October 2018 : Summary
UK Species Year List to October : 168
Total UK Species in October : 71
New “Year Ticks” in October : 1
New “Life Ticks” in October : 1
October 2018 archive
Oct 31 2018
October 2018 : Summary
Oct 30 2018
Birding Group : Sandbach Flashes 30th October 2018
The last birding group outing of October was to Sandbach Flashes. I wasn’t really expecting much but it turned out to be quite a good morning and the weather was a little milder than recently when it has been quite frosty. In total we managed forty-one species, including a couple of birds of prey, some winter thrushes and a wader or two.
Oct 28 2018
Burton Mere Wetlands and Riverbank Road : 28th October 2018
After the excitement of the Rose-coloured Starling at St. Helens, I suppose that Burton was going to be a bit of a let down but we just had an hour so we looked around on the main scrape and down at the barn then we went to the first blind where a Bearded Tit had been seen recently but we didn’t have much luck on that account. That really would have made a special birding day.
Oct 28 2018
Rose-Coloured Starling Life Tick at St. Helens : 28th October 2018
We had a spare day available to us and thought we would go up to the Wirrall for a slightly high tide to see if we could get any raptors. High tide wasn’t until around 1pm however, so we thought we would take a punt at looking for a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling (or Rosy Starling) in St Helens, about half an hour away, first. The bird was just a juvenile but we had searched long and hard for one in the Highland a while back (29th July 2017 at Embo) and this definitely seemed like an easier prospect. But we still had to locate the bird – seemilngly lurking in some ivy and brambles in a garden at the back of Fryday’s Chip Shop near Baxter’s Lane in St Helens.
Oct 23 2018
Birding Group Visit to Old Moor Nature Reserve : 23rd October 2018
The second birding group outing that I could make in October was the longer trip out over the moors to Old Moor RSPB reserve. The day was very windy and this did for any idea we might see any Bearded Tits. In fact it rather did for seeing any small birds so we were left with a range of ducks instead and a few waders.
Oct 16 2018
Birding Group Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 16th October 2018
We had a lot of work going on in the house during the early part of October so not much birding was done. I got round to resuming on the birding group visit to Moore Nature Reserve on the 16th. Highlights were Kingfisher (very briefly), a single female Goldeneye and a nice flock of Redwing – the first of this winter for me. We also had a tantalising Green Woodpecker, more readily seen than heard at Moore and this was no exception. Beyond that it was a quiet moring but a nice enough walk. Continue reading