack snipe and merlin, Barrow Lane

Barrow Lane this morning, a jack snipe flushed from  the wood sandpiper pool by two mallard, flew low to the other side of the pool and landed again deep in vegetation. 

Also today, breathtaking view of a merlin again, low over the road hunting starlings, 20 fieldfares over, green sandpiper still and female / 1st winter stonechat. 

No geese at all this morning, though I was delayed because I called in at Pennington Flash first after being informed of 2 greater scaup there.

A second lesser scaup of the year, Pennington Flash

At 9.25am I received a text message from a fellow birder, BH, informing me that he had just seen a greater scaup at Pennington Flash but without a scope he couldn’t be 100% certain and very soon he had to leave. I messaged him back and told him that I was nearly at Green Lane with my scope and would check it out. On arrival it was immediately obvious that there had been a large build-up of tufted ducks and pochard, totalling around 400 birds with flocks at the west end, off the car park and in East Bay. However, I couldn’t see any scaup from Green Lane so I decided to drive around to the main car park. 

It wasn’t with the flock at the car park so I walked to Horrock’s hide and viewed East Bay from there. Almost immediately I saw a scaup sp. but it seemed obvious to me that from the head shape and size it was actually lesser scaup. It was a bit distant from here so I walked around to East Bay for a closer look.

Fortunately, when I arrived the bird was still present and I had decent views at a distance of about 100m, and also managed to take a video and some photos. The bird was an adult lesser scaup with a grey vermiculated back, white flanks and a black head and breast. It was similar size to the accompanying tufted ducks. 

The head shape was distinctive with an obvious peak on the rear crown. The bill was blue with a tiny black tip on the nail which seemed to rule out any possibility of a hybrid.

At 10:42 the flock was flushed by a yacht and flew off before splitting, some birds flying towards Ramsdales, the others to the bay off the car park. I walked back to my car and had a look through the flock off the car park but could not relocate the lesser scaup. It was not seen again. 

I messaged BH who by this time had left, to tell him that it was in fact a lesser scaup. His reaction was one of surprise because he said that the bird he had seen had been clearly larger than the tufted ducks and was not in his opinion lesser scaup. My next visit to the flash was three days later when two 1st winter greater scaup were found at the west end of the Flash. I saw these birds with BH and he told me that the scaup sp. that he had seen was most likely one of these birds. He remains adamant that the bird he reported was not lesser scaup.

This was the second lesser scaup at Pennington Flash / Greater Manchester in 2025. The first was also found by myself on 30th June and stayed for about two weeks before relocating to Audenshaw Reservoirs where it stayed until the end of August and then disappeared. That bird was considered to be a returning bird which has spent the past several summers in Greater Manchester and which historically has always disappeared at end of summer. Today's bird will be submitted to BBRC as a different bird due to its brief appearance so far outside the normal pattern of occurrence.

Knot, Carr Mill Dam

At 8am I got a message from Bill at Carr Mill Dam informing me that he had a knot on the concrete next to the outflow. I was aware that it wouldn't stay long, it only needed a dog walker to stick his head over the wall, or a fishermen to decide to go into that area and it would be gone, but I'd never seen one in St Helens, so I had to give it a go. 

At that time of day it's not an easy journey, with at least a couple of bottlenecks to negotiate including Haydock Island, plus a set of road works and school traffic, all combining to give me a estimated journey time of 32 minutes to cover just over 13km (8 miles).

Fortunately when I got there it was still present and showing well, though I did have to view through the metal fence around the outflow. I quickly fired off a few photos and then went back to the car for my coat and scope.

I set up the scope and took this very brief video before the bird flew and was gone, flying high to the south west until lost to sight. At the end of the video you can see it crouch immediately before it flew.

Pied wagtail, Barrow Lane

This smart winter plumage pied wagtail with a lemon yellow face was at Barrow Lane, St Helens this afternoon. I'm not sure I've ever seen one with such a bright yellow face before.

  

Green sandpiper and stonechat, Barrow Lane

Today I finally caught up with the green sandpiper that's been at Barrow Lane for a week. Also today, at least one stonechat, possibly two, a grey wagtail, teal, 10-20 yellowhammers, nine great black-backed gulls and 70 herring gulls, plus lots of skylarks and meadow pipits.

 

Common darter, Barrow Lane

A common darter at Barrow Lane was a late record for me. Also today, nearly 1000 pink-footed geese over, mainly heading east, teal still on the pool and a grey wagtail.

Passage in St Helens

A week of dull murky weather with light winds was not conducive to great photographs and I'm not going to even attempt to brighten them up because this what the conditions were like! 

