Back home

Before I update the local patches I have a final update on the last week in and around Bolton. I managed a visit to the feeders at Pennington Flash and added stock dove plus a nice great white egret. Moses gate CP had a Muscovy duck which may or may not be tickable, as well as three pairs of goosander  and Elton added a great spotted woodpecker and 5 ring-necked parakeets. I spent quite a bit of time watching feeders to try and add nuthatch and willow tit but dipped on both. It made me think about how I depend on a feeding station to add small birds quickly to a list. If the feeders at WOW are empty we are basically down 6 birds - 3 finches and 3 tits. I was aware that empty feeders at Leighton Moss, Cresswell and Druridge Bay cost me a few birds. If there are no feeders on a route, it is a bit more difficult to add the tits, finches and sparrows to a list never mind nuthatch and woodpecker. My local North Down patch would be much more difficult if I did not have garden feeders over the winter. Comments welcome on this topic.

Moses Gate CP  goosanders behind the swans

Muscovy duck

Parakeet at Elton

If the parakeets aren't there 6 finches would be feeding. They do intimidate smaller birds

While in the hide at Pennington Flash I bumped into Nigel from Backyard Aviary birds. He does a weekly YouTube video about his birding trips as he tries to get 280 birds in 2026. I quite like them and look forward to his weekly update. We had a good chat and I've added a link to his YouTube channel re his Manchester visit. 

UK’s Parrot Invasion! & the most colourful duck!

A return to WOW gave 28 species (no feeders!!) and I added starling and little egret to the list. The black-headed gulls are back in force -over 200 -  and the canes are up to try and prevent nesting on the smaller island. They don't work, but they do help to prevent predation from lesser black backs. We also noted two of our black-tailed godwits ringed in 2021.

Might put this in as an art installation for the Turner prize. 

Lime /green

Blue/yellow

I also added three species to the 2026 list this week. First a male siskin in David Miller's garden - got a tip off on that one. The photo below may or may not be the bird I saw! Next up I connected with the Portavogie black redstart at the second attempt and finally on a walk at Kearney I was watching pipits on the seaweed and trying to work out if the bird I was looking at was a rock pipit or a meadow when a water pipit landed beside it!! Totally unexpected but I had good views and decided I wasn't seeing things.  I had thought of heading for Portmore that day but Tanya wanted to go to Kearney, so right place right time. 😊

Carnalea siskin (DM)

Following a trip to Carnalea to add siskin to the list, four turned up on my feeders two days later!! I also had an amble along the coastal path and had 5 brent geese, a red-throated diver, 5 guillemots and one black guillemot plus 3 mallard on the pond at Stricklands.

Brent geese

and again

and again

I hadn't realised how beautifully camouflaged they are on a rocky coast. On grassy fields and sandy beaches they are obvious, not so here. 

2026 
108: Scaup
109: Muscovy duck
110: Great spotted woodpecker
111: Ring-necked parakeet
112: Stock dove

113: Siskin

114: Black redstart

115: Water pipit

NDCP patch
50: Rock pipit

51: Siskin

52: Mallard

53: Guillemot

Belfast RSPB patch
60: Ringed plover

61: Little egret

62: Starling

Better to be lucky than good

Before exciting dipper news, a quick update on the Bolton trip. I was able to get a trip round Elton Reservoir and came up with 29 species including Canada goose and ring-necked parakeet which are "English" ticks and a female kestrel which I should get at home. As most of you will know they are becoming increasingly rare and more difficult to get in Northern Ireland. It is nearly two years since I have seen one at home. 

The following day we were able to visit Pennington Flash which has an excellent bird feeding station and I had hopes of adding to the 2025 list. The Flash delivered with nuthatch, reed bunting, stock dove, willow tit, great spotted woodpecker and goosander. These are all regulars at the reserve, but not always seen in one visit. What was unexpected was not one but two great white egrets which gave excellent views from one of the hides. All in all a good hour's work, 37 species and a nice bowl of leek and potato soup in the café. 

