Prescot res,
2nd winter med still present today, Adult Yellow legged gull yesterday also.
2 snipe, 13 redwing,1 fieldfare, grey wagtail,15 meadow pipits,40 redpoll,
Only 16 pochard today.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Well, we will probably all be eating one of the above today so I thought I would put up this photo of a real one . It was taken in florida this August.

Hightown dunes,
A Siberian gem of a bird, a Pallas's Warbler was feeding in a dry pond amongst the reeds and sedges. It showed reasonably well at times but would go missing for periods.Today being its 3rd day present.
There were plenty of pinkfeet on the approach road to Hightown.

Catchdale moss,
A triangular walk along Green lane, Catchdale moss lane, and Howards lane produced 11 tree sparrows,1 reed bunting, 1 yellowhammer ,30 chaffinch, 20 greenfinch,20 goldies, and 1 meadow pipit. The farmers have left fields of corn as game cover and it is also a great source of food for the finches. 15 redwing went over and 40 pinkfeet were moving about. Buzzard ,sparrowhawk and kestrel were seen but no sign of the peregrines today.

Prescot Reservoirs,
A single Golden plover today with 300 lapwing.
15 pochard,60 tufted duck, 9 goldeneye, 1 ruddy duck, 1 little grebe, 1 shellduck,and 4 great crested grebe.
Green woodpecker and nuthatch calling in the ranch.4 redpoll with 15 goldfinch. 12 meadow pipits and 6 pied wags in ploughed meadow.
2nd w med gull present again.

The Zutons

Prescot reservoirs,
A wind battered 1st winter kittiwake took shelter at the reservoirs today. A nice bird following on from the adult in the spring.
2nd w med gull, 19 great black backed gulls,200 herring gull, 100 black headed, 50 common gulland 2o lesser black backed gulls.
30 pochards,8 teal, 100 tufted duck, 2 ruddy duck,10 goldeneye,3 little grebe 3 great crested grebe, 9 cormorant.

Prescot reservoirs
16 goldeneye 6 drakes, 40 pochard, 70 tufted duck,20 teal, 1 ruddy duck, 20 mallard,100 coot,
3 great crested grebe, 1 little grebe.
2nd w med gull,200 common gull, 200 herring gull,50 black headed gull, 2 gbb gull, 20 lbb gull.
A notable flock of 15 chaffinch was a good record for the reservoir.

Prescot reservoirs,
2nd w med on no4 with black headed gulls. 100 common gull, 3 gbb gull, 300 black headed gull,
20 lesser black backed gull, 500 herring gull.
Peregrine on pylon, Sparrowhawk and buzzard also.
Pochard down 43, tufted duck150, goldeneye 3f, ruddy duck2, little grebe1 and cormorant11

Prescot reservoirs,
BH reports male HEN HARRIER over the reservoirs early afternoon . The last one to grace the reservoirs was exactly 10 years ago today. Nice one Billy!!

Prescot reservoirs,
2 adult yellow legged gulls, 2nd w med gull,
58 pochard ,9 goldeneye, 160 tufted duck,2 ruddy duck
16 fieldfare over east.
3 woodcock

Prescot reservoirs,
2nd w med gull again today. This bird is now a very regular bird at the reservoirs this early winter. 11 black tailed godwits flew over west at 14.30 . I flushed 2 woodcock from yates wood. I managed to miss a fine drake gooseander on no3 reservoir which showed just after I left.
About 2000 herring gulls on the reservoirs today ,50 lesser bbg, 500 black headed, 200 common gull, 8 great bbg.
9 goldeneye was a highest count this winter. Usually about 25/30 goldeneye by now. 80 plus pochard usually just a handfull in the recent years, 200 tufted duck, 2 ruddy duck, 4 little grebe
3 cormorant, 1 buzzard, 1 heron .

