When The Wind Blows...

The first strong north westerly blow for a while had me in the motor and over to the Point of Ayr to indulge my proclivity for seawatcing.

The wind probably in the realm of 35 knots and the there was a fair amount of sleet too, but there is a lovely sheltered spot on the dunes behind the lighthouse and after no time at all I was hunkered down as snug as a bug.

Seawatching is my favourite ‘type’ of birding, although I know it is not everybody’s cup of tea. As somebody once famously said “Work, I am fascinated by it. I could sit watching it for hours”, well this holds true for me and the sea. Even if there are few birds I could quite contentedly sit observing the ocean for ages – especially like today when it was very angry.

There were a few bits and bobs today, but for volume of birds it was fairly disappointing. Ten Kittiwakes went past over the couple of hours I was there and later on a couple of Fulmar flew through. Bird of the day though was a Sandwich Tern looking hopelessly frail and just about ready to snap in two as is valiantly attempted to fly out of the estuary into the strong gale – my first this year too.

A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers and three Common Scoters was the only wildfowl recorded, and on the wader front quite a few Grey Plovers seemed to be passing through.

Incredibly, not one, but two people were out walking in shorts today - and one of those wasn't even WAO!

31.3.10 Point of Ayr Seawatch (10:45 – 12:45)

1 Sandwich Tern
2 Fulmar
10 Kittiwake
2 Red-breasted Merganser
3 Common Scoter
100+ Grey Plover

Until later.

Who Polices The Police?

Spring may have sprung, but winter still refuses to give up the ghost as people in Scotland especially feel the brunt of a valedictory cold blast.

Early Wheatears, who only last week were probably feeling smug after claiming all the plumb upland territories, will doubtless be staring incredulously at the snow piling up around them now!

Still, the weather was okay at Connah’s Quay this morning - some excellent visibility too – with the only fly in the ointment a few spells of early rainfall, that were actually a blessing as they brought down three Swallows and two Sand Martins over the Ash Pool – my first of the year!

The Ash Pool was also playing host to around one thousand one hundred Black-tailed Godwits that had chosen to cram themselves together on the small island. Some of the birds looked absolutely mustard in their newly acquired breeding plumage, although a good many of them are still waiting for a visit to the spray shop.

A male Peregrine was the only other bird of note, almost certainly one of the pair from the power station. You would imagine that this nest was in one of the safest locations possible, but there are rumours that this nest has been raided in the past and that in other years there has been very low productivity.

With the level of security at Rockcliffe – laissez-faire attitude to every Tom, Dick and Harry walking on the nature reserve notwithstanding – it would be practically impossible one would assume to reach the nest without detection?

It would be good to know who, if anybody monitors this nest and if there are any suspicions as to whether the nest has ever been tampered with. After all, the Deeside Naturalist Society is hardly going to raise this issue to the authorities at E.ON and risk souring relations with them is it?

Connah’s Quay NR 30.03.10

1,100 Black-tailed Godwit
450 Oystercatcher
3 Greenshank
2 Sand Martin
3 Swallow
2 Chiffchaff
1 Peregrine (male)

Until later.

P.S - Interesting article on Sparrowhawks in the Spectator a few weeks ago:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/5831788/part_3/lets-not-mess-with-the-sparrowhawks.thtml

One Flew Over The Collared Dove's Nest?

A sub-adult Spoonbill, a Little Ringed Plover, a handful of Spotted Redshanks, a few Ruffs and a good flock of Redshank were present at Inner Marsh Farm this evening, as were a small flock of unidentifiable hirundines – my first of the year - hawking insects over the wood.

With the water levels being high on the hide pool, it is definitely worth bringing a scope at the moment – especially if you want to identify the wading birds that have to reside almost exclusively on number one pool at present.

There were also reports on the Dee Estuary website of a Cuckoo today too – reportedly calling from a wood. Now, call me Mr Sceptical, but surely this a case of mistaken identity? Far too early for one of our last spring arrivals and a Cuckoo is unlikely to be calling from a wood, given that they prefer singing from open areas.

