Now is the time to service your optics or switch to butterflies, flowers and dragonflies. I have not done much of late but there is enough to warrant a wee catch up before the autumn passage hits WOW. Waders are already on the move in England, swifts have gone and so has the heat.
I had a run to the Copeland Islands on a JBirds trip. The highlight was seeing a Manx shearwater chick and watching the team ring two willow warblers which were in the mist net. My bird list was short (25) with the standouts being Manx shearwaters, a couple of puffins and a stock dove. Some photos from me (DP), David Miller (DM) and Mo Rainey (MR).
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| Mist net (DM) |
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| LBBgull and Scrabo (DM) |
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| Brian's boat and Brian! (DM) |
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| Red admiral (DM) |
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| Weighing a willow warbler (MR) |
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| Willow warbler (MR) |
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| Manx shearwater chick (MR) |
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| Au revoir (DP) |
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| Mew Island (DP) |
Before I headed to England WOW was deserted by the terns. There on a Monday, gone by Wednesday. They have not returned en masse, but there has been the odd one or two dropping in. I had these shots in the camera from a week or two back and a wee explanatory video.
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| Compare black-headed gull and Med gull above and below |
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| Lapwing |
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| Spot the roosting common sandpiper
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Here is a link to the video as I am never confident the downloading always works!
The Liverpool boat gave a chance to see the progress on the new Cruise liner terminal, plus a view of WOW from the channel. You can see how they have pushed out the shoreline about 50m but have used the existing boulders to soften the look.
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| Downstream view |
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| Substantial progress |
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| Tern's eye view of WOW |
A weekend trip up to Northumberland gave us a chance to check out Cresswell pond and Druridge Pools which I was expecting to have dried up. In fact they had water and a good selection of waders including snipe, ruff, curlew, lapwing, dunlin and black-tailed godwits. We had a walk up to a ruined Preceptory at Chibburn which isn't on the traditional February route in the hope of picking up little owl which may or may not be breeding there. Needless to say we didn't see it but did pick up a pair of tree sparrows.
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| Druridge Pools phone shot with three ruff |
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| Surprisingly wet |
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| Chibburn Preceptory x 3 |
Chibburn looked good for little owl, but not on a dull breezy day at 4.00 in the afternoon. Might need a dusk visit? I spotted a birder with a scope at Cresswell and a brief chat cheered me up no end as I had missed a marsh harrier by ten minutes, a hobby and a wood sandpiper that morning and yellow wagtails which were around last week. Unsurprisingly the lists haven't changed - isn't birding fun?!?!
Back to WOW next week, plus a Cockle Island update and a link to a YouTube birding site. I follow four of these and am not making any comments as they all follow this blog and I have met two of them. I will feature them one at a time. This link is to Adam's most recent post and I am sure you all know how to access previous videos. Adam birds around Cheshire and Norfolk and takes stunning photos as well, best viewed on his blog.
