Leighton Moss in November

I took a day out at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve yesterday as it had at last stopped raining.
Having spent the usual hour getting through Preston in the morning, I got there at about 9.45am, a bit later than I'd anticipated, and subsequently I missed the Beared Tits, although they aren't regular on the grit trays at this time of year.

This little chap perched on a twig right next to me while I waited. 

There were alot of Robins down the causeway, in fact as you looked down it, you could see them on the path about every 20 yards, at least 4 or5.

I decided to head for Lower Hide, pausing on the way at Public, who knows, maybe the Otter's about ??

There were hundreds of Coot, (somebody reported 550 !!), Mute Swan, Gadwall, Teal and on the island Cormorant, Mallard and Black Headed Gull, but no Otter, it had apparently been seen earlier. The closest I got were the spraints on the bridge in the ususal place.

As I got to the turn for Lower, a Cetti's Warbler was sounding very loudly from the right side of the path, but it didn't show itself in the 10 minutes I gave it.

Through the gate and into the woods, a flock of Siskin, about 30, were in the tops of the beech trees feeding on the seeds. I watched them for about 15 minutes and picked out a much paler grey bird, which I told myself was a Redpoll, although I didn't see it's red forehead. I had it confirmed a bit later by a fellow birder.

From Lower Hide I got 2 Marsh Harriers, one an obvious male, and the other darker bird I think a juvenile. A Bittern flew from one stand of reeds, across the lake, into another stand and disappeared, as they do, but nice to register a tick. Plenty of Teal, Tufted Duck and Mallards here as well.

Next stop, the car park for lunch and a look at the feeders. Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Great Tit, Coal Tit and Blue Tit, all present along with Pheasants. But no Marsh Tits, so I wandered down to the seeded tree stump.

Marsh Tit, Treecreeper, Blue Tit and Great Tit were there, but no Nuthatch today.



So now down to the salt marsh for a few waders and a look at the newly installed hides.

They are very GLASS !!!

I guess they'll be a bit warm in the summer if we get one !!!

There weren't many waders on show for some reason, maybe they're nerveous of the new hides,Curlew, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Snipe, a big flock of Lapwing contained one Golden Plover.

There were plenty of Greylag about as well as Little Egret, but I could only find one Pink Foot and a white Greylag, which must be a farmyard bird ??  Ducks included Pintail, Wigeon, Shoveller and Shelduck along with the Teal. A couple of Red Breasted Merganser were in the middle of the water, whilst a Goosander competed in the shallows, for small fish, with a Little Egret.

No Kingfisher today, and I had to listen to tales of how half an hour ago there had been a big dog Otter outside the hide !!!

55 species for the day, dipped on Nuthatch, Beardy, and Kingfisher, although I was please to get Bittern and Redpoll. Not a bad day and I didn't get wet, which was good for this year. 



Yellowlegs

Nipped up to Aldcliffe Marshes just south of Lancaster yesterday late morning to look for the Lesser Yellowlegs.
The map said to go down Railway Crossing Lane, which eventually turned out to be called Aldcliffe Hall Road !!!
That was somewhat confusing, but all turned out ok in the end.

There was an exceptionally high tide at around mid-day which completely covered all the land on the estuary to the seaward side of the wall, so the 'legs' could only be on the landward side, and so it turned out.
I looked at several Redshank before I spotted a brighter, skinnier looking wader on, what I think are called, the wildfowlers pools. Getting my scope on it, it was about the same size as a nearby Redshank, but ganglier and brighter, it's legs weren't 'yellow' to me, but less orange than Redshank's and longer, it had a noticeable supercillium coming to a point at the front and a thin dark bill. But for the size, and that's always a guess, and the brighter legs, I would have said Wood Sandpiper.
However, discussions with a fellow birder from Accrington convinced us it was indeed the Yellowlegs, so another lifer !!!
That's 242 for the UK and 419 Western Palearctic.

With the tide so high there wasn't much else to see, and a trip to see Long Tailed Duck on the river at Lancaster was curtailed by the amount of traffic, another thought of Snow Bunting at Fleetwood was deemed too far a detour.
So lunch at Glasson Dock, a quick look at the sea inlet at Conder Green, produced nothing more of note, so home by 3 o'clock.

