Appleton Reservoir, Warrington

Common sandpiper 1
Sand martin 20
Swallow 10
Whitethroat 1 singing m

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Oystercatcher 1
Redshank 1
Yellow wagtail 2

Appleton Reservoir, Warrington

Green woodpecker 1
Common sandpiper 1
Whitethroat 1 singing m

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Yellow wagtail 1
Green sandpiper 1
Black-tailed godwit 1
Little ringed plover 1
Common sandpiper 1
Redshank 2
Grey partridge 2

Year: 190 (Yellow wagtail)

Not a bad 20 minute stop on my way to work.

Godwit, green sandpiper, redshank.

Yellow wagtail.Quite an interesting photo of it flying up from the emergent willowherb.

Elton Reservoir

At Elton Reservoir this afternoon, five adult little gulls, female long-tailed duck, common tern, sedge warbler and several whitethroats. The long staying long-tailed duck is now approaching summer plumage.

Year: 189 (Whitethroat, sedge warbler)

Four of the five little gulls.

Long-tailed duck.

Sedge warbler

Common Sandpiper and Field Woodrush

Luzula campestris.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Black-tailed godwit 1
Little ringed plover 2
Redshank 2

Well, that's it then

After 53 years (nearly!) of living in St Helens I've finally moved and now live in Lowton. Highlights of my career in St Helens include finding an American black tern at Eccleston Mere, four common cranes over Berrington's Lane and a Montagu's harrier over Reed's Moss. It was fun, but it's time to move on. The blog will continue pretty much as normal, but since I'm now within walking distance of Pennington Flash, and not far from what's left of Houghton Green Flash, it's likely to be dominated by these places rather than the likes of Eccleston Mere.

Pennington Flash

Five black-necked grebes on the flash today, at the western Slag Lane end. Four of them were in summer plumage, but the fifth was in non-breeding plumage. Also today, two singing reed warblers and a common tern.

Year: 187 (Black-necked grebe, reed warbler).

Summer plumage black-necked grebe.

The non-breeding bird stayed close to the others but never quite seemed part of the group.

Pennington Flash

After three solid days of moving house I managed a quick look around my new "patch" this evening and found my first common terns of the year.

Year: 185 (Common tern)

Observing Ring Ouzels

There's been a large influx of ring ouzels this spring, with small flocks at many locations, for example 20 on the Great Orme, Llandudno a week or so ago. When I heard of 11 on Pendle Hill this morning, not far from where I was working, it seemed a good opportunity to call in on my way home to join in with the "Ring ouzel experience"!

Of course you don't just "call in" at Pendle Hill, there's the small matter of climbing it as well, but though it can be tough when you're carrying a scope, tripod and camera, the difficulties are over  exaggerated I think. In any case, personally I wouldn't dream of carrying a scope and tripod up Pendle Hill, why make life difficult I say! Binoculars and my small camera are all I take.....

I did go to the summit just for a quick look around (no sign of any dotterel yet), but most of the action was in a field on the opposite side of the track to the land slip. There were ring ouzels aplenty, and in the end I counted at least 11, as well as a few wheatears. They were quite a varied bunch, and it was interesting to see so many together and be able to compare them.

Year: 184 (Ring ouzel). Actually these on Pendle Hill were not my first this year. I found one near my car as I was packing up to leave the job.

A nice male but not as scaley as some males and where is the pale panel in the wing? This just looks like a blackbird with a white crescent.

Same bird as above.

A dark grey and very scaley looking young female.

An adult female. Dark grey not black like the male, and not brown like a female blackbird.

Male (above) with female (below), This looks a different male than the first two photos,  it doesn't have a particularly pale wing panel, but it does look a bit more scaley underneath.

Two males. The one above has a paler wing panel, and perhaps also white speckling on its head? Could be a trick of the photo I suppose.

Male with pale wing panel and scaley flanks.

Male and female

A nice patch of Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus which just happens to have a male wheatear standing on it!