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. 

07/02/2021 Lightshaw Flash, Abram, Wigan

Richardson's Cackling Goose: Lightshaw Flash is a place I rarely visit, perhaps it should be my local patch? It's down the road, its watched a little by some good local birders and it occasionally throws up a decent bird.  Lightshaw is off the beaten track and many of it is inescapable which is a good thing for the wildlife making its a real jewel in the crown for Wigan. 

When I arrived the bird could viewed from the screen overlooking the flash. It was associating with a large flock of Canada's and was busily feeding on the grassy bank. 

It was great to see the Richardson's side by side with its closely related relatives, the Canada geese. Giving me a good opportunity to really see the difference in body size and even shape with Richardson's showing a shorter neck and steeper, less sloping forehead and darker chest.  

Canada Goose: nice short walk to and from my home. 

Another good lockdown find by Mr. Davies. 

25/01/2021 Hale Park, Cheshire

Firecrest: Today I was working in Halewood carrying out a preliminary ecological appraisal and thought I would use my limited outdoor time at Hale Park., which was nearby. 

The birds distinctive head markings, with black eye-stripe contrasting with broad, white supercilium really make this bird stand out, one of the best UK birds for sure. Really lovely little things. 

Although I don't keep a 'Cheshire list' this species is much sought-after by local listers and is very elusive and is definitely under-recorded due to one of their favourite habitats being rhododendron scrub under mature trees, which Hale park has in abundance. 

It was a tricky little blighter to pin down as it restlessly moved within the dense bushes and shrubs, but it was doing a circuit and with a bit of patience it would occasionally show itself. It even came right out into the open and foraged from the ground right in front of me. 

I believe the original finder was Geoff Bond, good stuff mate. 

This was another nice, safe, outdoor, socially distanced, Covid free post work walk. No crowds or other folk about and a stunning little bird to boot! 

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.