Neil 2011 UK list (NW England) (1 Viewer)

purpleturtle · Jan 2, 2011

1/1/11 Never even left the house.....too hungover - but still managed 23 species through the windows.

In order seen

1. Blackbird
2. Blue tit
3. Great tit
4. Magpie
5. Carrion crow
6. Mallard
7. Black headed gull
8. Jackdaw
9. Woodpigeon
10. Robin
11. Mistle thrush
12. Redwing
13. Starling
14. Goldeneye! (Drake flew in and landed on the River Calder)
15. Song thrush
16. House sparrow
17. Coal tit
18. Lapwing (Flock of about 20 flew south)
19. Grey heron
20. Common gull
21. Moorhen
22. Collared dove
23. Dunnock

purpleturtle · Jan 2, 2011

2/1/11 Marton mere (Blackpool) and Grannys bay (Lytham)
with 3 non-birders which always somewhat hampers progress

24. Kestrel
25. Rook
26. Coot
27. Whooper swan
28. Herring gull
29. Teal
30. Pochard
31. Tufted duck
32. Lesser black backed gull
33. Wigeon
34. Shoveller
35. Buzzard
36. Long eared owl
37. Fieldfare
38. Goldcrest
39. Long tailed tit
40. Tree sparrow
41. Reed bunting
42. Chaffinch
43. Greenfinch
44. Redshank
45. Bar tailed godwit
46. Shelduck
47. Canada goose
48. Curlew
49. Linnet
50. Cormorant
51. Mute swan
52. Pied wagtail

So I find myself with a similar number to last year, but with some very different species.
I Didn't get bittern at Marton mere, I heard water rail (but I dont count heard-only) and saw the bizarre sight of not a partridge-in-a-pear-tree but a moorhen-in-an-apple-tree!

purpleturtle · Jan 6, 2011

3/1/11 Whalley

53. Goldfinch

4/1/11 Padiham

54. Jay

6/1/11 Preston, Lytham, Blackpool

55. Greater black backed gull
56. Pheasant
57. Red breasted merganser
58. Red necked grebe (haven't even seen little or great crested yet!)
59. Ring necked parakeet
60. Great spotted woodpecker

Had some nice views at the Long Eared Owl roost again. I'm still missing some very common birds this year - wren, bullfinch, siskin, sparrowhawk etc

purpleturtle · Jan 8, 2011

8/1/11 Burnley

61. Waxwing

At last I caught up with a waxwing flock, near Burnleys Turf Moor football ground.
I reckon these are the last rowan berries in the county, and unfortunately for todays 47 birds, the berries are guarded by a feisty mistle thrush.
The mistle thrush would chase them all off before I had much chance to digiscope them. Heres the shots that I managed.....

purpleturtle · Jan 9, 2011

9/1/11 Stocks reservoir

62. Nuthatch
63. Greylag goose

Res still frozen, high winds and overcast. A poor birding trip.:C
Still no wren!

purpleturtle · Jan 11, 2011

11/1/11 Barrow, Clitheroe

64. Siskin
65. Wren (At last!)

Bullfinch heard but not seen yet.

Waddington fell

66. Red grouse

No sign of great grey shrike. No meadow pipits or any good raptors.

I popped up to Dean clough reservoir which produced nowt.
Its usually a dead-cert for goosander, great crested grebe and stonechat.

purpleturtle · Jan 14, 2011

14/1/11 Billington (home)

67. Raven

over Whalley abbey, I thought it was a buzzard at first (IDed by huge size and wedge tail)
it was being mobbed by other corvids.

Preston docks
68. Great crested grebe
69. Iceland gull

The Iceland gull (which I got much better shots of last year) is back at Preston docks. High winds, discarded lunch food and constant hassle from other gulls kept the bird on the move. I eventually managed a few digiscoped shots.

I also visited Newton marsh pool today hoping for little grebe, little egret, gadwall, pintail and snipe.......but all I found was thousands of wigeon, teal, and mallard :-C

purpleturtle · Jan 18, 2011

18/1/11 Dean clough reservoir

70. Goosander

Still no mipits, stonechat or sprawks, all are usually present here.

purpleturtle · Jan 21, 2011

21/1/11 Morecambe promenade

71. Oystercatcher
72. Dunlin
73. Ringed plover
74. Scaup
75. Eider

I usually take the delivery van to Preston on Fridays, but today I had a delivery to Lancaster. I thought I'd get a chance to go to Leighton moss but I was getting short of time so just grabbed an hours lunch & birding on Morecambe promenade. High tide, sun behind me and no wind. Pristine conditions for digiscoping. Shame there were no purple sandpipers :-C
It seems my luck has changed for the better since I climbed Pendle hill earlier this week, seeing only 2 birds! Not 2 new species..... birds (a mistle thrush and a crow).
Still dont know where all the mipits and stonechats have gone.
Anyway, that was a nice hours birding today, I'll save Leighton moss until I can do the whole day.

purpleturtle · Jan 25, 2011

25/1/11 River Calder,Whalley

I just took a walk down to the butcher in the village to get some haggis for tonights supper. I took my binoculars, hoping kingfisher, grey wagtail or dipper might be seen from the bridge.
1 out of 3 aint bad....