October in Egypt

Looking for some winter sunshine, we booked a week at the Baron Resort in Shark's Bay, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Lovely hotel, friendly people and good food, the weather, wall to wall sunshine and getting upto 35 degrees in the afternoon, a breeze, morning and evening to cool things down to 28ish !!! Air conditioning required in October !!!
Birdingwise the hotel was very slow, a flock of around 200 House Sparrow, Laughing Dove and a pair of Kestrel was about it. A strange one was a juvenile Moorhen pecking about on the lawns most days.
The rest were all flypasts over the beach, Osprey, Sooty Gull, Night Heron, Steppe Eagle and Steppe Buzzard.
We hired a car for a couple of days to get out to the local nature reserves, it wasn't easy, they don't like hiring cars on the Sinai, foriegners tend to get themselves kidnapped if not accompanied by locals, we have never had a problem, ok, the driving is more erratic than the UK, but if you just accept that there are no rules, and drive like dogems, it's fine, if sometimes a bit hairy !!!!
Monday saw us take a packed lunch to Nabq Reserve north of Sharm. After two road checks, one police, one army, we got there, it was only 20 minutes away !!!

Waders on the beaches where quite distant and as Jean wouldn't let me get any nearer, she'd heard about landmines !!! But I recognised Greenshank, Redshank, Grey Plover and Ringed Plover.
Star waders were Greater Sandplover, like a pale grey plover, and Kentish Plover with a lovely orange cap seen whilst we were eating our packed lunch.
Reef Heron, Grey Heron and 3 Spoonbill were in the edge of the mangroves, where a Kingfisher was hovering around the pools.


 
The famous wreck on the edge of the reef of the German merchant ship, the Maria Schroder, had 2 Osprey on the mast, and Curlew with some more plovers around the beach.

Another Osprey looked to be dining on the body of a Dugong !!!! 

The desert around Nabq had Desert and Isabelline Wheatear, a flyby Rock Martin and a warbler I couldn't get a definitve id on , possibly a Chiffchaff.
 On the way back we stopped to look round the centre of Naama Bay, aweful place !!!!

Tuesday we went to Ra Mohammad Reserve, famous for it's coral reefs and diving over them. There were lots of dive boats and swimmers on the beaches.
As we got to the Monolyths, Jean spotted a raptor duelling a crow across the nearby hillside. We sat watching for a good 10 minutes tryiny to identify it, my first impression was 'harrier' but Jean had the Collins Guide and tried to persuade me into an 'eagle'. Eventually we agreed on a Pallid Harier !!! A lifer !!!
The Mangroves didn't have any birds but lots of Fiddler Crab

The beaches out of reach of the divers added Blue Reef Heron, Dunlin, and Spur Winged Plover to more of the same waders from Nabq.

Isabelline Wheatear and While Crowned Wheatear added to the week's total.
Another Ospey watched us eat our lunch overlooking a beautiful deserted little bay.

 All we needed was Sooty Falcon to round it off, did we, no, it was a Kestrel !!! 
On the way home we stopped to look at the fascinating old market in Sharm, the sights and smells are somewhat the real Egypt.
A good, if hard 2 days, totalled 41 with 3 lifers, so that will do !!!! and a tan to go with it.

A Day Locally

I had half a day locally yesterday.
An hour at Mere Sands looking for the Kingfisher from Rufford Hide, but no luck.
A possible Fox peeped out of the bushes, but it could have been a cat, very pale, and slinked away almost as soon as I'd seen it..

Then an hour at Martin Mere.
The highlight was 3 Peregrines sat on a fence at the back of the mere.
Looked like a male, female and a youngster, there were apparently 2 youngsters about.
I also saw a yound hedgehog, which was nice, until I saw it was eating the remains of a dead rat !!
2 Marsh Harriers eventually showed up from Millers Bridge, and 5 Whooper Swans must have been some of the first back for the winter along with lots of Teal. Plenty of Pink Feet going in and out of the reserve.
But I could only pick out 1 Ruff amongst the Lapwing ans Mallards on the Mere.

There seems to be lots of Tree Sparrows around at both sites, so maybe they've had a good breeding season. Didn't see any Reed Buntings which was strange, especially for Mere Sands, but it was generally quiet, with not many woodland birds at all, and those that were there seemed to be congregated around the feeders.

Poppy's success

Poppy took and passed her Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze award yesterday. She did very well and was one of the best in the test out of 8. One big wooly dog failed, because it wouldn't sit and stay, or recall. Poppy just managed a minute in sit and stay but was excellent on her recall. Well done Poppy.

Wirral Wander

Thought I'd have a look at the Wirral coast, the only time I'd been before was with the 'Birding and Beyond' trip to Hilbe Island.
I went specifically to look for Leach's Petrel, and did some internet research as to the best spots.
High tide was about 1.30pm and there was a strong NW wind blowing, good omens for Leach's.
I thought the best idea would be to head for New Brighton, so I took the old Birkenhead tunnel, I never remember it being so twisty !! The new one is much straighter.

Anyway I found Perch Rock in New Brighton and drove down the prom. towards the Wirral Countyside Park at the far end. Didn't encounter many birds though !!

