26/12/2018 Lunt Meadows Nature Reserve

Tree Sparrow: Dawn and I blew away the cobwebs and burned off the mince pies and Christmas pudding on a Boxing Day birding walk.

Lunt meadows was our destiantion a smart little reserve were thousands of wintering ducks, geese, swans and waders use the flooded reedbeds. 

Short-eared Owl: We plenty of wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler, mallards, lapwings, ruff, snipe and a handfull of whooper swans.

Besides the tree sparrows that gave us pretty good views we also had two short-eared owls that put on a good show.

Lunt is a tranquil wildlife oasis and a perfect getaway for a festive day out.

21/12/2018 My Garden, Abram, Wigan

Grey Wagtail: Each day this week the bird has come back to my garden feeders and this time I managed some better images.

These lovely birds are very common in Britain and typically found besides rivers, streams and lakes and are less shy than many other birds of the riverside birds.

Grey wagtails are a very versatile predator, catching small dragonflies on the wing, a variety of insects off the ground, and even fishing tadpoles out of shallow water.

So perhaps its no surprise that this bird has come in to my garden each day this week to pick up split fat balls.

A welcome visitor and one I hope to keep helping out in my garden this winter.

20/12/2018 Radgate Recycling cntre, Gorton, Manchester

Iceland Gull: Working from the Manchester office allowed me to go and see the Radgate white winger.

I waited around 40mins before the bird made an appearance, periodically scanning the small building that the gull favours.

The bird is a regular visitor to the site and is well watched by top local birder Rob Creek who provides regular updates on the Manchester Birding Forum

The weather was typical of grey, old Manchester with drizzly rain and dark clouds. So photographing a grayish bird against grayish skies is not always great.










Despite the poor weather and the odd looks I was getting from the truckers and workers around Radgate it was well worth the wait.

16/12/2018 High Rid Reservoir, Bolton

Velvet Scoter: This superb sea duck specialist is more at home on the high seas but has made a dark, cold lake in the moors of Bolton  at high rid its home for the last few weeks.

For a long while I had the place to myself, free from toggers and birders and after yesterdays very poor weather it was lovely to be out under the blue skies and calm winds, but it wasn't long until I was joined by other birders.

The velvet scoter appeared to be unperplexed by the groups of birders, dog walkers and joggers in their high vis clothing and was happily diving, resting up and good views.

Common scoters are dark, almost jet black in colour but the velvet scoter has an attractive white patch around its eye and also a white wing patch, which is very evident when it flies or preens on the water.

It won't stay forever and it was great to catch up with the bird again.

15/12/2018 My Garden, Abram, Wigan

 Grey Wagtail: ****A GARDEN FIRST****

This morning I had an unusual visitor to the bird table, a grey wagtail. This has to qualify as the bird with the most inappropriate English name.

I get the occasional pied wagtail visit my garden particularly in winter, attracted by spilt seeds on lawns and was thrilled to add a new bird to the old garden bird list.

This weekend is going to be colder and harsher for these, ittle garden birds. Probably one of the reasons for the new visitor. So top up your feeders and keep the food supply going.

09/12/2018 West Kirby Marina Lake, Wirral

Great Northern Diver: I've waited all week to catch up with the bird but had no chance of getting over to Wirral due to my work load.

Dunlin: West Kirby Marine Lake can be very empty and devoid of birds  but every so often it can throw up something decent and when it does it attract lots of local of birders, today was no different.








As I arrived there were a dozen or so birders and toggers frantically searching for the diver across a busy and windy lake, busy not with birds but boats. Yeah typically the sailing club was in full swing on the lake and the bird was on the move.

Flock of Dunlin: Eventually the diver popped up out of the grey-ish waters and showed, but not very close! Still it was nice to see.

After I had my fill of the diver IO spent some time with the roosting waders some of which came pretty close.

07/12/2018 Otterspool, Speke

Mediterranean Gull: A nice lunchtime visit to Otterspool prom after seeing some decent footage from Sean O'Hara on a local WhatsApp group.







Otterspool is well known for harbouring good numbers of med gulls who like to spend their time worming on the neatly kept lawns of the prom.

I counted two adult birds in the short time I had but did haer from Sean that there was a third in the area.

Nice to spend sometime away from the office and get out during my lunch break, I must do this more often.