22/02/2020 Strontian, Highlands of Scotland

American Black Duck: A few weeks ago the lads agreed to come with me on the epic journey up to see the famous American black duck that has been living on the west of Scotland for thirteen years. But, with the weather reports looking pretty awful and the restricted time we had it was going to be a bit of a gamble.

Hale showers, torrential rain, snow flurries, gusts of over 70 miles an hour winds and some skillful driving we made it in once piece, thankfully.

We stayed at The Inn at Ardgour, right opposite the Corran Ferry terminal, a lovely and very accomodating hotel.

After dodging breakfast and heading out super early we ended up spending seven long, fruitless hours searching the entire length of the river, the shores of the loch and came up with no American bcal duck. We even ended splitting up a number of times to cover more ground.

It was during one of these times towards the very end of the day I was scanning the banks of the loch that sits right in front of the Strontian Hotel I picked up the same male and female mallard that had been in this area all afternoon. I then noticed two other ducks appear from the further most outcrop of rocks that lead into the bay. 

At first they were silhouetted by the sun before joining the original pair and entered a more sheltered area, my jaw dropped and I struggled to steady the tripod in the combination of excitement and gusty wind that was pelting me.

The two new birds that had just entered the bay included the American black duck! Bingo!!!

I phoned the lads, who were further up the river still searching for the bird. I calmly told them to hurry up as I had just found the bird, not before long I could hear the familiar sounds of hurried steps and the sounds of trepidation. By the time they joined me the mallards followed by the black duck flew across the bay and in to the river mouth.

Here the bird peeled off from the rest of the mallard group and made its way up stream accompanied by a single male mallard. This brought the bird much closer the we expected giving us a great opportunity to reel of some images and see the bird up close. We were thrilled, the gamble paid off, the hours spent in less than perfect weather was all worth while. The bird was in the bag.

Hybridised Mallard x Black Duck: One of the the things we were keeping our eyes out for where the mallards as we knew the black duck was associating with them, we were also looking out for any birds that were the offspring between the back duck and mallards.

Patrick and I found one right up the far end of the river. Much darker bird with yellowish, but predominantly darker bill and much more feathering pattern similar to a female mallard then the pure black duck.

Otter: When you spend so much time in one of the most beautiful parts of the country you are surely going to stumble across other exciting wildlife.

We had this otter in the river mouth opposite Kilcamb Lodge, a highlight of the trip and something that gave us positive boost during the long search for the duck.

The otter was happily feeding close to shore catching small fish. We also had black guillemot near the ferry terminal, dipper on the river and some lovely looking male goosander.

Greylag Geese: A great if a a very long hard worked twitch. Thanks for the company Gary, Patrick and Tobie thanks for keeping me awake during the long journey there and back.

11/02/2020 Bredon's Hardwick, Worcester

Smew: Living in the North West I don't often get to see drake smew, up here get a couple of redheads turn up on our lakes but its particularly rare to get a stonking male.

So it was good to get the change to catch up with one while I was working away in Tewkesbury this week.

This place was like Fort Knox with 10ft high fencing around the whole perimeter of the lake, barbed-wire and eclectic fencing and the only edge that you can view the lake due to public access has a 6ft high Leylandii hedge!!!  Its only fish!

Despite the unwelcoming, locked down conditions of the lake the bird showed pretty well, if a little too far for some decent images.

So here's a few images of a drake smew I took at Slimbridge WWT the same day. In these images you can see their saw like bill and their white crests.

These really are distinctive, dapper little ducks. With their punky head feather crests, black mask and cracked white plumages they really stand out.

02/02/2020 Ribble & Alt Estuaries

Purple Heron: I love my job, I really do, but being stuck in the office for a week with no survey work scheduled in isn't good for the soul.  So it was good to get out and with some good mates, Gary and Tobie and do some local birding.

We headed south early morning to Ashton flashes in Northwich, were I was hoping to get better views of the Sibe stonechat. After looking in the wrong area for about an hour Dan Foy turned up without any binoculars or a camera spotted the bird in the north east corner - you can't make this stuff up!

The bird was showing much better and much more closer. We had our fill, grabbed a McDonalds then headed north to Pilling near Preston.

This time our target bird was the long staying purple heron which again put on a better show then the first time I saw it. The heron was foraging in the open in the middle of a field.

Barn Owl: We were also treated to a brilliant barn owl coming out of its roost from the nearby sheds. This bird is probably the most photographed wild barn owl in the north west and although it quickly disappeared after we saw it, I think I will have to come back and try again with it.

The purple heron seems like it's being a little more mobile and foraging further away from its favorite ditch, one day soon it might just go for good!

Long-billed Dowitcher: Next stop, Southport where we bumped in to some local legends, John Dempsey and Graham Clarkson who were busy searching for some barnacle geese across the marsh. 

We however were interested ins seeing another long stayer, the dowitcher who was in pretty much the precise location to when I saw the bird back on the 11th of January, the day after it turned up.

The bird was happily feeding amongst a group of mallard and appeared to be the only wader in the area except for some distant curlew and redshank.

Our last stop before we lost the light was to Martin Mere, were we bagged the Tundra bean goose before getting kicked out by the surely staff members who were obviously keen to clock off on time and with no exceptions!!. Forget the fact Gary and Tobie paid almost £30 for an hour and a half visit.