I found Gun Sights Car Park, apparently one of the premier sites for Leach's on the Wirral.
There were a few birders there already peering at the foaming brown Irish Sea. But very few birds were obvious, just the occassional Gull and a small Cormorant roost on top of a breakwater marker.
Eventually a flock of Oystercatchers landed on the beach, a small wader with them was, I think, a redshank, but it didn't hang around for me to be positive.
After half an hour staring at the foam, I did get one Leach's halfway out to the horizon, a tick, but not a very convincing view, just a flash of it's white rump against a dark grey body, shearing between the wave crests. The chap next to me couldn't get on to even that. According to the internet when I got home 20+ had been past, but not whilst I was there !!! Typical !!!

I carried on to Hoylake, stopped first at Dovepoint, nothing there except a toilet, very useful though !!
Continuing up the promenade, I was looking for King's Gap, not realising it was 'one way' until I noticed all the parked cars were facing to other way !!! Luckily I'd only gone about 50 yards, quick 'u' turn !!!!
So I had to go through the centre of Hoylake to find the other end of the prom. How peculiar !!
King's Gap was awash with waders right next to the prom. as the tide was now up. Big flocks of Knot, Dunlin ans Sanderling, all in their various plumage patterns, interesting to pick them out. A few Bar Tailed Godwit were mixed into the Grey Plover flock and Ringed Plover were plentiful.
A flock of Oystcatcher huddling together on the edge of the water had some Sandwich Terns in it.
Shelduck mixed with the Gulls floating just off the beach, Lesser Black Back, Black Headed, Common and Herring Gulls were the ones I managed to identify. No Skuas though that I could find.

I thought I'd have a look at West Kirby marina for Geese, but it was inundated by the sea and the waves were crashing over the prom. So I called it a day, thought of trying Gun Sight again on the way home, but got on the wrong road and ended up at the new tunnel before I noticed.

Called in at Crosby Lifeboat one the way past, just in case there were any Leach's there, but nothing except the odd Cormorant, Lesser Black Back, and thousands of Starlings.

A frustrating day in some ways, but now I know where to go next time.
   

Meet the family

Sunday saw us driving to the Hamsterley Forest in County Durham to join the sponsored walk in aid of the British Legion, organised by June, Poppy's breeder.
It was a fun day where we walked about 2 miles along the River Bedburn, a beautiful spot.
We met Simon, eventually, after some fun looking for him in a very busy carpark, and the fact that he only had £2.80 and it cost £3 to park !!!!
We were lucky enough to meet Poppy's brother Oscar, there was no mistaking him, just a bit bigger and broader than Poppy, but otherwise identical.

It was wierd to find he didn't like cars (put him in 'like a wheelbarrow' his Mum said, just like Poppy) or wheelie bins and like to pull on his lead, as well as 'hoovering' up his food, must be in the genes !! 
We had a good chat with his Mum and Dad, and, before we set off on the walk, we met June again.
It looked like Poppy recognised her, she was so gentle and snuggled up to her. June was pleased to see all her charges together, and such good looking gentle dogs all of them.
Along the way we met another Golden Retriever, a big beautiful dog called Finlay, who turned out to be Poppy's half brother from South Shields. What a giant he is, just like his father, enormous paws and full of fun. He liked to pull as well and was unsure of cars, wheelie bins and things that fluttered like flags. But what lovely friendly dogs her family are, well done, June !!!
At the end of the walk we had a fun dog show, where we entered 'the prettiest bitch' and the 'sit' categories.

 Needless to say we won neither !!!

Although we think she's the prettiest anyway !!!

More than can be said for the little portly bloke on the left, more exercise required ??
(am I standing in a hole ??)
A lovely day, in a lovely part of the world, with lovely warm people, what better way to spend a sunny Sunday.
  
 

Reasons not to

I've not done much birding this summer, apart from holidays.
That's because of the following :

Poppy, our Golden Retriever pup, arrived from County Durham at the end of April, just at migration time !!
So all my time has been taken up settling in our baby. Feeding three times a day and daily training.
She soon found the pond !!! and her way around the garden.

She's been going to training at West Lancs Canine Centre in Formby every Tuesday night and has made lots of friends, canine and human. Boot, the bearded collie, Ira, and Noodle, the poodle just to name a few !!!
She's learned to sit (sometimes) lie down (occasionally) stay (she's good at that) and to walk to heel (if I can go as fast as her)
She's hopefully going to do her Bronze Kennel Club award at the end of September, she should have done it in June but she broke a bone in her foot during 'rough and tumble' with the other club pups.
 She's six months now and well settled down, Jet has learned to tolerate her boisterous moments and they love to lie together.

So my annual total this year looks unlikely to exceed 170 !! so much for 200 in a year, and the local birds I've missed !! Hopefully they'll be back next year.
Maybe, next year, she can help me find them ??!!??

