Some Waders

Waders are my favourite genre of bird. You know where to find them, they are nearly always there, and they give you time to sit and watch them. A good hide where you can sit, have your lunch and just wait to see what drops in are my favourite places to be. There's always something to see and you can go away with a very different list to those an hour before you or after you. Spring and Autumn are the best times, but you can find me looking at waders any time of the year.

Here are just a couple of species, the Avocet and the Whimbrel. The lovely contrasting black and white of the Avocet in the sunlight, and the Whimbrel a little on the dull side in comparison. A great bird to see though, and one that makes my heart race a little more than the Avocet these days. It's always a bonus when your second look confirms it's not a Curlew.

Avocet

Whimbrel, with its eye stripe and slightly shorter bill (compared to a Curlew)

Signs of Spring

There's lots of activity at the moment as things slowly drift towards warmer times. When we the sun has come out it has brought the birds to life and they're pairing up and territory setting. I've had some local Bullfinch brightening up my lunchtime walks and there always seems to be Goldcrest and Treecreeper singing. Neither of these are that easy to spot and require some patience, but I have that in abundance when it comes to birds, and sadly not much else.

We're now midway through March and I'm seeing reports of returning summer migrants already, so hopefully soon I'll have some pictures of these to bring you. It will certainly encourage me to get out and look more, if I actually needed any more encouragement. I'm always looking and listening. Even better is that the sun is rising much earlier and I can get out before most people have even put their kettle on or thought of leaving the house. I love this time of year, when I can reclaim nature for myself on a cold bright morning. 

Female Bullfinch eating her breakfast.

Treecreeper doing some creeping.

A little bit of sunshine.

A trip to Redesmere last week turned up some very good numbers of water birds. For once the sun broke through the clouds and made viewing much easier than on a dull day. I counted 19 Goosander, of which a good number were males. The green heads of the males looked stunning through the binoculars.

Alongside the Goosander were a few Goldeneye. Numbers have started to dwindle in recent weeks, and I suspect very soon I will turn up and they will all have left until next Autumn, so I am making the most of them while they're here.

Female Goosander coming in for a landing.

A few of the males, looking splendid.

Distant shot of (left to right) Grey Heron, Goosander and a Goldeneye.

I moved down the road to Lapwing Lane to see what was around, and the female Smew was still showing, and very well this time. With it being a little closer and some better light I was able to get something a bit better than my previous grainy efforts. This too, will soon be departing for the winter.

Spring Come Early? (Probably not) - Chiffchaff

Whilst returning from the walk along Holkham Beach I caught a bird fly past me and it looked greenish in colour. It definitely wasn't a Greenfinch and for a few minutes I really couldn't place what it might have been. It was quite flighty and landed among some long duney grass. Best thing for it was to wait a while and try and get a second glimpse of it. It did eventually reappear and rather obligingly, it popped up onto a fence post so I could see it in all it's splendour. Through the binoculars I now re-evaluated this to be Chiffchaff. It did make me scratch my head though. This was very early February, not late March or April.

There it was though, sat in the sunshine quite happy doing it's thing. As the winters are becoming warmer, more and more birds are staying over winter. I guess there is plenty of food around for them otherwise they would head off again. So this may become more of the norm, just as Blackcaps are staying longer these days, or even the whole year. One way or another it added another year tick a month or so early.

Long-billed Dowitcher - Cley

There had been a Long-billed Dowitcher reported around the Cley area of Norfolk for some weeks, but it sounded like it was difficult to pin down at times and was on the move regularly, or was at some distance. With the marshes being so vast I didn't even have the bird on my mind when I visited a couple of weeks ago. I thought the chances of me connecting with it would be slim, so went on a nice family walk enjoying all the other birds on offer.

On a ridge ahead of us were a large gaggle of birders with their scopes pointing all in the same direction. We didn't rush as we enjoyed the great and very noisy spectacle of thousands of Pink-footed Geese flying overhead. Eventually we moved up to the group, and saw the Long-billed Dowitcher just a matter of metres in front of us. I was expecting it to be hundreds of metres away, but it was only about 20 metres away. It was skulking around the grassy areas and mingling with some Teal and a Ruff. Only my second ever sighting of one, so I was chuffed to bits.

Long-billed Dowitcher in between two Teal for a good size comparison.

Looking rather like a large Snipe

Holkham Gap Shorelark

A winter trip to my parents in Norfolk will at some point involve a long trudge across Holkham beach to look for Shorelark. This year it was an early morning visit. The sun was just coming up and a cold wind was blowing across a quite unforgiving landscape. It was a biting cold and meant hat, gloves, snood and extra layers were essential. Walking into the wind on the mile or so walk through Holkham gap had me asking the question, what if they're not there? Thankfully we were rewarded, eventually. We had walked past their usual area and so decided to take a look at the sea, where we spotted a few Sanderling running alone the tide line before being chased off by a marauding dog. Grrrrrr!!