Phone shot at Elton

Phone shot again

Pennington Flash great white egret and grey heron - another phone shot!

Finally got a trip to Burton Mere RSPB before heading home and added 32 species including Egyptian goose and yet another great white egret! 

Burton Mere great white egret

Black-tailed godwits

Burton Mere RSPB

Since our return, the North Down patch has added a soaring sparrowhawk and a singing greenfinch. WOW has also been quiet with nothing to get the pulse racing until this week when the Iceland gull finally had the decency to drop in on a Thursday morning and a whimbrel popped up on the grass bank at the back. As usual too far away for a good image so you are getting my usual "record shot" as well as a nice godwit and a view of the black headed gulls on the island starting in to their whole breeding routine. This week however the team put a stop to that with a deterrent scheme to try and stop the gulls nesting, so that the island is available for the later arriving terns. So far it seems to be working. 

Last week

This week

Nothing in the centre

Blackwit

Spot the Iceland gull

There it is!!

Definite lack of black on the primaries and tail.

A trip to Craigavon gave good views of a ring-necked duck along with 56 pochard all but three of them male!! No photos I'm afraid. The initial sighting was too far away and I didn't fancy lugging the scope round the one and a half mile walk for a closer view. You will have to make do with a nice scenic view of the northern balancing lake. 

I also managed a walk along the Divis trail as well, a walk I have been unable to do for quite some time. We had a sunny day, beautiful views over Belfast and two additions to the 2025 list - skylarks chasing and singing and 4 ravens doing what ravens do when the weather is good - chasing, rolling, playing and calling. As per usual I heard them before I saw them. 

Belfast from Divis viewpoint

The dipper then I hear you ask? After two years of dipping out (groan) with multiple visits to the Sixmilewater at Antrim, the Threemilewater at Mossley and five different spots in and around Bolton where I recorded Dippers in the past, I finally nailed one on the River Tonge ten minutes walk from base in Bolton in a spot I hadn't previously checked. I went back twice to try and get a photograph and it wasn't there!! Typical birding mantra - right place right time or as Gerry Murphy used to say on a Thursday morning at WOW, "Better to be lucky than good" 

NDCP

48: Kingfisher

49: Greenfinch

50: Sparrowhawk

WOW

69: Long-tailed tit

70: Iceland gull

71: Whimbrel

89: Kestrel

90: Canada goose

91: Ring-necked parakeet

92: Nuthatch

93: Stock dove

94: Reed bunting

95: Willow tit

96: Great white egret

97: Goosander

98: Great-spotted woodpecker

99: Dipper

100: Egyptian goose

101: Ring-necked duck

102: Iceland gull

103: Skylark

104: Raven

105: Whimbrel

Northumberland birdathon and other bits from England.

 A ten day trip to England always gives a few birding opportunities and this year was no exception. My birding pal David and I have been doing this for more years than we care to remember and have fallen into a predictable pattern starting at a reserve at Linton Lane and heading north until the light fails. 

Linton Lane is a "flash" - a pond of water surrounded by reeds and rough pasture caused by subsidence. It required a bit of an effort to get there as there had been a lot of rain and the approaches were flooded I was using a couple of sticks which were sinking into four inches of mud. However the effort to get there was rewarded as we were quickly seeing birds in the water and around the shores. We started with mute swans, mallard, tufted duck, gadwall, shoveler,  wigeon, pochard, coot, herring gull, black-headed gulls, little grebe, carrion crows, grey heron, wood pigeon and then a gorgeous barn owl which drifted over the hide and flew across the reeds in front of us. This was followed by a buzzard sitting on a distant pylon and a female marsh harrier slowly quartering the far shore and pushing about 200 teal out of the reeds into the water. Back to the car and we added robin, chaffinch, blackbird, song thrush, magpie, pheasant and grey partridge before driving to the Queen Elizabeth II Country Park.

