Iceland to Tundra

Bewick's Swans, Slimbridge. This is a bird with a transmitter tracked by satellites!

Two first winter drake Scaup, Slimbridge. Note the differences between the two - the left hand bird was almost overlooked.

Buzzard, Slimbridge

Pintails, Slimbridge

2nd winter Iceland Gull, Richmond Bank

Argenteus Herring Gull with yellow legs! Richmond Bank

2nd winter argentatus Herring Gull, Richmond Bank

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Wednesday 29th Dec I had a wander over to Richmond Bank during the morning. Despite the thaw yesterday there was still plenty of snow and ice on the ground and conditions in some places were a little treacherous. When I reached the viewing point I was slightly surprised to see only around 3000 gulls there and these proved to be very restless with the flock spooking around every 10 - 15 minutes or so. The highlight was a second winter Iceland Gull – the same bird found by Ian McKerchar the day before. The sod decided to hide behind some other gulls and didn’t show itself fully before flying off. Also there was an adult Yellow-legged Gull and an argenteus Herring Gull with yellow legs.
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I can’t remember what I saw locally in the last couple of days of the year so I’ll skip them. New Year’s Eve I travelled down to my brother-in-law’s in Wiltshire. On the way I made a swift divert to Slimbridge. The place was still largely frozen and Rushy Pen was extremely crowded with lots of ducks, geese and at least 220 Bewick’s Swans. At Holden’s Tower a flock of around 180 Barnacle Geese could be seen down by the river while a large Peregrine perched on a sand bar in the river. Typically the White-fronted Geese were skulking several fields away – I managed to see around 60 of these birds through gaps in three consecutive hedges! In a field to the east was a large Wigeon flock – at least 5000 birds all crammed together in a small area. They looked very impressive!
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Everywhere was relatively quiet. Back at Rushy Pen I decided to look for two first winter Scaup which had been hanging around for a few days. Little did I realise that a female Lesser Scaup was in there somewhere too! I eventually found the former birds – back home I viewed the photos of the Lesser Scaup and felt sure I had seen this bird there, and overlooked it! Aaargghh!
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The last bird of 2010 was a Sparrowhawk gliding through the village where my brother-in-law lives!

Caspian Gull

Hopefully good candidate for Caspian Gull (adult), Richmond Bank

Leucistic first winter Herring Gull, Richmond Bank

Blackbirds in the garden

The berries in the garden which seem to be the thrush version of brussell sprouts!

Leucistic Black-headed Gull, Pennington Flash

The Mute Swan cygent and its mate the drake Mallard at HGF. They have just stuffed themselves!

A picturesque scene of the northern end of HGF in the snow. Most of what you can see was under water a year ago, until the water extraction started!

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Quiet Christmas so far. The only time I have ventured out was yesterday when I decided to have a wander over to Richmond Bank. On arrival I soon realised that the tip was not open (I am dense - I should have checked) and my first instinct was to turn around and go home. I did decide to stay (fortuitously) as there were just enough gulls hanging around to keep me interested and I have found before it is sometimes easier to bird here when there are few gulls around. I don't get that urgent sense of constant scanning and wondering if something interesting has just dropped in elsewhere!

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A small flock of around 10 Bullfinches were in the bushes and a lone Fieldfare kept me company while I was there - seeming to constantly scold me for daring to set up next to its berry bush!

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I had only been there for perhaps a few minutes when I saw a gull and immediately thought - Caspian Gull! Having had problems earlier this year with dodgy record shots not really displaying what I saw in the field, my first instinct was to study the bird first and photograph it later (probably a mistake). This bird seemed to tick all the boxes to me. Unfortunately it decided to depart shortly after I started photographing it. I did manage to see the primaries and P10/P5 looked good for Caspian to my inexperienced eye.

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To me the bird looks structurally spot on with the parallel, straight bill, small dark eye forward of centre, small head with distinctive Caspain shape, bulging chest, bulge under the vent and pointed rear end. The legs also appeared long and grey/pink. The mantle was around as dark, if not slightly darker, than an argentatus Herring Gull of which there were probably 20 or so kicking around. What I didn't really notice in the field was the "staining" around the eye. Obviously an form of streaking on the head will cast doubt on the ID of this bird.

