There be Hobby's and Dragons in these here parts

RSPB Liverpool says 'Save our Hen Harriers'

Here's a few photies from last sundays's trip to Rixton and Risley

Seriously noisy, no sneaking past

We arrived with the car booters and   managed to get past the sites 30 white farm yard ‘guard’ geese, you don’t wanna mess with these guys.

Rixton rich grasslands

Rixton Cley pits is a wildlife haven, Easy to follow grassy paths, with the odd stile, take you to ponds, calcareous grassland, wildflower meadows, and woodland.

Gatekeeper

  

Meadow brown

Although not teeming with birds, other wildlife of interest kept us entertained,  butterflies, fabulous hawking dragon and damsels and gt created and smooth  newts in the ponds.

Fortunately the reserve wasn’t flooded this year despite a bit of a deluge earlier in the week.

Looking for newts

4 spotted chaser

Southern hawker

Blue tailed damselfly

Broad bodied chaser

Hebridean sheep 

Baaaa. we were not alone!. Hebridean sheep have been introduced to the site and are playing an important part in  conserving this special wildlife Reserve & SSSI. The rare plants which grow on Rixton Clay Pits grasslands are under threat from scrub-invasion and rougher grasses. The plants need a short turf to survive and the sheep will graze out the scrub to allowing the plants to flourish.

Highlight of the site were great views of a kestrel family, juv’s perched on wires, parents hunting on grassland over an adjacent field. We did see hobby briefly but better was to come.

Kestrel

  

Kestrel

Risley moss has a visitor centre and its paths are broader and more defined. 

Tower hide, Risley

Our main location was by the tower hide, which gave us extensive views over the surrounding woodland and peat bog, and a distant view of the tip and it's swarming gulls. 

Hobby hunters

Highlight of this visit was a fabulous hobby; Who when not perched in an oak, frequently swooped over the bog, catching and eating dragonflies on the wing.   Oh and a yellowhammer,  a little golden singing beacon.

Hobby perched in Oak

Bird list  :  Reed bunting, cormorant, blackbird, carrion crow, white farm  geese, canada geese, mute swan, gadwall, coot, moorhen, mallard , goldfinch. yellowhammer, whitethroat, blackbird, song thrush, bullfinch, chiff chaff, willow warbler, blue tit, great tit, swallow, jay, magpie, house martin, dunnock, nuthatch, swift, chaffinch ,long tailed tit, blackcap, heron, house sparrow, greenfinch, feral  pigeon, wood pigeon, starling wren, buzzard, kestrel ,hobby, black headed, lesser black backed, herring  gulls 

Laura

Cornflakes to Corncrakes?

Atmospheric Mull

The three RSPB birders, Ron Alan and myself have just returned from a four day birding trip to the Island of Mull. We drove up first thing at 4am on Sunday morning and encountered torrential rain for the best part of our journey. Things didn't look good for us at this point of our journey.

Eiders

After catching the ferry from Oban, we arrived on a misty Mull around 14:00hrs, dropped off our gear at the hotel and went for a drive around the middle part of the island in the rain (we must have been keen, mad or both ?)

Even though the wind and the rain were still evident, the scenery and terrain was stunning especially with the `spate` waterfalls cascading off the top of the mountains were a sight to be seen especially for migrating fish.

Mull waterfall

It stopped raining around 18:00hrs as the weather front blew over and we were lucky to see three Short eared owls hunting and were perched on fence posts and on the ground on the high moor.

Short eared owl

Unfortunately i hadn't bothered to take my main camera and lens with me, due to all the heavy rain and didn't envisage seeing anything what with the poor conditions ... so!, how wrong can one be while out birding ?

Sea otter

We also saw a Sea Otter eating a crab on a small outcrop of rock in the sea but the light was still bad as it was overcast and misty and my photo's didn't turn out too good.

On the Monday and after a good nights sleep, we woke up early and had a full Scottish breakfast (would be rude not to) which was a toss up between getting out early to see the Corncrakes or enjoying our full Scottish breakfast (including Black Puddings ... even the white bits were black) In the end they both had priority.

The weather had brightened up by then, but it was still very windy and we decided to drive over to the other side of the Island and catch the ferry to Iona, to try and get a glimpse of the elusive Corncrakes. Up until a few decades or so ago they nearly went extinct due to the farming practices of that time. Since then the farmers have been educated by the RSPB and now cut their fields after the chicks had fledged.

The ferry crossing was a bit rough but us old sea dogs were use to that .. and when on the Island we only had to walk twenty yards past the village to where the birds were last seen by our previous years RSPB group. Because this year we were there three weeks earlier, the grass hadn't grown and was too short in that particular field for the birds to hide in.

