News of a Little Crake at Blacktoft Sands RSPB broke this morning. Apparently, found by some visiting birders from Doncaster who thought they'd photographed a Spotted Crake, but upon showing the photo to one of the wardens the bird was immediately recognised as a female Little Crake.
I set off late morning and arrived at Blacktoft early afternoon. The car park was pretty full as was the Marshland Hide, where the Little Crake was viewable from. Fortunately, there was enough room to squeeze into the hide. After viewing the bird for a while stood at the back of the hide, a few folks left so there was a bit more room and I managed to get a seat at the front.
The Little Crake was moving left and right along the far side of the pool, in and out of the reeds, about 300yds distance, giving pretty decent 'scope views when it popped into the open momentarily.
Information about an adult Yellow-legged Gull at Hoylake off the lifeboat station was posted on the Wirral Birders WhatsApp group earlier today by Tim Kinch. Since this species is one of the embarrassing gaps in my life list, I sorted myself out and headed over to Hoylake.
A short time later I was at the lifeboat station. Tim was still on site and had the Yellow-legged Gull in his 'scope. I couldn't resist his invitation to have a quick look! I then set up my 'scope and proceeded to watch the gull as it spent most of its time roosting, facing away. It did move a couple of times and was still present when I departed. Great to finally catch up with this species and a local bird, which was my preference.
An Eastern Black-eared Wheatear was found by local birders Paul Ellis & Paul Slade at Fluke Hall, Lancashire on 1st September 2019. Since the bird is a female there was a lot of umming & erring over the identity because it's very similar to Pied Wheatear. The identity was finally clinched by Chris Batty from some of Paul Ellis's photos. Hopefully, DNA analysis will confirm this...
I travelled to The Fylde this afternoon. As I entered the car park at the end of Fluke Hall Lane, I noticed some birders on the embankment obviously looking at someting. The Eastern Black-eared Wheatear was supposed to be half a mile to the west of the car park, but I thought it wise just to check before setting off westwards. A good job I did because the bird was just the other side of the embankment as I approached the birders & was immediately obvious perched on top of a boulder.
The Eastern Black-eared Wheatear soon moved a few yards to the west & was then on view almost continually, right next to the car park, perching for lengthy periods on top of selected boulders, swathed in bright afternoon sunlight.
A Brown Booby (1cy) was found at Kynance Cove, Cornwall by local birder D. Collins on Monday 2nd September 2019. Incredibly, this bird appeared shortly after a 2cy bird disappeared from St. Ives after a short stay. Brown Booby is not on the British List, so with these two individuals and another possibly off the Kent coast recently, seems like a boom time for Boobies!
With the Brown Booby still present the next day, I arranged transport & set off early Wednesday morning. However, there was a problem with the car which meant I had to return it. Since there were no sightings most of Wednesday afternoon I didn't set off on Thursday morning. Sightings continued as normal on Thursday, which saw me heading south early Friday morning & arriving on site shortly after midday.
Worryingly, the weather had closed in, but cleared as I approached The Lizard. Although conditions were a bit damp & misty on site it was clear the bird wasn't on its favoured perch, half way up the small pyramid shaped rock to the extreme left of the group of rocks known as Gull Rock. There was a small group of birders high up & further round, giving them a view of the other side of Gull Rock where the Brown Booby was perched. Knowing the bird hadn't been seen for a while, I was pondering the possibility of moving vs. waiting for it to fly, consequently hadn't set up my 'scope. Suddenly, the shout went up from a guy from Northampton (didn't get a name) right next to me who I'd been chatting with, "There it is!". The Brown Booby sailed towards us passing closely as it disappeared below the outcrop we were standing on. Several birders swivelled round as one and watched the bird fishing in the bay for about half an hour.
The Brown Booby made several circuits of the bay flying quite close at times. On its return trip back to Gull Rock it again flew very close below us, appeared a couple of times briefly to the left from behind Gull Rock and disappeared round the back.
News of a Little Bustard at Mickletown Ings, West Yorkshire broke on Tuesday 6th August 2019. A photo had been posted online the previous evening in an attempt to identify the bird. Site details were released on Tuesday morning prompting a large twitch. Whilst in the grand scheme of things Little Bustard has a lot of UK records, there haven't been many in recent years & those recent records have been short stayers. Consequently, a lot of birders (including me) needed Little Bustard. I didn't fancy being part of a large crowd, so kept cool until today when I headed over to West Yorkshire, arriving mid-afternoon.
As hoped, there wasn't a lot of folks on site, which made it easy to find a decent spot to look from. Although the bird was viewable pretty soon after my arrival, views were only of its head & neck popping up every so often as it wandered along the distant fence line, about half a mile away, in a gully. Eventually, after a couple of hours wait, the male Little Bustard wandered out into the field for a short while, giving excellent views.
There's been a Painted Lady invasion going on for a few months now over the whole of the UK. Earlier this week quite a few of these butterflies descended on the buddleia growing wild in my back yard. Today there were even more! I live in a two-up two-down terraced house, so any form of wildlife is a bonus, let alone a swarm (perhaps too strong a word, but flock would be more accurate). In fact, a kaleidoscope of Painted Ladies.
A Terek Sandpiper appeared at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB early evening. Identified by local birder Dave King, this is the third record for Cheshire & Wirral & a new bird for the UK for me.
I'm curently without transport, so was relieved local birder Colin Schofield offerd a lift to BMW. The Terek Sandpiper was on view as soon as we arrived about 8.30pm, feeding on the far side of the main scrape. There were a lot of folks present as we squeezed through & set up our gear. Although views were distant, they were continuous as the bird fed all along the edge of the mud. However, I found it impossible to get anything like a decent photo, so the bleary image above will have to do... Actual views through the 'scope were much better, especially as the last of the setting sun's rays illuminated the bird's plumage and bright yellow legs.
Many thanks to RSPB Warden Graham Jones for keeping the reserve open and thanks to Colin for enabling me to see this bird.
Previous records: 1999 Frodsham, No.5 Tank, 26th to 27th April (G. Bellingham). 2009 Heswall Shore, 14th to 15th July (S. Hinde).
