WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD

Well ive been on the beach at Mawbray these last couple of days and over new year this beauty was found, but unfortunatly dead. Heres what happen pinched off facebook.

DEAD WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD WASHES UP ON MAWBRAY BANK, CUMBRIA


The Tropicbird, which normally occurs and breeds in tropical areas (such as Caribbean islands), was found on the tideline at Mawbray Bank by Peter Scott of Workington, on 6 January. It was rotten and Peter only collected the two tail streamers to use to identify the bird. Peter showed the feathers to Steve Hewitt (Natural History Curator at Tullie House Museum) that evening and they decided it was probably a Tropicbird. Steve was keen to recover the body so they went back up to Mawbray and located the bird in the dark before the tide moved it. The specimen is intact but very smelly and shedding patches of feathers. It is now in the freezer at Tullie House Museum. The information has been submitted to the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC), the official adjudicator of rare bird records in Britain, and if accepted, will be a new species for the British list.

Now ive been saying its about time we had a megga in Cumbria but this isnt what i meant.

Snow Glorious Snow!

Nipped to the allotments in Maryport where the Ring-necked Parakeet was hanging out nice views but it never hung around and is VERY wary...I was lucky to get 1 shot off before it flew.

So now i moved onto Allonby to check any Gulls on the tide line but today there were very few. So i moved onto Mawbray to see if i could get any better pictures of the Twite on the beach. I couldn't find them so as it was snowing heavily i took the opportunity to take some pics of the roosting Oystercatchers including a very white headed individual.

I was getting cold and damp now so decided to move a little further as thousands of Gulls were now roosting on the sea. I had a good scan but no White wingers, some though were too distant to check thoroughly. I went back to check the Waders and got Sanderling and Golden Plover.

So i decided id call it a day but on the way back i found the Twite so just had to have another go at photographing them. Digiscoping them is so tricky, the light was rubbish but the way they blend in to the back ground make them impossible to get anything good but here's my best efforts. They were close too so i was very disappointed.

I was frozen and wet now so headed quickly back to my Van and Home.. Its still Snowing as i write ..

Lastly in the Garden today 2 Goldfinch and a Greenfinch.

Local

Well just a day locally today picking up things like stumpy the Med Gull, a flock of fifty Purple Sandpipers a Rock Pipit and a couple of Skylark.
Eventually moved to Mawbray where Keith and i searched through a lot of gulls, the only bird of note was an adult Med Gull. Keith found a couple of Twite and then eventually a shortie put in an appearance, a nice day overall and i managed a few pictures too.

Twite

Twite

 Skylark

Rock Pipit

Stumpy

Purple Sandpiper

local Stuff

Well just picking up a few year ticks today so nipped to Soddy gap, on the way spotted a Sparrowhawk then got Pochard, 130 Goosander, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Tufties, Coot, Moorhen and 3 Goldeneye. A Grey Heron a flock of Pinkfooted Geese and 2 Buzzards was it really here.
Moved onto Siddick ponds waited 10 min and managed a flyby Bittern, 24 Whooper Swans flew in whilst i was there.
Lastly finished at Workington harbour for 2 Purple Sandpipers, Rock Pipit and Stumpy the Med Gull.

Not in a good mood due to the crappy weather again so i was home by 2pm.

Can you spot the Bittern! click the picture to enlarge it.

And a few Pinks from Blackdyke the other day.

Lancashire Bewicks

Well my last day off work today but although its persisting it down i had to make the most of it. So Keith and i headed for Marton Mere and some Long-eared Owls. The morning started well again with a Barn Owl. But the owls went down the pan after this. We gave the long eared owls a few hours in the rain but they just weren't gonna show themselves and i dont blame them the weather was awful.
So we went for lunch and then headed for Lytham St annes for some Bewick Swans we wernt to be disappointed this time with at least 13 birds with 200 Whooper Swan. A mass flock of Tree Sparrows was nice here too. Pics not great but it was Pissing down as usual.

We then decided to head back north to Leighton Moss where we had a good selection of birds including 2 Spotted Redshank, a Greenshank, Pintail, Marsh Harrier and a good selection of Woodland birds including 3 smart looking Marsh Tits. I was amazed how well these turned out though.

We Finished the day with calling Bearded Tits  and nice views of 2 Water Rail as they ran along the path in front of us not bothered by us in the slightest as we followed them right to the public hide and even then they just wanderd around the path, although it was completely dark by now.
iso 6400 but you get the idea it was proper dark by now. Almost the very last bird of the day a Jack Snipe flew right over our heads calling.
Now on 111 Species after 2 days

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Welcome to 2013 everyone Happy new year, well my Year started off superbly well. Keith and i Headed For Loch Ryan.
We left at 6-30 to be at loch Ryan for 9am. On the way our first bird of the year a cracking Barn Owl in the headlights. As we were getting closer to Stranraer the light was getting better and eventually we had a stonking male Hen Harrier, then further down the road another.. no way! A Merlin dived past the car an a Full Hooded Crow was sat on the side of the road.  Once at Stranraer we headed for the beach to check for gulls n stuff. Not many gulls but loads of Great Scaup. A Red-throated diver, a few Great Crested Grebe and a few waders. We moved on towards Loch Ryan and checked a few spots on the way. We found a flock of Chaffinches with a Single female Brambling bingo!
On Loch Ryan we had Little Egret, 4 Long-tailed Duck, 6 Slavonian Grebes, Common Scoters, more Greater Scaup, Eider, Red-throated and Eventually a Great Northern Diver. Waders nothing unusual but a few Bar-tailed godwits.
The usual 100+ Twite were on the wig along with the flock of pale bellied Brent Geese.
We had seen all we came to see minus a Black throated diver so headed for West Freugh for the returning Greenland Whitefronted geese, we wernt to be disappointed but with just a small flock off ll but they were on the top of a hump so there could have been more hidden in a dip. A few hundred Pinkfooted Geese were close by. Our 3rd Hen Harrier from here, this time a nice Ringtail.
Onwards to lonningfoot for the Geese and on the way 3 Red Kite were a big bonus.
At Lonningfoot we checked the Barnacle geese into the sun, so no surprise we couldnt find any rare geese in this flock. Then someone told us where the Tavaners Canada Goose and Red-breasted Goose were  very close by so we made a quick dash for these. Firstly picking up the Canada goose.... Blimy that's big, id seen pictures of this bird and though it was probably a Tavaners but on seeing the bird for myself it was massive and just had to be a Todd's Canada Goose (Branta canadensis interior). So no tick for us just yet as its still pending acceptance although most have good credentials and i'm sure will become tickable in the future.

Then amazingly the Red-breasted Goose was in the same flock and again showed well... last year id tried for these two birds probably 5 times and failed, today they were close and together....You beauty!!!!!!!!!

 

So is it time for home erm No!!!! last stop Caerlaverock for a Green winged Teal... we couldnt fail the day we were having..... OK so we could by 20 min damn! but we did get the Tawny Owl in the owl box a great finish to the super dooper day.... oh yeh and Derby County Won WOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOOO

 Out tally for the day a respectable 81 Species.