07/05/2023 Little Wooden Moss, Greater Manchester

Black-winged Stilt: This graceful long-legged wader and mega rare Greater Manchester county tick was found today by Steven Nelson. I was just finishing re-seeding the grass in the garden when BirdGuides buzzed, and I grabbed my bins and camera. 

Only 20 minutes up the road I made good time and was one of the first bikers to arrive, but as soon as I took my first shot the bird took off and flew high west, very high and very far before doing a u-turn and coming straight back. 

These smart bird are unmistakeable with their fine straight bill, ridiculously long reddish pink legs and black and white plumage. Both in flight and at rest the long red legs are characteristic, but even if these are hidden in deep water, the pure white underparts and jet-black upperparts are distinctive enough.

No longer a very rare vagrant and more of an annual visitor with recent records of breeding in the UK. I was thrilled it came back as my first fee shots were pretty distant and when it returned it landed almost infant of me. 

These unexpected local twitches are the best, you make good time, see the bird then back in time to put the abby to bed a win, win situation. 

Also they become a social affair giving me a chance to catch up with some top local birders. 

You wouldn’t know it to look at the area between Salford and Warrington, but this whole area was once part of one of the largest lowland raised peat bogs in the UK. Known as Chat Moss, this rare and special habitat formed after the last Ice Age and was a haven for wildlife, along with storing huge amounts of carbon.

The bird was foraging along the peat bogs of West Pools and unfortuantley for those who missed it today it was gone by the morning. 

13/07/2022 Potteric Carr WWT, Doncaster

Black-wined Stilt: Working close to Doncaster I shout it would be rude not to stop off at Potteric Carr to see their breeding black-winged stilts. 

Thought to be the most northerly breeding success for this species ever in the UK.  Four eggs were laid about a month ago and news surpassed until they had hatched. The parent birds arrived on the reserve on the 16th of May and started to prospect for suitable nesting sites on the mudflats.

They settled on Piper Marsh and have successfully reared our chicks. although I only saw two when I arrived. 

The parents were very aggressive and protective of their young chasing away and attacking the resident mallards, herons and egrets which dared to stray too close. This is probably the main reason why they have been so successful, as ground nesting birds they are vulnerable to predators.

There seems to be a bit of an influx of of black-winged stilt this year, with them breeding in Norfolk and several individuals seen throughout the season across the country.

This was my first visit to Potteric Carr and I was toughly impressed, its a real wildlife paradise, a green jewel in an others built up urban area surrounded by industry. The place was huge and offered a wide variety of habitats to explore. 

 

26/04/2022 Marshside RSPB, Southport

Black-winged Stilt: I was utterly blown away by this bird while it put on a good show in the shallow pools at the back of marshside. 

This was my third visit to Marshside after seeing it the day it was found last week and once again on the weekend after seeing the wood sand at Newton Marsh when it was so far away it was almost on the moon!

This time however it performed magically, now the birds moved over onto Crossens Inner Marsh its now viewable in better light and comes much closer to the public footpath then when its was on Rimmers Marsh. 

It was a mild, calm soon to be warn day, much like that of the Mediterranean where this rare wader originates. The stilt is now currently rubbing wings with our Arctic winter visitors, who will be on the move northwards to their breeding grounds in the next few weeks.

Hundreds of pinkies remains, the snow goose, and white-fronted geese also remain in the area. 

Another highlight was bumping into Andy Pryce and Steve Young, two top blokes I was more than happy to share this excellent bird with. Cheers lads. 

18/04/2022 Marshside RSPB, Southport

Black-winged Stilt: There's been somewhat of a semi-influx of these birds into the country with this one possible coming from Llanelli Wetland Centre in south Wales and was picked up at Cors Ddyga in Anglesey the day after it departed. 

Then a pair in Berkshire and in Norfolk.

This was my 2nd UK black-winged stilt after seeing one in Hampshire ages ago. I remember that bird being pretty far away so I was thrilled to see this one so close up. 

I got lucky really as the bird had been distant most of the day until it flew to the pool off Hesketh road before flying back in front of Nels hide.