Back to the search, and just as the sun lit the sand dunes behind us I saw movement on the ground in front. I think there were about a dozen or so Shorelark heading towards us. So we stopped where we were and set up the scope to watch them go about their business. Fantastic little birds, just so difficult to spot, but spot them we did and it was mission accomplished. I'll make the same trip I've made many times next year, when hopefully I will catch up with them once again. 

The walk back, which seemed much shorter, had us watching Brent Geese, Redshank and a couple of Egyptian Geese for good measure.

Water Rail - Elton Reservoir

One of my hardest to find birds each year is the Water Rail. The winter months are the best time to spot them, as the cold weather draws them out from their secretive reed bed homes, but they certainly don't make it easy for you, or give you a free ride. Sometimes you'll hear their squeal like calls, but never set eyes on them, and on other occasions you'll get the briefest of flights from one bed to another. Every now and again though they stay out in the open a little longer to give a good view. Make the most of it, as you don't know when you might get as good a view.

This one was seen at Elton Reservoir along the canal. Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong position, but beggars can't be choosers. A cracking bird to watch.

Perfectly camouflaged against the reeds .

The Wirral

A day trip to the Wirral is always a good day out and more often than not packed full of birds. The Dee Estuary is one of the most important sites in the UK for wetland and shorebirds. Large swathes of marsh and wetland attracts many different species and lots in good numbers. From Pink Footed Geese to raptors and waders. There's plenty to see, and even more so on a sunny day. I took a day off work last week to coincide with some good weather and I made the most of it, visiting many familiar spots along the Wirral coast.

One favourite to see in the winter time is the Hen Harrier. The viewpoint of the marsh gives many miles to see from left to right and out in front. There could be many birds out there undetected while you scan the whole length. So picking out this ring-tailed Hen Harrier was a real treat. It was quite distant but a real joy to watch through the scope. These are no more than record shots, but a nice reminder of the day.

Hen Harrier

Another bird that appears annually on this part of the coast is the Snow Bunting. This one has been plying its trade in the sand dunes. A great little bird to see.

Snow Bunting

 

Snow Days

This week the clouds decided to drop snow rather than rain. The clouds are still here, but at least the snow gives back a little more light than the roads and pavement. It also meant that the birds were very active in my garden due to the cold weather. I had to top up the feeders as they were munching their way through loads. I decided to see if I could take some pictures of them from the lounge window. As I've not been out with the camera a lot recently due to the dull grey skies, it gave some light relief.

To top it off I had a Goldcrest that stayed around quite a while for me.

Female Blackbird does not look best pleased with the snow.

This Coal Tit looked blended in well.

Europe's smallest bird, the Goldcrest. So small and so fast. It never stays still.

Hard to beat a Robin in the snow.

Drake Smew at Lapwing Lane

At a site I visit frequently in Chelford, there is a female Smew that overwinters, and has done for the last few years now. Not a common bird here, so it's nice to be able to see it fairly regularly. I don't see it on every visit as it is quite a large body of water and there are many places it likes to visit where it can be hidden from view. Excitement grew just after the new year, when a male and another female both turned up. I have never seen the male in a wild setting, only at the Wildfowl and Wetland sites where they are captively bred. So to see a male just 20 minutes down the road was a big thing. 

It's such a smart looking bird and such a contrast to the female. The male is mostly white with a black mask around the eyes, while the female is pretty grey looking with a red head. I think it is my favourite duck, along with the Pintail, so to be able to see one was pretty exciting. Can you tell how excited I was?😄 The only downside was that the light was once again poor and grey, with the threat of rain, so I didn't manage anything other than record shots that are pretty grainy, but still a great record of my first male Smew all the same. Being able to watch through the scope was more than good enough for me.

Drake Smew

Drake and female together (in poor light)

The female a little more in the open

Final image of the male when it emerged from the undergrowth

Winter Thrushes

During the recent spell of wet weather, the fields local to me have become pretty waterlogged. Moorhens have started to venture off their ponds and are wandering around these fields in search of food, as are the Grey Herons. At the weekend it was the turn of our winter thrushes to have a look and see what the wet ground had to offer, There muse have been rich pickings because there were hundreds of Redwings and a very good number of Fieldfares too. Add to that our local and migrant Blackbirds and Song Thrushes, it was quite a sight.

Clearly they have now finished off the crop of berries that they had been feasting on in recent weeks, and been forced to the ground. There must have been something good there as they were there all day, bar the odd flushing from trespassing dog walkers.

Redwing

More distant and nervous Fieldfares.