Red Kite is a scarce but increasingly commonly sighted bird in Cheshire. I've only ever seen one before in the village - until recently. I'd arranged with Alan H to go and check Pied Flycatcher nest boxes with him and was waiting for him to arrive when I got a phone call from a friend just down the lane from us.
'Where are you?'
'Just abut to leave home, why?'
'There's a Red Kite behind our houses in the silage field'
Cue panic as I tried to see it from the bedroom window whilst John was trying to give me directions. Grabbing the binoculars I ran outside into the garden and got it as it was circling over the railway line just as Alan pulled up. Giving him my binoculars I ran back into the house and grabbed the camera to get some record shots.
They've been cutting silage in the fields recently and this has attracted a large number of corvids and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. I think these, in turn, attracted the Kite which was last seen heading north pursued by corvids!
Apparently this , or another bird, was seen the previous day over the old Mollington golf course. From our house this is around 1 mile from where we saw it.
Alan H invited me recently to help check the nest boxes at his study site in N wales. As part of the Pied Flycatcher network (see here for information) nest boxes have been put up by volunteers to try and encourage more pairs of Pied Flycatchers to breed. This year seems to be a good year. Normally the Pied Flycatchers arrive back from Africa and find all the suitable nest boxes have been taken over by Blue or Great Tits. This year the tits appear to be nesting late. Other ringers have reported similar late dates and it seems the very wet early May Bank Holiday caused many to desert as we found several boxes that had partially built nests when checked a few weeks ago now empty.
Because of this the Pied Flys have arrived back to find suitable boxes empty and available! We found 5 nests with eggs and two further territories with singing males and possibly a partially built nest. The boxes that were occupied, by tits, were either still at the egg stage or had young to small to ring. We managed to ring a single brood of Great Tits.
Pied Flycatcher nests are easy to recognise as they contain a lot more large leaves than tit nests. When they contain the beautiful sky -blue eggs they're even easier to identify. We also caught and ringed two females - both of which had very obvious brood patches. Hopefully this will contribute to our understanding of adult survival rates and site fidelity in future years.
We also had good views of singing males and these provided some good photo opportunities.
Al picked up a damselfly flitting through a sun lit glade quite away from the nearest river and it turned out to be a Beautiful Demoiselle - a stunning looking jewel of an insect.
With the woodland full of Pied Flycatcher song, Bullfinches, Song & Mistle Thrushes and a distantly singing Redstart it was a great few hours. We'll back soon to check on progress.
Black-winged Stilts are a scarce bird in the UK but becoming increasingly regular with at least one pair attempting to breed in most years. The last time I saw a 'stilt' in Cheshire was the pair that bred at Ashtons Flash, near Northwich, in 2008 - found by that late great Pod. I think the first pair to breed successfully were at Holme in Norfolk in 1987 and I've still got a signed print done by Richard Millington of those birds.
With several birds being seen around the North Wales coast recently there was an expectation that one would turn up at our local RSPB reserve at Burton Mere Wetlands. Sure enough, whilst on Hilbre, news came through that a female stilt had turned up and was showing well!
Having already planned to check on Swallows nests at a nearby farm I was going to be passing the entrance to the reserve so it wasn't much of a detour to call in!
I was soon watching the Stilt walk around in front of the Marsh Covert Hide on those impossibly long legs. With summer plumaged Spotted Redshank, Avocet and Black-tailed Godwits sharing the same lagoon it made for a nice little diversion.
As is the norm with birders on a road trip Mark & I were discussing what new birds could turn up this spring on our trip back from seeing the Stejnegers Scoter in Fife. I really couldn't think of anything apart from a long overdue Rupelle's Warbler! Adamant I wasn't going anywhere on the Bank Holiday Monday I'd started working in the garden when news broke of a Grey-headed Lapwing in Northumberland! Another potential 1st for Britain found by Gary Woodburn on his local patch at Low Newton. This species is usually found in East Asia and China but is highly migratory and with four previous records in Europe it was on the birding radar as a potential 1st for the UK so should get a fairly easy ride with the rarities committee!
Luckily for me Fred pinged a message out that he was going and would anyone else like to join him so, despite my rash promise, I found myself driving to his office and joining him, Mark and Paul for the journey north again!
