Author's posts
Mar 19 2018
Holiday Birding March 2018
Our American holiday this year took us to San Diego, Big Island, Maui and San Francisco.
San Diego
In San Diego we found a rather splendid site at Imperial Beach, San Diego Bay. We actually ran into a few birders who were looking for a (locally rare) Flamingo. They gave us some pointers and helped us identify some tricker birds – well, at least from our point of view.
Feb 28 2018
February 2018 Summary
February 2018 Summary
UK Species Year List to February: 92
Total UK Species in February: 82
New “Year Ticks” in February: 24
New “Life Ticks” in February: 0
Feb 20 2018
Pennington Flash 20th February 2018
We got finished with the birding group quite early this day so we decided to go for just an hour to Pennington so we only took in Horrocks Hide , Pengy’s and the Bunting Hide. It was half-term so the place was heaving and we didn’t stay long. But we did get some birds while we were there including a KIngfisher Continue reading
Feb 20 2018
Wigan Flashes 20th February 2018
The birding group visit this week was to Wigan Flashes, somewhere where I haven’t been since April 2016
Again, it was a rare dry February day so we were glad to get out. It would be fair to say that we saw nothing particularly special but in the lovely sunlight there were really nice groups – and decent numbers – of both Pochard and Goldeneye.
Feb 16 2018
High-ish Tide on the Wirral 16th February 2018
Poor weather had kept us from birding in February but a drier day and a highish tide on the Wirral (9.13m at 11:33am) got us out again and it turned out to be a pretty good day with visits to Hoylake, West Kirby, Burton Mere Wetlands and Connah’s Quay.
Feb 02 2018
High Tide of The Wirral 2nd February 2018
The first high tide of the year that we were able to get to was a 10 metre tide at 12.21pm. We drove up to Burton Mere Wetlands to stop off for a coffee and comfort break and had a quick look around first. As soon as we entered the reception hide we could see a Marsh Harrier flying low over the reeds just by the Marsh Covert Hide. We only had about half an hour so we took a walk up to the barn hoping that the recorded sighting of Little Owl was going to work for us – it didn’t. However there were some nice birds.
Jan 31 2018
January 2018 Summary
January 2018 Summary
UK Species Year List to January: 68
Total UK Species in January: 68
New “Year Ticks” in January: 68
New “Life Ticks” in January: 0
Jan 30 2018
Pennington Flash 30th January 2017
The last birding group day of the month was to the ever-relaible Pennington Flash. We got all dressed up for a freezing cold day but, in the end, it wasn’t too bad, thoguh lingering in the hides for too long led to very cold fingers. In any case, the best sightings of the day weren’t in the hides at all.
Jan 23 2018
Marbury Park 23rd January 2017
The second birding group outing of the year was to Marbury. I went despite having been there twice recently in failed attempts to find Hawfinches. This time, with a bit of waiting around, they eventually did show and, in fact, I got pretty good scoped views of three Hawfinches at the very top of a bare tree.
Jan 16 2018
Burton Mere Wetlands 16th January 2017
The first birding group outing of the year was to Burton Mere Wetlands where we got good views of a Peregrine attacking a large flock of Lapwing. We got a few Whooper Swans and some Snipe. The highlight, probably, was on the field on our way down to the barn. This field is usually empty but this day it was different.