24/02/2021 Thursley Common, Surrey

Rustic Bunting: My job takes me up and down the country, as an ecologist there are times when working long distances can be a pain. The traffic, the early start and then throw in the weather, but there are times when you end up working close to a rare bird.   

This week I have been asked to carry out a bat roost assessment and ecological assessment near Aldershot and it wasn't hard to convince myself to take the short detour to the nearby Thursley Common so I can see the 1st winter rustic bunting and hopefully a little bunting or two that have been overwriting here.

Rustic bunting are normally found in northern Europe and Asia and there are very few records of overwintering birds in the UK. Typically these butnings overwinter in Japan, eastern China, and elsewhere in southeast Asia.

These medium bunting have bright chestnut-brown upperparts that are streaked with black on back. Their throat and belly are white, breast band is cinnamon-brown, and sides and flanks are streaked. Black head has slight crest and thick white eyebrow.

Little Bunting: The other bird that can be found amongst the yellow garsses and haether is this little bunting, who seemed a lot more confident then the rustic and came out to feed on the seeded area more often. there has been two reported in this area over the last few months but I only saw a single individual. 

Little bunting are widespread across northern Scandinavia and Siberia  and overwinters mostly in southern Asia. 

These little birds are considerably smaller than other buntings, hence their names and they resemble female reed bunting. With a dark, streaked back, pale underparts some streaking, and reddish brown cheeks. 

Occasionally the little bunting would take a short flight into the gorse or over the heather and call, which was pretty distinctive.  

Both birds remained faithful to a large area of gorse and young silver birch where some kind soul had been regularly seeding, attracting a range of buntings including reed bunting. 

I would like to add that ‘social distancing’ was maintained throughout my visit here and everyone behaved impeccably during the hour or so I spent here. Beside there were only three people here so plenty of space to spread out. 

It's easy to to keep yourself and others safe while twitching and birding, you are outside, socially distanced and where you can't you wear a mask..

But in this case It was just me and two other birders, so plenty of distance to be had. 

23/02/2021 Wigan Flashes Local Nature Reserve

Lesser Redpoll: Wigan Flashes is one of my favorite local places. There are eight shallow wetlands or ‘Flashes’ in the area which were formed as a result of mining subsidence. Over the years and with careful maintenance the industrial landscape has developed in to a mixture of beautiful habitats including open water, reedbeds and mossland.

There has been some unconfirmed reports of possible common (or mealy) redpoll spotted around the feeders, so after working from home and with the sun and blue skies distracting me I headed out for my socially distanced daily exercise.

When I arrived there were nine redpoll around the feeders with a couple feeding on them and several in the trees nearby.

Frustratingly the angles were all wrong and the branches kept getting in the way! And alas,  there was no sign of any mealy redpoll.

It was a really pleasant late afternoon walk, not a cloud in the sky and a real change of season in the air. Bird setting up breeding territories and birds collecting and building nets spring has sprung in Wigan.  

22/02/2021 Winter Hill, Lancashire

Snow Bunting: This marvelous male snow bunt  was found a few days ago at the Trigg Point on top of Winter Hill. Snow bunts are attractive little birds, that often give you a chance to get some nice images as they are typically bold and not shy of the camera.

So today, after being sent not too far from the office (based in Bolton) to Rivington for another wildlife survey.  I drove up Winter Hill to see the snow bunt. 

Winter Hill is the highest point in the West Pennine area and towers over Rivington and its surroundings, although it is not tall enough to be classed as a mountain. Winter Hill is really a large, raised plateau of moorland with several summits named as hills in their own right, one being Rivington Pike.

The bird was sticking pretty loyal to the Trigg Point foraging within 20 meters or of the  stone triangulation pillar. 

Although it did also spend some time behind the palisade fencing of the nearby building.

The North West has seen a record number of snow bunting across the region, with maybe 20 birds on North Wirral, one on Bull Hill, two at Cockersands Abbey, one at Wray Lancashire,  there are also a couple on the Great Orme in North Wales in recent days. 

