Pennington Flash

Swift
Common tern 2
House Martin 10
Swallow 10
Sand martin 800
Reed warbler 3
Shelduck 2
Little ringed plover 1
Teal 2 male and female
Common sandpiper 3
Mistle thrush 1
Greylag 6
Sedge warbler 2

The swift was my joint earliest ever.

Relieving the cabin fever

Earlier in the week I was offered a days work on the Cumbrian coast and I jumped at the opportunity. It's a very beautiful spot with wide open views and a chance to see some estuary birds and perhaps a bit of coastal migration with the icing on the cake, I get paid for it, which in these days of lockdown is like winning the lottery. It's also a very remote spot and once I get there I don't see another soul all day, so no problem socially isolating here.

It was high tide when I arrived but it was a neap tide so not particularly high and I had no problem walking to my vantage point. Sometimes when it's a spring tide it can be difficult to get to because the water comes right up to the cliff.

So as soon as I was in position and set up I started to scan those bits of the beach and saltmarsh which were still uncovered. The first bird I looked at was a whimbrel! Nice, my first of the year and by no means a nailed on addition to the year list this year. There were also about 30 curlew, 200 oystercatchers, 10 redshanks, bar-tailed godwit and five dunlin. I could also see about 20 shelduck and a handful of eider on the sea, normally I'd say that it was fairly quiet but after over 20 days in the back garden it seemed to be positively teeming with birds.

If I turn my attention to the north west of my vantage point I can see the open sea. It's a bit distant to be honest but high tide is about as good as it's going to get, so when time allowed I had a scan in that direction. I could see a few sandwich terns and further out still I was delighted to see gannets plunge diving. I followed a couple of sandwich terns as they came much closer in and suddenly spotted some small birds crossing low over the water, their white rumps clearly identifying them as wheatears heading north. Migration in action, eight birds in total plus a few swallows, a wonderful sight! During the course of the day I spotted several more wheatears, some crossing the beach and a couple of others on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

Photo: Northern wheatear.

Memories of black-winged stilts, Cemlyn Bay

On this day in 1993 I went to Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey with my Dad to see three black-winged stilts. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had great views of these fabulous birds.  Some time after this they turned up at Frodsham marsh and attempted to breed but unfortunately it was a very wet May and the nest was flooded and then finally predated. Nice to read Eric Hardy's account of these birds from this time.

Also on this day in 1973 I went to Hilbre Island for the first time ever with my Dad and saw my first ever wheatear.

Pennington Flash

Grasshopper warbler 1 reeling west end
Shelduck 4
Swallow 2
Sand martin 300
Treecreeper 1
Reed warbler 3
Redshank 2
Cetti's warbler 4 singing males
Little ringed plover 1
Little grebe 1
Teal 4
Greylag 4
Buzzard 2

Pennington Flash

Common sandpiper 3
Little ringed plover 1
White wagtail 1 male
Mistle thrush 1
Sand martin 800
Shelduck 2
Cetti's warbler 3 singing males. Sorrowcow pond, west end & Hey brook.

Pennington Flash

Grey wagtail 3
Swallow 10
Sand martin 500
House martin 5
White wagtail 1
Grasshopper warbler 1 reeling West end
Shelduck 2
Water rail 1 heard Ramsdales
Redshank 1
Cetti's warbler 4 singing

Pennington Flash

Little ringed plover 2

Lowton Bird Observatory, Day 19

Mixed emotions here at the obs, these beautiful, warm sunny days are perfect for sitting out in the garden and chilling out, but they don't often prove good for seeing birds. So far today the highlight has been a soaring sparrowhawk, a single lapwing over and two adult chaffinches in the goat willow tree, the latter is actually quite an unusual sight in the garden.

Late afternoon two more rooks went over. I think I may have just overlooked rooks in the past, I noticed the first a few days ago and since then I've seen them every day.

Pennington Flash

Garganey 2 male and female
Little ringed plover 1
Reed warbler 2
Teal 10
Cetti's warbler 6 singing West end, Sorrowcow, Ramsdales, Tom Edmondson, Teal, East Bay.

Purple Heron, Lightshaw Flash

For our walk this morning and in a bid to avoid the potential of Good Friday crowds at Pennington Flash we had a walk to Lightshaw Flash. What a great decision that turned out to be!

Incredibly when we got to the western viewing screen there was an adult summer plumage purple heron complete with full breeding plumes on the marsh near the wooden bridge on the other side of Hey Brook. At first I just caught a glimpse of its head but eventually it showed very well at a distance of about 50m. Purple heron is a Greater Manchester mega, this is the third for the county but the first for many years.

It turns out that this is the birds second day, but news is not being released due to the current coronavirus pandemic. Basically I got lucky, I accidentally stumbled across a bird which was already known to be present and I was sworn to secrecy, a request I was happy to comply with in the circumstances. Sorry if this upsets anybody but my conscience is clear.  #COVID-19  #LockDown #StayHomeSaveLives  #SaveOurNHS.

Edit 14/05/2020: This bird was present for just three days and was last seen on 11th April 2020. Six birders saw this bird. No it wasn't a clique, they were the original finder plus me and four others who also accidentally stumbled across it.

My 5th purple heron in the UK and my 4th in the north west, but as a summer plumage adult this is by far the best, all of the others have been juveniles. I don't think I've even seen them this well abroad.

Lowton Bird Observatory, Day 17

Photo: Woodpigeon.

Almost the first bird of the day while I was eating breakfast was a new one for the garden and therefore also for this period of lockdown birding at the obs. To be honest I thought it was going to turn out to be a cormorant but thankfully I had a look through my binoculars and it was a greylag. This brings the overall garden list to 53 and the lockdown list to 43. A great start to the day!

More excitement by lunchtime, a meadow pipit flew over bring the lockdown list to 44 and I now have two coal tits in the garden. Species 45 flew over just after lunch, my first ever garden rook.

Twenty six species recorded in total today, my best ever day total for the garden.