Friday 15 February 2013

Weekly Round Up 15 Feb 2013

Despite the bad weather this week we still managed a couple of days out and about birding.  A day on the Welsh Coast rewarded us with Snow Bunting and Hawfinch (see pictures below).  A friend who came out with us for the day was happy to brave the grey weather to add the Hawfinch to his list.  

Midday high tide at Leasowe Lighthouse was also on this weeks agenda to try for the small flock of Scaup which have been sighted there recently.  We were lucky enough to see 12 birds (another for Al's list !).  As there was not much else doing at this site we headed to Red Rocks for the Gull Roost (see picture below).  The short journey over there provided us with views of Black-throated Diver, Scaup and Brent Geese.  Bitterly cold day but not wet so we persevered to Parkgate Marsh RSPB.  Shortly after we had arrived we had seen both the Great White Egret, Ring tailed Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl.  A successful day and a good excuse to warm up with pie and chips on the way home.  

Yesterday, despite the fact that I wanted to spend the day with my Valentine LOL ! my love of birds won out, and I walked the Cholmondely Estate.  There is a lot of work going on there and the paths are almost all still under some level of water.  The Smew that has been on the lake for most of the week was not showing today but the birds played nicely for us on the bird tables from the Deer Park hide. 



 Snow Bunting 

 Glaucous Gull - Doddington Lake nr. Nantwich

 Gull Roost - Red Rocks Cheshire 

 Hawfinch - Llanbedr y Cenin 

 Nuthatch - Cholmondeley 

Willow Tit - Cholmondeley

Rook - Cholmondeley 

Friday 1 February 2013

Smewtastic

Well what a super week it's been birding wise, as you can see from the Grey Heron photo below Monday was cold with snow and freezing conditions; the weather had completely changed by Wednesday morning so we decided to make the short drive to Upper Longdon on Cannock Chase where a Great Grey Shrike has been showing on and off for most of the Month. Unfortunately very high winds on site restricted our chances and only flight views were obtained, a very showy Kestrel was great value considering the lack of views given by the Shrike. We rounded off the day by having a look at the gull roost at Doddington Lake where after scanning through for half an hour or so we managed to find a 1st winter Iceland gull which showed well at distance.

This morning (Friday) myself and Al visited Cholmondeley and amongst the usual wildfowl (Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Teal, Shelduck) there was a stunning female (redhead) Smew, pictured below. With a great few days birding already under the belt, lets see what the weekend brings, a birthday lifer might not be out of the question with a Pine Grosbeak currently being searched for on Shetland.........


 Grey heron

 Kestrel

 Cormorant

Smew