Once again the journey passed relatively quickly as the four of us chatted about past trips and birds we'd seen (or not seen!) and we soon arrived at the designated car park at Low Newton and walked the short way to where the bird had been showing all day.
Some rare birds don't have the looks to attract much attention - think Double-crested Cormorant! This one had everything! What a beautiful bird. It was actively feeding in a wet pasture and with its grey head, black breast band, white belly and striking red eyes it was a feast for the eyes. Its smart black-tipped yellow bill matched the colour of its long yellow legs and it occasionally flapped its wings to show its striking wing pattern - very reminiscent of Sociable Plover.
Looking at the extensive wing moult this bird could stay awhile until its grown new flight feathers.
There was a good turnover of people there with the earlier arrivals, who'd travelled less far, leaving and those with longer journeys taking their place. It was nice to see some familiar faces and say hello to old friends.
After feasting our eyes for a couple of hours we decided to head back to Cheshire where, for the second night running, I got in late and found Mrs W in full control of the TV remote. To cap off a great couple of days birding I had a Barn Owl fly over the Landrover asd I drove down our lane in the dark!
Not content with having a Stonechat named after him Leonhard Stejneger, the man with unpronounceable name, has a Scoter named after him! Universally shortened to Stej. Long on the radar as a 1st for Britain after one turned up in Ireland a few years ago and a few others in Europe, one turned up on the east coast just before Christmas. At the time we had a family crisis in Australia and with my wife having to make a sudden journey to be by our daughters hospital bedside I didn't feel the inclination to travel for it.
I thought the opportunity had been missed but it, or another, turned up at Lower Largo a fe miles north of Edinburgh. To act as an extra incentive there was also a White-winged Scoter present to add to the mix. I'd seen White-winged Scoter in 2011 - see here.
After an early morning start Friday doing a breeding bird survey I wasn't inclined to travel far on the Saturday. Sunday morning, the 30th April, dawned and we joined friends for a cooked breakfast at our local cafe, before Mrs W went to play in a golf competition. My phone was constantly pinging with updates of the bird and it appeared the bird was showing reasonably well with s nice calm sea.
A conversation with Mark P swayed me into going that day and by 11.00 we were on our way in atrocious weather. Luckily the forecast was for clearer weather as we arrived at Lower Largo and parked up.
Even luckier Dan Pointon was already there on site and had got his eye in and we were soon watching both 'the Stej' and White-winged Scoter together in a flock of at least 800 Velvet Scoter. Once we got our eyes in the distinctive bill shapes were quite readily picked out with the White-winged (deglandi) having visibly browner flanks. Both species have a more pronounced 'tear drop' around the eye than Velvet Scoter but this was surprisingly hard to pick out given that it started raining again and a bit of a sea mist started rolling in.
I didn't manage any photos but luckily Neill Hunt has let me use his digiscoped photos below that clearly show the distinctive bill shape of Stejnegers Scoter
Stejneger Scoter by Neill Hunt
Deciding we weren't going to get much better views and knowing we had a long drive ahead we left and arrived home just before 10 pm
Patch list (walking distance from house): 134 Redstart
What this blogs about.
This is my blog about birding on the Wirral, in Cheshire and beyond. Its basically an online diary of my sightings and trips. It'll be updated regularly to include photographs of birds (and other wildlife) I've photographed both in the UK and abroad. Enjoy!#
All photo's are taken by me unless specified and I retain the copyright. Photos shall not be used for any other purpose without express permission.
Moved to Cheshire in 1983 and settled there after marrying in 1986. I've been birding since I was 7 or 8 - it was that long ago I can't remember!
My formative years were spent in Suffolk and birds became a passion in my teens. Started twitching when still at school but began seriously whilst at University in the late 70's and early 80's. I am old enough to remember Nancy's cafe!
Took a bit of a break due to other committment but now able enjoy getting out birding both locally and for long distance twitches and trips.
Married to my beautiful wife Janet since 1986 and have two grown-up children and 4 gorgeous grandchildren.
Trained as a ringer firstly in the 1970's but let it lapse after leaving University in 1982. Re-trained again a few years ago and now a regular with Hilbre Bird observatory and SCAN ringing group.
I first became interested in photography whilst still at school and used an old Zenith SLR with a Tamron 300 mm lens. I've rediscovered my earlier interest and have graduated to digital - much easier to use for an amateur like me!