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Having looked at the head of this bird closely on the computer, I have decided to go for the stained head rather than plumage streaked head option. I know I would say that when a crucial ID is in the balance, however I feel that the discolouration is very even and relatively faint - I would expect variation in colour intensity if this were true streaking (there is no variation at all here). Also the top of the head, chin, back and sides of neck and throat are all pristine white - why no discolouration elsewhere? So just maybe the bird has been grubbing around in the dirty grey ice that predominated the landscape or something similar. I can't call this based on any experience - I have previously disregarded all other promising sightings of Caspian Gull due to either lack of experience or a failure to confirm all ID features. This will be my first Cas if it is proven.

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Also present was a first winter Yellow-legged Gull and a leucistic first winter Herring Gull. There were maybe 400-500 large gulls hanging around today. On the way back to the car a Snipe flew over calling and seemed to jink its way through the power lines. Back at the car park a female Kestrel was constantly calling in apparent frustration at not being able to nail one of the House Sparrows hanging around - not for the lack of trying though!

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Yesterday I nipped over to Pennington Flash for a brief wander. The only interesting bird was a leucistic, adult Black-headed Gull. A few Goosanders and a small flock of Teal were hanging around one of only two open pools of water. I heard a Willow Tit calling nr the Edmondson Hide and managed to see it and later saw another one at the feeding station where 8 Bullfinches were also present.

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I haven't spent much time at the feeding station though a brief visit today was enjoyable for bumping into John Tymon. While we were nattering a couple of Skylarks flew over and then at least 160 Linnets appeared and landed in the trees by the treatment works. I haven't seen the Linnet flock for a couple of weeks - wonder where they have been? Yesterday a Peregrine was on one of the usual pylons and a couple of Buzzards are regularly hanging out.

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The garden has remained busy - Tree Sparrows max is around 65 for the past few days. A Mistle Thrush and 3 or 4 Fieldfares are now virtually resident and feeding on the orange berries which always seem to be a last resort for thrushes. I must make an effort to identify the bush sometime.

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At HGF the juvenile Mute Swan had started to recognize me and come begging for food when I turned up with wheat. Yesterday the drake Mallard appeared to have invited a few relatives to the pool - 49 Mallards were feeding on the wheat I put down. Soon after the Mute Swan appears to have departed - gone yesterday afternoon and today. Today 29 Mallards were stood on the ice with 16 Wigeon and 3 Gadwalls. Almost forgot - one the swans that hung around for a few weeks before the ice arrived was a ringed bird - blue, right, SYS. This bird was ringed as a male cygnet at Elton Res (Bury) in 2007 and had spent most of its time since in the Farnworth area.

Tree Sparrows feeding in the garden

Mostly bits and bats

Starlings, Glazebrook

Moat Lane, Rixton

A very snowy and frozen Moat Lane pool

Reed Bunting in the garden

Mistle Thrush in the late afternoon sun in the garden

A very snowy garden view

Tree Sparrows getting stuck in

A few Grey Partridges at the feeding station

Fieldfare, Glazebrook

This Fieldfare was carefully watching a male Sparrowhawk!

Redwings, Glazebrook

The Peacock is still roaming the caravan park!

