Little Terns, Pennington Flash

Four little terns at Pennington Flash this morning were a site tick for me. They were flying around mainly in the centre of the flash but occasionally came closer. It was quite interesting to see them flying in amongst the swirling mass of swifts. When you see birds like these at colonies such as Gronant in North Wales, it can be hard to appreciate just how small they are because there is often not much else to compare them with, but here at the flash they looked barely larger than a swift and were certainly dwarfed by their cousins the common terns.

Speaking to some of the other regulars, nobody else could recall such a large flock before. It was a drizzly morning which no doubt is what brought them down at the flash, and typical of the species they didn't stay long, just about 90 minutes, which actually is probably a bit longer than normal. They departed west.

Black-headed Bunting, Flamborough Head

Photo: Black-headed bunting Flamborough Head.

My first holiday abroad was in May 1985 to the resort of Hanioti on the Halkidiki peninsula in North East Greece. It was a birding holiday and we arrived at our hotel in the middle of the night. The following morning we were up at dawn and virtually the first bird we saw when we opened the curtains was a stunning male black-headed bunting. I was hooked! Talk about first impressions, I can't think of a better way to have started my overseas birding adventures and the image of that bird has stuck with me ever since. Whenever I hear mention of black-headed bunting it always takes me back to that moment in Greece in 1985.

Also from that hotel balcony on that first morning we saw red-rumped swallows, cirl buntings, hoopoes, rock sparrows, golden oriole and lesser grey, red-backed and woodchat shrike. In scrub near the hotel we saw many species of butterfly including Queen of Spain fritillary, Southern white admiral and scarce swallowtail. Reptiles included snub-nosed viper, Hermann's tortoise and various lizards. I have lots of happy memories from that holiday and they all come flooding back when I think about black-headed buntings.

Thank goodness then that my first in the UK did nothing to spoil the memory!

Great Reed Warbler, Wintersett

I've seen a few great reed warblers over the years, initially they were all in Europe but in recent years I've also managed to connect with a few in the UK, including the latest bird which I saw last week at Wintersett reservoir at Angler's Country Park in West Yorkshire. It was a decent enough view on the edge of a reed bed, very much like many a great reed warbler I've seen in the past, but typical of the species it was all about the song, a loud far carrying cross between a reed warbler and a nightingale, with lots of repeated harsh notes intermingled with croaks and whistles. In otherwords it was a standard great reed warbler year tick and not much more.

However today I got the opportunity to go back for a second look, and this time the bird performed much better. For starters it was much closer, half the distance I would say, no more than about 20m away. Best of all it was associating closely with reed warblers which were tiny in comparison. I'm not sure why these birds were associating, perhaps the smaller birds thought that the larger bird was a predator and they were trying to drive it away, but their behaviour didn't seem aggressive. It was almost like watching a young cuckoo being attended to by its surrogate parents or an older child who never grew up still playing with the toddlers. Quite comical almost.

Spoonbill

A young adult spoonbill in all of it's breeding finery at Burton Mere Wetlands today. It's a young adult because it has dark wing tips but in all other respects it's in full breeding plumage and is one of three birds currently on the reserve where they are nest building and looking likely to breed.

What a turn of events this is, way back in 1981 I remember the excitement of being at Minsmere in Suffolk with my Dad and hardly believing my eyes as a spoonbill flew over and landed on the scrape in front of the hide and began feeding, bill in the water and head swinging from side to side.

These days it's hard to convey the thrill of my first ever encounter with the species which at the time was much rarer than it is today, but it's  perhaps even more amazing to recall that my first spoonbill was actually an unexpected bonus of a trip for which the primary reason was to see avocets. Avocets these days hardly raise a birders eyebrow. A week or two ago an avocet at Pennington Flash barely attracted any attention from local birders and I watched it alone in Ramsdales hide and then Horrock's hide, and the species now breeds at several locations in North West England, including Burton Mere Wetlands. Yet back in 1981 if you wanted to see an avocet, East Anglia was your best chance and Minsmere the classic location.

Stilt Sandpiper at Lunt Meadows

An adult stilt sandpiper at Lunt Meadows showed well this morning (despite what the photos may tell you!) and was my 5th following birds at Frodsham Weaver Bends (1983), Bowness-on-Solway (2008), Neumann's Flash (2013) and Cresswell Ponds (2014). It was also my 273rd species in Merseyside and my 311th in Lancashire.

Avocet Pennington Flash

An Avocet at Pennington Flash today was a site first for me. When I arrived at Horrock's hide it hadn't been seen on the spit for a while so after a wait of a few minutes I decided to head round to Ramsdales hide just in case it had moved there. Fortunately it had, and though still a little distant and slightly against the light it was still an excellent view. I watched it feeding for several minutes before it was harassed by a lapwing and flew off high over the trees. I thought that it had gone but then I heard it calling and saw it flying back and it appeared to land again on the spit. Sure enough when I returned to Horrock's hide it was standing on the end of the spit and I watched it for a few minutes more until it sat down for a nap and was lost to view behind the vegetation.

Nature Red in Tooth and Claw - a working day on Mull

When I was asked if I'd consider going up to the Isle of Mull to undertake a habitat survey I immediately jumped at the opportunity even though it was only going to be a day visit and would involve two full days of driving. It was just one of those jobs I couldn't possibly turn down. We stayed in Oban for two nights and traveled over to Mull on the earliest ferry and back to Oban on the latest ferry to give us as much time as possible on the island.

Whilst travelling across Mull today we came across this magnificent immature white-tailed eagle eating a lamb on the moors below A Mhaol Mhor. At first it was harassed  by a buzzard and some ravens, but after a while the lambs mother appeared and walked around watching the eagle and eventually walked straight towards it and caused the bird to fly. Unfortunately the lamb was already dead and half eaten and well past the point of rescue and the eagle flew off with it in its claws to finish off its meal. It's hard to know if the eagle had killed the lamb or if it had just come across the animal already dead, but I guess that it hadn't been dead long if the behaviour of the mother was anything to go by.

Oban harbour

Oban, the gateway to the Hebrides, is an attractive town in its own right, with the harbour at the centre of everything, with its colourful fishing boats and impressive ferries. It was from here that I sailed to St. Kilda in a chartered ex-fishing boat back in 1986, and in more recent years I've sailed from here to the islands of Mull and Barra.  Black guillemots breed in the harbour wall and can be incredibly tame, allowing for excellent photo opportunities.

On the banks of the Glaze

Photo: Cowslip

I was pleased to discover a wonderful array of flowers growing along the banks of the river Glaze at Hope Carr today. These included a few of my early spring favourites such as cowslips, wood anenome and butterbur. Meanwhile two Cetti's warblers sing between the footbridge and the road bridge and an over wintering green sandpiper still frequents the muddy banks of the river along with an occasional little egret.

Hope Carr

The leucistic black-headed gull is still being seen on and off at Hope Carr. Migrants are flooding in now, today with 200 sand martins, two house martins, 10 swallows, 10 singing blackcaps and 12 singing chiffchaffs. Last Monday there were two little ringed plovers, and less obvious migrants include a pair of shelduck, five oystercatchers and 39 tufted ducks. The Cetti's warbler is still singing.

Black Guillemots on the Great Orme

Great to see at least five black guillemots off the Great Orme today, a site first for me. It's looking like this species is now breeding on the Orme, which is wonderful news. The Great Orme has always been a top spot for birding in North Wales, but with black guillemots and chough now breeding it's almost unbeatable.