Dundrum, County Down, Northern Ireland

Inner bay and surrounds
Grey-bellied brant goose 1 adult
Dark-bellied brent goose 1 adult
Pale-bellied brent goose 300
Grey plover 20
Dunlin 200
Little Egret 2
Greenshank 1
Wigeon 500
Teal 500
Bullfinch 1

Irish sea
Common scoter 300
Red-throated diver 2
Razorbill 10
Guillemot 10
Red-breasted merganser 20

The status of the brents always seems a little uncertain to me. I'm never sure what to count and what not to. The rule of thumb I adopt is, black brant (nigricans) is a separate species to dark-bellied (bernicla) and pale-bellied (horta) which are races of a second species. But where does grey-bellied brant fit in? Some folk reckon that it's an intermediate between horta and nigricans, possibly a hybrid, but in many respects it's more like a washed out nigricans so maybe it's a subspecies of black brant. Perhaps it's even a species in its own right, making three species of brent goose (or even four if you count bernicla and horta as separate species!). Complicated stuff!

So, making up my own rules and counting Grey-bellied brant as a race of black brant, we come to the following conclusion.........Year 252 (Grey-bellied brant goose)..... give me a break, I went all the way to Northern Ireland to see this bird, I've got to be able to tick it somewhere!

Pick out the brents! All three races of brent seen today are in at least one of these four photographs somewhere. The pale-bellied and dark-bellied are easy enough to spot, but the grey-bellied is a different matter! Answers on a postcard.....

 

 I didn't have much time to spare today, but desperately wanted to try for the grey-bellied brant, so I arrived at Dundrum for first light and was rewarded with a stunning sunrise over the estuary, and my first sight of brents.

Dundrum.

Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland

Ring-billed gull 1 adult
Black guillemot 3 all in winter plumage
Eider 2
Goldeneye 2
Shag 1

Year 251 (Ring-billed gull)

My first Ring-billed gull for a few years, and I was delighted to see it at Carrickfergus harbour.

Ring-billed gull (below) and Common gull

Winter plumage black guillemot. Comes as something of a shock when you're not expecting it!

Carrickfergus castle and harbour. A wonderful setting for a Ring-billed gull.

Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland

Scaup 16 (8 males, 8 females)
Black guillemot 3 all in winter plumage
Eider 6
Red-breasted merganser 100
Goldeneye 10
Redshank 20
Curlew 5
Turnstone 10
Hooded crow 2

Eccleston Mere

Goldeneye 2 (male and female)
Pochard 4 (2 males, 2 females)
Gadwall 3 (male, 2 females)
Teal 1 female
Little grebe 2 - 3
Willow tit 1
Grey wagtail 1
Kingfisher 1
Buzzard 1
Jackdaw 100 coming into roost
Grey heron 5

Common gull.

Pennington Flash

Water rail 4 (1 seen at Pengy's, 3 heard)
Wigeon 1 male
Willow tit 1
Goosander 13 (6 males, 7 females)
Goldeneye 10
Pochard 12
Lapwing 100

Leighton Moss

Long-tailed duck 1 juvenile from Lilian's hide.
Kingfisher 1 sitting on a bulrush at close range near the Public hide.
Marsh tit 1

Jenny Brown's Point

Dunlin 1000
Wigeon 500
Pintail 30
Red-breasted merganser 2 (m & f)

North Fylde coast

Eider 136 Rossall Point, 10 Knott End in the mouth of the Wyre.
Purple Sandpiper 3 Rossall Point
Twite 50 Cocker's Dyke
Peregrine 1 adult Cocker's Dyke
Red-breasted merganser 4 males Rossall Point
Common scoter 7 females Rossall Point
Sanderling 20 Knott End, 20 Rossall Point
Knot 20 Knott End, 40 Rossall Point
Dunlin 1000 Knott End to Cocker's Dyke
Pink-footed goose 200 in fields behind Cocker's Dyke, 1500 flew up distantly towards Fluke Hall.

