Wall Farm Nature Reserve, Shropshire - 4th November 2011

A call on Monday from Mike Foley prompted this trip down to Wall Farm near to Telford. A Steppe Grey Shrike had been reported from there (firstly identified as a Great Grey) and Mike managed to get down on Tuesday and as my work didn’t take me anywhere near I managed to take Friday off and take the 2 hour drive down to this small nature reserve. I must say I was a little worried as first as my trips to Shrikes have mostly proved fruitless over the years and as Bird Guides had reported the bird before 8.00 most of the week and it wasn’t until after 10.00 that it showed up on the report today. After parking up in the farmer’s field and dropping my £3.50 (all being donated to the British Legion) in the bucket I took the 10 minute walk down to the edge of the ploughed field from where the bird could be viewed.  It was quite distant at first, approximately 600m and though well out of range for photography it was easy to pick up with the scope. For the first 2 and a half hours it stayed at the bottom end of the field but stayed mainly in view occasionally dropping to the ground before returning to the hedgerow or to a high point on a bush or tree. Eventually it started to move closer and spent about half an hour around lunch time at about 400m where I was able to obtain a few record shots. I must admit with these or any other photos I’ve seen I’d struggle to distinguish it from the Great Grey Shrike and even looking in my reference books and the internet I’ve failed to gain any real knowledge about this species, a copy of Shrikes of the world is on its way. After about 4 hours I decided to head home happy that I’d added the Steppe to my Shrike list having only seen Great Grey and Brown I’ve still got a long way to go.

 Above the ploughed the Steppe Shrike could be viewed from, it didn't even make it down as far as the two large trees in the centre of the photograph.

 Above you can just make out the white wing pattern, much larger than on the Great Grey Shrike

Banks Marsh & Marshside RSPB - 22nd October 2011

Another weekend trip up to the Ribble Estuary but this time my first visit to Banks Marsh where I met up with Nick Green. I didn't get far along but managed some nice species including a late Curlew Sandpiper.

    ABOVE CURLEW SANDPIPER BELOW WITH A RUFF

At times the Cirlew Sandpiper was as close as 20m even though dogwalkers constantly walked passed but it seemed to carry on undisturbed feeding at the pools edge in the company of a Ruff. A mixed flock of Black-tailed Godwit in the field behind were also accompanied by a few Ruff but soon took to the air when disturbed. 
Other birds of intrest included Golden Plover, Widgeon, Teal, Lapwing, 2 Kestrel, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit and 6 Little Egret.

TOP BLACK-TAILED GODWIT BOTTOM A FLOCK OF ABOUT 20 GODWITS WERE PRESENT WITH A FEW RUFF

After Scanning the area with the hope of getting a Short-eared Owl (none present today) e headed off to Marshside in perticular Nels Hide. Black-tailed Godwit were present in larger numbers and more dropped in over the hour we were there. 2 Drake Pintail showed well as well as a small number of Shoveler but Teal just about outnumbered everything across the pool. The odd Golden Plover were intermingled with the Godwit as well as numbers of Lapwing. 3 Little Egret flew across as well as a Grey Heron and there were several Gull species including Common and Greater Black Backed.

 ABOVE DRAKE SHOVELER BELOW FEMALE

  ABOVE DRAKE TEAL BELOW MORE BLACK-TAILED GODWITS

ABOVE ONE OF SEVERAL REDSHANK ON THE POOL

On the drive back a single Hen Harrier was out over Crossens Marsh but still no Shorties.

Hesketh Out Marsh to the River Douglas - 15th October 2011

With the weather being so nice I decided to spend the day on the south side of the Ribble Estuary mainly at Hesketh Out Marsh but I did manage a walk down to the River douglas for the first time. A few passing Redwing passed over at HOM as well as numbers of Skylark and Meadow Pipit. 4 Little Egret were feeding on the nearby pools and 4 Snipe dropped in whilst I was watching with another 2 over. A Kestrel was hunting along the enbankment and I flushed 4 Grey Partridge as I walked west along the reserve. A worrying sight was a single Avocet which surely should have headed south by now, it was sat on the end of one of the nearby pools to the west of the reserve. Walking East towards I brought Linnet, Starlings a further 2 Kestrel,  A Buzzard, Carrion Crow and on the walk back a Marsh Harrier and Merlin.

ABOVE SNIPE IF I HADDN'T SEEN THEM DROP IN I PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE SEEN THEM AT ALL

 ABOVE LITTLE EGRET AND BELOW A MEADOW PIPIT  

My first visit to the River Douglas was a little disappointing as I was hoping you could get nearer the river and explore its embankments a liitle more. I watched what is the mouth of the river as it joins the Ribble with Curlew, Lapwing and Redshank in large numbers as well as well as Cormorant a mix of Gull species including GBB. A Buzzard tried to find the thermals in the distance and 2 Raven croaked as they passed over. As the tide came in a few fishing boats started to pass through flushing a large flock of Canada Geese which included a Greylag and a small number of Widgeon. The best view though and worth the wait was a Peregrine as it flushed the Curlew and Lapwing. I didn't see it at first but as the Lapwing rose into the sky as one I knew something must have flushed them and I watched for 2 minutes as it chased round dropping low over the Douglas chasing a Curlew. On this occasion it was unsucsessfull and I last saw it dropping low into a distant field further up the river. 

ABOVE WIDGEON

NOT THE BEST PHOTO BUT I NEVER TIRE OF WATCHING PEREGRINE IN ACTION (click the photo to make it larger)