Prescot Reservoirs,
5 Goldeneye today with the first returning birds on Thursday. 58 pochard is the best count for many years. 250 tufted, lots of coot, 7 great crested grebe and 5 little grebe. 60+ redwing over and 10 skylark over.
No med gulls today but there has now been 6 med gulls at the reservoirs this autumn. 2 1st w, 2 2nd w, and 2 adult one with a metal ring and one with a green ring. Good flocks of greenfinch and goldfinch this morning with a single redpoll. 2 peregrines,1 kestrel 1 female sparrowhawk and 2 buzzards also this morning.
At least 20 red admirals went through this morning all going south.1 speckled wood and 1 common darter also.
I had another rare Lancashire moth in the garden this week. Calybites phasianipennella is only the 4th time it has been recorded in Lancashire.

Acleris literana
This beautiful micro moth was trapped in my garden this week. Not only is it very beautiful it is also very rare in Lancashire. This is the first time it has been seen in VC 59 for over a hundred years. Now thats what I call scarce.

The Great Orme,
Amazingly the Woodchat Shrike and the Short Toed Lark were still showing very well much to my relief as this was the first chance I've had to get to see them. The juv woodchat shrike showing very well below the church and the lark just a few hundred metres away above the church. What an autumn North Wales is having.

Prescot reservoirs,
The second winter med showed well again on no 4 res this morning. A wheatear on the causeway, a golden plover over and peregrine on a pylon also. BC had spotted fly in the ranch. Several small groups of Skylarks went over during the morning.

A cracking southern hawker was in the meadow by the bottom ditch hanging on the brambles. Common Blue, red Admiral and still lots of common darter

Prescot Reservoir,
A pied flycatcher seen by AS in the ranch was an excellent bird. Unfortunately I was unable to connect with it which would have been a patch tick. The 1st winter med gull was on no 4 res with hundreds of swallows and martins feeding over the res slowly drifing south. 3 skylarks and a couple meadow pipits went over. 31 pochard and 8 little grebe still.
4 small coppers, a painted lady and 20 common darters were in the meadow.

Devils bit scabious flowering in the meadow.

Coastguards and Alt estuary,
A walk along the coast today in the strong westerly wind turned up a couple of curlew sands near the alt. The 2 juveniles were feeding in the mud by the metal jetty. Some dunlin feeding nearby gave a good comparison of the 2 species . Not much out on the sea today but with gales forcast for later in the week hopefully they will bring in some goodies.
Prescot reserviors
8 mute swans flew in at about 9.15 but were gone by 9.45. Mute swan is not a very common bird on the res so these 2 adult and 6 juvs were a surprise.27 pochard, 8 little grebe and7 great crested grebe also.

Prescot Reservoirs,
A second winter med gull was a new arrival at the reservoirs today. A nice addition to the recent 1st w med. 2 peregrines, 2 buzzards, 1 sparrowhawk and 2 kestrels were the birds of prey on show. Also 180 tufted duck,30 pochard, 8 little grebe, and 7 great crested grebe. A wheatear on the causeway also.
20 plus common darter were around the new pond and 8 pairs were coupled and ovipositing

Crosby Marina,
A Wryneck was glimpsed briefly through the fence in seaforth nr before it disappeared to the far side of the reserve. This being the first for 10 years on the reserve but unfortunately not being viewable from the Crosby side once it had moved to the far side.
A yellow wagtail, 3 wheatears, 2 skylarks and hundreds of swallows moving through were also on show. A wigeon and 2 gadwall were on the boating lake.
Further up the coast at coastguards 2 adult med gulls, 8 stonechats, 1 goldcrest, 1 wheatear. 100 linnets, 20 greenfinch. On the shore 50 shellduck,400 golden plover, 1000 bar tailed godwits, 2000 oystercatchers, 20 curlew, 50 redshank and a handful of dunlin.
Lots of red admirals, 4 painted lady, 1 small heath, 5 small whites, and lots of silver y moths.

Another hummingbird hawkmoth in the garden today late afternoon. I think this is a different one to the one I saw on wednesday judgeing by the images. The one on wednesday was a bit tatty looking and todays looking in good condition. It really has been a great year for migrant moths, butterflies and dragonflies.

