Some of Dave's photos

Dave Owen recently sent me a disk with some of his best photos of 2014. Up until now I've only very rarely put other peoples photos on this blog, but things are going to change on the blog this year, as will become apparent as the year goes on! So here we go.... these are some of my favourites.

Juvenile pallid harrier, Steart WWT 28th October 2014. What a cracker! I've only ever had a dodgy 15 second view of a pallid harrier, but this is an incredible bird which I'll have to make more of an effort to see well this year.

I mean, this is nothing like a ringtail hen or Monty! Talk about falcon like!

American buff-bellied pipit, Denhall Lane, Burton marsh, Dee estuary 16th January 2014. This was my last lifer of 2013, I saw it for the first time on Christmas Day! Thanks Santa! This cracking photo clearly shows the birds pale lores, which are one of the features which distinguish it from water pipit.

Crag martin, Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire 12th April 2014. I was with Dave when he photographed this. A very difficult bird to photograph, great photo.

Grrrr! I've never seen this bogey bird. Olive-backed pipit Roker, Sunderland, 22nd October 2014. I dipped on one at Spurn in September but at least had the consolation of a masked shrike.



American coot, Loch Flemington, Inverness-shire, 13th March 2014. I've never even come close to seeing one of these in the UK, but I have seen them in Central Park, New York.



First winter American herring gull, Campbeltown, Mull of Kintyre, Argyle, 9th March 2014. Nice white head!

Eastern crowned warbler, Brotton 1st November 2014. About time to! I saw this species in the UK five years ago, but it took Dave, Ray and John until 2014 to catch up.

Ring-necked duck, Newton Lake. Grrrr again! Found by Peter Loydell, I was in Hampshire when this beauty turned up. I don't think I've ever seen one that look this good. Nice one Dave, nice one Peter!

Appleton Reservoir, Warrington

Pochard 2 m&f
Gadwall 2 m&f
Tufted duck 15
Great crested grebe 15
Grey wagtail 2
Sparrowhawk 1 m

Male sparrowhawk.

Great Northern Diver, Parsonage Reservoir, Blackburn

Juvenile great northern diver.

It was a freezing cold, dull day at Parsonage Reservoir.

Long-tailed Duck, Crosby Marina

This female long-tailed duck has been at Crosby Marina for a week or two and was showing very well in the northern corner of the marina.

Pilling Pom

For the past few days there has been a juvenile pomarine skua on the salt marsh at Cocker's Dyke, Pilling. It's been feeding on carcasses of ducks and gulls, and it allowed quite close approach. It was holding its left wing as if it was damaged but it was able to fly and looked quite powerful when in flight. Apparently the wing looked ok on Wednesday, so perhaps something has happened to it since then. Ironically pom skua was another species I didn't see last year, following last weeks harlequin.

Shore Lark, Rossall Point, Fleetwood

Marbury Country Park

Poor views of the Bittern in my lunch break today, but it was nice to see this Jay so well.

It was very difficult to get a clear shot of the bird without a branch in front or without a shadow on it.

Histrionics on the Don with a Harlequin

I picked up Dave at 3am this morning and by 3:15am we'd collected Ray and were on our way to Aberdeen, 350 miles to the north and a good 6 hour drive without a stop.

It was far from a pleasant journey, in darkness all of the way, we had heavy rain, strong winds and lorries swerving around in the road and kicking up so much spray that at times it was like driving through thick fog or in one particularly bad moment like a white out in a snow storm. In fact for most of the journey it felt like we were driving through a tunnel, with little or no motorway lighting and just blackness on either side of the road, and it wasn't until we reached the outskirts of Aberdeen that we started to see beyond the edge of the road. Only the road signs gave us an indication that we were making progress, Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, all passed in complete darkness and they offered little comfort as we headed further and further into the teeth of the storm.

However by 9:15am we had emerged from darkness and were standing on the car park at Seaton Park, on the banks of the River Don, in pleasant winter sunshine. This is where the first mainland Harlequin since 1996 and the first mainland male since 1965 had been found last Sunday. We set off down to the river, passing another St Helens birder Keiran Foster on the way. He'd beaten us to it and had already seen the bird! It didn't take long for us to see it either, in fact almost as soon as we arrived on the banks of the Don we saw the Harlequin flying down the river towards us, and amazingly it dropped onto the water right in front of us. Result! Big sigh of relief. It's a long way to go to dip, and it was nice to see the bird almost immediately, it really took the pressure off! Daylight hours are a big issue at this time of year, and I've read a couple of reports by other birders who needed a couple of attempts before they saw the bird. Despite being fairly approachable, it's ranged quite a long way up or down river from Seaton Park, and has been difficult to find at times.

Over the next few hours we watched it as it battled against the torrent of the Don and often dived under the water to feed. Somebody said it was behaving a bit like a dipper, and that was a pretty accurate description. Like dippers, harlequins feed on aquatic invertebrates which cling to the bottom of rocks or stems. Occasionally the bird would emerge from the water and perch up on a rock, often at very close range. It was a 1st winter drake, mainly brown but clearly showing signs of its blue adult plumage, particularly on its head. A fantastic bird, behaving just like a Harlequin should!

We left Seaton Park and headed up to Black Dog, but apart from a few red-throated divers and eiders it was quiet on the sea. At 13:45 we started back, and this time we had to battle our way through snow showers and hail stone, before finally arriving home at 20:15. A round trip of 720 miles in 17 hours.

The harlequins Latin name is Histrionicus histrionicus from the latin word histrio which  means actor.

UK Life: 405 (Harlequin)

Harlequins have large powerful feet, specially designed to allow them to power their way through torrents.

New information and photos regarding West Yorkshire Thayer's Gull

Martin Garner has posted some excellent new photos of the West Yorkshire Thayer's Gull. Any doubts about the identity of this bird or if it was ever at Pugney's now seem to be dispelled. All we need now is for BOURC to accept the record!

You can see the new photos on his blog, Birding Frontiers.