Saturday 10th March

After a protracted move to Geordieland, I am now playing serious catch-up as in two months' behind.

Part of the moving preparations included the delivery of a unit of furniture to my daughter and her partner, which we engineered to include a visit to Leighton Moss in Morecambe Bay as our meeting point.

Wigeon, lapwing and cormorant

We had hoped for possible exotics in the way of bearded tit, bittern (already booming apparently) and marsh harrier but in the event the last was the only one to be seen briefly.

Instead there was a ready assortment of various other species.  The signs on the way to the lakes were already good when a robin was persuaded to take a bit of banana direct from my hand (first time that's happened) and a marsh tit showed on the feeders (my first in this country).

Then we saw, roughly in order and with fair regularity: little egret, shoveler, cormorant, wigeon, teal, lapwing, tufted duck, pintail, snipe and grey heron.

I was particularly pleased to get the following snaps, the best I have add of each species but it really wasn't too hard:  The patterned underbody of the teal was something I was unaware of.

Teal

Pintail

Little Egret

Tuesday 21st February

Took advantage of some briefly favourable weather to take a trip to Mersehead RSPB Reserve on Sunday morning, although the sun had pretty much disappeared by the time I got there.

The volunteer at reception spoke of some twites having been seen in the treetops near Meida Hide, which immediately caught my attention.  But first I took a quick look at the feeders and bird table behind the office to see what was going on.

On the bird table - greenfinch, sparrow, yellowhammer, chaffinch

There were a few greenfinches around and a female yellowhammer that had me thinking how hard she would be to distinguish from other species on a fleeting sighting. No sign of a tree sparrow though.

So I decided to head for the narrow wooded area near Meida Hide.  However, scanning the trees revealed nothing but tits and chaffinches apart from one single treecreeper quietly going about his business.  Nearer the hide there was a rookery that was far from quiet as the occupants circled around the place. The only other thing to catch my attention was a greyish roe deer casually wandering along the woodland edge thirty yards away but it must have picked my scent and moved off more sharply.

There wasn't much to see from the hide either.  I did pick out a couple of tufted duck (a few of those around just now) and someone else saw a pintail.

Then, heading towards the shoreline, I thought I might have seen what I was looking for as there was a dead tree to the left of the path that had several finch-like birds sitting in its bald crown. The only thing was that they looked to me more like linnets.  It wasn't too easy to tell as it was becoming misty but I was fairly confident I had got it right. One or two birds had some slight reddish colouration and all the ones i checked had grey beaks and grey heads.

The wind was also getting up so I decided against a walk along the beach in the hope of spotting a little egret and doubled back.  The tide was out anyway, which I always think diminishes the number of birds about. I couldn't contact the linnets again but did see a song thrush on the edge of the wood and a couple of reed buntings in the hedgerow.

And of course there was loads of barnacle geese.

Friday 1st April

Mixed weather has again brought mixed fortunes on the nature front.

On Tuesday I did a tour of Mersehead Reserve in the hope mainly of seeing some lapwings displaying. There wasn't much around in the fields except a couple of flocks of remaining barnacles. There was more action on the ponds where tufted duck (maybe one scaup), shoveller, wigeon, pintail, whooper swan and shelduck were all apparent.

At the reserve building there had been a sign saying the first chiffchaff had been heard that day. I certainly heard one on the way to Meida Hide and managed to capture the song (though not the actual bird!) on this video in spite of competition from the background rookery.

I did manage to see one on the way to the seashore and think there were about three or four birds actively calling.

A couple of stonechats were playing on the fenceposts near the shore, the first time I've seen them there in several visits. But the most numerous bird on the second half of the walk was definitely the skylark, several of them plying the heavens with their songful ascents and sudden plunges that I still do not understand the meaning of.  There were a few pipits and, yes, some lapwings too - but they weren't displaying.

The bike ride the following day was again affected by rain for half of the run, but there were a couple of red kites and a field full of about 50 greylags between Rhonehouse and Twynholm.  I checked them over and could see no other species of goose among them.

Selection of Greylags

Monday 4th January

Took advantage in a break in the weather to make a morning trip to Mersehead RSPB Reserve, taking care to make sure I had the wellies with me.

Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch

A quick trip to the Visitor Centre showed a lot of action on the large feeder directly in front of the main window. I very quicly noticed a large number of greenfinches and, amongst the tits and chaffinches, about four or five tree sparrows who kept coming back repeatedly. I have seen them at Mersehead before but otherwise associate them more with Annandale and Cumbria.

The wellie boots were definitely necessary as the path to Bruaich Hide was well flooded.  Having passed a rambling roe deer and some of the 7,000 barnacle Geese present, there were pintail ducks, shovelers, teal and widgeon on the water. Another young roe deer showed up on the far side under the trees. I was a bit surprised not to see any whooper swans, having seen them last week. Meida Hide was less rewarding.  Apart from a decent close-up of a teal, most other ducks were at a distance. The typology of this area seems to have altered and the water levels appeared uneven.

After that there wasn't much to see on the beech.  On the merse there was just one hare running wildly around, as if in pursuit of a lost tortoise, a rabbit and a wren in the dunes.

Monday 3rd February

Trip to Mersehead with a friend who wanted to see barnacle geese and also enjoyed yellowhammers, greenfinch and for me the best sighting ever of a goldcrest which persistently dotted around in the hedgerow while we looked on five yards away.

Partly thanks to others also saw pintails, teal (first time for me), wigeon, shellduck and shoveler as well as numerous curlew.  She also thought she saw snipe but I could not confirm.  Did not see tree sparrows or reed buntings on this occasion.