Bits and bobs birding

Small White, garden

Gatekeeper, Neumann's Flash

Speckled Wood, Neumann's Flash

Small Tortoiseshell, garden

Painted Lady, garden

Painted Lady

Painted Lady. The Budlea in the front garden is now proving popular with seven species of butterfly on one bush this afternoon!

Mallard with brood, HGF

Green Sandpiper, Haydn's Pool

Goldfinch, garden. Two adults were present today with four newly fledged juveniles in tow begging for food. They gave the Starling flock a run for its money in the noise stakes!

Garganey - drake in eclipse plumage, Brockholes Quarry

Gathering of Coots, HGF

Common Tern chicks, Doffcocker Reservoir courtesy of David Edwards

Juvenile Common Tern, Pennington Flash. I photographed this bird in mid June - it is one of the three chicks ringed by David Edwards (above) at Doffcocker.

Male Bullfinch on feeders in garden. Dodgy photos through two windows again!

Male Bullfinch on lookout in garden!

Juvenile Black-necked Grebe, HGF

XXXX

The last few days have comprised a few short birding sessions here and there - essentially grabbing ten minutes when I could.

xxx

On Thursday morning the usual trip to HGF found the Black-necked Grebes back up to seven birds and the Little Grebes up to six. The Common Sandpiper was still present with a Willow Warbler singing in the east hedge - the first for a while. A female Yellow Wagtail flew up nr Midhops, calling and headed off high to the NE. Not seen a Yellow Wag since. At home the juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Stock Dove and a male Bullfinch were the highlights in the garden.

xxx

I managed a swift trip to Frodsham in the afternoon on my way back from N Wales. Another hybrid Ruddy Shelduck was present - a different bird to the previous one. This one looks like it has a lot of Cape Shelduck in it - the body was OK but the head and neck were solid, uniform grey. The previous bird looked good for Ruddy Shelduck except for too much white on its face - todays bird had none! Around 500 Black-tailed Godwits were in the water, many of them stunning Islandica (Iceland) birds. Around 300 Lapwings and 230 Dunlins were also there, however careful scanning of the flocks failed to produce a hoped for Curlew Sandpiper or Little Stint.

xxx

Also on Thursday a swift drive down Hollybush Lane produced a nice male Sparrowhawk and nothing else and at Hope Carr five Green Sandpipers were the highlight along with a Bullfinch and a Jay and again nothing else. The Green Sands were on the hidden pool - it is virtually impossible to approach without being spotted and all five birds duly flushed and disappeared.

xxx

Friday and the grebes had started disappearing with all three species down on previous counts. No sign of any waders either. A Great Spotted Woodpecker in the south hedge was a nice change though - I still see these birds rarely on this patch. In the garden the Stock Dove was back and a bit of a catastrophe in the evening. The cock Feral Pigeon which has been hanging around the garden for several years was caught and badly wounded by a cat. Unfortunately I had to put the bird out of its misery - I felt horrible for the rest of the day and I still fucking hate cats!

xxx

Worked in Blackpool yesterday and I decided to have my lunch at Brockholes Quarry on the way back home. I was only there for ten minutes, however as soon as I arrived the Lapwings spooked and flew up high. Seconds later a very large juvenile Peregrine drifted over the main pool and headed off north. The drake Garganey is still present along with a couple of Common Sandpipers. Late in the evening I wandered over to Moore - nothing much except for a few singing Yellowhammers and a Little Owl which entertained while hunting. No sign of any Barn Owls and I also missed the Little Egret which flew into Lapwing Lake to roost.

xxx

Garden early am this morning and the Great Spotted Woodpecker and male Bullfinch on the feeders. Later in the day the garden became very noisy with the presence of 45+ juvenile delinquents (Starlings) and a very noisy young brood of Goldfinches. At HGF a surprise when I found two drake Wigeons present - the new bird is a lot further along in the moult compared to the resident bird - perhaps this is the Pennington Flash drake. The Black-necked Grebes were down to three birds - two juveniles and an adult. The other two grebe species were back up to normal numbers with a juvenile Great Crested Grebe present for its second day. 93 Lapwings were in the field nr Midhops.

xxx

This morning I had a mooch around Neumann's Flash. I walked down the path bewtween the pool and Ashton's where I met a bloke who had walked there every day for several years and had never seen a woodpecker. Five minutes later, three juvenile Green Woodpeckers playing on the fence and two Great Spotted Woodpeckers flying over having a tiff and I left him shaking his head! The other highlights were a couple of Dunlin in amongst 400+ Lapwings, 2 Green Sandpipers on Haydn's and a reeling Grasshopper Warbler opposite the hide at Haydn's. I also found a Nuthatch and a Willow Warbler in a tit flock, another GSW and various other warbler species.

xxx

In the garden this afternoon there were loads of butterflies. On one particular Buddlea bush I found several Painted Ladies plus Peacock, Red Admiral, Large White, Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma. Plus a Brimstone in the back garden. At Neumann's there were literally hundreds of Gatekeepers - a good day for the insects!