Saying that, we did see one scampering away along the track from us, then disappeared into some Iris plants in a ditch ....

Corncrake

We then made out way towards the old Abbey where all the Scottish kings are buried and heard a familiar sound of "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" in the distance  ... we eventually located our first Cuckoo of the year. Always a nice sound to hear which announces the official beginning of Spring.

As we walked back towards the village, we got chatting to a few birders, who had actually seen the Corncrakes and had taken a photograph of them with their mobile phone. They very kindly gave us the exact location, which was a small patch of grass behind the Spar shop in the village. 

crex crex

So we immediately headed off in that direction and as we got neared we could hear the distinctive sound of the birds calling. In fact they were a bit too close for my lens, as i struggled to get them into the frame. I expected that they'd be a lot further away than they were, so hadn't bothered to take a smaller lens with me.

We had a very good view, as they were very vocal in calling a prospective mate. It just sounded like someone running their fingernail over the ends of the teeth of a comb in front of a loud speaker.

After about and hour or so on the island, we then caught the ferry back to the mainland and braved the rough seas again. 

Yellowhammer

Then off around the Island looking for more birds .... the roads were mainly one track with periodic passing places, which during the height of summer must be horrendous what with all the tour buses and visitors cars etc on the island and not to mention the midges and Black fly who tend to prefer human blood for their sustenance.

One of the residents - highland cow

On the Tuesday, the heavy rain and mist rolled in again, swamping the green and rocky landscapes of the Island. 

We called into the Hotel California ... errrm! "The Eagles" watch in the forestry area but due to the heavy mist we had to abandon that, as we couldn't see across the valley to where the nest was . So returned in the afternoon when the weather had blown over.

eagles soar

We saw the male White tailed and Golden hotels ... errrm! Eagles soaring high in the sky with the female white tailed Eagle on the nest with two young. They could just be made out using a scope but the eerie was well over a quarter of a mile away and with the occasional shower and misty conditions, made it difficult to see them.

Sightings list

On the Wednesday we had (fortunately) pre booked a boat tour from Ulva (for £35 each, which was well worth it), to see the White tailed Sea Eagles close up while being throw a fish by boat's skipper. We arrived at the harbour for 10am and the boat took us out into the bay near to the cliffs where the eagles recognise the feeding boat by sight and by name and eagerly flew in for their breakfast and no Black Puddings for them either.

 

The Skipper was restricted to how may fish he could feed to the Eagles. As if too many they will become lazy and rely too much on free hand-outs .. or perhaps that should be fish-outs in this case ??

I was fortunate enough to get some nice close up shots of the Eagles swooping down and snatching the supplied fish off the surface of the water. The light wasn't perfect and i had to tweak my photo's a bit to enhance the birds. They are magnificent and powerful birds to see close up ... and a must in everyone's lifetime.

Cheeky Rob

Thursday morning came and i was in the hotel foyer all packed up waiting to go when i was surprised by a cheeky Robin (to which they are) that fluttered in through the hotel's open doors and scampered around the floor, searching amongst the dining tables for any left over Black Pudding crumbs, which was a pleasure to see.

We caught the ferry back to Oban and after a long tiring drive, arrived home around 18:00hrs.

So all in all and despite the bad weather we all got a few firsts in the birds and it turned out to be a great holiday, although sadly we didn't see any Wales as that was too far away without having to go to Specsavers.  ;-)

Saying that, the boat Skipper informed us that Basking sharks had been seen in March this year. Which is very early for them, as the seas hadn't really warmed up enough to support the plumes of plankton for the feeding sharks .. or had they. ?

Gannet

P.S. What was noticeable was the lack of variety of small birds and wading birds on and around the Island ... perhaps a little early in the month ?

Neil ............ 

Idyllic Eskdale

Yellowhammer at the window

We recently spent a wonderful weekend at a brilliant B & B in Eskdale Green, in the Eskdale Valley, on the western side of the Lake District.

The B&B sits in the middle of it`s own five and a half acres of natural Fellside and ancient woodland, it has spectacular views across the Eskdale Valley.

The B&B has all the usual modern luxuries, but some things not many places can brag about, like roe deer in the garden and red squirrels feeding just the other side of the glass windows in the Conservatory! Not to mention the vast array of birds visiting the many feeders, including: blue, great and coal tits, gold and green finches, siskins, jay, yellow hammers. We just missed out on the barn and tawny owls! There are also bats roosting in one of their outbuildings.

