Lesser scaup, Woolston Eyes

There's been a 1st winter female lesser scaup knocking around the Woolston Eyes / Rixton Clay pits area for about a week now. The initial identification as a greater scaup meant that only a handful of birders managed to connect with it as lesser before it disappeared from Rixton last Wednesday and it's been missing ever since. 

Today however it was back at the Mersey Weir where it was first seen eight days ago, and it showed well from the footbridge across the river. However it disappeared again late afternoon and whilst it's most likely still in the area, it looks like it's going to be a difficult bird to catchup with. Go while it's showing seems to be the best advice, don't wait until tomorrow.

This is my 11th lesser scaup but my first since 2015. It's the first female I've seen.

Waxwings at Pentre Halkyn

2023/24 has been a good winter for waxwings and the most impressive flock I've managed to see has been at Pentre Halkyn where today I counted 93 birds. It's a great site for seeing them and judging by the number of hawthorn bushes which are still loaded with berries, they could well be here for another week or two yet. The adults are the birds with yellow in the primaries and the waxy red tips, whereas the juveniles lack both the yellow and the waxy tips. Both adults and juveniles have the yellow tip to the tail.

A 10.5m tide at Marshside

Dramatic scenes over the tide at Marshside today.

At least two water pipits were showing well at their usual spot by the Wildfowlers pull in.

 

Snow goose Llay and surf scoters Llandulas

A very dodgy blue phase lesser snow goose was showing well with greylags and Canada geese at Llay pool in North Wales today. Later we called in at Llandulas for a couple of hours over the high tide and had distant views of a couple of surf scoter with a few thousand common scoter, but no sign for us of any velvet. I say distant, and they were, but after a while the surf scoter flew and were as good a view as any I've ever seen on this coast, and they were the best I've ever seen of this species in flight.

  

Local owls

The worst kept secret in Greater Manchester is the location of several short-eared owls and a couple of barn owls on the local mosses. Apparently it's being kept secret so that swarms of photographers don't descend on the site, yet today there were swarms of photographers at the site. In fact it seems to me that keeping it secret simply keeps it from birders who do not know the right people, and ironically, the presence of a few extra birders might actually help police the photographers. 

Ring-necked duck, Taylor Park

I was babysitting in St Helens this morning and we were just about to go out for a walk to the nearest play area when my phone beeped and I had a message informing me that Dave Owen had just found a drake ring-necked duck on Taylor Park lake.

Not quite the nearest play area but not much in it so off we set at a brisk pace and 20 minutes later we arrived at Taylor Park to find a gathering of St Helens finest watching the bird at quite close range. We watched it for several minutes and then headed off for the swings. On our way home we called in for a second look at the duck. 

This was not only a St Helens tick for me (#197) but also a full blown Merseyside tick (#280) having dipped on the bird at Lunt a year or two ago and having been working away when the only other St Helens ring-necked duck was at Newton Lake in 2014.

Birding at Lancaster services (southbound)

On our way home following a walk from Sizergh to Brigsteer today, I persuaded Elaine to call in at Lancaster services and saw these four waxwings in the hawthorn hedge next to Costa. A slightly odd place to be birding but no worse than many other places these birds frequent in winter. At least I was on my own, which probably explains why they came within a couple of meters of me.

Kumlien's and Caspian gulls at Widnes

The Mersey Kumlien's gull was on the sandbanks just west of old Runcorn bridge this morning. It spent a lot of time asleep and the bright, harsh sunlight didn't help,  but it was still a decent view. 

I've now seen this bird three times but never well enough to see for sure the features that make it a Kumlien's gull. It seems to be at the pale end of the spectrum and the only thing I can say with certainty is that if this bird turned up at the roost at Pennington Flash 30 minutes after sunset on a dull rainy day,  I'd be calling it a regular Iceland gull.

This adult Caspian gull is a magnificent specimen and stands out amongst the hundreds of other gulls on the river.

Such a distinctive bill and head shape, a classic Caspian.

Kumlien's gull at Widnes

A third winter Kumlien's gull at Widnes WSR recycling today is presumably a returning bird last seen on the river Mersey in April 2023. A really smart bird.

There's also been few Caspian gulls in the area, including this adult on the Mersey last Sunday. 

Ruddy shelduck with Pink-footed geese at Newburgh

I was looking through a flock of around 2500 pink-footed geese at Newburgh near Parbold today when I came across this cracking ruddy shelduck. I can't say that I've ever seen this species with pink-feet before and in fact it's such an unusual occurrence that it would seem to be almost certainly the same individual that has been seen with pink-feet in Norfolk for at least the past two winters and as recently as nine days ago was in a flock of 10,000 birds at Cley. 

What this tells us, if anything, about the birds provenance is hard to know, but since it's been seen with the geese for at least two winters, it's presumably returning to Iceland with them in summer.

Ring-necked duck, Leighton Moss

Today I finally caught up with this female ring-necked duck at Leighton Moss. It's been around for a few weeks but also goes missing for long periods.