18/01/2020 Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton

Iceland Gull: For the past few weeks there has been a juvenile Iceland gull that has been regularly reported loafing about on the main lake at Moses Gate Country Park.

I now have a new job working for a ecological consultancy in Bolton and not too far from Moses Gate. I've been working from home as the guidance recommends since I started my new job at the start of January, but needed to go there today.

So after a long day of printing, planning and scanning in the office I headed home via Moss Gate .    

Centred around three large lakes Moss Gate is just a mile or so from Bolton town centre, Moses Gate Country Park ia an uplifting taste of serenity and nature, away from the industrial Bolton town.

It's clear that Moss Gate is a popular place, with families and dog walkers enjoying their limited time outside.  Not too busy, perhaps that's different on a weekend, I don't know. But everyone was behaving well and enjoying the outdoor freedom. 

The gull wasn't hard to spot, there were some other Greater Manchester birders there to see it, again all well behaved and socially distanced. And the bird was sitting right in view on the main lake, in amongst the juvenile herring gulls. 

The bird was pretty active when I arrived, following the families who came loaded with loaves of bread to feed the ducks, ready and willing to steal a slice or two. 

Often it would jump into the feeding frenzies that would breakout as one herring gull was caught with some food.  I even had it land on the grassy area where the black-headed gulls hang out, but only briefly before getting spooked by a dog walker. 

Although herring gulls are slightly larger than Iceland gulls this bird in flight had a much larger appearance, perhaps  its due to the stunning cream-white wings that stand out against the grey skies and grey black herring gulls?

The light was fading so I packed up and headed home, but if I'm working from the office again soon I might just come back for a second visit. 

18/04/2019 Sefton Park & Leasowe Lighthouse

Iceland Gull:  Nice start to the extra, extra long bank holiday weekend as I had today off and made plans with Gary to head out early and pick up some recently arrived migrants.

First stop was Bickershaw Rucks, a local reserve and a place I know is petty good for grasshopper warblers.  It didn't take long before we heard the distinct reeling call emanating from the rough grass.

We then moved on to the Wirral and straight to Leasowe Lighthouse which was in full migration  mode. Dozens of blackcap, willow warbler and chifchaffs were singing from every tree and bush.

But the highlight for sure were these mountain equivalent of the closely related blackbird.


We had two in the fields behind the Wirral way before they vanished and were gone for good. Gary and I stayed in the are and were suddenly surrounded by whaetear with the estimated daily figure topping 60 birds.

Ring Ouzel: We eventually moved on and saw the pied fly that was hanging around the end of Lingham Lane, it was only a brief view but we were happy.

We were happier still when we relocated the ring ouzel foraging in a horse paddock along Lingham Lane, two birds were joined by another and then a fourth.

Other birds to note were two white wagtail in the horse paddocks behind the Wirral Way, a reeling Grasshopper Warbler in the reeds and this smart looking whinchat knocking about the wheatears.

Whinchat: On the way home I decided to take a detour to Sefton Park, were we connected with the long staying Iceland gull. The bird was happily chasing away the ducks, steeling the food that families have come to the lake to feed the birds with. I wasn't complaining as these free handouts encouraged the bird to come in closer.

Decent day all round and a good start the the extra long bank holiday weekend.

02/03/2019 Shetland

Tengmalm’s Owl: My first Shetland twitch almost seems like a rite of passage for any ‘wannabe’ serious lister, it took me on a 1160 mile round trip from Wigan to Tresta to see the long sought after Tengmalm’s Owl.

Believed to be the first Tengmalm’s found on Shetland for over 100 years. Except for the bird found at Spurn back in 1983, that was suppressed, this would be the first Tengmalm’s in recent memory and the first real twitchable bird, one that stuck around for a while and kept to a relatively small area.






It was on Tuesday 19th February news broke that a Tengmalm’s Owl had been found in a garden at Bixter on Shetland and although it took me almost two weeks to pluck up the courage and make a decision to go  I think we played a blinder and the gamble paid off.

The Cheshire lads Mark Payne and Malc Curtin were joined by Derbyshire’s Tony Davison and myself, we jumped on the Shetland bound ferry on Friday night arriving in Lerwick at 0730 the following Saturday morning. Upon arriving we were greeted with negative news!

To say that the wait for the hire car and the car ride from the ferry terminal to Tresta was tense is an understatement. Malc drove like he was in some sort of cross country rally race! We arrived at a very crowded parking area opposite Lea Gardens, where the bird had been spending most of its time. Just as we arrived on site the bird had been relocated, we were relieved and over the moon.

Unfortunately the bird was seriously obscured by dense vegetation and the best views to be had were particularly narrow. The owners of Lea Gardens were keen for the birders not to step outside of the pathway boundaries in fear that their well-managed and beloved garden would be trampled.