 

Marmaris 2012

We took our annual holiday this year in the south west corner of Turkey at Marmaris.

We stayed at the Marmaris Imperial Hotel about 45 minutes outside Marmaris itself, a bungalow type complex built into a steep (very steep !!) pine forest bordering the sea. The forest is part of the Marmaris National Park due its pine and liquidamber trees and it's unique wildlife.
However at 40 degrees in the shade, most of the wildlife stays well hidden, birding is challenging to say the least, most birds in the deep shade and I suspect in moult.
However, we did manage 42 species, although I guess you could easily triple that if you came in spring, the mixed habitat round and about looks ideal.

The first birds round the hotel were Collared Doves and Blue, Great and Coal Tits, with the occassional Jay, but nothing to write home about. Although Red Sqirrels in the grounds was nice. Nothing much in the marina either except Yellow Legged Gulls, although we did get a visit from a Sandwich Tern the day before we came home.
Sitting in the shade, reading, I heard a woodpecker like call from the trees behind me, I eventually located a Wryneck, only the second I'd ever seen. Then later on a Kingfisher flew across the front of me, over the bay and landed in the trees next to the lifeguard.

We hired a car for 4 days to get out and about, this was also the only way we were going to see anymore birds.
Marmaris is at the head of the Datca peninsula which terminates at Knidos, an archeological site at the end of a long winding road through every type of countryside you could imagine, from farmland to mountain.

Along this road I had my one and only lifer of the trip, Roller. That was good, I'd seen Roller and Indian Roller, both lifers this year. Beautiful bird, but as I tried to photo it, it kept moving along the line of telegraph poles showing it's amazing blue wings.

At the same stop, we had Bee Eaters on the wires.  
In the mounatains we got Alpine Swift, Short Toed Eagle and Long Legged Buzzard of note, but very few smaller birds other than House Sparrows.

On reaching Knidos, we firstly had lunch at the excellent fish restaurant there, then we took in the extensive Romano-Greek ruins of the harbour. Black Eared Wheatear were flitting about the stones, but not much else, until I heard, and eventually saw, Rock Nuthatch. The wind was quite strong coming in from the sea and I picked up a Belearic Shearwater out in the bay, which was a good find.

The next day we headed over to Dalyan to look at the famous reed beds and Turtle beach. What seems like a short trip on a map, in Turkey, is a long way !!! Turkey is a vast country !! Dalyan was dissappointing on the bird front, Roller again and about 20 Little Egret, along with Grey and Purple Heron were all I could find. Jean spotted Green Water Snakes in the lagoon, and soon we'd found about 4 of then in the water weed looking like grass snakes. 
We took a detour to Koycegiz and found an almost dried up river bed at the edge of the reeds. This turned out to be the best site of the trip !! At least 3 Kingfishers, 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Green Sandpipers, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, 25 Little Egrets, Red Rumped Swallow and Red Backed Shrike, all whilst sitting in the car !!

The next detour on the way back to the hotel, found us lost in the mountains above Mugla, if you've never been to Yerkeseki, you've not missed much !! Except Tutle Dove and Woodchat Shrike !!

Turkey is a wonderful place for summer holiday, wall to wall sunshine, lovely friendly people, and intersting food, just don't expect the birds to come to you !!

Trough of Bowland

Took a day off yesterday to look for Cuckoo in Bowland.
First stop, Tower Lodge, where somebody told me to look for flycatchers. I couldn't find any but did get Cuckoo singing across the valley, I couldn't see it but it wasn't far away.
Next stop the beautiful Langden Beck.
It was rainng a bit, but not too much to put you off the walk, and I'm glad I did. As soon as was out of the trees, I was accompanied by Wheatears on one side of the path and Stonechat on the other. The Stonechat had young, I think, they look just like baby Robins ?? Willow Warbler in exactly the same tree that I had seen it in last year. I walked as far as the first steep bit, but didn't get any Ring Ousel, however on the way back down, Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Common Sandpiper all showed by the water. No Cuckoo here, but it could have been because it was raining ??
Next stop Dunsop Bridge, I hadn't done the walk here before. It was lovely, stopped raining, with the Bluebells in the woods and the lambs in the fields. I had been told Spotted Flycatcher was here, and just at the farm buildings before the second gate, Bingo, a pair of Spotted Flycatcher. I watched them flit about the buildings, bathing in the gutter, and hawking, for about 10 minutes. I hadn't seen Spotted Flycatcher in this country since 1998 !!!! A walk I must do again and go further up the valley to look for the Eagle Owls.
I wanted to look for Moor Piece NT near Bashall Eaves to look for Pied Flycatcher. I eventually found it, but couldn't see any Flycatchers, I heard them all round, confirmed on my phone app. I did see a Blackcap, I'm not sure if I was looking in the right place, but there were plenty of boxes about in the trees.
A lovely day, despite the early rain, I don't go often enough, but I guess that goes for most places !!

