Yellow wagtail, Newton-le-Willows

A yellow wagtail in a field adjacent to M6 Haydock Island today, was my earliest ever by one day.

Rainford Loop

I was delighted to find this little owl on the roof of a barn on the Old Coach Road at 3pm today. It's the first I've seen here for a few years.

Also today this brambling captured in this incredibly lucky photograph. It shows well the sharp demarcation between the breast and the white underparts, and even the yellowy orange lesser underwing coverts, or "armpits".

A single curlew was in a field from Dairy Farm Road.

Migrants flood in

Three little ringed plover were on the spit at Pennington Flash this morning and were my first this year, though a whopping 18 days later than my earliest ever. Also this morning 150 sand martins over the flash but I couldn't find any other hirundines with them.

I didn't have long to wait though, at lunchtime I was working near Newburgh, Parbold, when I came across a flock of 50 sand martins which also contained one swallow (my second earliest ever) and one house martin (my joint earliest ever and only my third ever in March).

Marshside and Martin Mere

At Martin Mere today there were about 200 black-tailed godwits of which about 40 were right in front of the hide feeding and being generally aggressive towards each other. They're starting to look really good now. 

On the Mere two cracking Mediterranean gulls were on the rafts. Perhaps they'll stay to breed. Also on the Mere about 30 avocets.

Earlier at least 180 avocets were at Marshside, with a couple of spoonbills there also. I remember the excitement of going to Minsmere with my Dad in 1981 to see my first avocets and while we were watching a spoonbill dropped in. It seem like the stuff of dreams back then, who could have imagined scenes like this on the Sefton Coast today?

Black-necked grebe

This stunning black-necked grebe was on a local pond today and showed exceptionally well, often diving but also flycatching and picking insects off the surface. I just sat down on the bank and spent a pleasant half an hour with the bird, as it swam back and forth and often towards me, coming as close as 5m.

Final goodbyes to a ruddy duck

Post published: 26/05/2024

A gorgeous drake ruddy duck was found at the west end of Pennington Flash on Friday and was still present today. I was asked not to put out any news until after it had gone, for obvious reasons. It's a species with a price on it's head following the issuing of licenses to shoot them which began in 2005, in response to fears that this North American alien, introduced into the UK in the 1950s, would spread into Europe and hybridise with the globally threatened white-headed duck in Spain.

Back then there were about 6,000 birds in the UK, but now the population has been decimated and all but wiped out and it's thought that there are only about six individuals left. I don't want to get too embroiled in the rights and wrongs of this cull, but neither do I want to be responsible for the death of this particular bird or play any part in the final demise of the species in the UK. So I was happy to comply with the request to keep it quiet and delay publishing this post until a later date when the bird is long gone.

I used to enjoy watching ruddy ducks, they're really smart birds in my opinion with a wonderful display, and were a great addition to the UK avifauna. Locally there used to be some big flocks, with 70 birds regular on Prescot Reservoirs and the largest flock I've ever seen was 133 at Woolston Eyes in 1984. I have also seen them in Central Park, New York. 

Edit 26/03/2024: Following a three day stay at the flash, presumably the same bird turned up at Woolston Eyes where they were not so concerned about the birds welfare and put the news out on BirdGuides. 

It was fabulous light this morning and I spent quite a lot of time saying my final goodbyes to this bird. It could easily be the last that I will ever see, unless of course I go back to USA which at this point seems unlikely. Quite emotional really.

The last of the waxwings?

A couple of waxwings were showing exceptionally well in Water Lane, Crossens, Southport this afternoon. This bird was down to less than 2m!

The first sand martins at the Flash

Three sand martins were at Pennington Flash this morning, my joint earliest ever in the UK. Yesterday there was a dunlin on the spit.

Siberian lesser whitethroat, Preston

For the past few days there's been a probable Siberian lesser whitethroat Sylvia curruca blythi at Ribbleton, Preston. 'Probable' because there are other eastern races of lesser whitethroat which can't be ruled out without resorting to DNA samples which as far as I know have not yet been obtained.

As I understand it, the current thinking is that blythi is more closely related to these eastern races than it is to the western races which include the nominate UK race curruca. This leaves potential for a split into two species, western lesser whitethroat which would include curruca, and Central Asian lesser whitethroat which would  include blythi and the other eastern races. If this eventually happens, then in the field it would "only" be necessary to identify it as an eastern bird in order to get it to species level, with DNA only required to determine exactly which race of Central Asian lesser whitethroat. 

Fortunately there are features of this bird which are strongly indicative of it being one of the eastern races, even if we can't say for sure exactly which one, and some of these features can perhaps be seen in this photo. For example the sandy brown of the mantle which continues onto the nape, the buffish underparts contrasting with the white throat, the pale panel in the secondaries and the faint supercilium. Also, perhaps there is a longish tail and short primary projection, whilst not really apparent in the photograph are the pure white outer tail feathers. The bird called a couple of times with a 'tack' which apparently rules out at least one of the other eastern races (halimodendri). Blythi is thought to be the most frequent of the eastern races to visit the UK and when DNA has been obtained from other birds, it usually turns out to be this race.

Between yesterday and today I spent about 5 hours on site in order to get two views which lasted about one minute in total. Still, well worth it in my opinion. I'm pleased with the above photo.

My third Siberian lesser whitethroat, following birds at Retford and Spurn.

Aythya bonanza at Leighton Moss

At Leighton Moss today, the aythya feast continued with the male and female lesser scaup showing well, often alongside the female ring-necked duck, from Lower hide. This was my first multi-sighting of lesser scaup and only my second female following the bird at Woolston Eyes last month.

Hawfinches at Sizergh

At least 11 hawfinches showed well at Sizergh this morning. They spent most of their time in the trees surrounding the car park but occasionally dropped down to feed on seeds on the ground, at which time they showed well.