As Michael Howard once rather creepily said “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” If you are thinking what I’m thinking, then you’re thinking Collared Dove. Still, as John Boswell’s oft repeated piece of sound advice goes “The birds don’t always read the books” (expletives edited out!), so maybe I am in for a large slice of Humble Pie – preferably a warm slice with a large blob of mascarpone!

It is interesting to read that a Lesser Kestrel has turned up in Norfolk today. I suppose with the sustained moderate southerly winds over the last week, it is no surprise that a few more unusual birds have overshot their breeding grounds. I am very fond of this exquisite little Falcon, having wonderful memories of watching them hunting from the roof of my hotel in Fez – quite possibly the world’s greatest city – after the king of them all: the clamorous and charismatic Bombay.

Inner Marsh Farm 28.3.10

1 Spoonbill
6 Spotted Redshank
3 Ruff
1 Little Ringed Plover

Until later.

Peeking Duck

I had some unexpected, but welcome company during my trip to Stanlow Point today!!

I was on Shell Island conducting a wildfowl and wader survey as part of the RSPB’s monthly monitoring of the site during winter. Despite its close proximity to the massive Stanlow oil refinery, the area has a wonderful remote feel to it and the fact that it is seldom visited seems to add to its wildness.

However, it can be a lonely vigil, especially as muggings was left to his own devices with Geoff Robinson Crusoe and Rhian Friday having to trek a few miles further along the shoreline.

There was plenty to be getting along with though, with good numbers of birds to count on the sand and mud flats as the tide receded. A lovely flock of circa two and fifty Blackwits was probably the highlight and with good numbers of Shelduck, Curlew and Redshank in the Gowy ‘delta’ there was plenty of activity.

With an abundance of time I experimented a little today with counting techniques. The system that works best for me is to place a handful of pebbles in one pocket and every time I reach fifty, one passes a pebble into the opposite pocket to represent a block of fifty before starting again from scratch - all you need to do at the end is add up the number of pebbles!

When I was happy with my core I counts I had a scan around for some more unusual birds and had some success with a handful of both Grey and Ringed Plovers, a Great-crested Grebe on the river channel and a Peregrine circling over the storage tanks.

As it was a good hour or so until Crusoe and Friday returned, it was time for a little siesta and I soon drifted off listening to the steady movement of Meadow Pipits passing overhead…

Stanlow Point 26.3.10

1 GC Grebe
700+ Shelduck
260 Curlew
250 Black-tailed Godwit
230 Redshank
6 Grey Plover
5 Ringed Plover
1 Peregrine
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Kestrel
1 Chiffchaff
1 Bullfinch

Until later.

Just Passing By...

Nothing stirs the soul more than the sight of some good visible migration, even if the hundreds of birds conducting the combined ground and air invasion of Talacre Dunes this morning were practically all humble Meadow Pipits.

It is hard to quantify precisely how many there were, but a conservative estimate would be 600 plus, whilst a widely ambitious forecast (I will call that a labour estimate) would be in excess of one thousand. A liberal approximation would probably be about correct, but I assume you have stopped listening now.

There were a few other species knocking about, most notably ten Wheatears behind the lighthouse - including eight on one single bush. A few Zilpzalps provided some background music, although they were mostly drowned out by the wheezing Greenfinches.

Buoyed by a decent fall I headed over to check the old colliery site where I was greeted with another four Wheatears, a pair of Stonechat and yes, you guessed it, even more Meadow Pipits.

Also probably just passing through was a rather scruffy looking male Merlin (Merlin Haggard? (one for C&W fans)), that was probably thanking its lucky stars at the steady stream of breakfast entrees passing before its very eyes!

On the way back home there was just enough time to pop into Connah’s Quay, where I bumped into Cohen Senior and KLJ. Scanning through the logbook, I was lamenting the lack of Twite on my radar this winter – especially as two flocks of forty and twenty birds had been seen only this week.

