Garganey: Sunday morning and I'm back out watching birds, this time with Dawn an Autumn in tow. We headed over to Manvers Park where a drake garganey has taken up residence with a female mallard.
All the wonderful birds and wildlife of Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales and further
21/04/2024 Manvers Lake, Rotherham
20/04/2024 Normandy Marsh, Hampshire
13/04/2014 Platt Fields Park, Manchester
07/04/2024 Gillingham, Devon
29/03/2024 Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve, Warrington
Ruddy Duck: This North American species were imported into wildfowl collections in Britain due the 50s. Some birds escaped from these collections and formed a free-flying population which expanded to cover most suitable habitat in the UK and by 2001 the ruddy duck population was around 6,000.
These days the ruddy duck is a rare sight and its been over 5 years since I last saw one of theses smart blue billed, stiff tailed dapper ducks.
26/03/2024 Undisclosed Location
There has been records of adults with young at Moore Nature Reserve. Typically BNG colonies are associated with nesting black-headed gulls, which must give some measure of protection from aerial predators.
There are just 55 breeding pairs in Britain, with around 120 individuals here in the winter months. Whilst numbers here in Britain are limited, the black-necked grebe is the most abundant grebe in the world, with many of these residing in North America.
BNG favoured habitat is shallow, eutrophic waters, usually with extensive vegetation along the fringes and often floating aquatic plants, and a site preferably sheltered from strong winds. This flash appears suitable albeit without any nesting gulls.
25/03/2024 Aviemore, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
Capercaillie: The always excellent Damien Young is due to tie the knot in April, so we organised a stag weekend in Aviemore with the hopes of seeing some of the Scottish specialties. With a few notable absences the stag party consisted of Toby Young, Kristian Wade, Patrick Earth and of course the stag.
There are no particular ‘hotspots’ for seeing eagles and their eyries are a closely guarded secret, but if you spend time in the uplands and keep looking up you may be lucky enough to see this great bird soaring around ridgelines, catching the thermals and looking for prey.
Pine Marten: Harris even took his time to show us a resident Scottish wildcat that they have currently in the grounds close to the hide, unfortunately it evaded us on this night, but Harris did get us two plant ticks, including holly fern and twinflower. The pine marten were the highlight of the evening but the new hide is poor for photography and not great for phones either, both these images where taken with my iPhone. Red Kite: This was a top weekend spent with some of the best humans I know. Here's to Damian and Helen and to their big day in April.
22/03/2024 Garnock View in Kilwinning in Ayrshire
24/02/2024 My Garden, Golborne, Cheshire
Siskin: Birders are most likely to encounter these agile little birds in coniferous forests and plantations but, particularly in winter they can be attracted to garden feeders.