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. 

23/02/2019 Parkgate, Cheshire

Short-eared Owl: With Dawn having plans and myself being at a loos end I dropped Damion a text and arranged a day out at the 10m high tide at Parkgate.

Upon arrival we walked the length of the promenade and got our best views of a hunting male hen harrier opposite the Old Quay Stonehouse pub.








As the incoming tide flooded the marsh, the voles were flushed from their homes and move ever closer to the promenade, resulting in a feeding frenzy amongst the owls, harriers and resident kestrels.

The extent of the spectacle is dependent on the weather conditions on the day - low pressure and a strong northwesterly wind are the best to drive the tide in fully, but at this time of year and in these weather conditions we didn't expect the high tide to come right up to the wall.

Still we watched as the water ooze over the marsh and the hunting raptors feeding along he waters edge.

Heading back up to the Old Baths car park we counted six great white egrets, two marsh harrier and had our first glimpse of a male hen harrier that ghosted past us in the distance.

After an hour or so at the Old Baths car park we headed off the get some food and the famous Parkgate chippy and when we returned the ow;ls appeared.

We counted five owls then another two came in making seven in total, several of which came right close in to the car park wall.

We had some better views of ring-tailed hen harriers as the evening drawn in, but the short-eared owls stole the show. 

If you're patient and you know where to look, you can usually see the birds of prey flying over the marsh, but a high tide pushes everything closer, giving even better views and more chance of exciting action.

Marsh Harrier: High tide on the spectacular Dee Estuary is not to be missed.

04/02/2019 Wageningen, Netherlands

Spotted Nutcracker (slender billed): There are some twitches that you know you will remember forever, some that stand out as extra special and this one most certainly fits that narrative.

Dawn and I booked a mini-break to Amsterdam staying on a lovely house boat along one of the beautiful canals that cross-cross the city.
We arrived late on Sunday night and booked a hire car for Monday morning.

After a fun night out and a good nights sleep we picked the car up from Centraal Station and embarked on the short journey to Wageningen, located about an hour east and was on pretty easy roads to navigate.

We arrived on the quiet suburban streets of Wageningen and ran in to two local birders, their English was good and they told us that they hadn't seen the bird in over two hours!!!

I was alarmed, I know that bird has been in this town since well before Christmas, but it had moved from the edge of an housing estate further into town and with the prowling cat population and local sparrowhawks I did think, if only for a second, that it may have gone! maybe for good.

Luckily however almost as soon as Dawn and I arrived and I opened a packet of hazelnuts the bird came straight in, right past my legs and landed right next to me. Within touching distance. This was superb, what an excellent way to see my first ever nutcracker.

The spotted nutcracker has an extensive range forming a broad swathe east-west from Scandinavia right across northern Europe, Siberia and to eastern Asia, including Japan, inhabiting the huge taiga conifer forests in the north.

The Eurasian nutcracker (N. caryocatactes) has several subspecies, each occupying a different part of the range and depending on different conifer species. Some of the populations can be separated on bill size. This individual is classified as a slender billed (N. c. macrorhynchos), which occurs over most of Siberia and is the most widespread of the bunch.

Spotted nutcrackers are not migratory, but will erupt out of range when a cone crop failure leaves them short of a food supply.
This slender billed eastern race being the more likely to do this.

The bird happily and boldly went about 'caching' the nuts, burying them under in the soil besides a kerb and laying dead leaves over them.
Dawn and I along with the two other birders were soon joined by some passing locals one of which came prepared and brought his own monkey nuts.

Taking one from his pocket and extending his arm the bird jumped out of the tree and on to the mans hand. I was blown away.

The bird flew up and drank out of a blocked gutter before disappearing, we went off for some lunch in the town and came back only to have the nutcracker spooked off by a passing sparrowhawk.

(this image was taken on my iPhone)

Sparrowhawk: I was relieved to see that the bird of prey was after the local pigeons - but the nutcracker better keep a sharp eye out! This picture was taken in the garden where it spent much of its time.

This was such a great trip, Amsterdam is a lovely city full of great sights and good food and seeing the nutcracker just topped it off.

26/01/2019 Hope Carr Nature Reserve, Leigh

Blyth's Reed Warbler: Last Sunday while Dawn and I were out looking for Long-eared Owls in Cheshire the lads Whatsapp ground pinged in my pocket, it was Patrick saying that there was a Eurasian reed warbler spotted at Hope Carr nature reserve near of Leigh. He caveatted saying 'at this time of year its got to be rarer then a normal reed warbler.'

Patrick was spot on as later that evening a message was put up on MBF saying that the reed warbler is now thought to be a Blyth's reed after studying video footage.

This makes this bird the first Blyth's reed for Lancahire and a local mega that has been pulling in the crowds.

The bird however is not very reliable it showed well on the following Monday then went to ground for almost a week before coming out again on the following Saturday and doing a no show on all day on Sunday. Today, Monday, the bird put on the best show it has done since it was found.

When I saw it on Saturday all I could manage were these typical LBJ images with plenty of branches and 'bum' shots!

But today folk were able to get some crippling shots including Gary Crowder who was kind enough to share with me his cracking images of the bird (the first two images).

20/01/2019 Sandbach Flashes, Cheshire

Long-eared Owl: A bird not easily seen during the breeding season, when they are mostly nocturnal. But during the winter they can be seen much more easily at their winter roosts.

LEO winter roosts used to be much more common than they are now. In fact, in some areas where they appeared to be well established, they have disappeared altogether, and a winter LEO roost is now a rare sight.

So I can understand when there has been some displeasure and resentment via a Whatsapp group recently to people sharing the sightings of LEO roosts. I understand in certain circumstances that suppressing sightings is a positive move.

However there has been an historic roost at Sandbach Flashes, one that is pretty much inaccessible as they are found on the opposite side of a very boggy flash and well known.
All you have to do is type in on Twitter 'LEO Sandbach' and you will see tons of sightings, they even have them on their web page.

https://sandbachflashes.co.uk/tag/groby-flash/

Brambling: Still, I would recommend practising good field craft, keeping quiet, don't wave your hands about or move them too quickly and respect the owls. And please check with County Recorders or other local bird watchers before putting LEO info on social media & out into the public domain.

Before going to see the owls Dawn and I headed over to Hanchrch Woods a bit further south near Stoke.

Here we watched the fantastic feeding station for these orange finches.

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.