AL'S BIRDING BLOG: March 2016

6 March 2016

MOTHERS DAY AT MARTIN MERE

Had a good days birding today. My mother wanted to visit Martin mere and do a bit of shopping in Southport so an ideal day for me spending part of Mothers day birding.

Martin mere is owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust and was set up by Sir Peter Scott.Click on the link below for the history of the WWT.

http://www.wwt.org.uk/conservation/history-of-wwt/

Sir Peter Scott

We started off the visit by walking around the wild section of the reserve first and from the first hide at least a 1000 Whooper swans were seen.

Whooper Swans enjoying the winter sun

Nearly feeding time

Whooper Swan

Other birds of note were Wigeon,Pintail,Pink-Footed Geese,Shoveler,Teal,Ruff,Tufted Duck and Goldeneye.

Wigeon

Pintail

Shoveler

Walking on to the next hide we stopped and got obscured views of a Tawny Owl.

Tawny Owl having a good sleep in the sun

The feeders held good numbers of Goldfinch,Greenfinch and 16 Tree Sparrows were seen.

Tree Sparrow

After a nice brew and a teacake we had a look around the captive section of the reserve.

Gray Crowned Crane

Male Mandarin Duck

Female Mandarin Duck

Greater Flamingo

Chilean Flamingo

Coot

Moorhen

After a good mornings birding and mother enjoying herself I called in quick at Marshside RSPB and soon connected with two drake Scaup.

Scaup

The weather was so clear today you could see the Lake District from Marshside

Views of Blackpool Tower looking over the Ribble estuary from Marshside

3 March 2016

Got up this morning and had a nice full english in the B&B and headed back towards Wolverton triangle, I gave it another good hour but there was no sign of the pheasant.Moving on I stopped at Flitcham abbey farm to try and photograph some Bramblings but again the weather turned and it was hammering it down when I arrived.I did see about six Bramblings in the nearby hedges but there was no sign of the Little owls I was hoping to see.

Brambling

After this I stopped off at Tottenhill gravel pits where I soon connected with the winter plumaged Black necked grebe.

BLACK NECKED GREBE

A great couple of days birding which I finished off in London to see my step son and have a few beers.

2 March 2016

A WET DAYS BIRDING IN NORFOLK

I set off from Cheshire in the the early hours of this morning and arrived at first light at Wolverton triangle hoping to see the Golden Pheasant which has been showing well the last couple of months. After a good hour of waiting I drove around the triangle but there was no sign of this elusive species but a Woodcock by the side of the road was a good addition to the day list.

Record shot from the car

I then moved on Titchwell the weather was shocking and it never stopped raining all the time I was there,but I added some good birds to year list.

Sanderling were on the beach along with Slavonian Grebe and Long Tailed duck on the sea

Up to 30 Avocets were on site

Black Tailed Godwits were in good numbers

Ringed Plover

Grey Plover

Curlew

There was plenty of action around the feeders with Sisken,Goldfinch and a Water Rail.

GREENFINCH

SISKEN

After a hot coffee and drying out I made my way towards Blakeney. I wasn't dry for long as the weather was getting even worse when I arrived but I soon connected with the 5 Lapland buntings that have been present for a while.

Very wet Lapland Buntings

Other birds of note were Brent geese,Skylark,Little grebe and a fly over Hen harrier

Brent Geese

Little Egret

Reed Bunting

Little Grebe

Moving on from Blakeney I headed to the east bank at Cley behind Arnold's marsh where I soon found the small flock of Snow bunting and thankfully it had stopped raining and the sun came out!

The beach at East bank

Looking from the East bank over Cley reserve.

After a bit of lunch I went back to Holkham where I saw Egyptian and Pink footed geese.

Egyptian Goose

Pink Footed Goose

Late afternoon was spent at Choseley barns where a flock of 24 Yellowhammer were feeding on seed and good numbers of Red Legged Partridge were around.