The Eagle has Landed

With everybody getting their knickers in a twist over the immature Golden Eagle down in deepest mid-Wales, I opted for the more mundane surroundings of Shotton Pools NR.

It had been a few months since my last visit and I was surprised to see that the ‘development’ of the area continues apace with yet more vegetation cleared and the appearance of the skeleton of a new hide.

Feeders have also been hung around the reserve and it was adjacent to the new food supply close to the ringing hut that I found my first Brambling of the year – a bird that was soon joined by another two.

The cooling pools were mostly frozen over and what water remained was crammed full of Gadwall and Coot. Talking of waterfowl, has anybody seen a Moorhen this year? I for one haven’t – they seem to have been decimated by the cold winter.

With an hour still to spare I headed over to the footpath next to the Dee and was delighted to bump into a flock of forty Lesser Redpolls feeding frantically on alder seeds.

More finches were on the path in the form of thirty plus Chaffinch, but most notable were the good numbers of Reed Buntings in the phragmites – one female was even collecting nesting material!

Now, back to that Eagle.

Firstly, if the bird is found shot or poisoned then the local farming community should be lined up and every tenth person shot. I’m a hardliner.

Secondly, if any photographer tries to get too close, then he or she should be made to eat their camera lens: without condiments.

Shotton Pools NR 29.01.11

3+ Brambling
40 Lesser Redpoll
30+ Chaffinch
8+ Reed Bunting
26 Gadwall
1 Goldcrest
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker

Until later.

Clocking-in.

Whilst grappling with the almost incomprehensible language of drug nomenclature, I occasionally stare blankly out of the window in the direction of Bolton town hall.

A few weeks ago I was discussing with a colleague the potential the tower had for a pair of breeding Peregrines and sure enough on Thursday, a fellow workmate, Rob, brought me the news that a male and a female had been spotted in the vicinity.

After five or so minutes of searching through the sombre winter sky above Bolton, the lithe and streamlined silhouette of a male Peregrine zoomed into view, took a pop at a passing feral pigeon, before disappearing into the ether in an ever-tightening circle.

With the risk of sounding trite, it truly is wonderful to see one of nature’s grand designs from the warmth of my office. Hopefully over the next couple of months I will be treated to some entertainment as the birds display and chase down prey.

What a boon in the form of a welcome sign that spring is just around the corner.

Until later.

Snow Patrol

Now that my Owl alarm clock has piped up again - although this time with the setting on Tawny as oppose to Little - I took the opportunity to leap out of my pit early and head down to the Point of Ayr.

The mission was to comb the beach in search of some passerine goodies before the great mass of Sunday strolling fully canined-up humanity desended.

Despite doping a loop around the spit and following the strandline all the way up to Gronant, a single Skylark and a handful of Redshanks was all that I could muster.

In terms of return against investment, this particular whizz would have ranked alongside buying a package of Credit Default Swaps and Consolidated Debt Obligations from Lehman Brothers, but fortuntely three foxes scouring the beach behind the lighthouse meant the trip wasn't entirely fruitless.

Until later.

You can observe a lot by just watching...

Despite the gloop and murk engulfing Lloc village, I decided to continue with my original plan of heading down to the Point of Ayr for the high tide.

Fortunately the visibility on the coast was somewhat better and after joining up with Mark Murphy we began to scan the mudflats as the tide began to flood in.

An adult male Peregrine was first on the scene, but instead of buzzing the assorted waders and wildfowl it elected to fly over the water on reconnaissance.

Good numbers of the commoner wildfowl around today included a few largish flocks of Wigeon floating in on the tide and plenty of Teal knocking about too, whilst a pair of drake Shovelers – probable refugees from frozen fresh pools – and a flyby Red-breasted Merganser were more unusual sightings.

Wader numbers were decent too, with the typical Dee Estuary holy trinity of Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatchers well represented, but most notable was the reappearance of ‘the’ leucistic Redshank that has been gracing the Dee for a number of winters now.

Moving over to the old hide site, it was good to bump into an old friend in the form of Ray Clarke – a top-notch local patch birder and raptor aficionado.

Almost on cue the Sparrowhawks started performing and we enjoyed cracking views of a hunting adult male and juvenile female. An adult female inspecting a field of Lapwing and Woodpigeon was spotted on the way back to the motor, thus completing a nice hat-trick.

