A Moorland Feast

I'm so fortunate to live close to some fantastic bird habitats. One of those habitats is upland moors. Go at the wrong time of year, and you'd wonder if you're the only one alive up here, as it can be very desolate and the weather unforgiving. The wind howls through at speed and the icy chill can be felt no matter how many layers you have on. Fast forward to Spring, and it's still not particularly warm, but signs of life come from all angles. The Curlew can be heard bubbling, the Red Grouse pop their heads up and the Meadow Pipits are like swarms of flys as they are absolutely everywhere. Throw into the mix returning Wheatears, Golden Plover and if you're very lucky the Ring Ouzel, then it's a very special place to be.

Every year I make numerous visits hoping to see the Ring Ouzel return. I saw none last year, and was beginning to wonder if disturbance by many more walkers since Covid lockdown had pushed them on to other parts. Thankfully this year I have seen them on a few occasions and in song too. I hope this means that last year was just a blip. 

The female, which is brown and the bib not so crisp white as the male.

The male, black and a clean white bib.

Distant male Wheatear

Meadow Pipit

Red-breasted Goose Norfolk

An Easter weekend break at my parent's in Norfolk gave me an opportunity to top up my year list. It also gave me the chance to look for a rare goose that had been in the area around Cley and Blakeney for a few weeks. The Red-breasted Goose was associating with a flock of Brent Geese, and most likely had joined the wrong flock as it left it's wintering grounds. This was the first seen in Norfolk since 1988 and the first time I had seen one outside of a Wildfowl and Wetland Trust centre, where they help to captively breed this endangered bird. With only 40,000 of these birds estimated to be in the wild, these really are on the brink. Whatever this birds origin, it was a real pleasure to be able to see it and spend some time with it.

It wasn't an easy find. Blakeney is quite a vast area with long grass and vegetation. Add to that, multiple flocks of Brent Geese to scan through, it was down to my trusty side-kick Lisa to actually pick it out and make my day. We were able to follow the path in it's direction to get closer views. There was the river Glaven between us and it, and a good 50-100 yards. It continued to feed and walk towards us and gave me a great opportunity to get some shots that I didn't think I would ever get. What a special bird it is.

Red-breasted Goose

With a Brent Goose for company

A Little Egret joined the party too

Looking for some old friends.

The weather is improving, the temperature is warming up. The blossom is on the trees, and some of our Summer migrants are starting to return. Things are looking good again, and the air is filled with bird song that I've not heard for a long time. Chiffchaffs in particular are now here in abundance, and they aren't wasting any time in letting people know that they are here. Other than the Wrens, Tits and other garden birds, they are a real noticeable call to hear, and it makes me smile. They will soon be joined by Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and some other more exotic looking birds, but right now I'm loving hearing them call incessantly. It adds a little extra joy to my walks.

Chiffchaff

Grey Wagtail

Treecreeper

Patch Birding

A walk around my local patch serves to remind me that there is always something to see. Any bird of prey always gets me looking more than twice. Kestrels are common in my area, but it's always nice to see them and watch where they go and see what they do. It was a bit gloomy, but the colour came out ok.

Kestrel

There have been a pair of over-wintering Stonechats on a nearby golf course, Some days I can be looking for 10 minutes and not see them. Other days they are there in front of me for some time. Just shows that you never know what you'll see and just because they aren't seen one day, doesn't mean they are not still around. 

Male Stonechat

Not a common bird any more, but there is a good flock of Tree Sparrows around near me. Lovely birds to see, just not an easy find these days.

Red-throated Diver Watergrove Reservoir

There has been a Red-throated Diver on a reservoir in Greater Manchester since before Christmas, and nothing but laziness (and the cold wet weather) has stopped me from venturing out to go and see it. Usually seen around the coasts of the UK, it's quite unusual for one to stay so long in land. My usual sightings of these birds are through a scope whilst sea watching on the East coast, so it was really nice to be able to see one at very close quarters and for a prolonged period of time. I would usually see a Great Northern Diver in these parts at this time of year, but the Red-throated is quite unusual. 

The weather last weekend was good, so I made the 30 mile trip round to Watergrove reservoir in Rochdale. A place I have been on many occasions, and more often than not it is windy and very wet underfoot. Initially I spotted the bird on the far side, and walked along the wall in hope that it would make it's way across to me at some point. I watched it dive and waited for a good few minutes before it resurfaced. Much to my delight, it was only about 30 metres from me now, and there it stayed without diving for almost half an hour. What an absolute treat to watch this bird so close, and it even meant the camera got an outing too.

Sunny Times

The sun has returned in recent weeks, and even better than that, at the weekend. Woo hoo! Being able to go for a walk without covering up your binoculars from the rain, and even getting the camera out of the car is a nice feeling.

I took a few local walks last weekend to Redesmere and Chelford. There were good numbers of birds about enjoying the sunshine too. Birds that I have noticed an awful lot this winter have been Siskins. They seem to be around on most of my walks and in places I'd not come across them before. There was a large flock of 50+ at Redesmere and within that flock were around a dozen Lesser Redpolls. Both of these birds are quite small and flighty, and also like to feed at the top of trees. If they are not making their calls they can be easily overlooked. I managed to track them down and once seen, they were happy to keep feeding and doing acrobatics. Both these birds like to feed upside down and it can look quite comical at times.

In Chelford the long staying over-wintering pair of Smews were still in attendance. They are usually a telescope view away, and tucked under the over hanging vegetation, but on this occasion both were out in the open and in the sunshine. A great opportunity for a record shot.

Smew

Lesser Redpoll

Siskin

North Wales

A trip out to North Wales to add a few year ticks was very enjoyable. Once again there was very little in the way of sunshine, but the birds on offer more than made up for that. I started at Rhyl to add a Scaup. I had already picked up a Lesser Scaup in Scotland, so to get the pair so early in the year was great. It has been a few years since I last saw one, so was pleased to see it playing ball not too far out on the lake.

I moved on to the Little Orme where an Iceland Gull had been for some time. It took me a long time to locate it, looking down onto a shingle bay that was the perfect camouflage for the bird. After quite some time it appeared from behind a rock. A cracking gull which then took flight around the bay giving some very good views.

Also here at the Litte Orme, I managed to tick off Shag, Red-throated Diver, Fulmar, Eider, Guillemot and Razorbill. A good day out all round.

Iceland Gull

Red-breated Merganser in flight.

Scaup

With a Tufted Duck on the left.

Pennington Flash

The weather has not been particularly kind at the weekends, and it's looking the same again this. Dark skies, rain and wind. Not a great prospect when you work all week and just want a bit of sunshine, or light cloud. So last weekend I headed to an old haunt of mine, Pennington Flash, to sit in the hides out of the rain and see what turned up. If I'm honest, I was really looking for the Willow Tit that can be found here. Not an easy bird to find and on a sharp decline across the country, but usually quite reliable at this site.

I sat for nearly an hour and a half just observing the comings and goings. There were plenty of species and a nice fly through of a Sparrowhawk. An enjoyable time on what was then a very miserable day. Hurry up Spring.

Blue Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Nuthatch

Reed Bunting

Robin

It turned up eventually. The Willow Tit.