Ring Ousel in the garden

If you knew how hard I'd tried to see Ring Ousel last year in Bowland, then one pops up in the garden !!

We'd just returned from my grandson, Joshua's, christening after a lovely lunch at the carvery, I looked out of the back window, as you do, and there, being chased by a male blackbird, is a female Ring Ousel !!!! And I had my camera in my hand, how often does that happen ????
That's the 67th species seen in or around this garden in Banks in the last 13 years

Bonus

An all afternoon power cut at work gave me a bonus couple of hours at Marshside.
Wheatear had arrived on the Sandplant with Meadow Pipits looking like they'd paired up, and a Skylark in tentative voice, it was almost springlike, if a bit cold.
A weasel popped up out of the brash left by the tide at the back of the compound and gave me good views for a few moments.
Stonechat and Reed Bunting showed themselves on the way back and I thought a Goldcrest in the bushes by the car park, but it only showed once and I didn't get a very good view.
On the walk down to Nel's I got a better view of a Goldcrest at the viewing screen.
I still think there's too much water at Nel's, no islands showing yet for the waders.
A big flock of Golden Plover, I counted at about 1500, but somebody said 2500, 1,2,3,4.....    !!!
The usual wildfowl, waders and gulls present, but nothing of note except 2 hares over at the back.
Not a bad afternoon for a bonus. 

Yammer

A quick look at Plex Moss Lane this afternoon.
Yellowhammer had been reported on Facebook, so, as I knew the site described I took Jean as my spotter after we'd done the shopping.
We parked at the prescribed pull-in and watched the bushes.
'There are birds on the other side of that tree' said my spotter, so I had to get out of the car and sidle carefully round the bush, but there they were, 3 bright yellow finches sitting quietly with a couple of reed buntings.
Another lifer for the wife and a year tick for me, one of my bogey birds, I never seem to be able to find them.

Yarrow Valley

We went to Yarrow Valley Country Park after Saturday shopping today in search of Dipper.
A pleasant walk up the River Yarrow through the woods with the river always in view. We had the usual woodland birds with good views of Nuthatch, and surprisingly Reed Bunting on the feeders.
We had a pair of Grey Wagtail on the river, and then as we approached the wier, Jean spotted a Dipper.
It took me a moment or two to find it, but then we had good views as it hunted under the water, bobbing up onto the rocks to preen.
Nothing else of note, but definately a place to revisit.

A Quick Weekend Twitch

I had to take my mother for a hospital appointment this morning, so I had a look at the lake there for the reported Mandarin.
There it was tucked up under the near bank with its female Mallard consort.
Then I dropped into Marshside for an hour on my way home. Nel's is too flooded for my liking, lots of ducks, but nowhere for the waders to land except on the far bank. Wigeon and Teal were in the majority, with plenty of Pintail and a few Gadwall as well as Tufted and Shelduck.
I found some Snipe tucked in the long grass quite close to the hide and a small flock of Golden Plover on the far bank with Curlew, Black Tailed Godwit and Redshank.
Nice to see a couple of Hare boxing and hear the song of the Skylark.
Nothing added from Sandgrounder's except a flock of Linnet close in and Pink Feet over. A large flock of Golden Plover was on Crossens Inner in the distance.

My daughter rang at lunchtime to go for a walk with the kids to Mere Sands Wood this afternoon, well, beats gardening !!!
And if I could lose them for a bit, might get some birding in !!!

Two Bitterns had been seen recently from Rufford hide, and there was still one there, showing as well as bitterns do in the reeds.
Quite a big flock of Tree Sparrows now by the visitor centre on the feeders, but the Water Rail didn't show whilst I was there, it had been seen earlier.
A flock of Pied Wagtail on the adjacent ploughed field numbered about 20, must be migrating through.
Nothing else unusual around the reserve but Treecreeper is always a nice bird to see, as are the Bullfinch.
Great Crested Grebe displaying and a pair of Goldeneye from Gibbon's hide. 

Falconry

I had a two hour falconry experience kindly bought for me at Christmas, so yesterday I was Hawking for two hours !!
Wild Wings at Worsley Old Hall was the venue, and I joined another seven people lined up in a field ready to handle raptors.
We were given a variety of birds to hold.
Owls, large and small, the most beautiful being the Barn Owl, although the markings on the American Barn Owl were darker, you can't beat a British bird !!
The largest and heaviest being the European Eagle Owl at about 2kg,
that made your arm ache after 10 minutes !!
Falcons including a Saker, which was just awesome in it's power, and Harris Hawk.

