Martin Mere - August 2015

We had fantastic views of a beautiful kingfisher right in front of us, whipped out the camera, only to discover the memory card was still in the PC at home! Oh well!!

Therefore there are no pictures but today, in a pleasant summers day (blue skies, dry, around 20ish degrees C) we saw:
Kingfisher 1x(Ron Barker Hide)
a couple of cormorant
plenty of mallard
Shoveler
Garganey
Gadwall
Little Grebe
Marsh Harrier x3
Grey Heron x 5 (or the same one everywhere!!)
Little Egret x1
Buzzard
Kestrel
Tree Sparrow x5
Greenfinch x2
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Robin

We were also pleased to be able to point a guy in the direction of the Ron Barker Hide after we overheard him saying how he had never seen a kingfisher but always wanted to. We saw him again later and he said it obliged him so happy all round!

PENNINGTON FLASH

I've been quite quiet this year as we bought a house which we have been extensively renovating (and living in meanwhile) not leaving much time for birding. Up until this week though I hadn't even found or unpacked the camera and it was only last week that we dusted off our binoculars.

After visiting our new local birding venue Pennington Flash for the first time last Thursday, we were pleased to return and find a real twitch-a-thon going on around the first hide (Horrock's Hide), with a Sabine's Gull causing quite a stir and having been reported on the rare-bird-alert.

Sabine's Gull

Sabine's Gull

Mallard and a ... little grebe? red necked?? not sure
 

Sabine's Gull
 

Anderton Boat Life, River Weaver, Marbury Park area

We had a couple of hours walking on a cold but dry day. Tufted Duck, Shovelors, Buzzard, Kestrel, Goldfinch, Teal, Mallard, Cormorant (overhead) plus the usuals. A very unusual Robin took a piece of biscuit from René's hand near the river.
New additions to the 2015 list were Bullfinch (carpark at Marbury), Rook and for the lifelist 2 beautiful Firecrest were darting around each other, tumbling through the air in the woodland. At first I thought they were Goldcrest (which I still didn't see in 2015 so would have been happy) but then saw a few flashes of definite red as they came to the bushes in front of me. Lovely!

Great Garden Birdwatch (RSPB annual event)

I watched my garden for an hour to count the greatest number of each species that visited to send in for the RSPB Annual Garden Birdwatch. A shame the 2x grey wagtails that visit occasionally recently did not show up, despite my freshly cleaned and filled feeders but I still had a fair few visitors.
Blackbird x3
Blue Tit x3
Great Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Wood pigeon
Collared Dove x2
Robin
Starling
and of course the resident Dunnock.

Risley Moss

It's been quite stormy the last few days with gale force gusts of wind. This weekend we just had a quick hour at Risley Moss but we were rewarded by wonderful views of two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, long tailed tits x6, blue+ great tits x 5+ each, chaffinch x 6, Robin x2, Blackbird x3 and a Jay.
Nipped into Asda Birchwood on the way home and saw a Pied (white) Wagtail new for the 2014 list too.

New Years Day over NYE anytime!

Usually I spend 1st Jan hungover and not doing much of significance. This time I took it easy last night and went birding with my family today. We set off for Marbury CP around 11ish, had a nice walk around. Rain was threatening but it stayed dry and it wasn't too cold (around 12 degrees C). We went into Northwich for lunch and then to Neumanns and Ashton's flashes, after 30 mins or so it started to rain and the wind got up but nothing too bad. All in all that has to be my best New Year's Day of my life so far, started my list with 35. I missed out on a Curlew and Buzzard seen by family members but with 35 in one day I can't be too upset about that :)

The highlight was probably seeing a Kingfisher flash of blue (not the one pictured as it was too rainy to take the camera today) flying across Budworth Mere and hearing some young kid say something like "I will remember this as a special day" to his mum. Me too!

2014 Summary

I had to put my hobby on hold during December due to illness and busyness with buying a house, working and coursework for my degree due. I've still been reading about birds (H for Hawk, Birdwatching magazine and Stephen Moss amongst others) and keeping an eye on the various reporting sites though. All in all I spent only around 5 months of this year (June - Nov) on birding at the weekends but it still was very memorable for me and I hit my target of 100.

I'll have a new garden within a couple of months but in the 8 years I lived here in this one I have had great garden sightings for a very small patio garden in the middle of a council estate. Highlights included regular Goldfinches, Buzzards flying over (and perched on neighbour's roof), 2 Grey Wagtails that have become recent flyovers, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a territory-zealous Dunnock (now called a Hedge Accentor apparently, I learned today) who guards the bird feeder and his bush home against blackbirds, collared doves and in particular his nemesis the Robin.

As I'd never kept any form of bird list before 2014 all my birds were lifers this year but lifers in the true sense and highlights of my year were Osprey, Whooper and Bewicks Swans, Goldcrest (when pursuing Hawfinch which still eluded me) and a Ringed Plover doing it's funny "distraction dance" to lead me away from the nest at a building site I was working at.

Birding feels real and adds a different dimension to life which I am so glad to have rekindled. Although the listing element is just a cherry on top as it's watching any birds I enjoy, I finished the year with 113 species on my UK year list (and therefore my life list) which placed me 283 on Bubo rankings.

2015 is going to be a busy one for me with hopefully moving into my new house and completely renovating it, completing my degree and continuing in my full time job. Luckily birds are everywhere though and I can't wait to see what 2015 brings my way!