Back on my favourite local patch

We spent the late morning/early afternoon today on the Cholmondeley Estate. It was a beautiful Autumn day and it seemed a shame to just sit indoors.  The first birds we heard as soon as we got on site, were a flock of Crossbill, spotting them was a little more tricky.   We heard them constantly as we walked the path and finally managed decent views as they settled in a distant plantation. 

A good display of Raptors included: Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Peregrine. As we watched the buzzards overhead we recorded 150+ House Martin heading south westerly at a considerable height.

A single female Pintail was showing distantly on the mere, this is an excellent record for this part of Cheshire.  As we walked round the edge of the mere, we only saw a single Reed Warbler, an indication  that most have now moved on.   

The pictures below show some of the fungi we saw today - a new interest for us.   

 Crossbill

 Boletus

 Fly Agaric

 Speckled Wood

 Starling

 Birch Polypore

 Comma

Pintail

Local Patch and Pennington Flash

Late Thursday afternoon I decided to take a walk with our dog up to Cholmondeley and have a saunter around Deer Park Mere.  It turned out to not only be a pleasant autumn walk but a worthwhile venture recording three Spotted Flycatcher. This is the only time we seem to record this species on the Estate - during the return migration. Other birds of note were Raven (4) and a couple of Reed Warbler along with a very showy Tawny Owl.  On the drive back home the lanes of this part of South Cheshire well, the wires above the lanes, were alive with Swallow readying themselves for there long journey South. 

 Tawny Owl

 Barn Swallows

 More Swallows

Friday morning the weather was bright and sunny as I made the 50 minute drive to Pennington Flash in Greater Manchester.  A moulting male Lesser Scaup had been seen there and my aim was to get some close up photos.  3 hours later the nearest the bird came was in the shot you can see below !  Still a very pleasant place to while away a few hours birding.

 Lesser Scaup

 Great Crested Grebe

Tufted Duck

Home, Local Patch and a morning in Yorkshire

Thursday morning the 15th and the Buddleia in our front garden was alive with butterflies so I enjoyed an hour or so watching and photographing six different species.

 Peacocks

 Peacock

 Red Admiral

 Small White

 Painted Lady

Red Admiral

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Peacock

That afternoon I headed to our local patch at Cholmondeley Castle grounds with Ashley and Scruffy. We decided to walk around Deer Park Mere where there is still plenty of Reed & Sedge Warbler activity. Overhead five Buzzard were taking advantage of another clear blue sky.  Three Raven joined them and we sat watching this wonderful air display for ten minutes or more. 

As we sat watching the Raven I asked Ashley if he still needed Two-barred Crossbill as a UK Lifer ? "Yes Pop why"? was his response.  I told him about the record at Broomhead Reservoir in South Yorkshire of 6 Juvs and 2 Adults.  We decided we would go the following morning and see if we could add a lifer to Ashleys' list - something not so easy to do nowadays. 

 Reed Warbler

 and again

 Small Red Damselfly

 Speckled Wood

 Speckled Wood

(Library photo) Two-barred Crossbill - whapped on .......

Butterflies Bees and Birds

At short notice this morning Alex and I headed to Neumann's Flash, Northwich in search of a Turtle Dove that had been reported in the area.  As we arrived on site, the lure of the snack van won out and a sausage and bacon bap before we headed off looking for the Turtle Dove seemed like a good idea. 

Following a fruitless two hour search in high temperatures, for what appeared to be "a needle in a haystack" we decided to call it a day.  The only birds of note we saw during "Turtle Dove hunt", were a pair of Bullfinch, 3 Yellow Wagtail and a pair of Blackcap.  

Butterflies on the other hand were everywhere, especially on the Buddleia around Ashton's Flash.

A short drive over to Frodsham Marsh for a pair of juvenile Black-necked Grebe resulted in a lifer for Alex.  They were showing really well which was an added bonus, along with a female Redstart in the far corner of number 6 tank.   Alex stills has Turtle Dove to add to his list, which, of course gives us an excellent reason to go out looking again.  

Red Admiral and Comma butterfly were added to our list of butterflies at this second site.    

 Bumble Bee

Large White

 Small White

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Large White

 Peacock

 Peacock

Gatekeeper

Comma

Common Blue

Caspian Tern

After missing the Caspian Tern on Wednesday evening and the bird not being seen at first light on Thursday morning,  I thought I had missed my chance of adding a UK lifer in my home county of Cheshire.

However, 19.45 last night the phone rang and it was Dan Pointon telling me the Caspian Tern was back. No time to waste, a quick dash across town to pick Ashley up then an even quicker, but within the law !!,  dash a couple of junctions up the M6, and in no time we were on site, amid a lot of familiar faces from the Cheshire birding scene.  Included in these was the "Legend" that is Uncle Phil Woollen,   who kindly emailed the bottom three photo's to me this morning  - (Cheers Phil)

 It's there somewhere !

 Caspian Tern

 Another

... and one more.

A few photos from the breeding season

It's been a while since I posted a blog for a couple of reasons. Firstly I was unwell in May and regrettably had to cancel the trip we had planned to Norfolk.  Secondly it has been the breeding season and that means survey season, so I have been out in the field fulfilling my consultancy/breeding bird survey obligations.  Everything has calmed down a bit now so I am hoping to get out and about a bit more and get some leisure birding in so that I can share information and locations on the blog.  Client confidentiality does not allow me to share locations for the pictures posted below that I have taken over the last couple of months - but still some nice ones for you to enjoy. 

 Reed Bunting

 Chough

 Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding chick

 Great Spotted Woodpecker

 Swallow

 Blackbird

 Long-eared Owl

...........  and again

 Shelduck

 Wheatear

 Corn Bunting

 Yellow Wagtail

 Meadow Pipit

Dunnock