So peaceful and idyllic, so many places worth a visit nearby.

Many interesting and easy walks from the house,  but also the climb up Scafell, can start from the house! 

For further info see one of the leaflets at the next meeting, or go to:

• www.foresthow.co.uk
• or email : info@forest how.co.uk 
• or phone : 019467 23201

Walney Island is very close by and worth a visit as is St Bees Head, as are the many bird and nature reserves, roman reserves, stone circles and  ancient crosses. and England`s oldest narrow gauge railway, including 7 miles of line, 12 locomotives and a railway museum.

Cherry

Red squirrels visiting

No moore birds, in search of the lesser spotted

In search of the lesser spotted woodpecker

We arrived mob handed at Moore. Over 20 eager birders arrived keen to find our target bird the lesser spotted woodpecker. All reports said it hung out in the woods by the car park in the morning and it had already been seen. Over half an hour later we still had not seen our quarry, despite straining our eyeballs searching, a great spotted showed well but nearly every flittering turned out to be a blessed blue tit.  And so it was to be, a day of chasing the tail of an elusive woodpecker, with passing birder conversations of ‘oh you've just missed it! Or no show’. Still along the way we saw some very nice birds...

We wandered down lapwing lane towards the feeding station hide, reed bunting, nuthatch, longed tailed tit, redwing; mistle thrush all appeared including a surprise sighting of bright yellow brimstone butterfly taking advantage of the fine weather.

A kettle of five buzzards were soaring on the thermals above the raptor watch hill...no woodpecker.

A report of a little owl hanging out in a nest box on the path to Norton marsh spurred us on. 

Red poll - Neil P

Two species of note observed along the path feeding in the trees were a redpoll and two fine siskins a striking male with his lady. 

As we reached the more open farmland landscape of upper moss side (acquired by the Mersey forest community project, complete with bird tables and nesting posts) we could see lots of birds in the hedgerow, tree sparrows perhaps? Yet no, stunning, not one but five yellowhammers, males so bright they stood out visibly with the naked eye, worth the detour alone...

Path to Norton marsh

We arrived at the area where the nest boxes were situated, something definitely in there, overhead a male kestrel hovered over the golden grass, soon to be joined by the bird in the box! It would appear our box wasn’t occupied by little owls  but beautiful kestrels, surprising as the box was not open fronted, but I guess better protected from the inclement weather of late, and the watchful crow positioned on the hedge nearby. 

Tables and posts -
 Norton marsh/upper Moss side

Kestrels - L Bimson

According to the signage, feeding tables positioned at various places attract great spotted woodpeckers, fieldfare, redwings, song thrush, linnet, tree sparrow and other common birds…we got mistle, redwing, robin, chaffinch, blackbird, blue and gt tits.  

A lunch stop at the Norton Marsh hide was next, overlooking the Mersey, opposite the looming high towers of the Fiddlers Ferry Power Station. Ranks of lapwings were joined by grey plover and shelducks.

Fox lox -Neil P

Returning to the path back to Moore we  came across a fox hunting on the  farmland, a fine healthy specimen, all bushy tail and inquisitiveness, puzzled by the human making distressed rabbit noises over the way!!

We meandered our way back through the mud, secretly hoping the lesser spotted would put in an appearance, it didn’t - no such luck. So we pushed on aiming for the distant eastern reed bed with reported sightings of a green woodpecker buoying us. Observing the lagoons on the way we noted the cutest little grebe, catching tiny silverfish in front of the hide, a little smile for the day. Resplendent gadwall and shovellers along with the more usual mallard, grey heron, Canadian geese and cormorant, sadly no sign of a goldeneye seen earlier- probably on the other side of the Island. Flitting through the lagoon side undergrowth a pretty marsh tit entertained us for a while, intent on finding its supper.

Alas, it was to be a day of elusive woodies, even the hoped for green was nowhere to be seen on the grassy areas by the pump house pool. Arriving at the phoenix hide we added teal and jay to our day list but no bittern, but then it was a long shot really; we waited as the afternoon sun waned, but the watery end of the reserve seemed quiet, as if the day's remarkably fine weather has given the birds a day off, a squealing water rail tormented us.

It was time to go, a day of mixed emotions, huge disappointment of not finding the lesser spotted... the much repeated tip was that we should have got there earlier, you don't say! No consolation green woodpecker and certainly not a sniff of bittern, but the kestrels and yellowhammers had been special and it had been a lovely if long day for the lesser spotted seekers.

The one that got away- lesser spotted woodpecker...Neil P

Laura