It's that time again!

The monthly bird race with Jim began, as usual, at Venus Pool where a good number of species is always possible. The pool and feeders added most of what we expected, Tree Sparrows and Bullfinch were near the hide and a few more like Fieldfare, Redwing and Linnet were found in the general area. A very good start and the pair of Dippers showed well at Longnor making 38 so far.

Then on to a few places we hadn't included in the previous months, starting at Shirlett. Here we added Crossbill, Redpoll, Siskin, Raven, Goldcrest and Nuthatch. In the Bridgnorth area - Little Owl, RL Partridge, Little Grebe and a couple of others. At Shifnal the 200+ Golden Plover were exactly where I'd left them a few days earlier!

A quick stop at Priorslee found a pair of Gadwall plus LBb Gull, Herring Gull and GC Grebe. On the way to Isombridge we added Shelduck and Jim found a Dunlin! The fields where we usually see plenty of Buntings and Larks were really quiet. Not a wasted journey though - whilst scanning a field for signs of life, I found a Grey Partridge! The first of the year for both of us.

With several hours of daylight left, we headed north to the meres. Common Gull, Goosander and Goldeneye were on Colemere and 9 Curlew at Wood Lane. There were several hundred gulls on The Mere so we stopped to scan for GBb Gull. None found but Jim spotted something even better - the RB Merganser! Good to see it's still around after no reports of it for a few weeks.

Whixall was to be the final destination for the last hour and a half of light where Pintail were quickly found on the floods. There had been no sign of the Crane since the morning but we were hopeful it may go onto the Moss to roost again?

It was still really light when, before we had even reached the Moss, we saw the fantastic sight of a Short Eared Owl hunting ahead of us! Whilst we waited for the Crane and hopefully Hen Harrier, the SEO showed really well for the hour we were there. Easily one of my favourite birds, it was amazing to watch it hunt and get great views of it perched on a post. A perfect end to the day!

We smashed the previous months tallys with 81 species including some hard to see ones. Shame the Crane didn't wish to join the list, wonder where it'll turn up next?

A Surprise at Whixall!

With reasonable weather forecast, I decided it was about time I had another go at seeing the SEOs, Hen Harrier and maybe even the Shrike on Whixall Moss.

Arriving at 2.00pm, I was just getting my wellies on, when I happened to glance over at the bungalow by the car park..... and what did I see, but a huge pair of grey wings flying low over the field towards the bungalow! My bins weren't nearby and I only saw it briefly, but surely that was way too big for a Grey Heron!!

It appeared to land, just out of sight. Thoughts of 'Crane' were gathering as I hastily gathered my stuff and rushed to the bungalow with three other birders. We all couldn't believe our luck when we saw that it was a Common Crane and it had landed in a nearby field amongst some Canada Geese!

Record shots were quickly taken by all four of us...







A while later I went onto the Moss to look for the Harrier but soon decided I'd much rather by photographing the Crane! I saw the pair in 2008 a few times but missed them last year and these were some of the best views I'd ever had of the species.










It called whilst in the field (and my what a call!!) and again later as it was flying to roost.

Another walk around the Moss from 5.00-6.30pm found nothing but a Sparrowhawk on a post and we saw the Crane coming onto the Moss to roost by one of the pools at 5.50pm.

Owls and Peregrines

Today I'm really pleased to have found my Little Owls again. I hadn't seen them in their usual place for several months! Seems they've moved from the very rotten trees, to a new, not so rotten home half a mile away.

Excuse the poor pic, they were high up and I couldn't get a clear view through the branches. This'll just have to do for now (yes I know, I should have used manual focus!)



Recently I also got a few more shots of a Peregrine who had just finished a meal...















The Tawny Owls have been very vocal recently and should have started nesting by now. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for pics in the next few weeks.

A High Tide, Waders and Lifers!

The highest tide of the year was predicted at Parkgate, 10.2 metres! Jim and I were hopeful that the raptors would come a little closer than they had last time, perhaps close enough for some pics?

There were the usual Curlew, Redshank, Snipe and Oystercatcher moving around as the tide came in. A ringtail Hen Harrier was the first raptor to be seen shortly followed by a female Marsh Harrier.

The water came right up to the wall, covering the last 50m at an incredible speed!









A Peregrine spent over an hour perched on a distant post and two Merlins were busy chasing the pipits. There was obviously a lack of rodents for the raptors after the high tides of the previous few days as we didn't see any Short-eared Owls at all.

Seeing the speed the water covered the marsh was perhaps the highlight?! Although just before we left, a Water Pipit was spotted with three Rock Pipits feeding not far in front of us. Also nice to see a pair of Little Owls nearby, perched in an ivy covered tree enjoying the afternoon sun.

We then headed off to Wallasley where close views of waders are possible at high tide. Peering over the wall down to the rocks just below, there was the wonderful sight of around two hundred small waders sleeping.

