Wood Sandpiper - Mythop, Lancs - 26th April 2009

2nd Trip, 2nd day, 2nd Lifer in a weekend... those 3 occurances havn't happened in a long time.
A fabulous Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola fed happily on the flood at Mythop with the occasional attack from 2 accopanying Redhank. The light was great with the bright sun so most key features were noted, e.g. pale/speckled upperbody, pale underbody, obvious supercillium, and wing/tail pattern were also noted. Sadly the views were too distant with too much heat haze for any chance of a record shot, hence no pictures.
also on site: singing male Whitethroat, 7 Black Tailed Godwit, 3 Linnet, 5 Buzzard, 9 Lapwing, 14 Teal

Life List - 254
Fylde List - 188
Fylde Yearlist - 120

Cattle Egrets - Plex Moss - 25th April 2009

2 summer adult Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis - Plex Moss

Finally! a Lifer!

2 Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis were steadily feeding amongst Cattle on the Western side of Plex Moss, Lancashire. Initially at our first location from the road, the views were very distant but acceptible, however photography was almost impossible due to heat haze. We changed location after c10 minutes and viewed from within the Caravan Park and the views here were excellent with the birds showing down to c40 ft. These birds represent my first British Lifer since early November and 4th lifer sinse Jan 08!

3 Avocets - Brockholes Wetland LWT - 24th April 2009

Its been a long time coming but finally after a period of 10 and a half years (10th August 1998-24th April 2009), Brockholes has had its first Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta.

there were 3 adult birds on Main pool, first seen at 15.55 and still present by 16.50. 2 of the birds stayed together and another was to the eastern side of main pool generally roosting but accasionally looking alert and calling. Incredibly the 2 that stayed together appeared to be 'checking out' the accomodation as though they were looking for a place to nest and the male was certainly aggresive to nearby Lapwings...oh well there goes the chance of any more rarities haha.

Great Birds nontheless and an extremely overdue site record.

Mere Sands Wood and Martin Mere - 17th April 2009

Mere Sands Wood

Highlights at this sight:- Common Crossbill Loxia curvirostra curvirostra 'heard' over conifers but was not seen. 3 Lesser Redpoll Carduelis cabaret singing around the reserve, 25+ Siskin Carduelis spinus, numerous Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita, Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus and Blackcap Sylvia articapilla singing. Also me and my uncle had an extreme close encounter with a Roe Deer which walked across a whole field and came within about 5 meters of us!

At Martin mere, a few Year Ticks were added - Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus (from Ron Barker) and 81 Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta. In the Captive area, I observed some of the more regular species that would never allow you good enough views to observe certain aspects of their behavior - Smew, Lesser Scaup, Ferruginous Duck, and the above Mandarin.

We walked back to Burscough Jn train station from Martin Mere stopping off enroute at the Western end of Curlew Lane. Here I observed my second ever Blue Headed Wagtail Moticilla flava flava - the nominate form of Yellow Wagtail. I would have liked to have seen the bird with Yellow Wagtails Moticilla flava flavissima to compare the two but this was not possible. I did however see the bird with c20 White Wagtail Moticilla alba alba

Brockholes Wetland LWT - 13th April 2009

(sorry that the last two posts have been without pictures)

3 rather impressive sightings came from the 12th April so I felt that I should have a go today - these were a Red Kite (2nd site record), Probable White Stork (to the north of the site), the First Whimbrel of the year.

13th April

3 Pinkfeet were with the group of Canada Geese present which is a decent record for the site, esp. in April.
5 LRP
5 Willow Warbler,

Sophie opened the Sluice on Main Pool last Monday so the level on the pool has dropped dramatically.

other wildlife present - Peacock, Orange tip, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Green Veined White, several Hare,

Marton Mere - 11th April 2009

Grasshopper Warbler - this was a singing male on the northern side of the Mere between the path and the Bridleway. Here the bird was heard and seen on and off throughout the Afternoon, Whilst I was there, the bird was heard on a few occasions by myself, Maurice Jones and Dave McGrath. Just before I left I managed to briefly see the bird atop a bush but only very briefly before it dissapeared again. This was my earliest Record of the species and a good addition to the Fylde yearlist.
other additions to the Yearlist were:
Sedge Warbler - a male was singing in the south west corner near to the dam.
Reed Warbler - 2 Were singing along the Eastern edge of the mere in the reedbed.
Gadwall - several on the mere
Willow Warbler - several singing males around the site.
Blackcap - singing male

Bispham Marsh

here a Male Mandarin was still present

Brockholes Wetlands LWT - 6th April 2009

1st Summer Female Scaup

wing pattern of 1st summer female Scaup

very convincing Female Aythya hybrid
1sts Fem Scaup(left) and Female Aythya Hybrid (2nd from right)

A 5 hour vigil for Osprey produced very little, certainly not an Osprey! Sightings that were noteworthy - 4 House Martin over Mound, 2 Raven flew north (low) over mound, 11 Swallow, White Wagtail, 3 LRP, 1sts Fem Scaup and Aythya Hybrid. Also there were several Hare and Roe Deer that were seen regularly