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.