Painted Lady

Painted Lady butterfly in the garden today. It's been a good year generally for butterflies this year but I've so far not seen a lot of this species. Painted lady is a migrant butterfly from Southern Europe and arrives here in variable numbers each year. The fourth in the garden this year.

Curlew sandpiper at Leighton Moss

A great weekend in the Leighton Moss area, with the highlight a juvenile curlew sandpiper at the Allan Pools. Other birds seen this weekend included bittern and osprey from Lower hide.

Ruff, Pennington Flash

A great couple of hours at the flash this afternoon, with this juvenile (male?) ruff the highlight. It was quite comical to watch it feeding on weed washed up on the tideline of the spit. It walked at pace from the top of the spit all the way down to Horrock's hide and then back three times while I watched, feeding all the time. Ruffs are rare birds at the flash, we get more avocets annually these days, and presumably the same bird was reported yesterday. I don't know what the weed is but it appeared on the tideline a week or two ago and is probably what has kept the bird here because there is precious little other habitat for it.

Also today a hobby hunted over the ruck, a great white egret was on the mini spit and two green sandpipers were in Ramsdales.

Montagu's harrier, Marshside

A stunning juvenile Montagu's harrier has been at Marshside Southport for a few days and possibly for as long as a month. I got chance to call in this morning due to an appointment in Southport and I was there for 8am. At about 8.15am I was walking towards the sand plant from the wildfowlers pull in, when suddenly the bird appeared and was flying towards me, at a distance of about 70m. 

Back in 2002 I found a Monty's on Reeds Moss near Rainford and I remember well how taken I was at the time by it's completely different jizz to hen harrier. My first impression on seeing the Rainford bird was that it was a large falcon, and only when it started hunting did I realise that it was a harrier. 

It was exactly the same today. Even before I saw it's white rump or any detail on the bird I knew straight away that it was Monty's, because it was flying in the same falcon like way.

I was very fortunate today. Before my plans changed yesterday, I was going to go to Marshside this afternoon, after a planned meeting in Warrington. If that had happened I wouldn't have seen the bird. At 9am it started to ride the thermals and circled higher and higher until it was just a dot even through the telescope. We thought it was going but it dropped considerably and seemed to head towards Hesketh Out Marsh before being lost to view. There have been no sightings since 9am.

Garden warbler and Spotted flycatcher Billinge Hill

Spring used to be my favourite season but not anymore, I just love autumn. There's something really special about a bright, still, sunny morning with blue skies and the trees and bushes full of berries and fruit. An elder tree has chiffchaffs and blackcaps moving around, and suddenly a garden warbler appears. What else might be in there?

I see a dead tree in a distant pine wood and think to myself "That looks good for a flycatcher". So I make my way over to it and sure enough, a spotted flycatcher is sitting on one of the top most branches.

Willow Emerald Damselflies, Bickershaw

Willow emerald damselfly was first recorded in the UK as recently as 2009 but like many other species of odonata it has rapidly spread north. Even so, iRecord shows no previous records of willow emerald in Greater Manchester so it was nice to find at least three individuals at Bickershaw today including this pair egg laying. Unlike most species of odonata which lay their eggs in water, willow emerald lays it's eggs in the bark of trees, mainly alder and willow. A potential first for Greater Manchester,  this is another remarkable record for Bickershaw in 2025, following 12 Norfolk hawkers and 8 keeled skimmers earlier in the summer.

Identification features visible in this photo include pale pterostigma (the rectangular shapes near the tip of the wings) and an obvious spur in the pale lower part of the thorax. The damselfly also has a relatively long abdomen compared to other damselflies, and pale appendages at the end of the dark tipped abdomen.

Albino moorhen, Bickershaw

If ever a bird deserved a post of it's own, this is it. An albino / leucistic moorhen at Bickershaw Country Park today. What a bird! On the small pond adjacent to Diggle Flash.

Passage continues at Billinge Hill

This morning at Billinge Hill, three pipits were heard passing over but none were found on the ground or, as is more usual, on the wires. Also today a peregrine and raven flew over and a single swift was flying around the beacon. Quite a few warblers still about, willow warbler, chiffchaff, blackcap and whitethroats.

A few days at Great Langdale and Coniston

A great few days camping in Great Langdale in spectacular scenery. The birding highlight was one which I couldn't possibly photograph because it was lying in bed in the tent at night listening to hooting and screeching tawny owls which seemed to be all around us at one point.

On the way we stopped off at Torver Common near Coniston where there were a few dragonflies on the wing including most pleasingly a very late downy emerald in the woods not far from Torver Jetty.

The photo above is of Bowfell.

Looking down the Mickleden valley at the head of Great Langdale.

Osprey and tree pipits Billinge Hill

I've been targeting Billinge Hill for the past few mornings hoping to pick up a few tree pipits on their annual August passage over the hill. I arrived this morning at 7:30am and did my usual walk up to the beacon and sat down with my coffee and waited. 

Within a few minutes I saw a large raptor drifting towards me from the north, which I immediately knew was an osprey. It slowly circled overhead but all the time moving south and it seemed to me that it was heading for Carr Mill Dam, so I messaged Bill in the hope that he might be there and fortunately he was. A few minutes later he messaged me to say that he had watched it for 10 minutes at the Dam before it moved off east, perhaps towards Pennington Flash, which is ironic if it did, because neither Bill nor I were there to see it!

