Caspian Gull, the holy grail...

Adult Caspian Gull at Richmond Bank. This bird ticks all the ID features for this species very nicely!

Adult Yellow-legged Gull, Richmond Bank (second left)

My old friend, Mute Swan JP4. I saw him almost daily on Moat Lane pools, Rixton for 2 years before he disappeared with his mate in April. Great to see him back.

A family of Mute Swans in the canal nr Fiddlers Ferry Tavern.

Thursday 8^th November

Nipped out of work for five minutes of fresh air at lunch and to check on Mute Swan JP4 at Moat Lane pool, Rixton. He’s recently turned up at the pool with his mate after going missing since April. Another highlight was a family group of 3 Whooper Swans - rare to see them here other than as fly over birds on route to the Lancashire mosses etc! I later found out that Jonathan had seen an adult and a juvenile fly past Risley Moss while David Spencer saw a lone adult on Moat Lane pools later. It looks like this family group had, at least temporarily, broken up. I suspect they were probably knackered after the trip down from Iceland. My view is that the lone bird is probably the male, tempted into some peace and quiet after a summer of bringing up the kid and constant nagging...

Saturday 10^th November

I headed off to Richmond Bank this morning. Parking up at Fiddler’s Ferry I was a bit disconcerted to see hardly any evidence of gulls on the Mersey. On arrival at the viewpoint overlooking the bank I was happy to see the bank almost completely covered in settled gulls. I had no sooner set up my scope though when a Buzzard moved in and perched up at one end of the mud flat. This spooked the gulls and most disappeared, leaving around 1000 nervous birds strung along the back edge of the mud. I trawled through the flock for an hour or so but didn’t pick out anything other than a few argentatus Herring Gulls. Four birders from Burnley arrived and we carried on searching.

Eventually I got onto what I thought was an adult Caspian Gull on the far left of the flock. No sooner had I found it then the bird flew. Fortunately it simply moved towards the right of the flock and landed again and I managed to keep my scope on it. From this point the bird simply ambled around through the flock for well over an hour, showing off all its key ID features very nicely indeed. A cracking bird and lifer number 400 for one of the Burnley guys, certainly the same bird seen here several days earlier.

I can't be bothered going through the ID features of Caspian Gull and don't even pretend to have any expertise in this field, I'm just glad I can pick one out occasionally. For anyone interested in such things, the article below by Ian McKerchar is as definitive as it gets:

http://manchesterbirding.com/caspianrichmondbankdoc.htm

I texted Chris to let him know and he decided to call over when he finished work at 1pm. I then tracked the gull for around an hour as it ambled back and forth. Unfortunately Chris was about half way up the hill to the viewpoint when the Casp decided it was time to go back on the tip for a feed. Bl**dy typical but Chris took it in good spirit. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was all we could pick up afterwards plus a fly over Sparrowhawk. Four Little Grebes were also feeding in the channel behind the mud bank.

Note to self - I really, really must get a camp chair or something similar for gulling. Several hours stood up and hunched over a scope is not much fun on the back and shoulders and at my time of life, falling to bits every time I turn round, I need to look after myself a bit more.

Later there were just 15 Tree Sparrows at my feeding station in Waterworks Lane plus 4 Yellowhammers. A small flock of Fieldfares and Redwings were feeding in the hawthorns and a mixed finch flock held a decent number of Greenfinches. At HGF there was not much to note – the Coots and Great Crested Grebes have all bu**ered off as the water level continues to fall. 55 Wigeon were present.

Sunday 11^th November

Messed about locally this afternoon. My feeding station was better – 34 Tree Sparrows present today. In the field opposite were 13 Linnets and 8 Skylarks. A Sparrowhawk flew over the field and had a pop at one of the Skylarks and missed by some margin. Where have all the Linnets gone by the way? I would normal expect to see flocks of well over 100 here, at HGF and also on Rixton moss. None of these sites currently holds any significant numbers. Also of concern is the almost complete lack of Grey Partridge in Winwick. Anyway a flock of 120+ Pink-footed Geese flew over, heading SW and 55+ Fieldfares flew over Myddleton Lane.

I briefly checked out Barrow Lane (Newton-Le-Willows) which had a mixed thrush flock including 49 Fieldfares and 6 Redwings but sod all else. It seems quite bare here at the moment and generally devoid of life. At Newton Lake many of the Teal were typically asleep under the tree roots at the back of the pool. I counted 71 out in the open, 4 Little Grebes and Mute Swan CT6 is still here.

I then nipped over to Rixton. My old friend, Mute Swan JP4 is still here with his mate, more interesting was a Pink-footed Goose mixed in with the Canadas. This is a patch tick for me and very unusual to see one on the deck here. A drake Wigeon was also present.

Later I parked up at the junction of Holly Bush and Prospect Lanes to watch for owls. I wasn’t disappointed, with plenty of daylight left (contrast with experiences at Risley Moss!), two cracking Short-eared Owls flew out of the bracken to the west and began hunting the fields. Nice end to a good weekend.