Friday 1 March 2024

South Cumbria with Richard's Pipit and Brent Geese ...

The Ulverston Richard's Pipit was surprisingly easy to find this week as it initially perched up on overhead wires and then flew to a field with short grass ... this was quite unlike most of my previous expreiences with the species where the bird skulks in long vegetation ...


... the long hind-claw showing nicely ...






... meanwhile a Barn Owl hunted over the fields and then perched up conveniently ...




As the tide came in on the causeway to Roa Island a family group of Dark-bellied Brent Geese fed close by on the water's edge, the pale fringes of the juvenile showing nicely ...



... while on the other side of the causeway some Pale-bellied Brent Geese were equally obliging ...

























Sunday 25 February 2024

Wintering Waders ... and Raptors ... it's the Solway marshes ...

 The Knot flocks particularly on Grune Point over the high tides have been particularly impressive over the past month ...



Oystercatcher numbers there have also been high and a leucistic bird has lingered with the flock ...



Less impressive were Red-breasted Merganser numbers with small groups only ...


While the northern breeding waders were still distinctly in winter mode, Ringed Plovers seemed to think that spring was in the air and some lovely display was going on ...


Golden Plovers are elusive on some days but at other times great flocks wheel around the skies or loaf on the wet sand of the Wampool at Anthorn ...


... and three Ruff consorted with the Lapwing flock there ...


A juvenile Marsh Harrier  put in an appearance ...


... and a juvenile female Hen harrier too ...


... and to add to the raptor-fest a male Merlin perched near the waters edge at Port Carlisle before heading northwards into Sotland ...


... and another two (or perhaps the same birds as at Anthorn) Ruff fed among the Redshank at Campfield ...


It was a very welcome sight to see eleven Whooper Swans at Walby, my first sighting of them there this winter ... a family party with three juveniles


... and some adults ...






















Saturday 20 January 2024

From the frozen forest to the windswept west ...



With the thermometer reading -8 C but with the bright sunshine and a clear blue sky it was magical in the Border Forest ... birds were inevitably rather scarce but the occasional Coal Tit called and flitted about the conifer branches ...




A small flock of six passerines moved through the low scrub and seemingly disappeared into the low vegetation ... then one would occasionally show and reveal itself as a Reed Bunting ...



 




After several days when the temperature rarely if ever reached zero Talkin Tarn was almost completely ice-bound but around 2000 gulls occupied a small patch of open water ... mainly Black-headed Gulls but with smaller numbers of Common Gulls and only a handful of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls ... 


As the temperatures eased the wind picked up and at Workington Harbour on a low tide the gulls and Cormorants kept off the jetties and stayed on the rocky shore ... a juvenile Glaucous Gull which had been around the area for a little while was way out on the rocks on the north side ...



... it kept busy, getting up to fly around and joining a feeding frenzy among the other large gulls from time to time ...















... a great looking bird with its pink legs and bill-base ...



Sunday 12 November 2023

Back to Spain ... it's Aiguamolls de l'Emporda

 Family wedding celebrations are great ... when they're close to a wonderful reserve somewhere abroad they're even better ...

Aiguamolls is a reserve that I've visited many times over a fifteen year period ... this former rice paddy site has never failed to delight ... with its pools, wet meadows, woodland, open grassland and coastal dunes ...

While Great White Egrets are not the rarity that they were a few decades ago, a little group of them is always a nice sight ...


... the same thing goes for Spoonbills too ...


... and Flamingoes of course ...



... the wet meadows had many Dunlin, Ringed Plovers but this Pectoral Sandpiper was a nice surprise ...


... and a single lingering White Stork stood nearby ...


... a flock of Black-headed Gulls is always worth a look through and this time it turned up a Slender-billed Gull ... a delightful species ...


... the flooded fields were perfect habitat for Green Sandpiper ...


... and Yellow-legged Gulls are always worth looking at ...


... some Mousached Warblers were singing quite well from some isolated groups of reeds and Zitting Cisticolas were also in the reedbeds and one showed well ...


... Spotted Redshanks were common and typically favouring the deeper water ...


... in the more open areas of dry grassland a Crested Lark put in an appearance ... showing better in flight than on the groiund ...


... and back on the wet grassland Water Pipitswere present in good numbers ...