Pennington Flash

Not a bad early morning at Pennington Flash, with Black Tern, Red-necked Grebe and two Black-necked Grebes all seen well (and all juveniles!).

Seaforth

We had a good afternoon at Seaforth today, with a nice selection of birds. Juvenile Black Tern was possibly the highlight, but also juvenile Black-necked Grebe, Yellow Wagtail and three adult Mediterranean Gulls.

There were quiet a few waders, with two Common Sandpipers, hundreds of Redshank, a few Knot, 50 Curlew, Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits as well as about 50 Common Terns.


Juvenile Black Tern


Yellow Wagtail (left) and juvenile Black-necked Grebe.

In the morning we visited Martin Mere, which was a lot quieter, though we did see juv. Marsh Harrier and a Little Owl.

Red-backed Shrike Frodsham

I went to Frodsham Marsh today to see a juvenile Red-backed Shrike, my first in the North West. Also on Number 6 tank, 10 Curlew Sandpipers.

Red-necked Grebe, Pennington Flash

I biked it to Pennington Flash today to see a stunning juvenile Red-necked Grebe. Forget how dull juv Great crested, Black-necked and Little Grebes look, juvy Red-necked looks almost as good as the adult. As it happens, there was also a Black-necked Grebe present as well!

Hilbre Island

A long, exhausting, yet ultimately productive day started as I arrived at West Kirby at 6:00am ready for the 40 minute walk over to Hilbre. The forecast was for light south easterly winds, seemingly ideal for migration on the island.
The first migrant I saw was a Wheatear on Middle Eye during the walk across, but once on the main island things seemed a little slow, with just a couple of glimpses of Willow Warblers on the first walk around.
However things improved as the morning progressed, with three Yellow Wagtails, a decent passage of Swallows and a few House Martins recorded. Most pleasing of all, a Treecreeper was seen to come in off the sea and was initially seen on one of the stunted Sycamore trees, before heading off into a Heligoland trap to claim its prize of a shiny new ring! Treecreepers are rarities on the island, and this was a Hilbre tick for me.
Seawatching wasn't bad considering the conditions, with 3 Arctic Skuas, 40 Gannets, 10 Little Terns and lots of Sandiwch Terns seen. I left the island at about 12 noon.

Treecreeper in Hilbre forest (left) and in the hand (right).

Highfield Moss

Couldn't resist another visit to this site today. Having just spent 6 hours on Hilbre from early morning, a 20 mile round trip bike ride to Lowton perhaps wasn't the best idea, but at least I felt fit and healthy at the end of it!

Black Darter (left) and Devil's-bit Scabious. I was really pleased to get such a nice photo of the darter, which has always eluded me in the past.

Spot the difference


Gorse (left) - a big bushy plant with grey / green spikes and branches, and lots of twiglets coming off the branches. Western Gorse (right) - a small plant with yellowy green spikes and branches, and no twiglets. Oh yeah, and one's in full flower whilst the other is in seed........

Highfield Moss, Lowton

A little known site in the north west is Highfield Moss at Lowton, just behind the Travellers Rest pub, and frustratingly 200 yards outside St Helens! It's only a small site, but has some excellent mosssland, with the star attraction being the nationally scarce Marsh Gentian, of which I found about 35 flower heads. In previous years I have counted up to 115, but it seems to be declining at the site.
But it's not just about gentians, and there are lots of other interesting plants, such as the fly eating Round-leaved Sundew, Western Gorse, Goldenrod, Devil's-bit Scabious, Cross-leaved Heath and lots more, as well as a couple of nice looking dragonfly pools.

Marsh Gentian (left) and Round-leaved Sundew (right).

Emerald Damselfly. A largish damselfly, which tends to sit with it's wings spread rather than along the body, which accounts for it's other name, Common Spreadwing. Notice also its eyes, which are seperated, unlike most dragonflies where the eyes touch.

A gem of a site! On the right, Goldenrod.

Western Gorse (left), flowers between July and October. All of the commoner gorse was in seed and is a much bigger plant. This was the only plant in flower, and it was in full flower! On the right is Cross-leaved Heath.

Sankey Valley, Cambourne Pond

Kingfisher 1

Eccleston Mere

Marsh Harrier 1 probably juv. flew south over fields.
Scoter sp. 4 flew over north east, presumably Common.
Shoveler 1
Teal 1
Buzzard 1
Pochard 1 f

Frustratingly I couldn't say what the Scoter were for sure, but there was no doubt about the harrier, which although it was in view for just a minute or so before it disappeared over the trees, was without question Marsh!

Silver Howe and Blea Rigg, Grasmere, Cumbria

Despite the poor summer, it was yet another beautiful day to be in the Lake District, so it seemed a shame not to visit Grasmere once again. Some really spectacular views across Langdale, and in the opposite direction Helvelyn and Fairfield.

Star of the day, Golden-ringed Dragonfly. We saw two, a male a female flying along a small stream high up on Silver Howe. A beautiful location to find Britains largest dragonfly. My third new dragonfly species this year.

On other pools we saw several Black Darters and a few Common Hawkers, but no Keeled Skimmers this week.

Male Golden-ringed Dragonly (left) are quite a bit smaller than the females. Black Darter (right), a lot smaller than either male or female Golden-ringed, in fact probably about a third the size!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly habitat (left) on Silver Howe, and Common Hawker and Black Darter habitat (right). Now own up, it's a bit more scenic than either Bold Moss or the Sankey Valley! In the left hand photo you can see Fairfield in the background, in the right, Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Harrison Stickle.

A dragon at Seaforth and 3 Wood Sands at Martin Mere

For the third week running we started off the day at Seaforth and ended it at Martin Mere. Seaforth was fairly quiet, but we did see this magnificent Common Hawker dragonfly.


The close up photo on the right shows not only its amazing eyes, but also most of the features which identify this as Common Hawker, as opposed to Migrant, Southern or even Southern Migrant! The eyes are blue above and brown below, the thorax (side of the body) is brown with two yellow stripes, the antehumeral stripes (the yellow stripes behind the eyes) are long and thin, there is a yellow leading edge to the wing. On the left hand photo, you can also see the "pinched" waist.

At Martin Mere, there were now three Wood Sandpipers showing nicely from the Ron Barker hide, with a Water Rail, two Marsh Harriers and a handful of Ruff.