Our Day Out Across The Pennines …
John A, Bones, Jason, Little Chris and I ventured across to the dark side of the country today before first light. Jason got the pic of the day with the portrait of the Black-throated Thrush in the branches at Newholm, near Whitby.
My own best effort of it feeding on the ground was ruined by some intervening vegetation :
Black-throated Thrush
There’s still a fair bit of snow on t’other side of T’Pennines …
Bones and John at Horcum's Hole
We caught up with this Ring-necked Duck at Pugsey Country Park, near Wakefield ~
Ring-necked Duck
Ring-necked Duck
… and then with this Smew very nearby, on the lagoons beyond The Swan and Cygnet pub …
Smew
Jason
Jason got that shot of the Smew and this Goldeneye …
Closer to home, judging by his Flickr stream Phil Boardman went to Marton Mere to see if the American Bittern could be confirmed. It wasn’t, but he has a great shot of two Bitterns in flight, as well as Cetti’s Warbler and other stuff on his tream – here’s a Long-eared Owl to whet your appetite.
Fieldfares at Freshfield
There were, literally, thousands of Fieldfares and hundreds of Redwings feeding amongst the Sea-buckthorn at the end of Fisherman’s Path today. My frozen hands and shutter cable made digiscoping a chore and so for the most part I just enjoyed being surrounded by them. Well camouflaged, they were almost landing on me. This presumably is some desperate hunger; but they were finding food, so let’s hope the majority make it to the thaw.
Fieldfare at Freshfield
11 Great Crested Grebes off shore too, and a Woodcock from the path. Plenty of Goldcrests around too.
Here’s a few oldies …
Great White Egret, Crossens Outer, 13 December 2009
Shorelark at Ainsdale, 9th November 2009
Welcome …
This blog originally had a grand purpose for birding around Marshside and beyond. The map and info Pages section is still useful for that, but for rolling news of sightings and general discussion that purpose has perhaps been overtaken by the ease of use of other web developments, and I’d particularly recommend taking a look at the Ribble Estuary Nature Facebook Group.
These pages are now a repository for me to share photos and videos of my birding in and around Merseyside and occasionally further afield, and to provide me with an outlet for the occasional rant. You’ll find digiscoped photos and videos with a bit of reportage as the main posts; some useful birding info and resources are in the static Pages section.
Short form url: http://ow.ly/3b5PK
For other, more regular, blogs I recommend that everyone keeps a daily eye on John Dempsey’s Birdblog – probably the best online birding journal in the world (Theakston’s Best please, John …) as well as other local blogs of which there are links below. Of these, Colin Bushell’s Ribble to Amazon is currently the most regularly and enthusiatically updated and carries most useful information.
Comments & Sightings
jstannage on Discussion Frank Whitney on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Moore and Pennington Flas… Roger John LITTLE on Moore and Pennington Flas… phil boardman on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Latest Sightings Frank Whitney on Latest Sightings Frank Whitney on Latest Sightings
Blogroll
- Another Place ~ Pete Kinsella
- Bill Aspin ~ Brockholes
- Brockholes Sightings Facebook
- Colin Bushell’s Blog
- Dave Bickerton’s Blog
- Dee Estuary Sightings
- Hilbre Island Blog
- Manchester Sightings
- Martin Mere Sightings
- Menzie Birding
- Mike Watson ~ E. Lancs
- Moore N.R. Sightings
- North Wales Sightings
- Paul Shenton ~ Flintshire
- South Liverpool Birder
- St Helens Sightings
- Steve Tomlinson
- Tony Conway ~ Seaforth
- Wirral Birder
The Big Websites
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