Photos:
A vert smart, leucistic Black-headed Gull on Birchwood Pool, Moore NR. Look at the red on the legs and bill!
10th February
Around 100 Tree Sparrows and 13 Yellowhammers were present at the feeding station today. There have been only 2 or 3 of the yellow buntings present all winter so I wonder where the others came from? This is though fairly typical – I always see larger numbers in late winter / early spring.
Late afternoon heralded another visit to Moore. As I parked up Jonathan appeared and so we decided to go and do some gull watching at Birchwood Pool. Chance would be a fine thing! There were a few gulls around but nothing spectacular. I did spot a leucistic Black-headed Gull which looked quite smart and a flock of around 90 Redwings flew over. We then decided to cut our losses and head for the Eastern Reedbeds. One of the Risley Moss guys, Brian, had earlier seen two birds walking around on the ice. Today when we got there, nothing stirred. The Starlings didn’t turn up either. Jonathan then commented that we weren’t going to see a Bittern and no sooner were the words out of his mouth, I spotted one in a patch where I had seen one last time. Not great views but a Bittern nonetheless. By this time I think we were both frozen solid – it was a very bitterly cold and overcast day – so we went home.
Around 100 Tree Sparrows and 13 Yellowhammers were present at the feeding station today. There have been only 2 or 3 of the yellow buntings present all winter so I wonder where the others came from? This is though fairly typical – I always see larger numbers in late winter / early spring.
Late afternoon heralded another visit to Moore. As I parked up Jonathan appeared and so we decided to go and do some gull watching at Birchwood Pool. Chance would be a fine thing! There were a few gulls around but nothing spectacular. I did spot a leucistic Black-headed Gull which looked quite smart and a flock of around 90 Redwings flew over. We then decided to cut our losses and head for the Eastern Reedbeds. One of the Risley Moss guys, Brian, had earlier seen two birds walking around on the ice. Today when we got there, nothing stirred. The Starlings didn’t turn up either. Jonathan then commented that we weren’t going to see a Bittern and no sooner were the words out of his mouth, I spotted one in a patch where I had seen one last time. Not great views but a Bittern nonetheless. By this time I think we were both frozen solid – it was a very bitterly cold and overcast day – so we went home.
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