Someone was clearly listening up there today, because no more than a minute later a flock of eight birds was dispatched towards the west hide. After a quick bath in the stream they were off flying over the Dee and towards the marsh – Krishna must have been in a playful mood today!

Point of Ayr 25.3.10

Meadow Pipit – many
Wheatear 14
Merlin 1
Skylark 30+
Stonechat 2

Connah’s Quay NR

Twite 8
Wheatear 2

Until later.

Mediterrorist Gull

A touch of the Mediterranean at Inner Marsh Farm this afternoon; sadly not sultry bikini-clad senoritas with loose morals, but the more mundane appearance of a summer plumaged Med Gull.

As in common with most gulls, they look quite dapper in their breeding finery, although the white line surrounding the eye of the black capped Mediterranean Gull gives it the appearance of a balaclava wearing member of the Ulster Volunteer Force in my book, but maybe that’s just me!

Looking in my Collins Bird Guide, it also appears that Pallas’s Gull suffers from the same affliction, but by virtue of its size looks even harder!

With southerly winds and rainfall early morning, it wouldn’t have taken a genius to work out that there was good potential for migrants this morning and it was no surprise to find circa twelve Wheatears feeding behind the sheep pen on the way to Burton Point.

Other odds and ends on the marsh included a Greenshank near the guardhouse and the Ruddy Shelduckish thing associating with a group of Common Shelduck.

Until later.

My Two Cents Worth

The submission of bird sightings to various websites can be a very hit and miss affair. Generally, all I need from a website is that the information presented is relevant, concise, accurate and appears in a timely fashion.

For example, one male Blackbird, somewhere in Clwyd, two weeks ago last Thursday is hardly useful, whereas a Hoopoe, in horse paddocks next to Greenfield Dock, present today still (I can dream), clearly is.

Birdguides is probably the best website in that it meets all the above criteria, with the only drawback being that it costs money to receive the full service. It does irritate me sometimes though in the seemingly arbitrary fashion it adopts when evaluating submissions for publication.

Yesterday was a prime example. I found a Ring Ouzel on Ruabon Moor and when returning home faced the decision that many of us birders face – whether to report the sighting, and if yes, then where to send the information.

I chose to send it off to Birdguides, but as in the case of my juvenile female Goshawk at Pennington Flash last November and a few others in recent times, it failed to materialise on the website.

I can only speculate to why these submissions were rejected. I assume in the case of the Ring Ouzel, they were worried about disclosing potential breeding sites. This highlights another of their failings in that being based in London they lack local knowledge - the bird was clearly on migration.

The Goshawk on the other hand would probably have been dismissed as an erroneous sighting - this is understandable to a degree, but also slightly pompous. Moreover, as with the Ring Ouzel it implies a certain level of stupidity (some people may have sympathy with that view) on my behalf – that I was daft enough to disclose a nesting site and too crap a birder to distinguish between a juvenile Sparrowhawk and a juvenile Goshawk at twenty yards.

There are of course other options. The North Wales Birding Forum is generally a very good website, but in recent times many of the threads have become bogged-down with a plethora of extremely average photographs (with some notable exceptions) – how many pictures of a Snow Bunting can one look at? It also suffers from a high level of ‘recycling’ – how many times do we need to know that there are Snow Buntings at Kimnel Bay, a Black Redstart at the Little Orme and some Hawfinches at Llanbedr?

Again, the Dee Estuary website is an excellent resource, but its major drawback is that any information sent is subject to delay and thus does not always appear in a timely fashion. Whilst this gives a good assessment of ‘what’s about’, it can be frustrating to get information on a good bird when it’s too late.

So, what to do? For the meantime I will probably just use Birdguides, but as ever most of my sightings will have to be disentangled from my irrelevant, vague, inaccurate and tardy prose.

Until later.

P.S – This whinge only occurred because there was absolutely nothing at Greenfield this morning, not even a Hoopoe!

Just Rewards

With heavy rain and strong south-westerly winds forecast for today, it was perhaps not the best day to go walking on Ruabon Moor, but it sure paid dividends!