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Work has been somewhat hectic recently so I haven’t had a single dedicated birding spell in the last two weeks. I have managed plenty of five minutes here and there plus a few lunchtime walks. Everywhere is permanently frozen and still covered in snow with temperatures generally varying between -2°C and -12°C.
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Houghton Green Flash
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The pool went from being 98% frozen to being free of ice and then completely frozen again in the space of a week. A flock of 47 Wigeon had stayed faithful to the place even when there was just a small patch of free water – they left when the pool completely froze. The wintering Redshank and the Grey Wagtail also departed – in fact nearly everything did. The sole remaining birds are a juvenile Mute Swan and a drake Mallard. The swan was a bit of a pathetic figure and seemed to be shunned by other swans even when the pool was free of ice. Rightly or wrongly I started feeding it by putting wheat down on the bank. It was joined by a single drake Mallard and this unlikely pairing have remained together since, either feeding on the grain I put down or sleeping on the ice. A few gulls seem to favour the ice – one found dead the other day looked like a Peregrine kill. Aside from the odd Buzzard and a few Fieldfares and Redwings the place remains eerily quiet. One day four Pink-footed Geese circled low over the pool but then headed off. This afternoon the west hedge held at least 80 Fieldfares plus a few Redwings while a flock of 35 or so Goldfinches flitted around the farm.
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Feeding station
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I have barely had a chance to visit the place- usually only when I am putting food down. The Tree Sparrow flock seems to split each day now between here and our garden. I don’t have the chance to get to the feeding station regularly so I always make sure that food is available at least one location. A covey of Grey Partridges plus a few Yellowhammers are usually present. Curiously the House Sparrows and Reed Buntings have disappeared. A Kestrel is usually hanging around – one day last week it had a pop at a Meadow Pipit. The Buzzard is also usually present but no sign of the Linnet flock. Two Brown Hares were in Waterworks Lane this afternoon in addition to the five Grey Partridge coveys.
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Garden
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The garden remains very busy every day. The max number of Tree Sparrows seen was around 70 with Yellowhammers also present most days. Reed Buntings have suddenly become scarce visitors. Odd Fieldfares and Redwings are usually seen. Corvid numbers are getting silly some mornings – a sign of the times when a large flock of Jackdaws visits the garden!
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This afternoon the garden seemed to go bananas! At least 75 Tree Sparrows plus 3 Yellowhammers, 3 Reed Buntings, a Grey Heron, a Black-headed Gull, a Mistle Thrush, a Song Thrush, 4 Redwings and a Fieldfare. It’s funny how you can become conditioned to expect birds in certain areas. This afternoon I stood listening to a bird calling and for 30 seconds or so I didn’t have a clue what it was. I then realised it was a Nuthatch. I have only ever seen a Nuthatch once before in the garden and so because I didn’t expect to see one my brain couldn’t compute. This is the power of expectation and an example of how easy it is to make mistakes.
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Rixton / Glazebrook
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The area around Glazebrook railway station is superb for Redwings and Fieldfares. They are spread out a bit and regularly seem to flit over to Dam Head Lane – I estimate a couple of hundred birds around. On DHL I saw a Buzzard perched in a hedge surrounded by thrushes who almost ignored it. This area seems to be attracting Sparrowhawks – I have seen at least 3 different birds having a pop at the thrushes. One female flew low down the lane just in front of a car and just a few feet above the ground – she reminded me somewhat of a bow-riding Dolphin!
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Moat Lane pools have remained frozen and deserted. Around the lane I have picked up the odd Bullfinch, Nuthatch and Jay with Willow Tits also heard a couple of times but not seen. The mosses are deserted with even the local Crow flock having done one.
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Yesterday at lunch I went for some bird seed and on the way back I spotted a large Starling flock around Betty’s allotments on the edge of Glazebrook. All the trees were full of birds. There was lots of noise building to a crescendo followed by a sudden silence and then the loud whispers as around 3500 Starlings flew over my head. Some came back – most headed off in various directions. Amazing sight!
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I did get a brief trip up to the van – just to shut it down for the winter so no real birding opportunities again. A couple of Siskins were feeding in the trees next to the van and a smart male Brambling was observed in the same trees and later hooking up with the 40odd Greenfinches which roost in the park. I also had a brief walk with Billy down by my favourite stretch of the Lune from Halton Mills weir. Three Goldeneyes were on the river – one was an odd-looking duck with a peaked head and a bill which looked more like a scoters than a Goldeneyes. A couple of Goosanders were also here plus a Dipper.
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Grey Partridges
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At least snow on the ground makes it easier to spot Grey Partridge coveys. This week alone I have seen the following:
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2 coveys on Parkside Road, Newton
2 coveys on Warrington Road, Golborne
5 coveys in Waterworks Lane (around 30 birds)
2 coveys off Holcroft Lane, Culcheth
1 covey off Dam Lane, Glazebrook
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That’s pretty much it so Best Wishes for Christmas everyone!