Linton Lane

This is an interesting site with good birds on the water but there is also a mob of ducks and geese in the car park coming to be fed by well meaning locals who roll up with pan loaves, rolls and baguettes. We quickly added greylag geese, Canada goose, moorhen and common gull in the car park, but the most unexpected bird was a single whooper swan in the middle of the bread feeders. The lake gave us  goldeneye, cormorant, great crested grebe and red-throated diver. 

Whooper swan

Onwards past Woodhorn Flash an our first sightings of pink-footed goose and then through Lynemouth to hit the coastal road to Cresswell and Snab Point. The tide was fully in at this point so the flooded fields contained stonechat, redshank, lapwing, curlew and oystercatcher. The high tide meant that small waders were absent but we did pick up great black-backed gull, fulmar, eider duck, shag and common scoter out to sea. 

Our next stop was Cresswell Pond which is another "flash" but as it is only 100 m inland it is good for waders, ducks and all sorts of other goodies. We had a lot of wigeon, lapwing, coot and moorhen, but were amazed to see 17 Mediterranean gulls on the water as well as shelduck, red-breasted merganser, little egret, dunlin, ringed plover  and turnstone. The walk down to the hide is usually good for small stuff but this year there were no feeders so we only saw wren, starling and chaffinch.  

Cresswell Pond

Mediterranean gulls

The next leg to Druridge has a dune system on one side and farmland on the other side. There is usually a finch flock around the feeding areas for the cattle so we picked up on goldfinch, linnet, 3 grey partridge, pied wagtail, rook, jackdaw, magpie and a single skylark. A local birder asked us had we come to see the hooded crow. We laughed and said no, not really, we get them in the garden. Two minutes later the hooded crow did a flypast and got added to our list as well as being added to my Northumberland list. He also advised us that Druridge Pools were inaccessible without wellies, so after a cursory look and a nice female kestrel we headed for Widdrington where we saw 14 red-legged partridge and a nice wee house sparrow flock. 

East Chevington

We continued north to East Chevington and the new hides but the lake only held wigeon, tufted duck, mute swans, greylag geese, cormorants. lapwings and goldeneye, nothing to quicken the pulse so it was on to Druridge Bay Country Park, lunch and the feeders. It took us a while to find them as they have been moved but once we got our eye in we added quite a number of passerines to the list -  coal tit, blue tit, great tit, long-tailed tit, tree sparrow, dunnock, bullfinch and eventually a willow tit. Next stop was Hadston Scarrs and then into Hauxley Nature reserve and another feeding station which added reed bunting, siskin and greenfinch to the list. By this time the light was dropping, cloud was piling in and rain had set in so we had a quick look at  the beach south of  Amble,  the Amble estuary, (golden plover) and sped back to the QE II CP for a last look for the redhead smew which we had missed earlier - unfortunately we missed it again. 

Coquet Island from Low Hauxley

Feeders at Druridge Bay but no woodpecker.

Reed bunting (F)

My lack of mobility meant that sanderling didn't make the list and we somehow managed to miss collared dove, but we ended up with 75 species including 9 additions to the 2024 list. All in all a cracking day, beautiful scenery, friendly locals stunning birds and it was all we hoped it would be. 

The scenic route to Bolton added black grouse at Langdon Beck and Richard's garden turned up a nuthatch on the feeders and a calling tawny owl in the nearby woodland. Pennington Flash was a bit disappointing as the main feeding station was flooded and the smaller one was overrun with grey squirrels. It did however have at least a dozen reed buntings - the most I have seen anywhere for a long time. 

Pennington Flash, view from Pengy's hide

Reed buntings

Reed bunting

2024:

106: Pochard

107: Barn owl

108: Marsh harrier

109: Grey partridge

110: Mediterranean gull

111: Skylark

112: Red-legged partridge

113: Willow tit

114: Reed bunting

115: Black grouse

116: Tawny owl

117: Nuthatch

WOW

59: Eider duck, managed to miss this last time out!