Parking at World’s End a mate Frank and I began to prepare for the inevitable buffeting from the elements sheltered beneath the larch trees - that despite the dreadful weather held good numbers of Siskin and Crossbill calling as I tied my bootlaces.

Negotiating Offa’s Dyke path along the limestone ridge was akin to being in a wind tunnel, but three Wheatears – two males and a female - sheltering on the scree slopes was a pleasant surprise.

The ascent up the cliff face above Rock Farm and on to Ruabon Moor proper was torturous and birdless - as was the hack across Bryn-Adda flat - but just as we were about to enter the conifer forest at Newtown Mountian, three female Black Grouse were flushed from the heather.

At this point I was already cream-crackered, but after being fortified by a few slugs of hot Coffee we set off on the final leg – another section of open moor between the lodge next to Pant-glas reservoir and the starting point: World’s End.

Not before time, the conditions improved dramatically with bright sunshine and a brisk breeze proving to be the best antidote to exhaustion. Then, just as we reached the brow of the hill, I spotted a bird perched on the footpath. My bins were barely useable, but I could nevertheless just make out a male Ring Ouzel – superb!

Viewed in improving light and through freshly wiped lens’, the bird looked absolutely immaculate. It made me reflect on my own state – I had walked nine miles and looked like Keith Richards after the London Marathon; this bird had flown all the way from Africa and looked in mint condition!

Ruabon Moor 22.3.10

1 Ring Ouzel (male)
3 Black Grouse (female)
4 Wheatear

Until later.

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

Some lovely close up views of a couple of common species and two more unusual species at Inner Marsh Farm this afternoon, where for the first time in ages I was able to sit on the bench without fear of hyperthermia.

Also basking in the afternoon sunshine was a single female Linnet that in an act of welcome boldness had decided to ignore the other ten or so fleeing members of the flock and remain perched no more than five metres away.

When it eventually flew, I headed down to a jam packed hide where I belatedly found somewhere to sit after a rather corpulent woman – occupying at least two spaces - begrudgingly inched along the bench.

A friendly bunch they were; ignoring me when I pointed out six Whooper Swans flying in and then completely blanking me again when I put them on to a hunting adult female Marsh Harrier.

My dear old Grandma always said that good manners cost nothing – she was wrong of course, because an acquaintance of mine was sent to a Swiss finishing school, where they cost quite a considerable sum indeed!

Nay bother, time to get off my hobby horse, if not to stop complaining then to at least give it a rest for a while - otherwise I’ll wear it and the saddle out quicker than you could say Zurich College for Girls.

Anyway, back to the birds. A female Reed Bunting was the next small passerine to insouciantly plonk itself in front of me as it fed methodically on the remains of a bulrush bang in front of the hide.

Eventually it was spooked by the reaction to the ever nearing Marsh Harrier that in whizzing over the causeway had succeeded in flushing all the waders and wildfowl.

The Whooper Swans were much closer now and the small herd notably contained the now infamous bird with yellow legs, subject of much speculation, but ultimately just a Whooper Swan with yellow legs…

Inner Marsh Farm 21.3.10

1 Marsh Harrier (adult female)
6+ Buzzard
6 Whooper Swan
5 Ruff
22 Black-tailed Godwit

Until later.

I've Been Expecting You...

Finally a Wheatear – spring has officially begun! A day later than at least two other members of the Clwyd birding fraternity though!

I picked up the dapper male roughly halfway along the seawall between Greenfield Docks and the Duke of Lancaster, but although an extremely welcome sight, four Chiffchaffs (one singing) dotted along the same route stole the show.

I had received information of one bird seen in the area on Wednesday, but an additional three birds was a pleasant surprise and provided confirmation that the first influx of long distant migrants has finally arrived.

As I am looking to cover this area regularly in the spring, I hope that this morning’s modest count of avian travellers bodes well for the weeks ahead – what chance for something really good?

Other interesting birds before lunch included a male Peregrine circling near the ship and yet more great views of a hunting Stoat that seems to appear as regular as clockwork down here at present.