Prescot reservoirs,
The torrential rain today didnt dampen the birding too much . 7 black terns graced the reservoirs today and were an expected arrival after the big influx throughout the country yesterday. All 7 birds were juveniles. They arrived at about midday and were gone with the improving weather at 3.30pm. 4 spotted flycatchers gave excellent views on the ranch fence in the pouring rain still hawking insects.A mixed tit flock of 20 long tailed tits,6blue and 5 great tits fed in the canopy.
BC had the 1st w med earlier today.

A small copper butterfly showed in the meadow after the rain had stopped.

The hummingbird hawkmoth decided to rest a while on our garage wall yesterday. It was not as impressive as when its feeding but was nice to see its markings while it was at rest.This moth has now been in and around the garden for 12 days.

phyllonorycter geniculella

Prescot Reservoirs,
The 1st w med gull was present again this morning in the nw corner of no4 reservoir before flying off towards the safari park. The pochard are now at 35 with about 150 tufted duck. 100+ coot, 6 little grebe 2 ad and4 juvs, 4 great crested grebe,2 cormorants, 60 lapwing and 3 buzzards also today.
Hummingbird hawk moth in the garden again today . I caught this micro moth(above) in the trap last night. It is only about 5mm long but still a very striking moth.

1st w med gull
Small heath
Golden plover

Prescot reservoirs,
I finally caught up with the 1st winter med gull thats been around all week since Andy Spot had 2 1st winter meds last sunday.
Crosby Marina,
1Yellow wagtail,4 white wags, 3 wheatears, 2 little terns,1 kittewake, 8 red legged partridge and a peregrine were the highlights at the marina today.
Crosby coastguards,
200 golden plover,6 wheatears, an adult med gull and a sandwich tern were best of the birds here today but the highlight of the day for me was a male clouded yellow butterfly on the coastal path. A small heath and small copper were also present. A rush veneer moth was also recorded.

A hummingbird hawk moth has been feeding in my garden on and off since last Saturday and was here again today.

Prescot reservoirs,
Three spotted flycatchers in the ranch near the dung tip were great to see on this late summers afternoon. These flycatchers are an annual event returning to the same spot each year on the return passage. A wheatear on the causeway was also present. BH reports a first winter med gull earlier today also. 6 little grebe was a good count with 2 adults and 4 juvs. There is plenty of pochard on site at the moment with a count of 23 at the weekend.

Florida. The last installment.

OK don't worry .This is the last installment of my holiday adventure. It was a family holiday and not a dedicated birdwatching hol but still lots of birding opportunities. We stayed in Orlando but also had an overnight stay at Clearwater. I was a bit apprehensive about the driving but after a couple of days I was cruising the freeways of florida no problem. All of the birds of prey and egrets/herons were seen around LakeTohopekaligo which was only a 20 minute drive from orlando. One of the best ways to reach the inaccessible areas of the lake was by going on the airboat trips. This is how I connected with birds like Roseate Spoonbill, least bittern and purple gallinule. A trip to the coast was needed and we stayed over a Clearwater for the night. We drove down to the St Petersberg area were we connected with black skimmer,caspian tern,magnificent frigatebird and most of the waders and terns.

We did not rake up a massive list but 95 species were seen in total. I have always wanted to see Roseate spoonbill for some reason. Black skimmer has always been another with its strange bill suited to its feeding technique and how can you not be impressed with the Swallow tailed kite.

A great family and birding holiday.

Floridian Passerines

Northern Cardinal
Eastern Kingbird
Bluejay
Belted kingfisher
Downy woodpecker
red bellied woodpecker
Yellow throated warbler
Northern parula

Floridian Waders

Willet
Short Billed Dowicher
Short billed Dowicher
Semi Palmated Plover
American Oystercatcher
Marbled Godwit
Spotted Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Semi Palmated Sandpiper
White rumped Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper