27/08/2021 Blacktoft Sands RSPB, East Yorkshire

White-tailed plover: A long awaited bird, living in the North West and knocking about with some Liverpool birders I have heard  many stories about the white-tailed plover that was found at Seaforth.

This was before my twitching days and was a bird I've always longed to see, but typically the day the bird was found I was booked in top photograph a wedding, and on a Thursday! My only Thursday wedding this year. 

Anyway, the couple were lovely and the wedding was stunning at one stage I was even showing the bride and groom pictures  of the bird. 

So the following morning I decided not to wait on news and go for first light arriving at the reserve just before 6am. 

I was worried to when the reserve would open, officially it opens at 9am and there was a shocking lack of information despite folk asking about the opening times following the bird being found.

But when I arrived the warden was there opening up, also there was Chris Griffin who along with his rumbling belly kept me company as the bird put on an outstanding show right in front of Townend hide. 

I was blown away by hw great tis bird is, with is extremely long bright yellow legs, and its diminutive face packing away at the mud this is a really nice bird.   

Big thanks to the RSPB warden who arrived early to open the reserve and allow us all into the hide to view the bird. 

 

13/06/2021 Spike Island, Widess

Whooper Swan: These elegant and well travelled swans come to the UK in their thousands to spend the winter here; they arrive from Iceland in late autumn, returning north again in the spring. Their breeding range, extending from Iceland and northern Scandinavia in the west to the Pacific coast of Russia in the east. 

This individual has decided to stay put this summer and not return to its breeding range, but instead take up residence with the local mute swan at Spike island in Widnes!

  

Whooper's show obvious individual bill variations, their black and yellow patterns on the bill are almost like individual fingerprint in humans with each bird having a different pattern. The extent of the yellow and black on the bill can also tell you which population they belong to with the Icelandic population wintering in England having more black than has been found on the bills of the eastern Siberian population wintering in Japan. 

The bird seems right at home, totally habituated to the slobbering unleashed dogs that are allowed to run straight in the resting flock and making the most of the free food given to them by children and families who have come fo feed the ducks. 

Whooper swans have a distinctive upright posture in comparison with the its cousins the Bewick’s and mute swans, with a slight kink at the base of the neck and a relatively long neck to overall body length. 

The yellow bill really stood out among the orange bills of the resident mute swans. 

 

Let's hope that it eventually moves on and finds its own kind and takes on the mammoth journeys whooper swans regularly take up north.

11/08/2021 Taylor Park, St Helens

Mediterranean Gull: This is a cracking bird, one that really stands out next to the local black-headed gulls.

Not only is the bird much darker bird and slightly bigger with obvious white ringes to its scapulars compared with the black-headed gulls, but it was much more vocal and aggressive towards the other gulls.  

Either loafing on the lake or perched upon the jetty, the bird was eagerly waiting for scops of bread, seeds and pretty much any food that the families  bring to feed the ducks and geese. 

Taylor park is on the opposite side of Grange Park Golf Course east of Eccleston Mere and is a lovely place for a walk especially after being stuck in for a few days.  

Not much else to note really apart from the Med gull.