I suspect a place like this can get pretty busy on the weekends with dog walker, hills walkers and cyclists and there's nothing wrong with that, if folk are sticking to the rules and exercising outdoors enjoying a wonderful place that this part of lancashire has to offer. But on a Monday morning it was relatively quiet. 

With a backdrop of black peaty soil, purple moor grass and rush pasture the bird stood out as I approached the Trigg point. 

And with a spot of with a bit of patience and the with the knowledge that you will get a muddy knee or wet bottom as you crouch down for a picture the bird came pretty close.  

Another safe, socially distance short walk to exercise my camar lifting arm. 

 

19/02/2021 Alexandra Park, Greater Manchester

Ring-necked Duck: After what seemed like a along, but productive work meeting based in a posh high rise office building in Manchester's Spinningfields, I was glad to get out and spend my daily exercise in no so far Alexandra Park.

The same female RND that spent a day on the 12th of February at Elton Reservoir has now taken up residence here. 

The females have a pale brown head and body, whitish chin, throat, and around the base of the beak, white stripe behind the eye, white eye-ring, dark brown back, grey beak with subtle white band, and brown eyes.

But it's the drakes which in ducks are typically much fancier with their black head and neck with a purple sheen, an inconspicuous cinnamon neck ring, grey-blue beak with a broad white band and black tip. And a distinctive white line around the base of the beak, yellow eyes, the upperparts.

When I arrived the bird was loafing about, bobbing up and down on the pond with a dozen or so tufted ducks. It seemed very content until a family came to feed the duck some bread. 

It was at this point the bird made a beeline for the free food, fighting off the other ducks for some crumbs.    

The bird was more timid than the other ducks on the pond and as soon as it managed to grab some food it moved right back out into the middle and always seemed to hang back. 

A duck on a small ornamental park near a city centre who is coming to bread certainly raises questions regarding the birds status.  But nothing is definitive and all these things are most certainly not conclusive. 

Its free flying and unringed, that's all we know. 

Still, whatever its outcome it was a great opportunity to not only 'exercise my camera lifting arm, during lockdown but a great opportunity to see a female RND at such close quarters. 

18/02/2021 Lea Marston & Coton Lakes, Warwickshire

Bufflehead: After spending the morning carrying out an preliminary ecological appraisal in Solihull I decided to spend my limited exercise time at Lea Marston lakes., where a visitor from America has been spotted. 

The bufflehead is a widespread breeding bird in Canada and there are a few small colonies in north-west USA.

Its name is derived from ancient Greek boukephalos, "bullheaded", from bous, "bull " and kephale, "head", a reference to the oddly bulbous head shape of the species.

It took me a long while to find this bird and with some collective help from another birder on site and good mate Adam Archer (via a swift phone call) I soon found the birds location. 

The bird was on B2 lake this lake is situated further north than the lake that the hide looks over. its attached to this lake by a small inlet and best viewed along the public right of way that runs adjacent to the railway line. When I saw the bird is was at some distance and the bird was constantly feeding, hence these really poor images. Still, it's a bufflehead, it's a new tick and it was stopped safely. 

10/02/2021 Snaresbrook, Wanstead, London

Caspian Gull: The beast is back! This is the 5th year that this Caspian gull has returned to Eagle Pond in Snaresbrook. This is probably the most reliable caspo in the UK and now that it's sporting its glorious adult plumage I'm sure it will draw even more birding to the Eagle Pond.  

So after a short ecological survey I was carrying out nearby I decided to take a safe, socially distance walk to exercising my camera lifting arm and see this smart looking gull. 

Eagle Pond is situated in the extreme north-west corner of Leyton Flats, bounded by a woodland area of the Flats on the west, the pavement of Snaresbrook Road on the north, and the grounds of Snaresbrook Crown Court on the south.

