Redesmere WeBS Count

On a grey and murky day at Redesmere I carried out the WeBS monthly bird count. It was a pretty quiet affair to be honest, with the usual suspects of mainly Canada Geese, Mallards and Coots. Sprinkled in were a fly over Great White Egret, a Little Egret, some Goldeneye and a few species of gulls. The majority of the gulls were Black-headed, but there was one Common Gull and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Always nice to see something not so common here.

You can see more of my sightings and here:

Common Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Martin Mere

A week or so ago, I went to Martin Mere to see the Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese. There were a couple of bonus birds too though, in the shape of a Glossy Ibis and a Ring-necked Duck. It was a lovely cold, frosty and sunny morning and we got quite lucky with the amount of birds we saw. We managed all 3 Egrets, with 2 Great White Egrets, 3 Cattle Egrets and a Little Egret to complete the set. Plenty of ducks and some Snipe on the water, while the usual woodland birds were hanging around the feeders. Over the marsh, there were Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and 2 Marsh Harriers. All in all it was a great way to spend a Saturday.

You can see more of my visit here, on my YouTube channel: My YouTube Channel

Black-tailed Godwit

Glossy Ibis

Ring-necked Duck

Moorhen on ice

Pheasant

Tree Sparrows in the Frost

A nice cold frosty morning meant that the weekend got off to a great start. I had a target bird in mind to get on the 2026 Year List, and that was the Tree Sparrow. Not a common bird anymore unfortunately, but I know of a site locally that holds a good number. 

The sun was out and thankfully it was in the right position to shine good light on my subject. It's not an easy task to get a bird that you want to photograph to sit nicely on a branch or to be free of leaves and clutter, and the Tree Sparrow more often than not likes to stay inside bushes. I got lucky just a couple of times, and these are my efforts.

If you'd like to see what else I saw on my walk, click on the link below and you can come with me. 😀 If you like it, subscrube to see me on more of my birding walks.

My You Tube video  

Tree Sparrow

White-fronted Goose

I used some time off between Christmas and New Year to see if I could make any late additions to my year list. High on my list of "possibles" was the White-fronted Goose. With some cold Easterly winds blowing in from Russia, there had been a bit of an influx in the previous week. Nothing had been reported locally, but I thought there'd be a good chance to find one in amongst the local flocks of Canada and Greylag Geese. I managed to find  a few last year, so I knew where would be a good place to look. 

As it turned out, I got extremely lucky. A wrong turning took me somewhere I had no intention of going. I got out of the car just as some geese flew over my head and landed in the next field. It looked like mainly Greylags, but always worth being thorough and checking them all. BINGO!!! One Russian White-fronted Goose. It didn't make it easy as it kept ducking down and walking behind the Greylags. When your luck's in, your luck's in. A final addition to the Year List, which finished at 196.

White-fronted Goose (centre with the striped belly)

The white front above the bill just visible, and distinctly smaller than the Greylags.

I'm Also Now on YouTube

I'm going to try something new this year. I thought as well as doing my blog, I'd try to do some videos of my escapades. I'll being including details of where I've been and what I've seen, whilst also including pictures and videos of what I see.

I'd love you all to join me, take a look and if you like what you see then subscribe to my channel and like or comment on my videos. I'd love to know that people are enjoying my content, or any suggestions for future videos. It's new venture for me, but I'd like you all to come along for the ride with me. It could be fun. 😀

My channel link to Adam Jones Photography is here: https://www.youtube.com/@adamjonesphotography

And here is my first video: https://youtu.be/ke21VVRtavk?si=-81dk3XC7ZfHxREf

Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas to you all, and thank you for visiting my page in the last year. It's great to know that people like to connect with my blog and leave comments. They are all read, and it means an awful lot to me. I am aiming to get out a lot more in 2026, so I hope I can bring you more regular posts than in 2025. I am also looking to do something exciting next year, that will involve video as well as pictures. So please stay tuned for updates as I have them.

As it is pretty cold here at the moment, I've chosen to add some pictures of warmer times for my last post of the year. These pictures were taken at RSPB Bempton Cliffs back in May, when I was walking about in shorts and a t-shirt. How I long for these warmer days, and some quality birds. 

Puffin

Gannet

Redesmere Gulls

Redesmere doesn't really get many different species of gulls through the year. Black-headed are the most common by far, with the odd Lesser Black-backed some months, and even rarer here is the Common Gull. During the winter months there can be 100+ Black-headed gulls on and around the water. Some of these have been ringed birds, and traced back to Lithuania. The records show that they travel from Redesmere to Lithuania to breed and then return to entertain me for the rest of the year. It's quite amazing really when you think about it.

Common Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Stonechat

I'm fortunate to have a few pairs of Stonechats locally. They're one of the birds that really triggered my interest and excitement in birds again over 20 years ago. Unlike most other birds, they allow you a few opportunities to ID them, as they will often sit up nicely on a branch, bush, fence or fence post. Regularly dropping down to pick up a snack. 

This pair were doing what they do best along the East Bank, Cley Marshes. Luckily for me the sun was out, and they were not too far away.

Female Stonechat

The male. So frustrating that the blade of grass wouldn't blow out of shot.

Jack Snipe - Cley Marshes

A bird that I'd only set eyes on twice before was the Jack Snipe. Once at Spurn and once at Snipes Pool, Cley. On both occasions the views were distant. The first bird was asleep for the duration, while the second bird did give me it's bouncy bobbing dance for confirmation. (Well worth a Google if you get a chance). Just a couple of weeks ago I got my third and best look at this cracking little wader, from Bishops hide at Cley. It was asleep most of time, but being probably no more than 10 feet away, it was not a problem. Every 5-10 minutes it would bob a little and then pop it's head up to have a look, before assuming it asleep with one eye open position. 

I was chuffed to be able to get some decent pictures.

Jack Snipe. Asleep with one eye open. 

During one of it's fleeting awake moments.

Goyt Valley

Early mornings in the Goyt Valley have been stunning this year. So many weekends have started in full sunshine, no cloud cover and no rain. This is great for me wanting to see and photograph birds and nature, but not so good for the ever decreasing water level. The reservoir is as low as I've ever seen it. I'd like some rain, but obviously if it could fall at night that would be really helpful.

Blackcaps have been in good voice, and as ever, making it difficult to spot them as they sing from within the leaf cover. Every now and again they show themselves. I just have to be ready when they do.

Male Blackcap

Common Sandpiper on the shoreline of the ever retreating water line at Errwood Reservoir.

One of the several Cuckoos that have been singing around the valley. Not often I get to see them perched up like this. 

Marsh Warbler - Cley

Just a few weeks after adding the Woodchat Shrike to my UK life list, I managed to add another lifer last weekend, in the form of a Marsh Warbler. This super little bird that was constantly singing it's heart out was in the reeds at Cley. Just a couple of hundred yards from the East Bank, it was hard to miss it's song, that was a repertoire of mimicry of other birds. I counted at least a dozen different bird songs and calls, from Blue Tit, Sparrow, Swallow, Swift, Bearded Tit, Linnet, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warbler and even the Oystercatcher. It was fantastic to stand just metres away and watch and listen. A super little show off of a bird. The short phone video is a must to listen to at the bottom of this post to appreciate it's mimicry.😀