MORE BLACK NECKED GREBES!

I left work at 7pm tonight and called in to see if anything had dropped in on the quarrys. There was no sign of the Little ringed plovers at Acre Nook, but the usual wildfowl were still present.

I then walked towards Lapwing Hall pool, where I had 3 Swallows flying across the fields. As soon as I got to the pool, I picked up 2 summer-plumaged Black-necked grebes. The light was fading fast, but I managed to get a few crappy record shots, as you can see below.

After the long winter, finding another two on my new patch on passage was a good find. Hopefully, they will still be around tomorrow, so I can get some better photos.

LITTLE RINGS ARRIVE

Visited Acre Nook Sand quarry this afternoon on my dinner hour, hoping that some spring migrants on passage would be seen, as it has been very quiet of late. As soon as I got out of the car, a Green woodpecker could be heard calling, and 2 Buzzards were over the Mosses.

Getting the scope out, I soon connected with my first Little ringed plover of the year which followed by another two. 

Three  Little Ringed Plovers were on the sandbank

A Green sandpiper was flushed by the side of the quarry as I was walking around, and a Sparrowhawk flew low into Colt hovel wood. The quarry still holds 18 Shelduck,24 Cormorant,14 Shoveler,9 Teal and 2 Wigeon.

AFTERNOON ON THE NORTH WIRRAL COAST

I spent the late afternoon at Leasowe on the north Wirral coast looking for spring migrants. I started off by checking out the horse paddocks down Lingham Lane and was rewarded with 7 Wheatear.

Wheatear

There was no sign of the Ring Ouzel that had been seen this morning. I continued through to the duck pond area, where I counted at least 10 Chiffchaff and 2 Willow Warblers. The horse paddocks were very quiet with not one Wagtail around, which was quite surprising, but held 5 Shelduck and 2 Swallows over.

Shelduck

Moving on down Park Lane, I met up with Steve Williams, who had found another Ring ouzel, a male which was distant and very elusive.

Ring Ouzel

Walking back to the lighthouse along the sea embankment, there were good numbers of Linnets and Goldfinches. Another 14 Wheatear were seen on the sea wall along with a Skylark over the paddocks. 

Views from the sea embankment looking over Leasowe

A great afternoon's birding, which was topped off with a Willow warbler in song next to the lighthouse. Spring is here!

MOTHERS DAY AT MARTIN MERE

I had a great day birdwatching today. My mother wanted to visit Martin Mere and do some shopping in Southport, making it an ideal day for me to spend part of Mother’s Day birding. 

 

Martin Mere is owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and was established by Sir Peter Scott. Click on the link below for the history of the WWT.

http://www.wwt.org.uk/conservation/history-of-wwt/

Sir Peter Scott

We started off the visit by walking around the wild section of the reserve first, and from the first hide, at least 1000 Whooper swans were seen.

Whooper Swans enjoying the winter sun

Nearly feeding time

Whooper Swan

Other birds of note were Wigeon, Pintail, Pink-Footed Geese, Shoveler, Teal, Ruff, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye.

 Wigeon 

 Pintail

                                                                  Shoveler

Walking on to the next hide, we stopped and got obscured views of a Tawny Owl.

Tawny Owl is having a good sleep in the sun

The feeders held good numbers of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and 16 Tree Sparrows were seen.

Tree Sparrow

After a nice brew and a teacake, we had a look around the captive section of the reserve.

Grey Crowned CraneMale Mandarin Duck 

 Female Mandarin Duck

 Greater Flamingo

 Chilean Flamingo

 Coot

Moorhen

After a good morning's birding and my mother enjoying herself, I called in quick at Marshside RSPB and soon connected with two drake Scaup.

Scaup

 The weather was so clear today that you could see the Lake District from Marshside

 Views of Blackpool Tower looking over the Ribble estuary from Marshside

DRIVING SOUTH

Got up this morning and had a nice full English in the B&B, and headed back towards Wolverton triangle. I gave it another good hour, but there was no sign of the pheasant. Moving on, I stopped at Flitcham Abbey farm to try and photograph some Bramblings, but again the weather turned, and it was hammering it down when I arrived. I did see about six Bramblings in the nearby hedges, but there was no sign of the Little owls I was hoping to see.

Brambling

After this, I stopped off at Tottenhill gravel pits, where I soon connected with the winter plumaged Black necked grebe. 

Black-necked Grebe

A great couple of days birding, which I finished off in London to see my stepson and have a few beers.