Subsequently there was a scrum around the small area of best viewing and the path could realistically only hold a very small number of people. I genuinely believe that any damage to plants by any birders was accidental, and not out of a lack of respect for the owners garden or other birders yet to see the bird who might be travelling up on another day.

Eventually the owners became distressed about the damage to their garden and I witnessed Josh Jones doing his up most best to manage the situation. He was very diplomatic in calming the situation and bringing the owners back onside. While I was there I witnessed the owners dogs do more damage to the garden as it ran free within the garden  trampling newly emerged spring bulbs.

I was particularly surprised and taken aback to see the owners stepping right in front of the birders on to their own managed flower beds directly beneath the roosting bird. To then grab their point and shoot camera from their pocket and take a couple of pictures of the bird and flash their camera light right at it, not once, not twice but three times! We all held our breath as the bird shuffled around and looked like it was about to take off and be flushed.

Since it was particularly busy in the morning and the bird was obscured we decided to go hunt down the pied-billed grebe and rose finch. We struck lucky with the grebe as it showed well, if distantly from the road overlooking Loch of Spiggie.

We dipped on the rose finch but had a blast at the Fish Quay with a juvenile Iceland gull, several rafts of long-tailed duck, black guillemot and some stunning juvenile kittiwakes.

In the afternoon we returned to Lea Gardens to see if the bird was showing much better, and we struck gold!! The bird came right into the open giving us unobstructed, crippling views that were mind blowing. 

Kittiwake: The owners dog then began to play directly beneath the bird and made it wake up and become more mobile and active. This was great an experience that I will never forget. Having our fill of the bird and losing the light we headed back on to the ferry for some celebratory drinks.

Iceland gull: My first Shetland trip paid off, big time. Not all will of course, but this twitch won’t be forgotten any time soon. Top bird, top company with some top birders.

Despite the return journey on the ferry and the hour I spent hurling my guts up in the toilets and feeling like I was going to die!

Black Guillemot: It was a top twitch. 

19/01/2019 Winwick Road, Warrington

Iceland Gull: This bird as been eluding me for the past few years. I have fond memories of chasing it across the town, from Tesco car park to the roof of Matalan and each time I dipped!

I even took Dawn with me once witch didn't go down too well, but nothing a McDonald's couldn't sort out.

Top local birder John Tymon found the bird last weekend loafing on the grassy field in front of Warrington Collage and reappeared yesterday afternoon on the grassy pitch in front of Decathlon.

This adult bird has been returning to Warrington for its 6th winter from it's Breeding grounds in Arctic Greenland.

Iceland gulls typically breed in the far north of Greenland that's a 2000 mile journey, a long, long way!

This morning I met up with Neil Wilcox and set off in search of the pure white gull, we checked its usual haunts, the grassy fields around the college, the playing fields of Orford park and the area around Decathlon.

For a long while I wasn't holding out too much hope, well until we bumped in to Liverpool birder Steve T. We were catting away when Steve spotted the white winged gull flying over Decathlon.

Here we got some good views as it flew around the area and perched upon the nearby Premier Inn hotel.

I was thrilled, after years of dipping I finally got some decent views of this local celebrity.

20/12/2018 Radgate Recycling cntre, Gorton, Manchester

Iceland Gull: Working from the Manchester office allowed me to go and see the Radgate white winger.

I waited around 40mins before the bird made an appearance, periodically scanning the small building that the gull favours.

The bird is a regular visitor to the site and is well watched by top local birder Rob Creek who provides regular updates on the Manchester Birding Forum

The weather was typical of grey, old Manchester with drizzly rain and dark clouds. So photographing a grayish bird against grayish skies is not always great.










Despite the poor weather and the odd looks I was getting from the truckers and workers around Radgate it was well worth the wait.

14/01/2018 Blackpool

Iceland Gull: After getting a lot of disinterest over the week about going to see the Whitby wheatear and having no one to agree to go with me I decided to try my luck elsewhere.

 And am I glad I did!

After seeing via twitter and the @FyldeBirdClub twitter feed that the adult Iceland gull was spotted in Tesco car park in Blackpool I thought I would give it ago.

The bird is typically found on the roof of the recycling waste management building and after checking this and the car park there was no sign, so Dawn and I went for lunch and came back.

On our second visit I spotted the bird on the roof and I watched it for several minutes before a guy in an orange high-vis jacket drove by and said I can go in if I like and see the bird closer.

He stood with me while the bird flew in to the buildings open doorway and on to the waste material and back on to the roof.

This gave me an excellent opportunity to see the bird much closer and see it's bright yellow bill with red spot at gonys, it's pale coloured eye, white head, neck, breast, and belly and its classic white wing primaries.

Great local bird, and one that regularly returns each year.  I spoke with the man who said if I come back on my own I shouldn't go past the fence line. So for anyone who is going please stay on the right side of the fence.