Shore lark again on the Great Orme

I was on the Great Orme for 8am today and it was a very different day to yesterday. For the first hour I was completely alone, not even a dog walker, and it was windy with very threatening skies but didn't actually rain. Then the threat became reality as a bank of heavy rain hit me and I decided to call it a day. 

In that dry period it was nice to locate the shore lark for myself and be able to watch it without other people about. It's a nice looking bird, and a wonderful location to see it.

Shore lark on the Great Orme

I was pleased to catch up with the shore lark on the Great Orme today after missing out last week. It's been elusive during its two week stay and went AWOL from lunchtime on Monday to Friday afternoon. 

The drive from home was through heavy drizzle and mist as far as Holywell, but then it brightened up and was a glorious day on the Orme with great big skies! 

This was a site tick for me. In recent years I've also seen snow bunting and Lapland bunting here.

Long-tailed duck, Taylor Park

I was delighted to find a long-tailed duck at Taylor Park this afternoon whilst taking the toddler grandchild to the swings. It's the eighth record for St Helens and I've now managed to find three of them. My previous finds were at Eccleston Mere in 2005 and Prescot reservoirs in 2015, so with todays bird being in 2025, my next predicted sighting is 2035!

This coot kept chasing it.

Pochard and Goldeneye at the flash

The pochard flock at the Flash continues to build, with 59 off the car park this morning, apparently my largest flock ever at the Flash though I'm sure that must be more down to my under-recording in the 1980s & 90s. Certainly my largest flock this century. Also a build up of goldeneye today with 20 inc. 5 drakes.

Cattle Egrets

Yesterday I was at Martin Mere and saw a flock of 44 cattle egrets flying over the fields behind Sunley's, the largest flock of cattle egrets that I have ever seen in the UK. Earlier a dawn count had revealed at least 51 birds. Like little and great white, cattle egret has really spread in recent years to the extent that they now breed in the Southport area and last year I heard of a roost containing over 500 birds in Somerset. 

Even so, despite their dramatic increase they're still quite localised. For example, there's only ever been one record of the species in St Helens and that was way back in 2008, despite there being many square miles of suitable looking habitat on the Rainford mosslands. As the cattle egret flies, it's just 14km (9 miles) from the herd of cows at Dairy Farm Road to the flock of 51 cattle egrets at Martin Mere, but they never seem to make it. 

Greater Manchester does a little better but not much. I've seen five at Pennington Flash over the past 45 years, but it's still classed as a Greater Manchester mega. Meanwhile, Brockholes nature reserve near Preston on the Ribble, recorded it's first ever cattle egret just a few weeks ago.

Today I went for a walk on the Great Orme with Elaine. The birding highlight was this cattle egret flying over the sea below the lighthouse. It's certainly the first that I have ever seen at the Orme and when I checked my database, it turns out that it's only the second that I have ever seen in Wales. Perhaps I should get out more......

Billinge Hill vismig

Billinge Hill vismig 8am-10am most birds heading SSW: Woodpigeon 2939 in 50 flocks almost all before 9am & included one albino bird, redwing 93 in 10 flocks, fieldfare 61 in 3 flocks, stock dove 11, skylark 32, chaffinch 60 mainly in groups of 1-3 birds but one flock of 11, reed bunting 6, pink-footed goose 170 with 25 S & 145 E, song thrush 4.

Greater scaup, Pennington Flash

I don't normally bother with the greater part of this birds name, but I feel that in this instance I need to make clear that I am not referring to last Saturdays lesser scaup, which incidentally has not been seen again since. These birds showed quite nicely at the western end from Mossley Hall farm.

Jack snipe and merlin, Barrow Lane

Barrow Lane this morning, a jack snipe flushed from  the wood sandpiper pool by two mallard, flew low to the other side of the pool and landed again deep in vegetation. 

Also today, breathtaking view of a merlin again, low over the road hunting starlings, 20 fieldfares over, green sandpiper still and female / 1st winter stonechat. 

No geese at all this morning, though I was delayed because I called in at Pennington Flash first after being informed of 2 greater scaup there.

A second lesser scaup of the year, Pennington Flash

At 9.25am I received a text message from a fellow birder, BH, informing me that he had just seen a greater scaup at Pennington Flash but without a scope he couldn’t be 100% certain and very soon he had to leave. I messaged him back and told him that I was nearly at Green Lane with my scope and would check it out. On arrival it was immediately obvious that there had been a large build-up of tufted ducks and pochard, totalling around 400 birds with flocks at the west end, off the car park and in East Bay. However, I couldn’t see any scaup from Green Lane so I decided to drive around to the main car park. 

It wasn’t with the flock at the car park so I walked to Horrock’s hide and viewed East Bay from there. Almost immediately I saw a scaup sp. but it seemed obvious to me that from the head shape and size it was actually lesser scaup. It was a bit distant from here so I walked around to East Bay for a closer look.

Fortunately, when I arrived the bird was still present and I had decent views at a distance of about 100m, and also managed to take a video and some photos. The bird was an adult lesser scaup with a grey vermiculated back, white flanks and a black head and breast. It was similar size to the accompanying tufted ducks. 

The head shape was distinctive with an obvious peak on the rear crown. The bill was blue with a tiny black tip on the nail which seemed to rule out any possibility of a hybrid.

At 10:42 the flock was flushed by a yacht and flew off before splitting, some birds flying towards Ramsdales, the others to the bay off the car park. I walked back to my car and had a look through the flock off the car park but could not relocate the lesser scaup. It was not seen again. 

I messaged BH who by this time had left, to tell him that it was in fact a lesser scaup. His reaction was one of surprise because he said that the bird he had seen had been clearly larger than the tufted ducks and was not in his opinion lesser scaup. My next visit to the flash was three days later when two 1st winter greater scaup were found at the west end of the Flash. I saw these birds with BH and he told me that the scaup sp. that he had seen was most likely one of these birds. He remains adamant that the bird he reported was not lesser scaup.

This was the second lesser scaup at Pennington Flash / Greater Manchester in 2025. The first was also found by myself on 30th June and stayed for about two weeks before relocating to Audenshaw Reservoirs where it stayed until the end of August and then disappeared. That bird was considered to be a returning bird which has spent the past several summers in Greater Manchester and which historically has always disappeared at end of summer. Today's bird will be submitted to BBRC as a different bird due to its brief appearance so far outside the normal pattern of occurrence.

Knot, Carr Mill Dam

At 8am I got a message from Bill at Carr Mill Dam informing me that he had a knot on the concrete next to the outflow. I was aware that it wouldn't stay long, it only needed a dog walker to stick his head over the wall, or a fishermen to decide to go into that area and it would be gone, but I'd never seen one in St Helens, so I had to give it a go. 

At that time of day it's not an easy journey, with at least a couple of bottlenecks to negotiate including Haydock Island, plus a set of road works and school traffic, all combining to give me a estimated journey time of 32 minutes to cover just over 13km (8 miles).

Fortunately when I got there it was still present and showing well, though I did have to view through the metal fence around the outflow. I quickly fired off a few photos and then went back to the car for my coat and scope.

I set up the scope and took this very brief video before the bird flew and was gone, flying high to the south west until lost to sight. At the end of the video you can see it crouch immediately before it flew.

Pied wagtail, Barrow Lane

This smart winter plumage pied wagtail with a lemon yellow face was at Barrow Lane, St Helens this afternoon. I'm not sure I've ever seen one with such a bright yellow face before.