Feeding time in the garden

Digiscoping camera again on a grim day - the Tree Sparrows and Reed Buntings feeding at the back of our garden. They seem to prefer here to the feeding station on days when the weather is poor!

Waxwings in the garden - ropey video clip

Very ropey video footage of the Waxwings in our garden last weekend. It was foggy and my hands were shaking with the cold plus I was trying to dodge around various shrubs. I was also using the little didgiscoping camera. Nevertheless I am chuffed to bits to see these birds in our back garden! Amazing!

Starling Spectacular

Starlings, Ham Wall RSPB

Tawny Owl, Moore NR

Yellow-legged Gull, Moore

This Herring Gull at Moore seemed to be too attached tl this Asda carrier bag! Fortunately the bird eventually got rid of the bag.

The only free water left at HGF

Long-eared Owl, Marton Mere

Kestrel, Marton Mere

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Saturday 4th December
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I started this morning with a trip to Moore. It was a winter wonderland with snow everywhere and hardly any people. I didn’t see a single birder while I was there. A few Fieldfares and Redwings were in the field behind the car park and a female Bullfinch was on the path to the gullers hide. A Buzzard also flew over. Birchwood Pool was largely frozen except for a strip of free water far left. A few thousand gulls, mostly Black-headed and Herring, were either bathing here or stood on the ice.
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It was clear that there were decent numbers of gulls over the tip, however the tipping was taking place off to the left (from the hide) and most of the gulls were not clearly visible. There was a high turn over of gulls coming down to bathe and then leaving but relatively few large gulls. In fact I only saw 2 Great Black-backed Gulls all morning. The best two spots were an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a ringed argenteus Herring Gull. The latter (WB8T) was ringed as a pullus at South Walney Nature Reserve in the summer of 2006 and has not been spotted since. Like the ringer I wonder where it has been all this time? The Tawny Owl was in its usual roost, around the pool I picked up a Jay and a Kingfisher and then 2 more female Bullfinches back by the car park.
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At HGF today the 2 Dunlin from yesterday were still present. A few Lapwings were asleep in the snow out on the ice. In the garden today few Tree Sparrows but 2 Reed Buntings and a Yellowhammer improved things. The partially leucistic Collared Dove is also visiting regularly. Around 50 Tree Sparrows and 3 Yellowhammers were at the feeding station. A Weasal also appeared here and kept popping up out of a tussock of grass near a Yellowhammer before retreating. Eventually it dashed off across the field.
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Sunday 5th December
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Today was an absolute stinker for weather. Thick, freezing fog all day. A visit to HGF didn’t produce anything much. The Wigeon and Coots were still in the free strip of water – I suspect it is remaining free due to the concentration of birds here. There were lots of large gulls on the ice – unfortunately I couldn’t identify any of them because of the pea-souper.
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The feeding station held around 50+ Tree Sparrows with a Yellowhammer (male) and a few Chaffinches. A Buzzard was perched on its usual fenceline nearby and 8 Skylarks were in the stubble field opposite the feeding station. Up to 40 Tree Sparrows were hanging around in the garden today. For some reason they seem to prefer feeding here at the moment in preference to the feeding station despite the fact that there is more food at the latter site. I wonder why? 3 Reed Buntings and a Yellowhammer (female) plus the Pheasant were also in the garden today. In truth it was extremely busy with birdlife all day.
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The highlight of the day appeared mid afternoon. I had gone into the foggy back garden to carry out some work on the rabbit runs. As soon as I stepped outside I heard multiple loud trills and looked up to see a Waxwing flock in the large Ash tree. I started flapping a bit and dashed back into the house before re-emerging with bins and my digiscoping camera. The Waxwings seemed to be making loads of noise – presumably the fog was concentrating their calls. There were at least 52 birds – they stayed for only around ten minutes and then flew off. I was really bowled over by the visit of these birds! To round off a cracking day in the garden I also had a garden tick today in the shape of a Grey Wagtail – presumably the bird that has been hanging around Waterworks Lane. It spent a while walking around the rabbit runs looking for insects.
