RSPB Burton Mere & Denhall Lane, Wirral. 27/11/2016

A trip to a place that I always enjoy visiting was on the cards now that the major autumn rush has finally ended. It was to be a solo trip, as the rest of the A team seem to have “mothballed” their binoculars for the year. A late starting time of 8-30am on a cold, but pleasant (for late November) morning had me at Burton Mere on the Dee estuary by 10-00am. A large group of Whooper Swans were feeding in the distance, but no sign of the almost resident Cattle Egrets. In the reserve centre, news of the Water Pipits was positive so, after meeting up with Kevin Hughes, Bill & Marie from Macclesfield, we made our way out to see them. On the way there a female Hen Harrier was seen and a close Little Egret, good start to the mornings birding. We were soon enjoying views of about 6 Water Pipits in the company of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails. They kept us entertained, as did Kevin who began speaking welsh when another birding pal Ian Evans from Denbigh walked into the hide. A few old birders “tails” came out and we all had a good laugh. Myself & Ian walked out up to the old fort lookout over the Dee estuary, by now it was a little cooler but visibility was great with Point of Ayr, Hilbre Island clearly visible. Up to 3 Marsh Harriers, 2 female Hen Harriers, Great White Egret and finally after about 30 minutes, a hunting Short eared Owl, great birds to watch at any time!

We headed back to the reserve centre for a warm up and then I went back to my car to try to find the location of a female Smew on Newchurch Common near Sandiway. It looked a little awkward so I decided to go down onto Denhall Lane and continue watching the Dee estuary. In about an hour, as it was getting cooler as I left, I saw: – 3 Short eared Owl, 1 Buzzard, 3 Marsh Harrier, 2 female Hen Harrier (missed the male Hen Harrier that had been present) 2 Kestrel, missed a perched Merlin. There was a lot of Little Egret`s around, I counted around 20 birds. Headed for home around 3pm enjoying my cars heater all the way!!

Dave O.

Hooded Merganser at Kilbirnie Loch, Ayrshire, Scotland. 20/11/2016

The controversy surrounding most unusual wildfowl arriving on our shores has always mystified me, the usual questions, “is it wild, does it come to bread, has it got a ring, has it escaped from a wildfowl collection?” All may have a bearing on a bird’s ability to get it self-accepted by the rarity committee. The fact remains that if they all satisfy the identification criteria then, without being able to communicate with these creatures apart, we will never really know where they have come from!

Many years ago we headed up to RSPB Lochwinnoch, just north of Kilbirnie Loch and after an unsuccessful attempt, connected with an American Black Duck, which was accepted by the rarity committee. So when a male Hooded Merganser arrived at RSPB Lochwinnoch last week we began to make plans to visit the bird. The bird then moved onto Kilbirnie Loch and we decided to head north on Sunday. I met the lads from York in Milnrow, Mark K, Mark L & Ellis L at 7am and away we went in my car. The drive over the Lune Valley, Shap, Lockerbie and Beatock was made rather spectacular because of the amount of snow that had fallen in the last week, great scenery. Well Glasgow was reached and a really major amount of roadworks were being carried out, without too much effect on our progress. We passed three major football grounds close to the motorway namely, Hampden Park, Celtic Park and Ibrox.

We reached Kilbirnie Loch around 10-45am and the bird was found on the far side of the water and did not give any real chance to the waiting cameras. Mark commented that we were all a little bit underwhelmed with the bird, but nevertheless a cracking bird seen well in the telescope as it dived for small fish. Not many other birds were present here so after a while we moved up to Lochwinnoch. This reserve has been transformed since my last visit and was really nice. With time pressing on we headed south hoping to reach Brampton near Carlisle to connect with a group of Waxwings in the area.

Reaching the sleepy town of Brampton around 2-20pm, we soon located a flock of around 40 Waxwing`s. The birds must have been feeding all day and were getting into “roost mode” as they kept their distance, before flying away around 3pm. The weather had been a little gloomy all day up to now, but as we headed south over Shap the sunset lit up the spectacular scenery once more.

Dave O.

Cliff Swallow at Minsmere. 5/11/2016

Late Friday afternoon, around 4-30pm, I got a call from Mark K, he said, “There is a Cliff Swallow at Minsmere”. Apart from being a bit shocked an Eyebrowed Thrush had also been discovered in Northumberland (it was never refound). Just as we all had thoughts of this bird rich autumn finally running down this happens! Talk about a dilemma, we firstly got a team together, then had various discussions about whether to go overnight or wait for news. We decided to go overnight and arranged to meet at Fairburn Ings at 3am, Darren W, Nigel S, Mark K and myself and Bob K, who drove, all headed down the A1. After leaving the A14 at Stowmarket the usual 30 mile slog seemed to take an age on small twisty roads and the Satnav also seemed overworked.