A very exciting experience, almost as good as it gets for me on a vismig watch from Billinge Hill! No sight or sound of any tree pipits though, so I decided to go back again this afternoon.

Wow! Only my third osprey ever in St Helens. My first was at Eccleston Mere on 9th April 1997, while the second was unbelievably over the car park at Ruskin Drive sports ground on 26th June 2005 as I waited with my son for his cricket team mates to arrive. These were my notes from the time: 

"On a glorious sunny Sunday morning, I was waiting on the car park at Ruskin Drive with a few other parents, as we prepared to transport the Under 13s cricket team to Ormskirk for a game. Suddenly I became aware that a number of gulls were mobbing a large raptor, quite low down, roughly over the security hut.  

Fortunately I usually have a pair of binoculars in the car, so immediately made a grab for them and was onto the bird straight away. I was astounded to see that it was an Osprey, a rare, migrant visitor to St Helens with less than 10 records ever, despite the species increasing nationally in recent years. The bird flew across the car park, up over the poplar trees and over Queens Park school playing fields, accompanied by its entourage of gulls and was lost to sight behind the trees. However, I could still hear the gulls, and a minute later it was back, having seemingly decided to ride the thermals over the school playing fields and over Queen Park itself."

This afternoon I decided to have a walk over to Billinge North Top which is just the other side of the road to the beacon. It was a good decision because two tree pipits flew up calling at point blank range and landed on wires above my head. Wonderful! In the photos you can see the fine streaking on the flanks contrasting with the thicker streaking on the breast, also the relatively short hind claw.

Curious southern hawker

Photographing any flying insect is a challenge to say the least, but dragonflies do at least give you a chance because they are large and hover a lot. Southern hawkers in particular are very curious and will come close to you to see what you're all about! 

Another good collection of species at Bickershaw today, nothing new but nice to get a few more photos.

Male southern hawker.

Male common darter.

Hilbre Island

This morning I had opportunity to get over to Hilbre Island before cricket at Wallasey in the afternoon. It was a decent enough mid-August visit with birding highlights being a couple of juvenile shags off the north end, four wheatears, whimbrel and a drake common scoter. As always though, it's so much more than just birds with great views and an all round tremendous experience, though as is typical in August there were too many people about for my liking. Bring on an autumn storm I say, then lets see where the crowds are!

I was concentrating so much on the bird on the little island that I hadn't noticed this one which was quite close by to where I was sitting!

A five hawker day at Bickershaw

A five hawker day at Bickershaw this afternoon, with common, southern, migrant and brown hawkers all seen well, along with emperor.  Also today a few emerald damselflies. 

Common hawker was new for me at this site bringing my personal total here to 18 species since the middle of June! Birds included two great white egrets and five little egrets on Nevisons.

Female common hawker ovipositing.

Male emerald damselfly.

Male migrant hawker, one of at least 15 today.

Billinge Hill

It's that time of year again when tree pipits are passing over, and in St Helens terms that can only mean one thing.... a few early morning visits to Billinge Hill are in order.

Today I was there at 6.30am and they didn't let me down, with three heard. Also this morning, a lesser whitethroat with a roaming tit/warbler flock.

The emperor and other hawkers at Bickershaw

We're in August and the focus now turns to hawkers and darters at Bickershaw. Today there were at least two southern hawkers, two migrant hawkers and one probable common hawker in amongst the brown hawkers and emperors that have been around for a while. Southern and migrant hawker are often seen patrolling glades in woodland and can occasionally show very well. Common hawker is much rarer in this area, though I know that they have been seen at Bickershaw this year.

Star of the show today though was the stunning emperor shown in the photo at the top of the post, which was the first that I have ever managed to photograph. They just never seem to land!

Female southern hawker.

Palpitations and a bad hair day at Martin Mere

Ok, I know it's a common tern, but if you had a brief glimpse of this head peaking out from in amongst a group of black-headed gulls what would you think!

Imagine if you couldn't see the rest of it's body, just the head and bill, for a split second. 

I've seen a common tern like this previously, a very late bird at Pennington Flash (opens in a new window) in October 2017 which had a yellow tip to its bill. I don't know if it's the time of year or just that a percentage of common terns don't have a black tip or perhaps it's a non-breeding thing, I don't know, but the lack of a black tip seems to make the bill look larger and the yellowy tip makes the overall bill look more orange than red. At least to my partially colourblind eyes it does! Add to this the lack of tail streamers and yes it's safe to say that for a moment at least I was aware of my heart beat! Pity about the red legs.....

I can find no reference online or in any of my books including BWP, to common terns with yellow tips to their bills at any time of year or at any age. Furthermore, I've posted this on various social media outlets and I get almost no replies and very few likes. At the time of writing I've seen just two other photos of birds with yellow tips, one from Hoylake in September 2019 of a bird which looks like the Pennington Flash bird with a dark bill and yellow tip and the other from South West Spain on 1st September 2024 of a bird which looks identical to todays bird. Interestingly all four birds were adults photographed in late summer or autumn. Based on the evidence I have seen so far, I can only assume that this is a very unusual feature of common tern at this time of year.

Sandwich tern on no. 9 buoy

Once again a dull drizzly day at Pennington flash produced the goods with the discovery of an adult Sandwich tern on no.9 buoy just off the sailing club. It was found at 7.25am and was still on the buoy when I left at 8.30, but apparently was gone by 9.00am. Also this morning a curlew flew over calling, 10 common terns and quite a few hirundines, mainly sand martins, plus about 100 swifts.