Early afternoon I passed a couple of tranquil hours at Inner Marsh Farm in the company of a few regulars an adult Spoonbill, but missing four Sand Martins that has flown through earlier on in the day.

Moving on to matters floral, it was interesting to hear a piece of news relating to a Ghost Orchid that has been found in oak woodland at Herefordshire. Link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/8576232.stm

Until later.

Muchas Gracias

A thousand thanks to Jim Almond, the veritable Shropshire Birder for supplying me with a couple of excellent images of one of the Tundra Bean Geese at Plex Moss on Saturday afternoon.

The flight shot in particular is a corker – so after studying the picture closely, there is now no excuse for not picking out a Beanie in flight amidst a huge skein of Pinkies!!

A couple more shots of the Beanies, plus many other excellent images can be found on his blog at: http://shropshirebirder.blogspot.com/

Back in Flintshire, I went out Wheatear hunting this morning at Greenfield and early in the afternoon on Halkyn Mountain.

With a light southerly wind overnight, I had anticipated striking lucky today, but despite a fastidious search of both sites I drew yet another blank – they can’t be to far away?!

Nevertheless, a game of ‘Chad’ behind the seawall at Greenfield did produce some very close views of around thirty roosting Turnstone. One of the birds was clearly ringed with bands of green over yellow on the right tarsus, plus what looked like a single red band on the left tarsus. Time for some sleuthing me thinks!

Halkyn Mountain was dead aside from a lovely pair of Stonechat and a very distant but nonetheless extremely noisy Raven displaying over towards the ‘Scouse Alps’ that looked magnificent in the midday sun.

A couple of signs that spring is gathering pace today, with a Red-tipped Bumblebee at Greenfield and my first singing Meadow Pipit on Halkyn Mountain, but as we all know, it doesn’t really get into full swing until the Wheatears rock-up – Godspeed!

Until later.

Jack the Lad

Desolation best described Talacre this morning, with the paucity of birds and biting westerly blow making for a miserable walk.

A couple of Grey Plovers and a quartet of Sanderling was the best of slim pickings on the windswept beech, whilst the dunes hardly fared better with the sum total of a Reed Bunting, a few Skylarks and a pair of Meadow Pipits.

With the tide reaching its peak, I decided to walk up to the old hide along the edge of the marsh. At last – some birds, albeit pretty modest numbers of Oystercatchers and Curlew roosting on the spit - the wader roost seems to have really dropped off at the Point of Ayr over the last month.

Then, from absolutely nowhere a stunning male Merlin zoomed across the path no more than ten metres from me. It headed along the bank behind the pool that lies shilded by line of trees, before alighting on a post no more than twenty yards from where I was stood. The bird looked in superb nick and I watched it perched for a good fifteen minutes before it flew off towards the dunes.

Jacks, like adult male Hen and Marsh Harriers are unusual on the estuary and based on my personal observations over the last five years there appears to be a heavy bias towards female and juvenile raptors in relation to many species.

I have mentioned this to a few people, but I soon discovered that nothing makes peoples’ eyes glaze over more quickly than me bringing up this half-baked theory! Still, I do think there is something in it and if I was a budding Ornithologist looking for a dissertation subject, then this would be it!

As if to add credibility to my premise, a ringtail Hen Harrier popped up from the marsh before quickly dropping down out of sight again. This seemed to alarm a few Redshanks, but the Harriers presence didn’t ruffle any of the feathers of the larger birds.

With the raptor opting to stay out of the wind, I had a quick scan through the rafts of Shelduck that turned out to be harbouring four Red-breasted Mergansers and a single female Goldeneye.

Point of Ayr 15.03.10

1 Merlin (Jack)
1 Hen Harrier (ringtail)
1 Kestrel
750 Oystercatcher
500 Curlew
4 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Goldeneye

Until later.

Plexy's Badlight Stunners

A trip to the East Lancashire mosses yesterday with 007 and Stan turned out to be very productive with cracking views of a drake American Wigeon at Martin Mere and, finally, a brace of Tundra Bean Geese on Plex Moss.

