Black redstart, Horton's Nose

This female type black redstart was at Horton's Nose at the mouth of the River Clwyd at Rhyl today.

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Bufflehead, Foryd Bay

There's been a drake bufflehead frequenting the North Wales coast since the beginning of December and finally today I managed to catch up with it. Bufflehead is a North American species and this is, I think, the first record for Wales. 

It was originally found at Point of Ayr near Rhyl while we were in Cyprus but only stayed a day before disappearing for a week and finally being relocated at Foryd Bay just before Christmas. It's a new UK species for me but I've been putting off going until now because I knew that I had a job coming up on Anglesey yesterday so I gambled and decided to stay over in Caernarfon last night in the hope of seeing the bird. 

At first I thought that my cunning plan was going to fail because it hadn't been reported since Saturday and the places it was frequenting at the end of last week required a high tide in order for it to be there and unfortunately both high tides during my visit were in the hours of darkness (18:06 last night and 06:48 today - you couldn't make it up!). 

However, after a couple of hours searching and with the tide receding all of the time, moving the available open water further and further away, I was at the point when I'd all but given up, when suddenly and with much relief, I spotted the bufflehead on the river on the east side of the bay just north of the hide, at a distance of about half a mile (800m).  

After watching for a few minutes I began to wonder what my options were for getting closer. I've not been to Foryd Bay for years and don't really know the area, but I looked at a map and worked out how I might be able to get closer by driving a couple of miles north. 

Parking is a problem here but eventually I found somewhere and a quick scan of the river revealed the bird with a few goldeneye and a drake scaup about 250m away. Yet even now there was another twist as within a couple of minutes of parking here, an abnormal load escort vehicle pulled up and asked me if I could move another 400m away in order to make room for an approaching articulated lorry transporting a static caravan which was due past in 15 minutes. Doh! You really couldn't make it up!

I had no option but to oblige, but once the lorry had gone past I drove back to my parking spot, checked that the bufflehead was still there and then walked around a rocky bay to an even closer vantage point, where I was now about 150m from the bird .

What a tremendous experience to watch this wonderful duck swimming in amongst displaying goldeneye in the company of a drake scaup. Not as close as I believe it was earlier in its stay when it frequented a saltmarsh pool close to the track at the south west corner of the bay, but this was a very evocative and a thrilling sight and exactly the way I wanted to see the bird.

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Siberian chiffchaff, Glazebury WWTW

I called in at Glazebury WWTW this morning hoping to catch up with the Siberian chiffchaff that was reported yesterday. There were several chiffchaffs on the beds and occasionally flying up into the trees, including the bird in the photo which I'm pretty certain is Siberian chiffchaff. 

Call is the most important identification feature and without hearing it, it's virtually impossible to be sure, however this bird is very brown on it's upperparts and buffy below, without any obvious olive on the crown or mantle. Crucially, it has a buff supercilium and rusty looking ear-coverts, as well as very black looking legs. I checked all of these features out in the field as well as in the photos when I got home.

I tried a bit of playback and the bird responded immediately, flying up into the tree near where I was standing, but unfortunately it refused to call itself. After spending about 20 minutes with this bird and satisfying myself that I wasn't likely to get any better photos, I moved about 10m further along the fence and viewed another bed. After another 10 minutes I heard a Siberian chiffchaff calling from the area where I had watched the bird in the photo, but unfortunately I couldn't be sure that it was the same bird so although I'm happy enough that there was a Sibe present, I can't say for sure that it's bird in the photos....if you see what I mean.  

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The icey flash

Pennington Flash has 95% ice cover at the moment but still holds 1st win drake scaup, 200 tufted ducks, 25 goldeneye, 35 pochard, 10 goosander, 150 teal, 80 shoveler and a great white egret, plus lots of the usuals.

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Another amazing day at Martin Mere

Another amazing day at Martin Mere, highlights a 1st winter pale-bellied brent goose (my first on the reserve for 30 years), adult Russian white-fronted goose and a barnacle goose with a good sized flock of pink-footed geese on Plover field. Also ringtail hen harrier, short-eared owl, barn owl,  glossy ibis and drake ring-necked duck all showing well, plus 3 great white egrets, 20+ cattle egrets, 2 little egrets, 6 chiffchaffs which included a possible Siberian chiffchaff and all of the usual wildfowl and waders. 10.2km (6.5 miles) walked around the reserve today, much of it with Graham Clarkson. Hard to think of a better site in North West England, or a better way to spend my day.

Pale-bellied brent goose with pink-footed geese.

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