A walk around farmland close to Croston, Lancashire. A very flat low lying area. A good number of Yellowhammers were seen or heard, also Sedge Warbler, Swallows, Kestrels, c150 Lapwing and also several Tree Sparrows heard.
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| Brown Hare - Two in this field. |
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| Swallows - Presumed part of a family party |
No sign of the Redstarts or Pied Flycatchers that breed in the area but both are easy to miss, It is quite possible that they have finished breeding and have now headed south.
A number of the resident species were seen including Tree Creeper, Nuthatch, Stonechat and Dipper.
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| Stonechat - a male seen close to where several juveniles were seen in the bracken. |
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| Dipper - Two individuals seen in different areas. |
Another trip to the excellent Hesketh Outmarsh RSPB Reserve. There were probably 200 Avocets present with a few fairly close family groups. Unfortunately very windy conditions made videoing difficult.
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| Avocets |
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| Avocet - Dive bombing a Gull that wandered to close to the young. |
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| Little Egrets - Several of these in the area. |
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| Oystercatcher - One of a pair with young nearby. |
This was a visit to check out Hesketh Bank and hope to see a Spotted Redshank that had been present
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| Spotted Redshank approaching summer plumage. It then flew much further away |
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| Arctic Terns - Both Arctic and Common Terns breed here. |
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| Avocets - There probably 30 sitting birds present. |
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| Redshank |
I had a few visits to Lodmoor during the week, all but one with my daughter Katherine.
It was rather quiet but a few nice birds were seen.
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| Whimbrel - This bird was one of four present on one visit. The other three birds were feeding in the tall vegetation in the background. |
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| Spotted Redshank - A scarce visitor to Lodmoor with one or two sightings a year. |
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| Reed Warbler - One of many new arrivals to the reserve. |
A visit to the Bill, firstly a brief visit with other family members and secondly with my daughter Katherine.
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| Stonechat in song. |
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| Wheatear very close to the end of the Bill |
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| Raven - A very tame individual on the next table to us! |
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| Razorbills - Just off the west of the Bill |
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| Guillemot - A 1st summer individual taking flight |
We were staying in Weymouth for a week with my daughter Katherine and granddaughter Jess. It just so happened that a Red-spotted Bluethroat had been found a month earlier on 17th March at Swineham GPs near Wareham. The bird was refound on 8th April and seen daily since that time.
We went to see the bird on a Saturday afternoon. Apparently the narrow path on which the bird was feeding and in the morning the path was rammed with birders and photographers. However by the time we arrived there were just a few people watching it. We had to wait about 10 minutes before the bird dropped onto the path to feed on some mealworms. It came within about 10 feet of where we were.
The Red-throated sub-species breeds in Northern Europe. The bird was singing from time to time but unlikely to attract a mate!
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| Every so often the bird would stand still and peer up at the sky. |
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| The bird can be seen a short distance down the path |
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| Osprey - After leaving the Osprey a quick scan of Poole Harbour produced this Osprey carrying food. |