NDCP

43: Goldcrest

Another lifer (N0T)

Things have been quiet on the birding front as I continue to try and mop up a few species on the patches. I have been over to Bolton and added a willow tit to the list. I also conducted a wild goose chase round Pennington Flash to try and add Egyptian goose to the list but they eluded me. How many flooded horse fields are there round the Flash? Quite a few is the answer but none of them contained the family of four geese. Locally I finally added lapwings to the North Down patch as the wintering flock were spotted by someone else and I was able to go down and see them. What was once 60+ is now down to less than 20, and recently 4 remained so they don't appear to be hanging around. Three recent walks have been largely bird free apart from gulls. 

The most noteworthy bird of late popped up at WOW on October 19th and was still there on November 9th. It is a blue-billed or Hottentot teal a native of Southern Africa. Despite not being ringed it is of doubtful provenance and so cannot be added to any list, hence the title of the blog. Stephen Maxwell described it as a "fence hopper", i.e. a bird which has escaped from a collection - most likely Castle Espie.  We did however have a great morning's entertainment trying to work out what it was. It was with teal, was the right size and it was dabbling. Despite scouring the books we had no idea what it was until someone started googling all types of teal and suddenly there it was in a picture on Google. The pictures give you an idea of our struggles as it did not fit anything we knew and until it flew and showed blue and white wing bars we had no ideas at all

Blue-billed teal

Rear view showing wing bars

Female teal for comparison

Millet seeking moorhens

Little egret

Cormorant

Eurasian teal

Moorhen

Grey heron

We have been getting large numbers of cormorants (20+), herons(16) and little egrets (14), but as water levels drop and the fish are eaten these numbers will fall. Recently we were down to 3, 6 and 4 respectively. The reserve is slowly changing into the winter pattern of ducks and waders, and the feeders are pulling in finches and tits. We live in hope of another megatick like the phalarope, but a redpoll would be nice. 

2023

160: Willow tit

+USA/Canada: 26 = 186 for the year.

NDCP

69: Lapwing

Belfast RSPB

93: Stonechat

Trip to England

We did a flying visit to England to touch base with the family. The kids were at school so we were able to do a couple of visits to local beauty spots. First we did Leighton Moss RSPB , then Pennington Flash. We also had a family visit to Castlefield Viaduct in the centre of Manchester. 

Leighton Moss RSPB reserve is split into two parts. The main reserve is a series of ponds, lakes and reedbeds. 

We managed to dip out on the bitterns. One flew into the little island in the second photo as we arrived in the hide. It flew out 15 minutes later as I was checking my phone!! We did however see a wide variety of birds including osprey, reed warbler, cettis warbler and several views of marsh harrier including one lifting a coot chick. The second part of the reserve is about a mile away and is an inlet of Morecambe Bay and tidal. It has a breeding black-headed gull colony (which had been hit by avian flu but remained open?), black-tailed godwits, greenshank, avocets, 9 little egrets and a poorly Mediterranean gull. 

Pennington Flash was very quiet but did add stock dove to the list while Castlefield Viaduct offered feral pigeons and a magpie. Its claim to fame is not birds but the transformation of a redundant Victorian railway viaduct into a garden in the sky. Half of it has been transformed with planting and half remains as it was. If you happen to be in Manchester city centre it is worth a visit. 

This is how it started

Pleasant walk in the city

Hopefully trees will take over

The next post involves the passports and although it starts in Eire it does go elsewhere. One snag was the failure of the SD card on the penultimate day of the holiday and the loss of all the good bird photos with the decent camera and the 200mm lens. If you have any ideas as to how to extract images from a corrupted SD card please let me know. I am hopeful I can get some of them back. 

PS Apparently WOW has re-opened 

2023

145: Manx shearwater

146: Reed warbler

147: Cetti's warbler

148: Osprey

NDCP

66: Manx shearwater

Belfast RSPB

83: Kittiwake