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Monday December 6th
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The Tree Sparrows in the garden this morning numbered at least 55 – by far the largest count I have made in the garden. A Yellowhammer was also present – it was very foggy again though and I didn’t have time to watch them for long. At HGF the fog finally lifted a bit. The pool is still almost completely frozen with the one narrow strip of free water. This morning the usual 47 Wigeon and 82 Coot were joined by a drake Shoveler. There were quite a few gulls on the ice with an increase in Common Gull numbers. 9 Grey Partridges were running around in Midhops paddock.
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Having driven down through the country in freezing fog for several hours today I arrived in Somerset early (nowhere near as much traffic on the roads as I expected) and I decided to head over to Ham Wall RSPB for dusk. Everywhere today has been smothered in fog so it was a pleasure to walk around a reserve free of fog. Of all the new places I have visited this year, Shapwick Heath / Ham Wall is by far and away my favourite. This is a relatively new reserve – apparently the reed bed has only just matured and this is thought to be one of the main attractions for the Starlings. The first booming male Bittern only appeared here four years ago – this year there were 13 present!
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Various birds popped up as I walked towards the viewing platform. A Buzzard and then a Sparrowhawk flew across the path. Four Bullfinches flew out of the top of a tree, a Cetti’s Warbler called from some reeds near the bridge and a Water Rail crept along the ice in one of the frozen ditches. There were just a few birders present tonight and the sky was overcast even if it was free of fog. A Bittern flew out of the reed bed in front of us and headed straight over us. A flock of around 40 Lesser Redpolls also appeared in the top of a tree near the viewing screens and another Water Rail wandered around in a frozen ditch. Three more Water Rails were heard screaming and two more Cetti’s Warblers calling.
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It wasn’t long before the first Starlings started to appear. Almost immediately a Marsh Harrier appeared and seemed to have a half-hearted pop at the Starlings. Shortly after a Peregrine appeared and had a right go at the Starlings causing the flock to produce some stunning effects as it tried to evade the raptor. The Peregrine then had a pop at the Marsh Harrier before resuming its efforts at the Starlings. I think it mush have caught one – it dropped into the reeds and vanished for around 20 minutes before flying out again and causing mayhem once more.
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More and more Starlings poured in. They were not putting on great displays and were dropping straight into the reeds; however the sheer numbers were boggling. I conservatively estimate at least one million birds arrived tonight!!! A female Sparrowhawk also appeared and had a go at them while two Ravens and another Bittern flew over. A Woodcock also called from a small thicket of trees just as the light started to fade. I began to wander back towards the car park while listening to a calling Tawny Owl. At one place the path is much higher than the grassy strip bordering a reed bed and is also partly screen by a four foot bramble hedge. I looked down onto this area while being partly obscured – suddenly a Woodcock flew out followed by a Snipe which whizzed right past me. The source of their fright then appeared – a Barn Owl which ghosted along the grassy strip directly below me!
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What a bloody amazing evening’s birding. I was only there for a short time and I saw a stunning line up of birds with the Starling Spectacular being the crowning glory. I really wish I could bottle up this experience and re-live it when I wanted!
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Thursday 9th December
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Seven Tree Sparrows in the appeared in the garden just before I set off for work. At lunch I nipped over to HGF. The temperature was a balmy 7°C though the only free water was a small pool around 20 feet in diameter. 43 Wigeon, 12 Coots, 3 Mute Swans and 16 Mallard were crammed in here. On the ice were 135 Black-headed Gulls and 36 Common Gulls.
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The feeding station was busy today. After being away for several days I suspect they had long since hammered the last lot of seed and were hungry. 55 Tree Sparrows were joined by 34 House Sparrows, 22 Chaffinches and 6 Yellowhammers.