Part 1. Singing the praises of the Canaries.

Part 1 - Tuesday 6th July.

Members of the Wirral Sea Watching Association, led by Mr A. Albatross, had planned an assault on the Canaries to search for the elusive White-faced Storm Petrel! Messrs  Conlin, Dummigan, Mullins, Williams & Woollen set off on a meticulously planned trip incorporating 4 islands and 4 ferry crossings from Liverpool airport courtesy of Ryan Air.

Flying early morning meant getting up in darkness and meeting up at my place before heading for Liverpool and our flight to Lanzarote. Despite the early morning start none of us managed to sleep, due to the uncomfortable seats, but we survived and arrived at the airport and got a transfer to our hotel in nearby Arrecife. The weather was overcast and quite cool so we quickly decided to head out straight away whilst the light was reasonably good.

With the room allocations sorted we set about sorting out a hire car for a trip into the arid central region to search for some of the islands specialities before the main seawatching event planned the next day.

We set off in our hired Mercedes towards San Bartolome before heading towards Teguise and turning off opposite the factory mentioned by Clarke & Collins in 'A Birdwatchers Guide to the Canary Islands'.  Stopping at good vantage points we scanned the surrounding areas and sson picked up Southern Grey Shrike, Stone Curlew and Bertholets Pipit but there was no sign of the so called ubiquitous Lark or our two main target birds.

A nearby rubbish tip provided us with our Larid fix and amongst the many Yelllow-legged Gulls Kenny D picked out two Lesser Blackbacks.

By now the sun had broken through and we realised like complete d*ck heads we'd not brought any water or sun cream with us. Spotting a more arid region ahead we drove along the dusty rutted tracks before deciding to park up and walk the various tracks around us.  A very good move. Within minutes Allan had found one of our target birds - Houbara Bustard. Although the heat haze was getting a bit bad we all had good views of the birds on the ground and in flight.

A brilliant start and it got better. Despite recent reports that Cream-coloured Coursers were getting scarce and hard to find I spotted a single distant bird and called the others over only for Eddie & Kenny to spot two more birds lurking nearby. We now had three together in the scope. Meanwhile Al had found a small group of Trumpeter finches - one of several we were to see at various places.

Driving around the area we spotted more Houbara's but no ubiquitous larks. Suddenly we realised that the flashing light on the dashboard meant we had no fuel. Shit. The car hire company had neglected to tell us they hadn't fueled the car. Not a good place to run out of diesel and the ligh t had bee nflashing since we picked the car up. With twitchy bums we headed out of the desert towards San Bartolome to find a garage. Here began the first of many extraordinary coincidences that led us to seeing birds we may not have otherwise seen.

Luckily for us there was a Tapas bar next to the garage as we were now hungry having eaten nothing since breakfast at the airport. A celebratory beer and tapas ordered by Spannish speaking Eddie went down a treat and we decided to head towards the northern most point of the Island at Mirador Del Rio in the hope of seeing Barbary Falcoln. Unfortunatley the whole area was shrouded in low cloud so we sacked it and headed

back towards Teguise and down towards the golf course at Tachiche stopping at suitable looking habitat on the way as we were still searching for the ubiquitous lark of the arid areas.

Finding a likely spot we walked the tracks towards some agricultural fields finding nothing but a couple of Spectacled Warblers. Suddenly we came across them - the ubiquitous larks. All together in one big flock with a couple of Trumpeter Finches and a handful of Bertholets Pipits were at least 120 Lesser Short-toed Larks. Success.

Arriving at the golf course around 18.00 I asked at the desk for permission to wander the fairways which was granted providing we didn't walk on the greens. The irrigated golf course is one of the best places on the islands to find Barbary Partridge and it didn't disappoint with approximately 50 being found in small groups along with numerous Bertholets and 7 Hoopoes.

Over a well earned beer we discussed the plumage differences between the various Bertholets we'd seen concluding the greyer birds were worn adults whilst the browner birds were juveniles.

Heading back to Arricefe we parked the car on the seafront and checked out the breeding Cattle Egrets inland of the beach and a very showy Kentish Plover just below the seawall.

Next day was our big seawatching day on the ferry between Lanzarote and Tenerife (via Gran Canaria althoug hwe didn't know this  at the time...............) so a meal, a couple of beers and an early night were planned. The best laid plans..................Sod it. We'd had such a good day we deserved a few more beers.

Another cage bird for the list.

House Finch. East Prawle.

Enough said.

Anyway, back to real birds. Amazing start to the weekend today whe nI looked out the bathroom window to find this juvenile Moorhen at eyeball level. The parents have chased the first brood off the pond and this one thinks its a passerine and spends most of its day in our trees.

