Cuerden Valley Park - 27th/28th November 2010

1st WINTER BLACK HEADED GULL

 2 visits to Cuerden Valley Park this weekend, the first late afternoon the second at sunrise and both with similar sightings.  Finches included Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and the ever elusive Bullfinch yes on both visits and it’s been a while since I’ve seen one at CVP. The usual Tit flocks where around with Blue, Great and Long-tailed showing in numbers along with the odd Coal (try putting it into predictive text as I did without checking, I won’t repeat the reply!)  No sign of any Goldcrest or even better a Firecrest  which I still haven’t managed to see even though there have been 2 within striking distance. The usual Corvids were around and about but no sign of any Jay which is unusual as I’ve seen plenty of late and not just locally, there have been many around on my travels. Greater Spotted Woodpecker could be heard if not seen and on my morning walk Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Mistle Thrush were in evidence as well as a scattering of Robin, Wren and Blackbirds. On the lake were the usual array of Mallard and Black-headed Gulls with a single Canada Goose, the odd Moorhen and Coot and in the evening a Great Crested Grebe. The surprise and a first for me on the CVP lake was a drake Teal amongst the Mallards, I hadn’t picked it out on the evening visit so I presume it must have dropped in later in the evening.

DRAKE TEAL A FIRST FOR ME AT CUERDEN LAKE

With the cold snap we are having at the moment I decided to re-stock the feeders but not after giving them a good clean. We've had a few visitors including Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunock, Great, Blue, Coal and this afternoon a large flock of Long-tailed Tit. 

LONG-TAILED TIT IN THE BACK YARD



Great White Egret - Great Mitton - 6th November 2010

The Great White Egret had been first reported localy on Thursday morning when it had been seen at Edisford Bridge, the following morning it had moved to Great Mitton and I had a confirmation text from Mike that the bird was still there in the afternoon (check Mikes Blog for some great photos). It was then that I decided if it was still being reported in the morning I was going to take a look and at just after 9 the confirmation came through. I headed out just before lunch and having parked up at the Aspinall Arms I had a quick scan up rier from the bridge just in time to see it being chased from the river bank by a Grey Heron.

GREAT WHITE EGRET RELOCATING DOWN STREAM

I watched as it relocated further down the Ribble and headed off in search of its whereabouts. Upon finding it just beyond the bend, about 500 meters from the bridge I observed it for about half an hour during which it relocated again further down the river.

It was a little out of reach for my 300mm lens so I added my x1.4 tele-convertor and used manual focus as previously my camera has struggled to focus with the x1.4 on. I got record shots at most but with the low light and distance I couldn't have hoped for anything better.

GREAT WHITE EGRET ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER RIBBLE, GREAT MITTON 

 

Next stop was Waddington, just north of the Moorcock Inn to see if I could find the Great Grey Shrike. I stopped for around an hour with now sign of it but it had been seen that morning and I'm sure I'll see it if I manage to get up a little earlier in the day.

On the way back I called in at Barrow Lodge for a coffee and decided to watch the Black Headed Gulls at close quarters from the car. Some were ringed but I was unable to get any numbers from them.

 

ABOVE AND BELOW WINTER PLUMAGE BLACK HEADED GULL 

ABOVE FIRST WINTER BLACK HEADED GULL BELOW  A RINGED ADULT BLACK HEADED GULL IN WINTER PLUMAGE 



Out & About in Lancashire - 27th October 2010

To start lets put the previous posts identification to rest - they are Linnet!

Well its been a while, weekends being busy with Reeces rugby but I took the day off work and decided to visit a few places across Lancashire to see what we could find. We started up at Heysham north harbour with the hope of seeing some Twite but it took a second visit later in the day to find them. Nothing unusual found with Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew, Turnstone, various Gulls though we couldn't pick out the Med Gull that is hanging around up there, Pied Wagtail and Goldfinch rounded the visit off.

ABOVE BLACK HEADED GULL

ABOVE A GULL DROPPING A MUSCLE ON THE ROCKS BELOW

ABOVE 1ST WINTER HERRING GULL 

ABOVE PIED WAGTAIL & BELOW ONE OF A LARGE FLOCK OF GOLDFINCH

Next stop was the Eric Morcambe and Allen hides at Leighton Moss with 100+ Redshank, 8+ Little Egret, 2 Greenshank, Goosander and Wigeon the only birds of interest. 

ABOVE & BELOW LITTLE EGRET 

 

ABOVE WIGEON BELOW REDSHANK 

BELOW ROOK TAKEN BY REECE 

From there we headed back to Heysham where we picked up the Twite before passing through the Trough of Bowland in hope of catching site of the Great Grey Shrike that has taken up residence just north of the Moorcroft pub at Waddington. As is usual we missed out on the Shrike but we didn't have that much time to stay to se if it would make an appearance but we did manage a flock of Brambling along with some Chaffinch and a 100+ Fieldfare on route.

ABOVE TWITE WITH A SINGLE GOLDFINCH 

ABOVE BRAMBLING AND CHAFFINCH BELOW FIELDFARE