Around 15.00 this afternoon I received a text from a friend telling me a Bonelli's Warbler (no one had confirmed whether it was eastern or western) had been found on Billinge Hill, about 15mins from my house. The original report stated the bird was in St Helens, but I know the county boundary runs along the top of Billinge Hill, so I was hopeful the bird would actually be in GM.
On arriving at the site it was absolutely teeming down, so I sat in the car for 10mins or so. The copse it was reported to be in was only a five minute walk from the car, and there were several birders already there looking for the bird. I met up with a couple of birders I know from St Helens, and had a good chinwag in the absence of the Bonelli's. The copse was mainly pine with only a few deciduous trees, and the gen was that the bird had moved through the copse, and probably off along a hedgerow leading north or east.
I left after an hour or so when the rain started again. Sadly it had not been relocated last time I heard, but it was confirmed the bird was in GM and not St Helens, Merseyside. It would be fantastic if it were re-found but especially if its in GM.
Monday, 31 August 2015
Delayed Holiday Post!!
I have just (well, two weeks ago now) returned from a wonderful family holiday in the Algarve, Portugal. We stayed in the Albufeira Sol in the 'new' bit of the town, and if anybody is thinking of staying there I can recommend it as a family hotel. The food was also excellent. As this was our annual family holiday I didn't try to do too much birding. That's often the case on our family holidays - usually I just end ip finding some suitable habitat nearby and birding there as a 'local patch' for a couple of weeks. This time unfortunately there was nothing really suitable nearby which was disappointing.
The saving grace however was the fact that we didn't have a pool view. In fact some would have been a bit miffed with the view that we had but I was well chuffed. As you can see in the photo's we were looking out over a rough patch with a few lime trees and scrubby bushes, and it was from our balcony that I did all my birding. Considering the limited opportunity I was more than happy with what I saw in a half hour or so each morning.
House sparrows and collared doves were ubiquitous. However the first good bird was a crested lark that perched up on the old farm buildings. This was swiftly followed by a good number of red-rumped swallows feeding around the villa opposite. Sardinian warblers seemed like they were in every bush. The two big highlights though were the appearance of 8 or so azure-winged magpies and a juvenile woodchat shrike in the lime trees. I had fantastic views of both, if a little distant. The red-rumped swallows came so close and were so numerous that I spent quite a bit of time studying the variable colouration of the rumps. Some 'rumps' do indeed look white (as per the field guide comments) whilst others are very definitely red. They are also quite different in their 'jizz' compared to barn swallows; I just hope I manage to remember that next time I'm at Spurn watching the swallows whizz past.
When we were sat in the airport waiting to board the plane on the outbound journey, I received a text from a friend telling me he had found a sabine's gull at Pennington Flash - a local patch of mine. This bird would have been a patch tick as well as a borough and county tick for me so I was really gutted to have missed it, but made up for the finder. All the time I was in Portugal I was checking the news feeds and manchester birding website whenever I had WIFI access, and amazingly, the bird was hanging around. I was hoping beyond hope it might just hang on until I returned. Remarkably it was still present the day I got home, so as soon as we dropped the cases off at home I grabbed my 'bins and shot off to Pennington Flash. I'm not generally a lover of gulls, but this little larid is a stunner, especially in flight. I only had a few minutes to watch it - a twitch and run visit. I had hoped to get back to grab some shots, but it left before I could return.
The saving grace however was the fact that we didn't have a pool view. In fact some would have been a bit miffed with the view that we had but I was well chuffed. As you can see in the photo's we were looking out over a rough patch with a few lime trees and scrubby bushes, and it was from our balcony that I did all my birding. Considering the limited opportunity I was more than happy with what I saw in a half hour or so each morning.
House sparrows and collared doves were ubiquitous. However the first good bird was a crested lark that perched up on the old farm buildings. This was swiftly followed by a good number of red-rumped swallows feeding around the villa opposite. Sardinian warblers seemed like they were in every bush. The two big highlights though were the appearance of 8 or so azure-winged magpies and a juvenile woodchat shrike in the lime trees. I had fantastic views of both, if a little distant. The red-rumped swallows came so close and were so numerous that I spent quite a bit of time studying the variable colouration of the rumps. Some 'rumps' do indeed look white (as per the field guide comments) whilst others are very definitely red. They are also quite different in their 'jizz' compared to barn swallows; I just hope I manage to remember that next time I'm at Spurn watching the swallows whizz past.
Rubbish shots of Red-rumped Swallow
When we were sat in the airport waiting to board the plane on the outbound journey, I received a text from a friend telling me he had found a sabine's gull at Pennington Flash - a local patch of mine. This bird would have been a patch tick as well as a borough and county tick for me so I was really gutted to have missed it, but made up for the finder. All the time I was in Portugal I was checking the news feeds and manchester birding website whenever I had WIFI access, and amazingly, the bird was hanging around. I was hoping beyond hope it might just hang on until I returned. Remarkably it was still present the day I got home, so as soon as we dropped the cases off at home I grabbed my 'bins and shot off to Pennington Flash. I'm not generally a lover of gulls, but this little larid is a stunner, especially in flight. I only had a few minutes to watch it - a twitch and run visit. I had hoped to get back to grab some shots, but it left before I could return.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)