Upon reaching Minsmere the car park already looked quite full and lots of birders were milling about in the early morning gloom. We headed off towards the Bittern hide area through the wooded part of the reserve when lots of birders were seen heading towards us, some at great speed! The Cliff Swallow was still present and flying about with 8 “Barn” Swallows over the Sand Martin colony. We made good progress amongst the masses and all had a brief look at the bird flying above our heads. Success again for the, “Strike whilst the iron is hot” brigade. What a really nice bird the first winter Cliff Swallow is! We headed into the area known as the Stone Curlew field (they are summer visitors) The bird returned to the same area after about 15 minutes and was on show for around 30 minutes perched up preening, flying around with its Barn Swallow mates and sometimes landing on the ground, it showed really well. We all had the customary handshakes and decided on a return to the car for some food and a drink. Whilst at the car, a gentleman was in such a rush to see the Cliff Swallow that he slipped on some wood right at the side of us and fell to the ground with a right crash. I just said, “Man down” he did not see the funny side but we all did! We returned to have seconds of the bird but it was only seen in flight and was spreading itself out over a bigger area. I had time to have a chat to Steve Gantlet (the very top lister in Britain) which was quite informative. Even Lee Evans was in attendance to watch this rare American bird. We had a walk down to the East hide to watch the 5 Berwick’s Swan`s and lots of wildfowl on the reserve.

It was still only 11am when we headed onto Dunwich Heath to try to find the Dartford Warblers that reside there. When the sun came out around 4 birds were seen by the team and a few pictures were taken. With not much more rare bird activity in and around Suffolk / Norfolk we decided to head off home. Our trusty Satnav took us home via Norwich and the A47 and onto everyone’s favourite road the A17. We stopped at The Farm Café near Sutton Bridge and all enjoyed a good meal and had a laugh about our best visits to this café. We dropped the lads of at Fairburn Ings and both got home around 6pm. We all had a new bird and Bob K had something special to celebrate, his 500^th species on the UK400 club, well done Bob! Thanks to both drivers Bob and Darren and to everyone, thanks for your company and lots of laugh`s that we always have. Great, memorable day`s birding.

Dave O.

 

Eastern Delight on the East Coast. 30/10/2016

After debating where to go at the weekend our minds were suddenly made up for us when a Pied Wheatear was re-identified late on Saturday evening. It was thought that it was originally a Desert or Black Eared type of Wheatear. An early start from Rochdale was required as I was meeting up with the York crew at 7-30am. Mark K, Nigel S and Paz with Mark driving. News of the Pied Wheatear being still present at Redcar came through on our way there. I have never been to Redcar before and it was a bit of a surprise to realise that it was a seaside resort, mind you the steel works put me off a bit! The Pied Wheatear showed really well and apart from the dismal light conditions lots of pictures were taken by the assembled throng of birders. Lots of familiar faces were again seen during this really memorable autumn period for migrant birds, what will turn up next?
An Eastern Black Redstart has been around a few days at Skinningrove also in Cleveland (Yorkshire, really) so we headed up to another place I have never been to before. Again a big iron / steel works and a sharp drop into a beautiful coastline with lots of potential for migrant birds. We admired the various sculptures around the car park and all headed off to see the redstart. The bird was busy feeding in and around the coastal defence boulders / rocks but with patience showed really well at times. What a little cracker this bird was, much brighter than the Holy Island bird of a few years ago. A Twite was seen by Paz and duly pointed out to us, well done Paz! Time for sandwiches and a coffee break as we returned to the car.
News again came through that the Isabelline (Daurian) Shrike was showing really well in South Shields, Tyne & Wear at a place called the Leas, famous for once having a Lesser Kestrel there and the place where the Great North Run ends (for the more energetic amongst us) We had to go, blue skies and very mild weather made the journey up quite enjoyable. On arrival we could see a few birders watching the shrike and after a 200 yard stumble we reached the bird. It showed really well down to 10 yards at times but was quite active catching insects etc. We all managed lots of pictures of the bird and all enjoyed the bird. A very late Whinchat was also in the area then, Mark told us of a roosting Little Owl sat in a gully on a rock in the sea. It was the first time for all of us to watch a Little Owl with the sea in the background! A trip to pay homage to Trow Quarry, famous for the Eastern Crowned Warbler twitch a few years ago, made up our birding for the day. We then spent a few minutes feeding the local gulls with Nigel S hoping for a rare gull to drop in.
What a day out, we managed to see all three “headline” birds without having to wait very long. Mark got us back to York very smartly and I got back to Rochdale without too much bother on the M62 around 6-30pm. Thanks lads for a great day out.
Dave O.