I spent two hours from dawn on each of three mornings at the beacon on Billinge Hill counting birds as they passed over. Tuesday was the best day with good numbers of redwings and fieldfares mainly heading south / south west, plus a single ring ouzel. The three two hour stints produced in total redwing 2132, fieldfare 84,  ring ouzel 1, skylark 163, meadow pipit 48, chaffinch 153, woodpigeon 1826, pink-footed goose 253. Other birds seen around the beacon included stonechat 6, reed bunting 26, linnet 300+, goldfinch 100+, yellowhammer 10, coal tit 6, song thrush 16.

As far as I know stonechats don't breed in St Helens and actually these birds were the first that I have ever seen on Billinge Hill so they're either on passage or newly arrived winter visitors, but it's hard to be sure with birds like this and even harder with chaffinches etc. Are they just local birds flocking together for the winter or birds from further afield? I'm not sure, but there's definitely been a build up of chaffinches recently.

Wigeon, Newton Lake and J3581

 

Five wigeon on Newton Lake today were a site first for me and the 123rd species I've seen in St Helens this year. 

Black-headed gull J3581 at Newton Lake today. Ringed as a chick on 10th June 2024 at Langøyskjær, Råde, Østfold, Norway, just south of Oslo. Distance travelled 1056km (656 miles).

Escape from Barra

Thankfully the weather was calm and the ferry fully operational so there were no delays leaving the island. First time we came here we were three days delayed in leaving due to a ferry breakdown. 

It was a decent crossing with reasonable numbers of common dolphins and a few seabirds, best being a sooty shearwater that was close to the boat. Nothing like last years crossing when we had 1000 great shearwaters and 200 sooties but that was very much a once in a lifetime experience.

At least 40 common dolphins this morning with at least one calf seen. Around 20 were at the entrance to the Sound of Mull out from Tobermory, 10 were out from Castlebay on Barra and the rest somewhere in between.

Coal tit, Northbay

The rarest bird on the island at the moment is this coal tit, which is the first Barra record in two years. Before I saw it, I had hoped that it might be the continental race Periparus ater ater, but it clearly isn't, so I just put it down as the normal British coal tit.

However, after posting my images of this bird elsewhere, I have been contacted by a ringing friend who suggests that the obvious sulphur yellow cheeks make this a good candidate for P.a. hibernicus or Irish coal tit, a race that I'd not even considered previously. 

The sulphur yellow cheeks are visible in most of these photos. The white patch on the nape also seems to have a yellow tinge. Whatever race it is, it's a smart looking bird.

An interesting lesser whitethroat at Northbay

This morning we found this lesser whitethroat at Northbay, amazingly in the very same garden where we had previously seen our only other record of the species on the island in 2022. On looking at the photos I think that this is a strong contender for the subspecies Curruca curruca blythii also known as Siberian lesser whitethroat.

I've seen a few blythii over the years and this bird seems to have some characteristics of that race. Some of the photos are a little burnt out due to the bright sunlight which was right behind me, however it's upperparts appear sandy brown and this extends onto the birds nape, and it's underparts are quite buffy contrasting with the throat and this extends around to the undertail coverts. Finally, it appears to have a faint supercilium and it has pale panel in the secondaries. It also tacked several times, like the usual British race C.c.curreca, ruling out the race halimodendri which has been proven through DNA to occur on Barra at least once in the recent past.

Having discussed this bird with other birders here, the general feeling is that most of the lesser whitethroats in October and November are blythii and they typically appear around the same time as yellow-browed warblers.

Icelandic redwings. Turdus iliacus coburni

Redwings are now arriving in numbers on Barra and are of particular interest because they are the Icelandic race T.i. corbuni. I've never knowingly seen this race anywhere else except Barra and they differ from the more familiar T.i. illiacus in that they have more thickly streaked underparts giving them a much darker appearance. 

Otherwise a very, very quiet day. Three days to go....

Barnacle geese and goose barnacles

Incredible as it may seem now, in medieval times before we understood about bird migration, barnacle geese were believed to spawn from goose barnacles and in fact this is how the birds got their name.

With perfect timing, today we saw not only flocks of newly arrived barnacle geese flying past Eoligarry jetty, but also found some goose barnacles washed up on a nearby beach. Surely this is all the evidence we need that the old myth is true?

Sadly, the geese had not just emerged from the crustaceans, but the reality is even more amazing, they had just arrived in off the sea from their breeding grounds in Greenland. They annually pass over Barra on their way to their wintering grounds on Islay and elsewhere in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the goose barnacles belong in tropical / sub-tropical waters, where they attach themselves to any floating items in the ocean, which in the case of those we found today means human litter. The goose barnacles are unable to reproduce in the colder waters around Britain, so the floating litter must have originated many hundreds of miles away and over the course of many years floated to Barra, carried by storms and ocean currents, bringing the goose barnacles with them.