The day had started in frustrating fashion when after touring all corners of the moss we eventually located a big flock of Pinkies near an abandoned barn. With no other Geese about, it seemed likely that the Beanies would be hiding somewhere in the flock, but try as we might it was Pink Feet all the way.

Reading in dispatches that the drake American Wigeon was putting on a show at Martin Mere we resolved to have a quick peek and then return to the moss later on in the afternoon.

The only other American Wigeon I have seen was at the same location last summer, but with distant views into strong sunlight it was hardly a satisfactory view. Much more obliging, this duck was content to doze just to the right of the Ron Barker hide and run the rule over through Leon Castell’s ridiculously pin-sharp Kowa scope it looked stunning.

With our chauffeur eager to return to look for the Beanies before it was too late, it was back in the motor and a return to the moss. After more pfaffing around on the northern section of the area, we returned to our original spot near Plex Moss Farm and this time our luck was in.

Stan spotted a couple of Geese feeding alone, but with their legs and feet planted firmly in a furrow it was difficult to ascertain their identity. I was quick to dismiss them as Pinkies and after a quick glance by a chap passing by whom originally found the birds thought that that was probably the case too, I had all but given up.

However, Stan and Ian had other ideas, with Stan convinced that the bills looked a little longer, and sure enough after a wait of fifteen minutes they stepped out of the furrow and revealed legs more orange than a young Liverpool lass after a dose of fake tan. Superb.

A perfect day, nearly, had not yours truly in a clumsy and oaf like fashion trapped my seatbelt as I closed the door, putting a small dent in 007’s pride and joy. What a plonker.

Nevertheless, an excellent day, and the drive home was spent mentally going over an endless list of possible headlines for this post: The Joy of Plex, Absolutely Fabalis and more obviously Wild Goose Chase would all have fitted nicely!

Plex Moss 13.03.10

2 Tundra Bean Goose
400+ Pink-footed Goose
1 Grey Partridge
1 Little Egret
1 Perergrine
4 Golden Plover

Martin Mere 13.03.10

1 American Wigeon
19 Avocet

Until later.

Dwy Cambig

With reports of a couple of Peacock butterflies and even the odd bee, it looks like spring is finally moving out of first gear and putting its foot down. On the flora front, snowdrops are abound and down near the boardwalk at Inner Marsh Farm this afternoon it looked like the Marsh Marigold may be finally getting its act together too.

A brace of Avocets was the highlight of an otherwise quiet afternoon at the reserve. There were rumours of a Bittern on the border pool, but by the time the gen had found its way to the opposite end of the hide it was nowhere to be seen.

Only time will tell if the elegant waders are going to stick around – the birds could easily just be using the pools as a staging post before the final push to somewhere in Lancashire.

It will be interesting to see how many pairs – if any – try and breed this year. After the first clutch mysteriously disappeared early on in spring and with a resourceful badger bagging all the eggs from subsequent nests, you could hardly excuse them from steering well clear.

Birds are nothing if persistent though – witness the luckless Oysties that seem to fail time after time – and fingers crossed, late spring may herald the arrival of some hopelessly cute Avocet chicks.

Another novelty on the reserve today was some heat haze that made identifying some of the waders on number two pool a tad tricky. Seven Ruff were probably the pick, although a squadron of a score or so Golden Plover flying over was a welcome sight – especially when they had the good manners to set down in the wet meadow and so become the latest addition to my Flintshire list!

After chewing the fat for a while with Huw and Stan, I concentrated not on birding, but thanks to Keith (Welsh Keith, not Red Keith of the Ducker's vintage)– my Welsh diction. With an imminent move across the border, it’s about time I made at least some effort to disguise my Englishness, although I fear my efforts will be in vain. I just can’t seem to roll those RRRRs!

Inner Marsh Farm 11.03.10

2 Avocet
7 Ruff
5 Blackwit
5+ Little Egret

Until later.

The Iron Oxide Duke

A walk along the breakwater at Greenfield this morning yielded good numbers of commoner estuarine birds – especially Gulls – all enjoying life loafing on the sand banks and dozing in the spring sunshine.

