Richard's Pipit and Greater Manchester Glossy Ibis

Up to County Durham for Richard's Pipit, two in a field at Whitburn coastal park with good scope views. On the way home popped into Fairburn Ings, pretty quiet with a couple of Ruff feeding close to Lin Dike hide. Best was left to last with 4 Glossy Ibis near Horwich

Glossy Ibis

Yesterday we headed south west in search of petrels battling against the weather. Sadly the weather wasn't bad enough so no petrels at Severn Beach. We did see two Manx Shearwaters though. One out at sea and another being rescued by a local who found it exhausted on the rocks. Apparently after a 4 hour rest it was successfully released. The day wasn't a complete failure as we went down to Meare and had good scope views of a Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis!

Went to Leighton Moss ( again!!)  and were straight onto the Glossy Ibis showing very well near the rail crossing. We then went onto Heysham and got decent views of the juvenile Glaucous Gull and got some useful tips from local birder Pete Cook about where to go for the best views of the harbour. Then it was onto Fleetwood marine lake for the Long Tailed Duck. We also had the best views of a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers I have ever had!
Before returning home myself and cousin Dave decided to check out Marton mere. There were plenty of Teal, Pochard, and Wigeon. We also glimpsed a distant Sparrowhawk. Talking to some local birders they mentioned that a pair of Bewick Swans had been seen in a field close by and sure enough we located them along with 2 Mute Swans.
Overall an excellent day out in good warm conditions and a total of 4 new species to add to our lists.