I walked to Rossall Point and then onto Fleetwood where I caught the ferry to Knott End and then continued on to Cocker's Dyke and Fluke Hall on Pilling Marsh, and then back to the car the same way. It was a really impressive day, with lots of waders, but I was particularly pleased to see the Eider flock at Rossall Point. It was a calm day and the air was full of the sound of the males "whoooooing" the females in display, and they're in fine plumage now. On the rocks there was a nice selection of waders, including three Purple sandpipers.

At Cocker's Dyke, a flock of 500 Dunlin suddenly took to the air in panic and wheeled around, changing direction and height in perfect formation, like one large living organism. Looking up I spotted an adult Peregrine just as it started its stoop. It dropped like a rocket into the middle of the flock and without too much difficulty emerged carrying an unfortunate victim. It flew about 50m more before landing on the beach with its meal. A crow landed alongside it and the Peregrine flew off again with it's prey and was lost to sight, sparing me the gruesome detail of its table manners! Meanwhile on the saltmarsh in front of me, a nervous looking flock of Twite scurried around and occasionally flew up and called out their name, "tveeiht".

Purple sandpiper and Turnstone. Perhaps surprisingly, Purple sandpiper is a Lancashire (including North Merseyside) tick for me. I suppose though, there is not a lot of rocky shoreline between Liverpool and Arnside, so perhaps it's not so surprising after all.

Pink-footed geese.

Twite.

Little - the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry.

Large - the Heysham to Ireland (?) ferry, with Coniston on the other side of Morecombe Bay.

Blackpool from Bispham.

Fleetwood

Pink-footed goose 3000

Starr Gate, Blackpool

Common Scoter 400
Red-throated diver 10
Eider 2 (male and female)
Great crested grebe 5

Bob Dylan, Blackpool Opera House

Bob Dylan is back in town at the moment, and tonight I saw him in Blackpool at the Opera House. Each time I go to see him (and this was the third) I go with high expectations, but I'm always a little nervous that as he gets older he may not be able to fulfil them.

I needn't have worried, tonight he was as good as ever. He's 72 now, but his Never Ending tour which began in 1988 shows no sign of slowing down, with Dylan averaging 100 shows a year over the past 25 years. His back catalogue consists of over 35 studio albums from the past 50 years, and he's surely unique in that much of his recent work stands up well alongside the classics from the distant past. He's never been one to rest on his laurels, and could never be accused of being a greatest hits artist, and tonight he virtually ignored the first 35 years of his career, and sang a selection of songs largely from his more recent albums, and in particular last years "Tempest".

In fact only three songs survived from the 60's, She Belongs to Me, All Along the Watchtower and Blowin' in the Wind, and the latter was changed so much as to be almost unrecognisable. The 70's fared even worse, with only  Simple Twist of Fate and Tangled Up in Blue included, and again the latter was changed so much that it might as well have been a different song. Of these early songs, All Along the Watchtower rocked, and I loved the new version of Blowin' in the Wind.

The more recent songs were the highlight though, especially Love Sick, one of the stand out tracks from the Time Out of Mind album, Pay in Blood from Tempest and Forgetful Heart from Together Through Life. Forgetful Heart was a real surprise to me, and this was probably the best version of the song I have heard. The audience loved it, young and old, male and female they all lept to their feet and gave him a standing ovation for that performance.

Dylan alternated between standing at the piano or simply standing at the mic, occasionally playing the harmonica, but not once picking up a guitar. As usual, his band were superb, but it was hard to take your eyes off the living legend, hard to believe that you're in the same room as somebody of that stature.

It was such a good show that my immediate reaction on leaving the auditorium was to head straight for the ticket office and try to get a ticket for tomorrow night. Unfortunately for me, he's sold out.

Set list
Things Have Changed
She Belongs To Me
Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
What Good Am I?
Duquesne Whistle 
Waiting For You
Pay In Blood
Tangled Up In Blue
Love Sick
High Water (For Charley Patton)
Simple Twist Of Fate
Early Roman Kings
Forgetful Heart
Spirit On The Water
Scarlet Town
Soon After Midnight
Long And Wasted Years
All Along The Watchtower
Blowin' In The Wind