By my humble reckonings, this stretch between the small dock and the rusting Duke of Lancaster has potential for a good selection of migrants during spring.

The habitat is a mixture of wet grassland, arable, rough pasture and scrub all squeezed between the railway and the estuary. Wheatears in particular would feel at home here, especially today as the farmer – with perfect timing – was busy ploughing one of his fields.

In many ways it is similar to the front at Leasowe and whilst this spot on the North Wirral coast is probably better positioned to receive migrants, Greenfield is much quieter and considerably less disturbed.

I had half expected to find a Wheatear today. I have noticed that a couple have cropped up in Cheshire over the last few days in addition to one or two in North Wales, so surely it wont be too long before one appears on the Dee.

Monday afternoon was spent in the company of John Boswell trying to track down a Crane at F/W Moss. No Crane and very little else to boot. The moss is notoriously home to few birds and yesterday it excelled itself even by its own low standards – there were more birders than birds!

Nevertheless, it was interesting to learn about the hitherto unknown to me Sundew plant. Perhaps not surprisingly given the poor quality soil at the moss, it supplements its diet by other means – eating insects. After swatting up in the evening, I also learnt that Butterworts consume insects too - but according to BBC News there is a third…

The invasive Japanese Knotweed has apparently supplanted (pun intended) Indian Balsam as the gardeners’ nemesis. Not only does it grow at a fantastic rate – but according to the considered opinion of the beeb it is also ‘a real life Triffid.’ Cripes.

Until later.

Classified

Bright sunshine and light winds in early March equal Goshawk weather in my book, so this morning Ash Cohen & I blazed a trail to a reliable spot in North Wales where we were joined by 007, Stan and John, plus a host of other hopefuls in the pursuit of the most elusive of raptors.

It is not good form to reveal the exact location, although I have never understood the degree of paranoia when it comes to reporting Goshawk sightings. The large hawks are naturally shy and secretive, live only in huge areas of continuous woodland and are seldom seen unless when displaying.

Anybody with dubious motives would hardly be helped by reading that a bird was seen flying over ‘Forest A’, plus if they were something other than a total idiot, they would know where to look for them regardless.

Nevertheless, discretion is the better part of valour and I am certainly not going to needlessly put my head on chopping block, despite there not being many people reading this who could not guess where I was today!

Anyway, enough of my cryptic musings, the good news is that all present enjoyed some wonderful – albeit distant - views of Goshawk. True to form, the bird hit the thermals late morning – a little later than usual, but in this cold weather who could blame it?

Other interesting birds included one that will have to remain nameless because revealing its identity would as good as disclose the location of the Goshawk, should you be able to put two and two together. More gibberish!

So there you have it – quite possibly the least illuminating, most nonsensical and ridiculous post I have ever composed!

Undisclosed Site 07.03.10

1 Goshawk
1 Other Bird.

Until later.

A Lighter Shade of Pale

Number one pool at Inner Marsh Farm was packing them in this afternoon with a huge flock of Pintail and good numbers of waders all vying for space.

Amongst the ranks of drake Pintail today was at least three birds sporting extremely rufous-coloured breast feathers as oppose to the typical standard white issue. It’s probably just a natural variation in plumage, but I suppose the diet of the birds could also influence feather colouration too.

No sign of the resident Bittern – again – but the appearance of another star visitor in the shape of a Spoonbill was good compensation. These stately visitors normally use IMF to roost, but today was the exception that proves the rule as the bird fed non stop right up to the point I left!

Two different Hen Harriers flew through today, one and adult female bird and the other much smaller ringtail perhaps a 1st winter male. The adult female bird was sporting a blindingly white rump having presumably just acquired a new set of tail feathers – if you are oot and aboot on the estuary over the next few days it is worth keeping an eye out for this bird as its dazzling daz-white tail is very distinctive.

In a completely unrelated topic, I was reading an article today on how negative and fearful news broadcasting has become. It reminded me of a line from one of my heroes, the late comedian Bill Hicks, whom lamented the absence of any positive drugs stories on any of the networks.