Until later.

Still Waiting...

If it is a toss-up between birding in the wind or in the rain, then give me the wet stuff any day. Chores were therefore duly completed on a blustery Saturday leaving me a good few hours at a damp Point of Ayr this morning.

Unquestionably the star bird was a rather bedraggled Red Kite hunting over the old colliery lagoons and latterly over the scrap metal yard, where a pair of Ravens had also taken up residence.

These birds are definitely making more frequent forays in Flintshire and I would go as far as saying that there is/are a permanent resident or residents now.

Nonetheless it is always a great bird to see (and to share too after Mark Murphy promptly turned up), although being Derby day I did have second thoughts about being generous to the Red enemy!

Mercifully the raptor was also free from those hideous wing-tags that are often attached, although missing the odd primary or three it certainly wasn’t in its Sunday best.

Despite a series of announcements on the ‘Dee Estuary Birding’ website concerning the work being carried out by the Environment Agency to strengthen the seawall, a quick glance along the embankment reveals that bugger all is going on.

This reflects the similar level of inactivity at the site of the old bird hide; a structure if I remember correctly was certain to be in place by the onset of winter. Well, I don’t know about you but snow and freezing temperatures suggests to me that that season is well upon us now…

The latest communicae from the RSPB (from Paul Brady and buried deep in the ‘Introduce Yourself’ thread of the NWBF) seems to suggest that we could be waiting for some time yet.

I know that the RSPB are not the only organisation involved in this protracted farce – perhaps it is time for somebody to identify precisely who or what is responsible for the delay.

Until later.

Goose Green

With birding time currently at a premium, it was with great alacrity that I headed down to Connah’s Quay NR mid-morning.

The sun - although slung low - was bright and with the wind abating and fine visibility, conditions were nearly as good as it gets in the winter.

I started off at the bunded pools that although quiet held a Greenshank and a brace of Dabchicks. The nature trail was similarly sparsely populated with birds, so I passed time notching a few of the commoner species for my fledgling Flintshire year list – a soaring Sparrowhawk being the pick.

The West Hide was much more promising - when I had finally opened the shutters - and a scan through the logbook revealed a number of separate sightings of Barnacle Geese over recent days.

A quick glance through the bins over Oakenholt Marsh revealed hundreds and hundreds of Canada Geese all actively grazing – eyes down, time for a scan.

Fortunately the Barnies did not prove too difficult to locate and after a few false alarms from the standard handful of anomalous Canadas, I soon located a small group of thirteen birds towards the railway line – I even managed a terrible picture!

It is almost impossible to establish the provenance of these birds, but it goes without saying: hanging around with a couple of thousand feral Canucks doesn’t do anything for your street cred – I’d much rather see them with the Pinkies over at Shotwick!

That said, Barnacle Goose is new Flintshire bird for me, and beggars can’t be choosers…

Until later.

P.S – Muchas Gracies to the person who left the comment above – it wasn’t me -honest gov!!

Here's looking at you kid...

I took at trip to Ynys Llanddwyn, Newborough, yesterday for a spot of early year birding.

A gaggle of a nudge over thirty Brent Geese was a capital way to start the year – the birds feeding on the edge of the ebbing tide opposite where the forest car park spills onto the beach.

With the increasing numbers of people pouring onto the sand, it was beginning to resemble the Normandy Landings, so it was time to sling the scope over the shoulder and yomp over to the island.

Need not have bothered - only Shags and a lonesome female Goldeneye on the drink. This site is usually good for Divers and Grebes, but not today – a handful of Turnstones and a brace of Sanderling were good though, but despite close scrutiny of the rocks no Purple Sandpiper.

Rock Pipit, Kestrel, Buzzard also present on the headland, but with not much else doing it was over to Llyn Maelog for the last couple hours of daylight.

Good numbers of wildfowl on the lake included five Goosanders and plenty of Goldeneye.

A fairly modest start to the year really and with me now doing five days hard collar a week in Bolton up until the end of March it could be a slow start to the year – still it’s a marathon not a sprint…

It just leaves me to say good tidings to everyone for the New Year and a speedy recovery to one particular wounded soldier!

Until later.