AFTERNOONS BIRDING IN CHESHIRE

I spent this afternoon at the Gowy landfill site, which is close to Ellesmere Port. My target bird was a Juvenile Glaucous gull, which has been seen regularly over the last couple of days. I eventually got onto the bird after a good hour's search of hundreds of gulls dropping down off the nearby tip and landing in the fields. An adult Yellow-legged gull was also picked out during my visit.

There were a good number of Gulls around this afternoon

Moving on from here, I called in at Kelsall, where I soon found 18 Waxwings happily feeding on berries in someone's garden.

It has been a great winter for Waxwings in Cheshire with numerous sightings across the county. After getting great views of these stunning birds, I moved on to Newchurch Common, where I found the Red crested pochard at the north end of the pool, but there was no sign of the female Smew.

Red Crested Pochard

Other good birds of note were a Kingfisher, 4 Gadwall, 8 Goosanders and 24 Siskin.

 Gadwall

 Kingfisher

 Goosander

Sisken

A good afternoon's birding, which was topped off with a Barn Owl, which I saw whilst driving down the A50 towards Holmes Chapel.

LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER SIGHTINGS URGENTLY SOUGHT

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker numbers have declined considerably across Britain in recent years, and the species is now Red Listed. The reasons for this decline are not fully understood, but RSPB research has suggested that the birds have not been breeding successfully but it is not clear whether this is a widespread problem.CLICK ON LINK

CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS AND UK MEGAS 9TH FEB 2017

NEW NON-NATIVE BREEDING SPECIES REPORT

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LUNCHTIME BIRDING

Whilst working today, I called in at Lapwing Hall pool on my dinner hour and saw a good variety of birds. The Black-necked Grebe was still present on the pool, along with good numbers of Teal and Wigeon.

 The Black-necked Grebe has been present since November

64 Wigeon were on the pool 

Other birds of note on the pool were 6 Little grebe, 2 Mute swan, 4 Goldeneye, 8 Tufted duck, 27 Coot and 4 Moorhen. A Kingfisher was present on the sucken posts at the far end of the pool, and 2 Snipe were flushed close to the water's edge.

Moving on to Acre Nook sand quarry, there were plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings around in the fields.

Redwings are in good numbers

2 Tree Sparrows were seen in the nearby hedgerows but flew back towards the Lapwing Hall pool. Arriving at Acre Nook, there were good numbers of Black Headed gulls and Lapwings around.

Acre Nook Sand Quarry

4 Shoveler, 8 Shelduck, 6 Mandarin and 27 Teal were present, and 12 Goosander were on the far quarry. A good hour's birding and nice to be back on day shifts after four long months on nights.