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.”

Inner Marsh Farm 05.03.10

1 Spoonbill
6 Spotted Redshank
110 Black-tailed Godwit
600+ Pintail
2 Hen Harrier
2 Siskin

Until later.

Lady Gaga-ney

With my efforts over the last few days firmly focused on putting a roof over my head, there has not been much time for birding, but nonetheless I have managed to fit in a couple of sorties down to Burton Marsh over the past two evenings.

The large flashes off Denhall Lane created by the residual water left over from the high spring tides have certainly attracted large numbers of birds and birders alike, with the major attraction being three early Garganey.

The two drakes and the duck have by no means been easy to locate, especially when looking for the birds at dusk directly into the sunlight. Fortunately on Wednesday evening I managed to locate one bird on a flash behind the Decca Pools in the period between the sun sinking below Halkyn mountain and it going completely dark.

Garganey are fabulous birds to see at any time, but three this early in the year is certainly unusual. This coupled with a quartet of commuting Avocet present yesterday – but seemingly gone today – is sure evidence that the some migrants have taken the recent spring sunshine as a cue to get on the move.

Whilst the waterfowl are enjoying kicking it on the flooded marshes, the birds that feed on the small mammal population seem to have had to cast their nets over a wider area. Shorties have been hunting over surrounding rough grassland since the last spring tides and now the Hen Harriers too appear to be seeking refuge around the drier areas of IMF.

With great weather fforecast or the new few days, there is no better time to try and seek out one of our most elusive raptors – the Goshawk. I’m sure many of you will have your own favoured spots. The site I favour has brought home the bacon each of the last three years and, inshallah, it will be four on the bounce come Saturday!

Until later.

Thermal Imaging

With bright and warm sunshine it felt as if spring had finally arrived down at the Point of Ayr this morning. Despite the relatively high pressure and benign conditions, the tide absolutely stormed in before lunchtime, completely consuming the marsh – spring weather and spring tides to match!

As a whiskey-soaked old sea dog that I met in Seattle once proclaimed after reading about two people drowned in nearby Puget Sound “Only a fool or a newcomer predicts the tides in Seattle” – seems this mantra holds true for Clwyd too!

A Little Gull migrating eastwards early morning was the first cast-iron evidence that birds are finally on the move. When I first picked-out the tiny larid a good way offshore, the bouncy flight and lack of perspective made the bird initially look like a gigantic tern! However, I quickly came to my senses when it veered towards land iand fluttered past a much bigger Herring Gull. An adult, the bird was in near full breeding plumage.

More possible evidence of migration included a pair of Golden Plover on the beach early morning – unusual birds here – and perhaps more credibly a brace of flyover Curlew. I first locked onto the birds flying high and directly at me from the direction of the Isle of Man. Rather than looking to settle on the beach, the waders gained even more height and then flew directly over Talacre dunes before heading inland. Perhaps - like the plovers - they were returning to their breeding territories up in the hills. Both of these species of shorebird are, after all, early nesters - but who knows...

Other birds of out to sea included a couple of Red-throated Divers and just visible a Great Northern Diver – but as a hippie might say after a particularly agreeable acid trip, it was far, far, out.

God’s own side of the Dee Estuary was far from finished with providing interesting birds though. As I was walking to the location of the old hide, a big raptor came into view flying low over the gas plant. With the first warm day for weeks, I imagined it was probably a Buzzard enjoying some long overdue thermals. Happily I was wrong – it was a superb Red Kite – only my second ever for the Dee Estuary and a much prized addition to my Flintshire odyssey.

Again it is only conjecture, but a wandering Red Kite at this time of year could be a bird seeking out a new territory, although they are of course notoriously reluctant to budge far from where they were originally raised - Godspeed I say!

Point of Ayr 1.03.10

1 Red Kite
1 Great Northern Diver
2 Red-thoated Diver
3 Great Crested Grebe
15+ Common Scoter
2 Little Gull
2 Red-breasted Merganser

Until later.