Local Marsh Tit

Nice to watch a local Marsh Tit at Watergrove Reservoir near Rochdale yesterday. Also seen were about 80 Pink footed geese earlier flying over Dovestone going North

Martin Mere and Parkgate

Myself and Dave had a great day out in the winter sunshine heading to Martin Mere and Parkgate Marsh. We were straight onto 9 Corn Buntings at Martin Mere but I could get any shots as the sun was behind them. We headed into the reserve and had great views of a roosting Tawny Owl. There were good numbers of Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Pintail, and Pinkfooted Goose. There were 3 Peregrine looking like two adults and a juvenile and we watched the large female eating a freshly caught Teal. Before leaving we went back to see if we could see any more Corn Buntings and we were rewarded with a flock of around 25, one of which flew to a nearby bush allowing some decent shots. We then headed to Parkgate on the Dee estuary and had excellent views of several female Hen Harriers plus 2 Merlin one of which chased a small bird up onto the sky and swooped at it several times but didn't catch its prey

20131130 103731 from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.

Peregrine at Martin Mere from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.



Corn Bunting at Martin Mere from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.



Corn Bunting at Martin Mere from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.

Ross's Goose

I dashed over to Marshside Marsh RSPB near Southport this afternoon and saw a Ross's Goose among some Pink Footed Geese and Greylags. Got some video footage from the  phone attached to the Swaro via a Phone Scope.

Snow Goose

Managed to connect with a Lesser Snow Goose blue morph feeding with Pink footed geese in fields at Eagland Hill Lancashire. Distant scope views though. We moved the car to another point but failed in the next 2 hours to relocate the bird among several hundred Pink foots. Also had excellent views of a Barn Owl hunting and saw large flocks of Skylark and some Yellowhammer.

Sublime Norfolk

Yesterday myself and Dave Evans had an early start for a day's birding in Norfolk. We got to the Wolverton triangle by 9 and spent an hour going round and searching on foot to no avail. We decided on one more circuit before moving off to the coast and unbelievably there by the side of the wood on the grass verge was a magnificent Golden Pheasant. I rushed to grab the camera but by the time I had it in hand a horse rider had gone past and spooked the bird which returned into the undergrowth not to be seen again.
We then moved onto Burnham Overy Staithe and quickly saw a large flock of 50-70 Lapland Buntings. They could be viewed in flight but when they landed in the stubble field they disappeared underneath the grass! It was obviously not going to be the best day for photography. We moved along the coast to Holkham in search of firecrest and rough-legged buzzard but the trees appeared lifeless and it seemed hopeless to find a small bird in the large wooded area. We went 100yds west of the end of the drive and suddently saw a small bird fly into low undergrowth and start flitting about in true gold/firecrest behaviour. As we had earlier seen a Goldcrest we needed a good view and the Gods were with us as it moved up into the tree where it ws clear we were watching a beautiful Firecrest. The bird books really dont prepare for you how bright and exquisite this little gem looks in the flesh. A truly unforgettable experience to see my first one and this rivals the first Hawfinch I ever saw.
No rough-legged buzzards were seen but there was a Common Buzzard close by and an unusually raptor like Wood Pigeon !
We moved to Wells and quickly saw the Black Brant present with Dark-bellied Brent Geese. There was another goose that intermediate features between a black brant and a brent goose.
It was then onto Buckingham marsh where we had a distant scope view of the long staying Lesser white fronted goose present with 70-80 Taiga Bean geese. A nice male Marsh Harrier flew by on the walk back to the car. We then drove the short distance to GreatYarmouth and incredibly we had parked at the exact point along the coast where the Velvet scoter was present about 50m out to sea!
Finally we went to Bradwell and saw a fine looking Ruddy Shellduck in a group of Egyptian geese. Quite an incredible day where we were successful in all target birds. Norfolk continues to be a mecca for birding and will no doubt draw us back soon

                                               Above a very approachable Pink-footed goose.

                                            Above is the Black Brant goose hiding his head!

Above is a shit picture of the Firecrest we saw!

Above are the pretty Egyptian geese

                                           This is the even prettier Ruddy Shelduck

                                                Record shots of the female Velvet Scoter

                                                          Male Marsh harrier

Taiga Bean Goose

Went over to Fairburn Ings on Wednesday 11th. January. Eventually picked out the Taiga Bean goose amongst the hundreds of Greylags and 2 Pink footed geese. Other highlights were a drake Ruddy duck and some Pintail

Bean Geese in West Yorkshire

I popped over the border into West Yorkshire this lunchtime to have a look at the Tundra Bean Geese which thankfully are still present at Broadstone. There were 4 present and they kept themselves separate from a flock of 50-60 Pink Footed Geese and this made a good comparison of the subtle differences between the 2 species. Nice to see such a scarce species locally