Some recent watercolours,

Black headed Gulls on the sea wall at Hoylake

A cormorant study

Winter Wren

Crosby marine park,

A couple of adult yellow legged gulls were on the shore with only a handful of gulls . A pair of stonechats and a couple of corn buntings were in the dunes. 10 great crested grebes 3 goldeneye and 10 tufted duck were on the lake.

Prescot reservoir,

The adult ring billed gull was present this morning on pr4 . An adult med gull and 2 argentatus were also present. 12 snipe, 6 pochard, 19 goldeneye, and 40 redpoll.

What have I become?
The occasional twitch is definitely good for you but today I went mad with 3 twitches in one day. With 3 quality birds over in Yorkshire and Lincs but some distance apart we decided to try and see all three in one day.I left Merseyside at 6 am after picking up Billy and Chris and was at Grainthorpe Haven about 8.45 am to see the Steppe grey shrike. Such a confiding bird and great views as it flew about feeding close by. At one point flying over our heads and landing on a sign post 10 feet away.Only 20 or so birders here today. We left about 9.45 and it was on to Bilsdale in north yorkshire.
It was about a 3 hours drive to the layby at Garfitts farm but the drive along Bilsdale was a delight with stunning scenery on this late autumn day. A long walk up the track to the farm was well worth it as the two barred crossbill showed very well in the front garden on the peanut feeders and in the surrounding trees. What a stunning bird this male was and definitely the bird of the day for me.
We left here at 1.40 pm to head for the east coast just south of Filey.
This part of the journey took 90 minutes and we were parking up at Reighton sands holiday park at 3.15. There was about 15 birders wandering about but no sign of the Pied wheatear. We walked along the cliffedge were we were told it had been seen this morning but no sign. The light was starting to go and it didn't look good. I looked at the site and said to myself where would you expect to see a northern wheatear here. A service road that led away from the toilet block up the hill and around the top end of the caravan park looked a likely spot. I headed over to that area and there it was sitting on a bench behind a caravan. I alerted the other birders some of which were getting into their cars ready to leave and all had good views in the fading light. Not the prettiest bird this female pied wheatear but was still an interesting bird on the identification front. A fine end to a very successful day.

We left here at 4pm and arrived back on merseyside around 7.15 after clocking up 540 miles. With over 10 hours in the drivers seat it was nice to get home and have a nice cup of tea. Does this mean I'm a twitcher? I don't think so. I only cracked after the birds being present nearly a week . These were 3 new birds for me which was great but I much preferred finding the ring billed gull at prescot res yesterday.

Last years bird

Prescot reservoirs,
A cracking ring-billed gull was on no4 reservoir this morning. I found this adult with only a handful of common gull about 10.10am. but it did not stay long and was gone by 10.20am. This adult has a bright golden coloured bill with a strong black band in comparison to the adult I found on here last October ( bottom picture) which had a dull greyish pink coloured bill.

Also today an adult med gull , peregrine and 12 goldeneye.

Not this time,
A charcoal sketch of a juvenile peregrine attempting but failing to take a leach's petrel on the Mersey in October earlier this year.

Astley moss, Manchester,
A great white egret was showing well feeding along a roadside ditch.

A wren sits atop a bramble bush with the tree lined Coach Road behind.

Coach rd and Carr mill dam,
Yippee!! an extra hour in bed as the clocks went back an hour. Still got up at the same time and then I ventured to the Coach rd. There were plenty of pinkfeet airbourne and I probably seen a couple of thousand . 30 tree sparrows in the same hedge as the other day seem settled. 5 redwing and a couple of fieldfare. 4 buzzards and sparrowhawk also.
It was then off to Carr Mill Dam to try and see yesterdays firecrest. Needle in a haystack job but a stroll up the goyt valley was very pleasant this morning. I didn't see the firecrest but a couple of goldcrests with the long tailed tits, a siskin, a female stonechat, and 30 fieldfares were seen.

After dinner,
A peregrine falcon sits on a ledge up on the cliff face that is the Woodside ventilation building after feeding on one of the local pigeons. At 150 feet tall this brick building is a prominent landmark standing on the banks of the Mersey. The building was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott who also designed the Liverpool anglican cathedral.

Coach Road, Merseyside,
There was only about 1000 pinkfeet in the area today but the guns were out and peat extraction was in process on simonswood moss so plenty of disturbance. A good flock of 40 tree sparrows were nice to see as they sunbathed in a hawthorn hedge. A flock of 50 fieldfares ,1 redwing and 15 chaffinches fed in a potatoe field on bunker hill. As I was watching the fieldfares a bird called behind me, 'Shreep' close to the horse paddocks but I did't manage to see the bird.

Simonswood Moss, Merseyside,
The Ross's Goose was showing well in fields close to the Old Coach Road today with 5000 pinkfeet. The short, thick set neck, small stubby bill and smaller size compared to the surrounding pinkfeet was evident. The geese are very mobile and are often out of sight.
23 Fieldfares also today
Please park only at the beginning of Dairy Farm Rd close to Rainford bypass and walk up this private road towards the Coach Rd. Stay out of fields .

leucistic pinkfoot

A bloody end to the day,

A visit to the Lady Lever art gallery in Port Sunlight was a pleasant way to spend a few hours today with my wife. An exhibition of watercolours by artists such as Turner, Edward Lear, and David Cox were on show.

After lunch we decide to go and look at HMS Illustrious from the riverfront at Woodside, next to the Mersey tunnel ventillation shaft. A pair of wings was all that was left of a pigeon at the base of this massive brick structure. A peregrine was sitting high above with a contented look. With my bins and camera I managed a photo.

Later whilst we were eating our evening meal back at the ranch a sparrowhawk was on full view ripping a goldfinch to bits on the garden fence. Nice.

Digibined

The beautiful Liverpool skyline. The heart of Merseyside.

A couple of watercolours,

Desert Wheatear on Crosby shore,

Hobby and house martin. This painting has been on the drawing board since having great overhead views of this aerial combat at Hale marsh this summer.

Crosby coastguards, Merseyside,

The car park was at bursting piont, thousands of sunseekers, icecream vans , some sort of kite festival, screaming children, dogs running free , microlights above but somehow a desert wheatear remained amongst this indian summer madness. It fed along the tide line occasionly getting flushed by the unsuspecting public but remained faithful to an area about 250 metres south of coastguards. This 1st winter male was a stunning bird and was very confiding.This is the third record for lancashire.

Old Coach Rd

Yesterdays ross's goose failed to show up 13.00 today. It did show later briefly for others. A leucistic pinkfoot was with a thousand pinkfeet in one field, a couple of redwing, 35 curlew and a raven also.

leucistic pinkfoot

Simonswood Moss, Kirkby, Merseyside,
A Ross's goose was seen in flight over Simmonswood moss close to White moss peat works. There are big numbers of pinkfeet in the area at the moment (maybe 4000 to 5000) and it is associating with these. Frustratingly most of the geese are out of sight from the road so flight views maybe the best you get but they regularly take flight. An excellent Merseyside tick. Please dont enter any farmers fields.
I first saw this goose on the 24th september distantly over the coach rd/east lancs rd area. See earlier post. It has since been at Martin Mere and it has now returned to the simonswood moss area.
Surely this bird has good credentials having arrived with the first big influx of pinkfeet into the mosslands.