AN EVENINGS BIRDING AT ACRE NOOK AND LAPWING HALL POOL

Being on nights I have struggled to visit lately but called in tonight on the way into work.Acre nook held 40+ Wigeon ,3 Pintail ,27 Teal,100+ Mallard and 7 Gadwall.

THREE JUVENILE PINTAIL WERE ON ACRE NOOK TONIGHT

GADWALL

2 Snipe were showing well near the top footpath.

SNIPE

2 Common sandpiper were in with at least 200 Lapwing and 500+ Black headed gulls.Great crested grebe numbers have now risen to 12 over the far pool along with 17 Cormorants.

Walking over to Lapwing hall pool I soon connected with the long staying juvenile Black necked grebe.

BLACK NECKED GREBE

Whilst stood looking at the Black necked grebe a Kingfisher flew right in front of me which was a first for the year for me on my new patch.I watched it keep flying but it didn't stop and flew right over the farm and onto Acre nook.I have searched for this species all year with no luck so I was made up I had seen one.

A nice evenings birding before work which was finished off with a cracking sunset.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK 14TH-20TH SEPT 2016

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RUDDY SHELDUCK-WINSFORD FLASH

I was driving passed Winsford this afternoon to pick my son up from college so I called in at Winsford flash to see the long staying Ruddy shelducks.The two birds were soon picked up walking around with at least 100 Canada geese in a field just past the sailing club.

 RUDDY SHELDUCK

At the moment the BOU(British Ornithologists Union) have not got any evidence to prove that any of the birds seen in Britain are from wild or self-sustaining feral populations, so they can't be counted,but they are always nice to see.

DOUBLE DIPPING!

16/09/16

News broke today of a Pallas grasshopper warbler trapped and ringed at Kilnsea in church fields this morning.I rang Malc curtin who was up for the drive over to East yorkshire.We both new there was little chance of the bird still being there after release but there was no point sitting around at home three hours drive away incase the bird did show again.Anyway on arrival there were only two people present which was a bit surprising for such a mega bird.We put in nearly four hours of searching around as other birders turned up but there was no sign of the bird.OH WELL THEY'LL BE ANOTHER!

17/09/16

Updating my blog on Saturday night around 5ish I went on the Manchester bird forum website and noticed a Juvenile Red backed shrike had been seen at Silver lane pools in Risley near Warrington.No news had been put out on the bird so I tweeted the news out.It was to late for me to visit as the M6 was like a carpark again and I was on duty at 7.30pm so would have to wait till the morning.The bird showed well until dusk.

I visited the site at 8am and there were a few birders on site in thick mist.Apparently the bird was found at 12.00pm the previous day!Cheers for putting the news out!for such a great bird in Cheshire.Don't understand why people put photos up and description of where the bird is on a website,what is the point,id rather not no the bird was even there!POINTLESS!Anyway moan over the bird had gone but i did get good views of Sparrowhawk!

SPARROWHAWK

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Grouse shooting for 'sport' depends on intensive habitat management which increases flood risk and greenhouse gas emissions, relies on killing Foxes, Stoats, Mountain Hares etc in large numbers and often leads to the deliberate illegal killing of protected birds of prey including Hen Harriers.Driven grouse shooting uses animals for live target practice, with thousands killed every day. Native predators are killed because they eat Red Grouse. Mountain Hares are killed because they carry ticks that can spread diseases to grouse. Heather is burned to increase Red Grouse numbers for shooting. Grouse shooting is economically, ecologically and socially unnecessary. This is 'canned hunting'.

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