After a couple of hours passing them around and learning about the way they are trained, we got to fly a couple.
A little Kestrel, which really did seem tiny compared to what we'd just been holding, and the 'falconer's standard', Harris Hawk.

Kestrel which flew free

A very interesting day, although I'm sure how I feel about it.
Training wild birds of prey is, perhaps, a bit like training Dolphins, maybe they should be in the wild ??
But many are bred in captivity and are extremely well cared for.

 Eagle Owl

 Saker Falcon

Still it makes you think.

Dubai with a car 2

The second day with car.
We decided, having perused the map, that we were correctly at Pivot Fields yesterday, so, as we knew the way, we went for another look.
Good job we did !!
This time we braved the guards, who couldn't have been nicer and ushered us through the gate with a smile.
We should have known, a grass nursery was what it was !!!
The 'pivots' are used to water the grass before it's harvested. There were tractors and diggers about harvesting and pruning the palm trees.

On the grass near the entrance were White and Yellow Wagtails, one Yellow had a Black head, which I thought was a different species, but apparently not.
Crested Lark were plentiful, and a mixture of pipits. I picked out the very pale Tawny Pipits, and then  'longer, darker' pipit with fawn coloured sides, eventually I narrowed it down to a Richard's Pipit.

A couple of large puddles a bit further down the track, had 2 waders, which I just identified as Green Sandpiper before a tractor flushed them, never to return.

Walking further down the track of the central ditch, I could see plovers, yes, just what we were after, our target bird, 10 White Tailed Lapwing, what a gorgeous little plover.
But just for a bonus there were 2 Sociable Plovers as well, they were a bit smaller, dark legs and most noticeably a dark cap coming to a point on the back of the head. Brilliant.
Marsh Harrier was drifting over the longer grass as we returned to the gate.

Next stop Ras-Al-Khor again. It was now blowing a dust storm, so visibility was poor.

Spotted Eagle

The centre was closed, as it was Friday, so I had to be content with views through the fence. As I approached a large, light coloured raptor was floating towards me, it was too small and pale for an Eagle, I thought Osprey, but it could have been Crested Honey Buzzard when I'd looked at Collins. Not good enough views with the dust to confirm it though, so that was one missed. Still plenty of plovers and sandpipers about, I picked up Greenshank and Woodsandpiper, Black Wing Stilt mixed around the feet of the Flamingos.
Too dusty to stay too long, so off shopping again !!

                                                                               

We didn't get time to do the coastal sites, or the oasis of Al Ain, so hopefully, we can go again one day and do a bit more, I hope so.
As in the best places, always leaves something to go back for, and Dubai did just that, lots to see and do.
    

Dubai with a car 1

We hired a car for 2 days to look round and do a bit of birding on some of the sites suggested on the 'uea birding' site.
The Nissan Sunny must have been the only one in Dubai, but it did fit in well with the Ferrari's, Lamborgini's, Hummers, and Maserati's !!
 It cost about £50 a day including delivery and fuel was half price to that in the UK.
Driving in Dubai is, as you might expect, chaotic !!! Seven lane highways, you can pick your lane, overtake, undertake, over the top if you want, just try to avoid hitting anything too hard !!
Finding your way ok, with the signposts clear and usually early enough to get from lane 7 to lane 1 in time.
Most roads are at least dual carriageways, so if you're going the wrong way, tough, for a few miles until you can find a turn off which allows you to turn round. This occurred more than once !!!

Anyway, first stop, Pivot Fields, take the A44 towards Hatta.
First problem, major roadworks, so we ended up with a tour of the Al Quos Industrial Estate, very nice !! Finding our way back to the A44 we could only go south back to Dubai for about 10 miles to do a 'u'ee !!! Try again, this time we found the 'Textile City' sign to turn off. We didn't know there were 2, and we took the first one, a tour of the Fruit and Vegetable market followed on an estate with no apparent exit, very nice.
We found the second sign and what I thought was Pivot Fields but it was a Nursery with a gate and a guard so I didn't think it was right, it was, and we returned the next day to enjoy the birding, but today we were too scared to enter and headed south for Ras-Al-Khor.

 Red Wattle Lapwing

Black Francolin

We did get Red Wattled Lapwing, Crested Lark, Green Bee Eater and plenty of White Eared Bulbul and Black Francolin in the hotel garden on the next turnoff.

Ras-Al-Khor

Ras-Al-Khor is a wetland and area of mangroves which lies at the end of the Dubai creek, it has a small (very) visitor centre with binoculars, telescope and a guard. Signature birds are Flamingo and Great Spotted Eagle, which we had as we approached the hide. Reef Heron in indigo blue form, Great White and White Reef Heron, Spoonbill and Little Egret, were the larger water birds to be seen. Waders included Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover and what I thought were funny looking Dunlin, turned out to be Broad Billed Sandpiper. Graceful Pirina showed itself well on a reed stem infront of the hide.
 