The pond is a large and only accessible on one side, the busy roadside and at times you are shooting straight into the bright low light of a winters day. Not ideal. 

But almost a quarter of the pond was iced and any bird who wanted to sit on the water was forced to come that little bit closer into the area of open water that was nice covered by ice.  

As he bird sits on the blackish water it stands out like a sore thumb amongst the more familiar gulls, with its smart regal appearance, elegant, long-winged, long-legged, white-headed gull with a characteristic face and small dark eye.   

It's a shame I unable to see my older brother and his partner or my friends who live in London, but I'm happy the bird showed so well. 

I like London and don't mind working down here, especially with less traffic about and no major delays on the motorways. And throw in a scarce bird that showed well and was in a place I can carry out my exercise before the long journey home, you can consider this a good day. 

09/02/2021 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield

Barnacle Goose: Another day and another goose, this time a monochrome barnacle goose which I noticed during a ecological survey I was doing at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

The bird was happily feeding on the well manicured lawns in front of Bretton Hall, beside the main lake.  It was accompanied by 80 or so Canada geese that were also loafing and foraging on the lawns. 

The small black and white goose stood out against the backdrop of honking Canada geese especially as it was sporting a prominent yellow 'spiral poultry ring' these 18mm plastic rings are typically used domesticated ducks, large hens cockerels etc.

There aren't many records of barnacle geese at YSP back nevermind one with a distinctive yellow poultry ring. 

So where did it come from?

Well I can't find any info online regarding any local barnacle geese sporting this ring, no reports or images so who knows! 

Still despite its highly likely plastic credentials it was nice to see up close and personal.  YSP is a great place for a walk and a spot of birding, once these never ending lockdown restrictions are lifted I would highly recommend ist anyone.

 

07/02/2021 Pennington Flash

Richardson's Cackling Goose: Well my day just got that bit more interesting.  After a very early and cold start, taking a short walk to Lightshaw Flash to see the Richardson's goose I got news that it had relocated to Pennington Flash. 

Once I got home from the morning walk I warmed up with a hot cup of tea and some breakfast then settled in for an afternoon of entertaining the baby. 

When news came through on BirdGuides that the bird had been spotted at pennington flash I didn't give it a moments thought, pleased that I was it more locally earlier this morning

I was soon told that the bird was coming to seed in the car park with the Canada geese. Well whatever this birds real origins are and with its behaviour now making it even more likely that its plastic I don't think I will get an opportunity to see one so close up outside of a zoo!

So not wanting to miss a good photo opportunity, I packed my gear, the baby and Dawn and we headed over to our local Pennington Flash. 

Penny was typically busy, but you can't really blame anyone for coming to use such a great public amenity even during this pandemic, there is no law against it or restrictions that forbid folk from going to a park. Sure, you can question the suitability of dozends on people going to one place for an outdoor walk, but firstly you'll be a hypocrite and secondly it's down to an effective government to lay out strong and sensible rules. 

The bird was pointed out me by a lovely bloke called Dave, as it came out of the water to feed on a concrete ramp opposite the children play area, a little further down from the main car park. 

The bird was clearly more jumpy and shy then the much larger Canada geese although it didn't mind come right out of the water at almost arms length to feed on the seeds that families were buying to feed to the ducks and swans.   

Richardson's really are little dinky things once you see then standing side by side with a giant Canada  they really stand out like a sore-thumb. its Richardson's (hutchinsii) are known to be the smallest of the palse vagrant forms,

They have a small bill and a short neck, thick and is similar in size to a Brent Goose. They breed in Arctic Canada and winter on the Gulf coast of Texas and Mexico

The bird was often pushed off the seed by the bigger geese and swans and moved out onto the water before coming back once the coast was clear.  This image below shows how diddy the birc really it's almost mallard size when compared side by side.

Regardless of the birds status and now its behaviour it great to see a nice local bird during a week of staying at home.