Hares.

We are really lucky in our new house to be surrounded by fields (mainly unimproved pasture) and we've had a couple of Hares regularly in the field opposite. Its great to see them and unfortunately they're an increasingly scarce sight these days.

Rabbits, of course, are more numerous and when we first moved in we regularly had a couple in the garden. With all the building work they rapidly moved on so I was surprised to look out of the window and see this one hopping across the back lawn!

Great stuff.

RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands - the Camargue of the N West!

Unfortunately, despite living almost within sight of this site (as the bird flies its probably about 5 miles away),  I rarely get there. These days I prefer birding my local patch or going to Hilbre. However, news that Colin Wells had found a Buff-breasted Sandpiper piqued my interest and a day later the bird was still showing so I played it cool, went to Hilbre and waited until the crowds would have died down later in the afternoon before trundling through the lanes to Puddington.

The Buff-breastewd Sandpiper was showing well but distantly  - this was my 3rd in Cheshire following a bird at Frodsham in 1981 whilst still at Manchester University and a 2nd at the same site in 2012. Alas this one still wasn't close enough to get more than a record shot (unlike the birds we regularly see on Shetland!).

Although the Buff-breasted Sandpiper was the star attraction the real performers were the Great (White) Egrets - one was viewable from the Marsh Covert hide along with a Cattle Egret and Little Egret. Another Great Egret was showing well in a field of cows on the way back to on the reception centre. Both birds were in breeding condition as in non breeding condition the bills are yellow and the lores are paler rather than the vivid green these birds showed. At least one had well developed 'aigrettes'.

Record shot of Cattle Egret below:

Its hard to believe that both these species were, until recently, major Cheshire rarities and subject to scrutiny by the county rarities committee!

As well as the egrets other waders putting on a display included Black-tailed Godwits with one confiding individual feeding on blood worms close to the reception centre.

 Another bird that has only recently colonised Cheshire is the ubiquitous Avocet!

Again, these were once a major rarity in Cheshire with my first birds being seen around 2005 on the Weaver bend at Frodsham.  The RSPB have recently announced at least one pair of Cattle Egrets are breeding on site. With all these species and  singing Cetti's Warbler it really was like the Camargue.

Back to Hilbre - up with the Lark!

An early tide meant an early start for the Hilbre regulars Saturday morning. Setting my alarm at 03.30 I was on the way by 04.00 and met up with the other s art West Kirby at 04.30. Despite the early start the tide was already quite advanced.

There were no grounded migrants apart fro ma single Wheatear but as the sun rose the Shorelark put on a good display. Whilst photographing the meadow Pipit below I couldn't work out what Alan was photographing to my left.

All was revealed when the Shorelark popped into my view finder!

 Unfortunately the forecast rain then materialised and we beat a hasty retreat to the obs before leaving for the mainland as the tide receded.

There were fewer waders than of late with just a few Dunlin, Oystercatchers, Whimbrel and Ringed Plover being logged.

A trip to Hilbre and another Whinchat.

I managed another, all to infrequent, trip to the Obs recently and was lucky enough to ring this female Whinchat. So far this spring we've ringed three which is good going seeing as we don't catch them annually!

This one was aged as a Euring 5 (hatched last year).

There were a few Willow Warblers and Whitethroats around but Blackcaps have been very thin on the ground with one ringed so far this year.

An enjoyable day with good company and I got home in time to find this beast strutting around the garden as if he owned it!

Shore Lark, Hilbre

I was intending to get up and join Steve on Hilbre this morning but a number of maintenance issues made me decide to stay home. Oiling oak doors is a messy business and  I had rubber gloves on so when the message tone on the phone kept going I ignored it. Luckily Steve is persistent and its only when  I recognised the ring tone devoted to Hilbre regulars that I realised it was something good! It was. The Islands first twitchable Shore Lark.

With my Landrover off the road for its rebuild I had to rely on Al H for a lift and he met me at West Kirby Marine Lake for the journey across to the Island where Steve and Colin were doing a sterling job of preventing people from flushing it. I'm glad to say that the public seemed to appreciate and acknowledge their explanation and didn't walk down to the north end and flush it.

A quick turn round before the tide flooded and I was home finishing my chores.
A great day and a well deserved find for Steve who puts in serious effort on the Island

Little Owls

'Looks good round here for Little Owl' said Groucho when he first visited our new house last September. 'Never seen one in this area' I said. Blow me a couple of days later one pops up on the roof  calling. After that we had a few sightings but all the building work seemed to have scared him off.  Fast forward a few months and I heard a peculiar 'song' coming from trees in a field behind the house.   A Little Owl singing his love song is a weird sound and not one I'd heard much before so it took me awhile to figure it out (to me it sounds like a muted, softer Scops Owl).

Virtually every night we'd hear this strange little one note song but  I couldn't pin it down until one sunny afternoon I decided to scan the trees to see if I could see him sunbathing. And there he was  - about 100 m from our bedroom window in an old oak. Next there were two and now they're breeding!

Little Owls are one of my favourite UK birds, full of character and expression. I've got a painting by Cheshire born artist, Nigel Artingstall, that Jan bought me for Christmas a few years ago of a Little Owl perched on a fence post that captures the character and fierce expression perfectly.

They're a bit distant to photograph and I don't want to disturb them by crawling closer to their tree but I've managed a couple of phonescoped shots.

 Both Little Owls outside their nesting hole.

The pond that keeps on giving.

When we bought this house in September last year I had no idea that the pond we can see across the fields from an upstairs window would be so attractive to birds! I'd hoped for a wader or two but this spring has so far exceeded my limited expectations. I'd hoped for a Green Sandpiper or possibly a Redshank but last week we had a Ruff (see previous post) and this weekend was the turn of a Little-ringed Plover that spent a few hours around the pond margins before sunset.

Interestingly the Ruff and the Ringed-plover have turned up after lunch which means getting any decent phone-scoped shots is impossible as I'm looking into the sun. I check the pond every morning to see if anything has dropped in over night but afternoons seem to be the best.

With spending the whole weekend working in the garden I logged an impressive list of 45 species which is the highest total count for the year so far. These included the L R P and my first Swift of the year and both Lesser and Common Whitethroats in the front garden.