Blundlesands, Hall Road

Grey Plover 30 many in summer plumage
Knot 500
Sanderling 100
Curlew 10

There's always somebody walking on the beach flushing all of the waders!

 

Starlings are great birds. Imagine if this was a mega, it would be the biggest twitch ever!

 

Eccleston Mere

Willow tit 1
Blackcap 1 male
Chiffchaff a few including 1 singing
Great spotted woodpecker 2
Kingfisher 2
Mute swan 1 adult
Tufted duck 4

No sign of yesterdays spotted flycatchers.

Pectoral Sandpiper Rumworth Lodge, Bolton

Pectoral sandpiper 1 juvenile

 

Not a year tick unfortunately, it was my second this year following one in spring at Hale. My 15th Pectoral Sandpiper.

 

Rumworth Lodge.

Eccleston Mere

Spotted flycatcher 2
Blackcap 1
Willow warbler a few including one bird in feeble song
Chiffchaff a few
Willow tit 1
Nuthatch 1
Great spotted woodpecker 1
Treecreeper 1
Kingfisher 2+
Buzzard 1
Kestrel 1

Eccleston Mere 2013 - 103 (Spotted flycatcher)

A strange yet interesting photo of the Spotted Fly!

 

Eccleston Mere

Gadwall 2 (male and female)
Kingfisher 1
Tufted Duck 5
Swallow 10
Chiffchaff 1 singing
Willow Warbler 1 singing feebly

A misty, murky start to the day at the mere. No sign of the mystery aythya but could easily still be present.

Odd aythya at Eccleston Mere

There is an odd looking aythya duck on the mere at the moment. I first saw it yesterday when I took most of the photos below.

 

It loosely associates with the small Tufted Duck flock, but is happy to swim off alone and I have seen it on the opposite side of the mere to the rest of the flock.

 

The bird is superficially like a female Tufted Duck, but there are a few differences, some of which are apparent in the photos. Firstly look at the size of the bill. It looks big  compared to your average Tuftie. The head shape also looks wrong for Tufted Duck. In some photos it looks more like a Pochard head shape.

 

Not obvious from the photos, the bird stands out immediately when it's with the Tuftie flock, because it sits higher in the water and appears more buoyant. For this reason it looks larger, though in reality it's about the same size.

 

I wondered at first if it might be a juvenile Scaup, but it's a similar size to the Tufties. I haven't been able to see the bill properly, yesterday I didn't have my scope, today I did, but the weather this evening was atrocious and it was almost dark when I was trying to view it. I have briefly seen it flap its wings twice, and it seems to have the pattern of Lesser Scaup, i.e. white on the secondaries not extending onto the primaries. However, I'd like to see it again to be certain.

 

I'm not sure about this bird, perhaps it's an odd Tuftie, perhaps it's a hybrid or perhaps it's a juvenile Lesser Scaup. I'll be going back for another look over the next few days. If anybody has an opinion on this bird I'd be pleased to hear it.

 

 

Eccleston Mere

Mandarin 2 (ecl m & f)
Tufted Duck 6
Buzzard 1
Kingfisher 1

No sign of this mornings Black Tern, but at least there's some movement now.