Just time for a trip to Ghantoot Polo Club. 

A half hour drive down the E11 towards Adu Dhabi found us at the gates of the Royal Polo Club, no way were we getting in there to view the lawns. So our watching had to be done through the gate or over the wall. 

We did manage Cream Coloured Courser on the lawns with one Golden Plover, plenty of Crested Lark, White and Yellow Wagtails, and a Great Grey Shrike on the surrounding bushes. There were some tracks of fox, I think, it was too far from habitation for any dogs.

Enough birding for one day, we had to go shopping !!

Next stop Mall of the Emirates !! 

But more birding tomorrow, back to Pivot Fields and Ras-Al-Khor.

Dubai in February

We had a week's holiday in Dubai, to do sightseeing, but you have to do a bit of birding don't you !!!
Staying at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach, one of the only hotels with some greenery, it was one of the first hotels built in Jumeirah Beach and is subsequently rather small compared to it's neighbours, only 9 stories, that's about 200 less than what's around it !!!
Still, it suited our purposes, was clean and tidy, and the food was good and plentiful, even if lager was £8 a pint.
Dubai is a fabulous place, skyscrapers like you've never seen, all shapes and sizes, and all brand new, there was nothing there but a village till 15 years ago. Now everything is the biggest or the best in the world.
We hired a car for 2 days to look for some further out sites, but more of that later.

A quick look round the hotel garden, we had House Crow, Hoopoe, and House Sparrow as well as the more exotics, Red Vented Bulbul, White Eared Bulbul, Common Myna and Indian Silverbill

 Hoopoe on the lawn

 Red vented Bulbuls trying out the loungers

 Indian Silverbill

 Whit Eared Bulbul which were quite tame

Common Myna were like starlings

Not bad for the first day, in the hotel garden, 3 lifers !! 

The next two days we took the 'Big Bus Tour' of the city to do some sightseeing, but keeping an eye out for what was about. I got Indian Roller and Red Wattled Lapwing on one roundabout and Black Francolin running out of the bushes alongside the bus !!

The highways are lined with palm trees and grass, taking 250 million gallons of water a day to keep green, the biggest desalination plants in the world !! 

The Jumeirah Palm is incredible and the Burg Al Arab spectacular, but at £880 a night, slightly out of our price bracket !! 

We gazed up at the Burg Kalifa and realised we'd up there on Tuesday, wow, it's very tall !!

Dubai and Emirates Malls have all the designer names and indoor ski slopes with black run skiing.

Part of the trip was a sail along the Dubai Creek where I add Steppe Gull, very like our Lesser Black Backs but lighter. Also Socotra Cormorant, like a cross between a Shag and a Cormorant.

Laughing and Collared Dove were common, as were White Wagtails in the city, Red Ringed Parakeets were about and any decent patch of water had Black Headed Gulls and Black Winged Stilts.

This was just off the bus and wandering about, what would we get when really tried with the car ????

That'll take another couple of posts !!

Shorties

I've been trying to catch up with Short Eared Owls since Christmas, mostly looking over Crossens outer and Marshside from Mount Baker, but I'd never thought of Low Meadows until I saw  report from Graham of two there.
So yesterday afternoon I decided to take a look as it was freezing cold but nice and sunny.
I parked in the station and walked along the river bank to the Little Owl barn.
When I arrived I noticed a few photographers lined up on a rough pasture near the station, but thought it a bit too enclosed for Shorties, surely they must be waiting for Barn Owl. Anyway, I had Goosander on the river along with a Redshank exploring a bit of exposed mud. As the sun was in front, in my eyes, I decided to make it to the barn before I did any serious looking. Once there I could see Lapwing in all the pastures along with Jackdaw and Carrion Crow, Kestrel on the fence, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting on the trees in the ditch, no sign of Little Owl though. I picked up a nice male Merlin sitting on the ground in a ploughed field, which then had a quick fly round and landed back in the same place, and a Buzzard perched on some pheasant release pens.
Not much else about so I started back, as I approached the first style I could see, not one but two Short Eared Owls hunting over the rough pasture where the photographers were !!! Doh !!!!
I managed to get close enough and had good views of them in aerial combat for a while.
So as to be off the skyline and not disturb them, I went back along the bottom of the bank, only to have one come over my head at about 10 feet, brillant views and closer than I thought I'd ever get to such a fantastic bird, effortlessly floating in the air, and then beating it's wings in that stiff winged butterfly action.
I must remember what a good place Low Meadows is, I might have a look at the Burscough end next week for Yellowhammer if the weather is reasonable.