Even better, as I was walking Molly at the unerathly hour of  06.30 I heard the 'chip, chip, chip' of Crossbills and looked up in time to see a party of nine flying south over the garden. The second group in a month. With large numbers at Delamere during the spring its obviously a good year for them in Cheshire.

Elsewhere in the garden the local Hosue Sparrows are making the most of the bird bath nd I'm having to refill it at elast twice a day during this hot spell.

With the temperature t ohot to do match walking I decided to pay a rare visit to Inner Marsh Farm RSPB. Finding myself the only person in the hide was a surprising but very enjoyable experince. Great views of Balck-tailed Godwits with a single (distant) Spotted Redshank and male Ruff thrown in for good measure.
 

 
A single marauding Hobby over the woods at the back of the reserve completed the round up.

Quail

Highlight of the week so far has been a Quail at Lymm. Found by local birder Richard Hargreaves in a field by his house. Picking up Al Orton last night we were soon on site but had to wait an hour for the little b*gger to call - twice. Then silence...................

More locally the only garden birds of note were two Nuthatches that spent last Sunday in the garden whilst a Lesser Whitethroat has started singing again nearby.  A quick trip to Rivacre Valley was nice as both Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail were seen along Rivacre Brook. Vert little else though apart from a very dodgy sounding Chiffchaff near the rangers hut.

Garden birds!

Plastic fantastic & an anniversary.

Things are getting bad in the birding World. Hot on the news that a Black Woodpecker seen in Cumbria earlier this year comes the following gem from Birdguides:

"Further to the earlier report of Great White Egret in Suffolk, birders should note that the large egret viewable on a small pool from the Needham Market-Stowmarket train is in fact plastic."


It brings a whole new meaning to the derogratory birding term 'plastic'

The anniversary?

15th June 2009 - see here:

http://wirralbirders.blogspot.com/2009/06/move-over-debbie-shearwater.html

Theres still time for a rare tern to show on the Wirral and with a Roseate shacked up with a Common Tern at nearby Seaforth a prolonged seawatch might just bring rewards.

Most of the activity locally centres around the feeders and with a new generation of young birds now making use of them I'm having to fill them daily.

The Moorhens are managing to hang on to most of their second brood on the pond but one
 youngster was found dead during the week and looked as it had fallen prey to a local cat.

There are now five from the first brood and five from the second brood plus two adults on the pond. In the last week the adults have started getting more aggressive towards the first brood and chae them across the pond presumably trying to drive them away to find their own territories.

Only a mother could love this ugly little thing.

A survivor.

Despite the exceptionally cold winter and the gloomy forecasts that our smaller birds would suffer I've been suprised to find both Goldcrests and Wrens still in good numbers locally. This male, having survived the cold winter, obviously feels industructible and not even a heavy rain shower was going to put him off singing. Goldcrests have  fledged young in Stanney Woods and I know if three other singing males in our area.

Unfortunately our Robins were predated by a Magpie Saturday morning - I woke up to hear  a commotion and looked out to see two Magpies on the garage roof and fearing the worst, went out to find the nest destroyed and empty. That's two Robins nests and three known Blackbirds nests a single pair of Magpies have destroyed in our garden this year.

Birding quiet at the moment and I've not been able to get out to Hilbre for a couple of weeks now. Plenty of other wildlife around though:

Chicken of the Woods.

Bee Orchid - only one flowering plant so far this year.

Water fowl.

Called in at my secret pond today just in case a Great Reed or Cetti's Warbler had decided to call it temporary home. You never no......................

Nothing so exotic but a female Pochard was a nice surprise and the local Coots have raised a brood.

Slightly closer to home our local Moorhens have hatched a second brood of four chicks and the orignal brood are busily helping their parents feed their siblings. Our Robin has hatched four young in the nest by the garden gate, the Bluetits and Great Tits have all fledged as have the Goldfinches in the Laurel hedge. The feeders are now teeming with young birds. Sad news on the Blackbird front though  - I actually saw a Magpie raid the nest and steal the eggs.

Another trip to Nottingham Thursday morning was brightened considerably by a Red Kite flying over the M6 near J18 as the traffic slowed for the inevitable tailback at Sandbach. Someday soon they will surely nest in Cheshire.

Great Reed Warbler

Finally caught up with Ilkestons Great Reed Warbler today after working nearby. Although the weather was poor with heavy showers I decided to make the attempt and I'm glad I did! What a ridiculously large and loud bird for a small bit of phragmities.

I was the only person there and as soon as I arrived the GRW proclaimed its presence, shattering the peace and drowning out the local Willow Warblers with its strident song. Suddnelly it appeared on the reeds in front of me and proceeded to preen before having another sing song and shooting off to the other side of the small lake where it clambered up and down bullrush stems looking for insects.