The Wirral

The sun came out and I made an early start on the Wirral. I was hoping to see my first Wheatear of the year, but that didn't prove to be successful. However, as always in this area, there was plenty to see and I went home happy. 

Starting at Burton Marsh, there were plenty of Egrets (Great White and Little) to see. A Marsh Harrier flew over and Chiffchaffs, Song Thrush, Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings provided a nice background chorus as I walked the path. There were still hundreds, if not thousands, of Pink-footed Geese out on the Marsh. Moving on to RSPB Burton Mere, I heard and then saw my first Willow Warbler of the year. Other firsts for 2026 included Spotted Redshanks and Med Gulls. All in all a very nice morning out in some very nice weather for a change.

Come with me on my walk here: 

Avocet

Black-tailed Godwit

Lapwing

Long-tailed Tit

Marsh Harrier

Mediterranean Gull (bottom centre) Common Gull to its left

Ruff

Water Vole

Willow Warbler

A Day of Year Ticks.

A cold crisp morning on the Norfolk coast and I was able to finally see and photograph a couple of birds that had eluded me so far this year. I'd heard several Cetti's Warblers on my wanderings but hadn't been able to physically see one, until this morning on the East Bank at Cley, where one decided to break cover and come out of it's protective reeds. It wasn't for long, so I had to be ready and capture the moment. I could now move this from the 'Heard only' list to 'Seen' 😃

Cetti's Warbler

As I ventured along the bank towards the sea, I was looking at the noisy Black-headed Gulls and noticed a slightly different version of one. On closer inspection, it was actually a Mediterranean Gull, and another first for the year for me. It even made it's call just to confirm it's identity. These are lovely gulls, and one's that I don't see that often, maybe one or two a year.

Med Gull

I love to see the Purple Sandpipers at Sheringham on the rocks, but despite a good half a dozen visits, they had still eluded me. Poor timing on my behalf, and their choice of where to dine had seen me draw blanks. But a pre 7am visit and high tide at the same time, meant that one was on it's trusty rocks and reduced my anxiety that I might have missed them until the winter. Super little birds and great fun to watch as they slip and slide around the rocks.

Purple Sandpiper

Cemlyn Bay

Last weekend I spent a day in North Wales. It's a trip I really enjoy doing each year. I started out at Cemlyn Bay and was really looking forward to catching up with some waders and Whimbrel in particular. There were lots around the bay, but they are a shy bird that will fly off if they catch sight of you, so caution is always required. Once you have their trust though, you can observe them and watch them go about their business. Slightly smaller than a Curlew, it has a shorter and less curved bill, but a really nice bird that is worth putting extra effort in to see each year.

Whimbrel

The sound that greets you as you arrive at Cemlyn is the unmistakeable sound of the tern colony. Sandwich, Arctic and Common all squawking away. I could watch these all day, and I do regularly in the summer months.

Sandwich Tern with a sand eel.

There was one Mediterranean Gull on the island with the Black-headed Gulls. He seemed like quite a bolshy bird and was aggressively confronting some of the others.

Mediterranean Gull

It was nice to see some of the smaller waders on the shoreline. Some Dunlin here with Ringed Plovers. It reminded me how long it had been since I last watched them. Covid restrictions have kept me away for too long.

Dunlin

Lockdown easing.

Thanks to a change in government guidelines, I was able to travel to my parents last week and stay overnight. It was so good to see them again after 3 long months.

I did my birding nice and early in the morning so as to avoid others, and headed to places I knew would be very quiet at 5am in the morning (yes, most places are, but I wasn't taking any risks).

I headed to Salthouse, a beach I know that is very quiet, unless you are a bird. I enjoyed watching the Sandwich Terns tracking the shoreline up and down while squawking as they did. 

The weather was good, with warm sunshine from very early. Always a help when stood still for some time and the light helps the pictures.

One of the many Sandwich Terns seen over the week.

With a what looks like a sand eel.

There were only a few Common Tern around.

There were very good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls along the coast. 

Similar in size to a Black-headed Gull, but with a distinctive black hood and orangey bill and legs.

Mediterranean Gull

I was at Elton Reservoir looking for a Black-necked Grebe (which I did find) when I scanned a small raft of gulls and notice two Mediterranean Gulls that had dropped in. I was expecting to see the common fair, but these were instantly obvious to me to be the Med kind. A lovely black hood, red bill and white crescents above and below the eye.

A Black-headed Gull for comparison. You can see the hood is more chocolate brown and does not extend as far down the nape .

After 10 minutes of preening, they took flight noisily.

They gave a nice fly past as I stood waiting patiently.

No Laughing Matter

I am slowly starting to appreciate gulls. It has taken me a very long time to take two looks at them, in case it is something other than a Black-headed Gull. I've found myself hunting down the rarer varieties just recently. As I said in a previous post, I even took to bribery to be able to get out to see the Laughing Gull.
Last weekend, I managed to fit in an hour or so at Pennington Flash, where it just happened to have a Mediterranean Gull among hundreds of Black-headed Gull. I also picked out a very nice looking Common Gull too. How times have changed for me and these birds. It's like I'm in a new relationship.

Common Gull

A good looking Mediterranean Gull

 

Before it moved closer, it was quite obvious amongst the other gulls.

 

Norfolk. Not quite abroad. (Part 1)

I spent a fantastic couple of days with my parents in Norfolk last weekend. The birds to be found in this part of the country are quite something, and not what I find in my own back yard. So it made a nice change to see lots of waders and sea birds plus some more unusual birds that we didn't expect to show up.
We were based in Snettisham which has a stony beach and a vast area of mudflats. Ideal for waders of all varieties.

Bar-tailed Godwits on a flypast. 

 A Common Tern against the slate grey sky.

A Mediterranean Gull.

An Oystercatcher. Very common and very noisy, but also very colourful.

At Titchwell there were plenty of Resdshanks, Avocets, Shelduck and a few rarities flew in to make it even more enjoyable. A Spotted Redshank was a first for me, as were the Little Gulls that showed themselves very nicely, and the following day a Spoonbill dropped in, although it was too distant for my camera.

A Common Redshank.



A Spotted Redshank. (Apologies for the colour, the light was on the wrong side on a dull day.)



Come back soon for part 2 and some nice close ups of the very photogenic Avocet.