RND Lifer

I saw a Ring Necked Duck reported on Birdguides within ticking distance at Thorton ICI near Fleetwood. The directions were to park at the delapidated offices and walk down Burglar's Alley !!
I found the offices easy enough, but Burglar's Alley was just a muddy track through the old ICI estate down to the river. I found the ICI lagoon and soon picked up the Duck, close enough for some photos.

Even one with a Tuftie in for comparison.

Note the lack of tuft, sharply pointed head, and white ring above a dark nail on the beak.

Having ticked that, a lifer and even better, a UK lifer, I dropped into Marton Mere on the way home, to look for Long Eared Owl. I stared at the old fruit trees for a while but couldn't pick anything out, they are notoriously difficult to make see with their camouflage and the fact that they don't move much to give themselves away !! I did have a clos view of a Sparrowhawk trying to take a Blackbird, but that was it.



Golden Days

They're back. Golden Plover all over Marshside one at lunchtime, at last.
Went to Ainsdale at 3 for the high tide. Although only a 7.5m I thought I might find the wader roost to tick Grey Plover, but I couldn't find any waders !!
I went to the top of a dune at the Ecocentre and did a bit of sea watching.
Counted 11 Great Crested Grebes and 1 Common Scoter, which seemed strange, I've always seen them in small flocks before, but it couldn't have been anything else.
Also strange was a Mute Swan on the tide line !! with a small gull roost, it looked very out of place.
Then I stopped at Marshside to scan for Short Eared Owl from Mount Baker.
What I think was a Buzzard was 'parked up' on a log a fair way off. I picked up 2 Peregrine, one a pristine male, and a Kestrel on the logs, but no Owls.
I think I try Low Meadows as Graham facebooked to say he'd had 2 there on Sunday.

Once Bittern

 I convinced Jean that it would be a good day out to go and look for the otters at Leighton Moss after the routine Saturday shopping. So we packed a picnic and arrived about noon. Having devoured the picnic in the carpark we set off to Lilian's hide via the feeders which had the usual full set of Tits, Bull, Chaff, Gold and Green Finches.
Smew had been promised at Lilian's along with Green Winged Teal, but true to form, neither appeared after we'd arrived !!
So we decided to look for otters along the causeway. We'd been in Public hide about 10 minutes ticking off the usual ducks, when a Bittern flew across in front of us and landed beside the hide giving us brilliant, if brief, views of a fantastic bird.
Five otters had been present during the morning, but the closest we got a spraint pointed out to us by a warden on one of the bridges.
Lower hide gave us another Bittern flyby, but, from the direction it came, I suspect it was the same bird we'd seen at Public earlier.
Too many people in the hides, too much noise and bustle for us today.
41 species ticked in 2 hours without  trying too hard. 

Twite right

Gotcha at last !!!
40+ Twite in flight at the end of Hesketh Road at lunchtime today, pushed off the strandline by the high tide.
By the time I'd parked and walked back, I couldn't relocate them on the ground, unfortunately.
Still, a ticks, a tick, and I've been looking for them since Christmas !!!

Short Eared Owls about now as well from the Sand Plant, I'll have a look tomorrow.

Year list stands on 111, best January on record, 105 last year, but I feel I've got alot more 'easy' birds in this year's list. Still to find Jay, Gold and Grey Plover which should be easy.

Not bitten

Dropped into Mere Sands at dinnertime yesterday to look for the Bittern that had been reported a couple of days ago.
No Bittern for me after an hour staring at the reeds from Rufford hide, but plenty of Goosander, possibly upto about 20. All the usual Mere Sands species ticked, Great Crested Grebe, Bullfinch.....
Then onto Martin Mere for the Brambling, again dipped, but Willow Tit was showing well from Janet Kear hide.

Today I thought I'd look for Grey Plover on the high tide at Birkdale or Ainsdale, so I stopped at Weld Road at diinertime. The great JD was there looking at both Glaucoud Gulls together on the shrimper's track, one now obviously much whiter tha the other. Wilst I was talking to him he put me onto a Jack Snipe flying high over the green beach.
No waders on the beach here, perhaps a better chance at Ainsdale, but when I got there it was raining again, so I gave up for today, maybe try again tomorrow if the weather is better.

Legs Eleven (or two)

Spent half an hour, at lunchtime today, staring at legs !!!
Over a thousand pink and just one orange pair !!!
Attached to a Bean Goose on Plex Moss.
That took some finding, but another year tick, along with a pair of Grey Partridge.

Stopping off at Weld Road to look for Twite, again,
there was the original Glaucous Gull sitting on the path next to a Herring Gull for comparison.

It's leg was better, but it still seemed a bit under the weather, although it looked to be feeding ok.
Definitely a different bird than the one I had at weekend, that one was much more active.
The comparison with the Herring Gull was nice, slightly bigger, but a lot more bulky and barrel chested.