There were Dunlin, Turnstone, Sanderling, Redshank and at least five Purple Sandpiper. I've never seen any of these species so close!






















The tide was retreating fast and after just fifteen minutes or so of watching them, they all left to resume feeding on the newly exposed mud.







An hour west along the coast, in Llandudno, some Twite had recently been coming to feed on seed put out by locals. We arrived to find them doing just that...







On the cliffs of the Little Orme there were many Fulmar, Guillemots and Cormorants. A Shag flew off the cliff onto the sea, where there were also some Red-breasted Merganser.

Water Pipit, Purple Sandpiper and Twite added to my life list today!

Back to Gronant

Another visit to North Wales began at Gronant where the tide was in and around 200 waders were resting on the shore. Good to see five Grey Plover (only the second time I've seen these!) along with Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatcher plus Shelduck on the sea.





Snoozing Sanderling and Dunlin...







Then a long walk along the beach towards Point of Ayr in search of the Shore Lark, found nothing at all...



... and the Hawfinch at LLanreadr-y-Cennin weren't around either!

Snow on the Beach

A trip to the north Wales coast today, with Jim being chauffeur on the snow covered roads! Hopes of a few lifers and some photo opportunities, began at Kinmel Bay in Conwy.



Snow Buntings had been present near the mouth of the River Clwyd for several weeks. These would be a lifer and hopefully an obliging subject for some pics?

First though, there was a surprise just a few metres from the car, a glimpse of a red tail dropping down from a fence. Was that really a Redstart!? A few seconds later it popped back up onto a post... a stunning juv/fem Black Redstart. What a fantastic start! Unfortunately it was very mobile, so a few record shots would have to suffice...



Walking to the edge of the beach we could hear finches and soon had four Snow Buntings fly over us and land in the grassy tufts.



They didn't stay long. As they headed off further along the beach, we checked out the waders. Lots of Redshank and Oystercatcher were present, a group of Sanderling dashing about at the water's edge, some Dunlin, Curlew and Ringed Plover and a lone Turnstone. On the sea Common Scoter could be seen and near the mouth of the river, a few Goosander.

As the Buntings still hadn't come back our way, we decided to check out Pensarn and maybe return here later. Hundreds of Common Scoter were present along with three Velvet Scoter, lots of GC Grebe, three distant Red-throated Diver and some RB Merganser.

From here we went to look for the group of Hawfinch that have been at Llanbedr-y-cennin. After an hour or so there was no sign. Just the commoner finch species, several Jay and Redwing and a year tick in the shape of a Greenshank - on the river bank seen from the churchyard. With time running out, we headed back to Kimnel Bay in the hope of better views of the Snow Buntings.

We soon found them and decided to pick a spot, wait and hope they came our way. This worked out well and before long the male and three females appeared from between rocks and headed towards us.






There were many tufts of grass in this area of the beach and they began clinging onto the stems and feeding on the seeds.















A distant blue wall provides an unusual background for this smart male...



A more natural grass background for this one...




They look even more attractive from the back I think...









Fantastic end to a great day with two lifers - RT Diver and Snow Bunting. Seeing the Blackstart, the scurrying Sanderling and watching the Buntings close up were definitely the highlights!

The last few days...

Sunday began with an hour or two of unsuccessful Crane hunting in the Crudgington area, looks like it might be just as elusive as last year! Two different Merlins were seen perched but not a lot else. In the afternoon, it was back to Shirlett where many Crossbills were present. Difficult to estimate numbers as they are in lots of small groups or pairs and in several areas, but there certainly seems to be plenty around this winter.

On Monday I was in town when two Peregrines arrived to do some food shopping of their own. They appeared low over the roof tops, putting up all the Feral Pigeons. A ten minute spectacle followed with the one bird mainly staying up high, circling and watching its mate repeatedly climb and dive into the Pigeon flock.

We were watching all this from a Town Centre car park, everyone else completely unaware what was going on just above! Eventually they gave up and we found one resting on a nearby building.

I got a few record shots, too distant for anything good. I like the gargoyle in this one though!








Today I walked on the Brown Clee, just part way up as I didn't have much time, (well that's my excuse anyway). There was a good 4-5 inches of snow on the paths, even on the lower parts. Most of it untrodden too! It was beautiful up there and I had it all to myself!

A few cronking Raven broke the silence every now and then and a group of Crossbill and Siskin were in the very tall conifers. Not much else seen but I did get distracted for quite a while by the numerous Goldcrest. Couldn't resist trying to capture these gorgeous little birds. They were quite happy to come within a few feet of me too! Just a shame they never kept still making a sharp image virtually impossible!

This one was alittle shy, playing peek-a-boo with me...






Hard to see how they find anything to eat in these conditions.



There's a tree under here somewhere...