76. Dipper

purpleturtle · Jan 28, 2011

28/1/11 Leighton moss

77. Black-tailed godwit
78. Pintail
79. Little egret
80. Marsh tit
81. Bullfinch
82. Gadwall

Not a great deal of action at LM today. Low tide didnt help. Loud, annoying people in hides didnt help either.
Dipped on Bittern, water rail, bearded tit.
Only 1 pair of pintail and 1 pair of gadwall, the gadwall were pretty distant.
Goosander were good to watch. The male caught and ate a huge eel and the female was posturing to him to mate.
Got a distant shot of the goosanders and a nice close shot of a drake teal.

purpleturtle · Jan 29, 2011

29/1/11 Barrow, Clitheroe

I went hot-air ballooning today, following the River Ribble from Pendle hill down towards Preston.
We saw lots of hare, some roe deer and a fox from above, but also saw my first snipe of the year, flushed from a ditch as we were taking-off.

83. Snipe

Didn't manage a photo of the snipe, so heres me 1500 ft up!

purpleturtle · Feb 11, 2011

11/2/11 Newton pool nr Preston

84. Skylark

Stopped for lunch at the Newton pool in the delivery van today. Hoping for little grebe, meadow pipit & grey wagtail, but as soon as I stepped out the van I heard (and then spotted) 2 singing skylarks.
Loads of wigeon, teal and a lone brown hare were the only other things seen.
I had hoped to break the 100 mark before the six nations rugby started as that takes priority over birding for the next few weeks.

purpleturtle · Feb 18, 2011

18/2/11 Newton pool, Preston

85. Little grebe

turned up at last on this very brief stop today. Later on my delivery route near Preston I had a great view of a hunting female sparrowhawk, as I was stuck in traffic.

86. Sparrowhawk

purpleturtle · Feb 25, 2011

25/2/11 Newton pool, nr Preston

87. Merlin

I'm not sure what these concrete pillars are in the field but the merlin certainly like to use them as perches, I frequently find them there.

Conder pool and estuary

88. Greenshank
89. Spotted redshank

unfortunately no kingfisher this time.

purpleturtle · Mar 1, 2011

1/3/11 Champion moor and stocks reservoir

Stopped off at Shays barn on the way to Stocks Res. 3 Stock doves near the barn. No little owl immediately but one was eventually flushed from a roadside wall by a loud revving, speeding motorist.

90. Stock dove
91. Little owl

Nothing new at Stocks today despite the lovely sunny weather. I headed back to see if I could get a better digiscoped shot of the little owl. No luck there, so headed back to Clitheroe via the Champion moor road to look for Short eared owl. Scanning the moor, I picked-up a Male hen harrier! Brilliant. The harrier was too mobile for a dodgyscoped shot. I also picked-up one of my bogey birds this year so far, a meadow pipit.

92. Hen harrier
93. Meadow pipit

purpleturtle · Mar 4, 2011

4/3/11 Fairhaven lake and seafront, Lytham

I adjusted my deliveries to coincide with high tide at Lytham today. Targets were turnstone, sanderling and grey plover. Again 1-out-of-3 aint bad.

94. Grey plover

Stopped in at Newton pool on the way home. Nothing new, but the merlin is still hunting from those turrets.

purpleturtle · Mar 20, 2011

17/3/11 Pilling marsh

Several species of goose have been reported here recently so I took a wee diversion from my delivery route. Only found pink-footed goose though. No brants or white-fronted.
I prefer to tick species like this when I see them on the ground. 100% IDed. Not just assume that a V of geese flying over are PFs.

95. Pink footed goose

purpleturtle · Mar 20, 2011

19/3/11 Mortonhall, Edinburgh

I've been up at Murrayfield to watch the rugby this weekend. On the drive up on the M6, I stopped in at Sizergh castle to look for hawfinch. No luck

The next bad news is that I saw my first barn owl of 2011..... but it was dead on the hard shoulder of the M6 about 6 miles before Penrith. I dont count dead birds!
Anyway, before I went to the rugby on Saturday I went for a walk in the woods at Mortonhall and found one of my bogey birds of 2011.

96. Treecreeper

Biggest bogey bird this year is now Grey wagtail! No I've still not seen any in 2011!

purpleturtle · Mar 25, 2011

25/3/11 Marshside

97. Lesser Scaup
98. Avocet
99. Golden plover
100. Ruff

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