Lytham Moss

Great grey shrike 1
Stonechat 2

Not the big dipper today!

Lytham Crematorium

Ring-necked parakeet 6

Year: 278 (Ring-necked parakeet)

Hesketh Out Marsh, Ribble Estuary

Merlin 1
Whooper swan 50
Pink-footed goose 3000
Little egret 8
Curlew 50
Redshank 50
Goosander 1 female

Baxters farm, Banks Marsh, Ribble estuary

Great white egret 1
Wigeon 3000
Ruff 1

Curlew lane, Martin Mere

Pink-footed goose 5000
Whooper swan 200

Fantastic scenes in Curlew lane, with thousands of pink-footed geese and at least 200 whooper swans feeding on the fields. A farmer walked around the edge of the field and all of the geese took to the air in a deafening spectacle, yet strangely the swans didn't fly. No sign of the snow goose, though it was seen to fly over Martin Mere earlier in the afternoon.

Caerlaverock

Green-winged teal 1 male
Barnacle goose 7000
Whooper swan 60
Black-tailed godwit 60
Wigeon 500
Teal 900

Barnacle geese

Green-winged teal with Eurasian teal.

Green winged teal displaying to a female Eurasian teal.

Notice the wigeon with the patch of white on it's head. Behind the teal.

Dumfriesshire

Jack snipe 6 flushed
Woodcock 1
Merlin 1
Snipe 50

Appleton Reservoir, Warrington

Mandarin  1 female 

Shoveler 2 males 

Teal 1 female 

Tufted duck 19

Gadwall 13

Mute swan 2 adults 

Snow Goose, Downholland Moss

Snow goose 1
Pink-footed goose 500
Buzzard 1
Golden plover 50
Lapwing 100

Year: 277 (Snow goose)

My first proper snow goose (e.g. one with wild pink-feet) for 18 years. My last was also on Downholland Moss, in November 1996.

Slender grasshopper, Queens Park

I might not be seeing many birds at the moment, but I keep finding interesting things around the house. This little grasshopper, no more than 1.5cm long is slender grasshopper Tetrix subulata,  apparently the first record for St Helens. I'm not sure what it was doing in my backyard! The white on its face is paint. I can't find any other records of the species from St Helens.

Queens Park

Twenty fieldfare over the house this afternoon. Also at least one grey wagtail and a few redwings.