October moths

 Merveille du Jour. 30.10.11

 Green brindled Crescent. 23.10.11

 Spruce Carpet -i think 14.10.11

Common marbled Carpet-brown variant 09.10.11

Lesser yellowlegs still present

After dipping out on a reported yellow browed warbler in shrubbery at Llandudno Junction railway station decided to carry on to Anglesey with R&R heading straight for the Alaw estuary where managed to get 2 views of the lesser yellowlegs before the inrushing tide flushed it out of sight. The bird was seen from half way along the field after going over the boardwalk (12.05pm). Two greenshank also here. Other birds clocked up included ringtail hen harrier in fields near Llanfaelog and 47 pale bellied brents on the inland sea.

Late Great Orme Swift disappoints :-(

A Swift located by Pete Alderson soon after 8am understandibly caused his heart rate to quicken. The bird was flying above the cemetery and against the grey sky was difficult to make out as anything other than a silhouette. Other birders were quickly on the scene and Alan Davies duly picked the bird up flying over the fields to the east of the old cafe. The bird was at eye level and made some very close fly byes. Most factors, including weather and date pointed to the bird being a Pallid, but unfortunately however hard the observers tried, the Swift showed all the plumage characteristics of Common Swift. This must be the latest record of Common Swift for the headland and certainly shows that any 'late' Swift doesn't necessarily have to be a Pallid. Oh well, perhaps next time!
Only other birds of note today were a few Crossbills overhead.

Lesser Yellowlegs, Beddmanarch Bay, Rosy Starlings, Dark Great tits and Spooky South Stack

All in all a pretty good weekend. This sooty looking melanistic Great tit was in Nefyn in the same garden as the Rose Coloured Starling. I remember over 10 years back reports of Great tits in Brynsiencyn with all black hoods. Maybe there are melanistic traits in NW Wales Great tits? Brents and Barwits are showing well in Beddmanarch bay now with the fresh juvvy geese showing quite spangly looking backs. I'm chasing up a ringed Black headed Gull I had there today as well. South Stack had a Halloween Treasure hunt which the kids enjoyed. I also enjoyed the Choughs, Coffee and a nice bit of Cottage Pie! Also here are the best shots of the Lesser Yellowlegs that I could manage (not as good as Robs!). It was still on the Alaw East end near Llanfachraeth at 12.30 at least today.

Sound recordings - great web-site + Water Rail - Orme mega!

Don't know if you've come accross this excellent site before. It has thousands of species calls listed and sonograms of most of them. You can register and upload your own recordings.

http://www.xeno-canto.org/index.php

Here is a sonogram of a Water Rail that I recorded on my Remembird device (http://www.remembird.com) this afternoon at the old reservoir on the Great Orme. It was first heard this morning and was still present late afternoon, only the second known live record (one was also found dead many years ago). The sonogram has been created using Raven Lite 1.0 (Raven Lite web-site), a free interactive sound analysis software available on-line and really easy to use.


Other birds seen this morning included a fine Lapland Bunting in off the sea (found by Paul Leafe), Merlin, calling Snow Bunting and 11 Long tailed Tit.

Juvenile Rose coloured Starling in Nefyn

I went down to Nefyn today to see the Rose coloured Starling in Shirleys back garden. She very kindly asked me in for coffee and toast. I was there for about an hour and a half and the bird showed twice for a period of about 5 minutes each time. Despite the poor light I managed a few half decent shots through the window. I was made up as this was the first juvenile RCS I've seen, up close anyway! Thanks Shirley.There is also an interesting melanistic sooty looking Great tit in her back garden. Site directions - drive from Nefyn to Morfa Nefyn. When you see the Morfa Nefyn sign park sensibly and look for Lon PwllWilliam on the right. Walk 150m+ along the track, first house on the right is Erylmor (sign on gate). Walk through the car parking area and view the back garden from the gate at the corner of the house. It favours the hanging bird table in the wooden arch and the lawn looking for the soaked sultanas Shirleys been putting out for it. Its been there for at least 10 days. She hadn't noticed it since Wednesday until we spotted it again today. She said she was happy for people to go and see it, so if you get the chance it's worth it. Just remember to park on the main road and behave in an appropriate manner :-)

Connah's Quay

Went down to Connah's Quay for high tide today.

My first twite of the winter showed from west hide with 3 linnet. Great numbers of waders showed at close range. C400 knot, 2 bar wit, 50 black wit, 3 greenshank and 8 spotted reds were the highlights.
One of the great egrets showed very very distantly looking across the river towards Neston.

Yellow Browed Warbler at POA

Came across a YBW this afternoon at POA but only really heard and a slight flitter deep in the trees along the path at the bottom adjacent to the dunes. Keep your eyes open if your down that way! Spent a good couple of hours trying to refind it after hearing it with no success!

http://www.birdingnorthwales.blogspot.com

Showy adult Med Gull - Colwyn Bay prom

A cracking adult Med Gull was on the promenade at Cowlyn Bay this afternoon. The pristine white bird was showing down to a few feet as it fed on bits of sandwhich on the prom and even landed on the wall in front of The Toad Pub. At low tide it seemed to fly into the bay to feed. Hopefully it will stay for a while here as it could well be last year's 2nd winter bird that spent the whole winter on this stretch of beach.

Four Super Snow Bunts -Great Orme

Four Snow Buntings are now showing very well at the cairn on the limestone pavements on the Great Orme. Their chattering trills and whistles can be heard as you walk around the headland. A quiet couple of mornings but a decent passage of Mistle Thrushes (7 yesterday and 13 today) as well as a few Brambling and Crossbills over. Bullfinches (up to 6) and a treecreeper are unusual species for the top of the Orme and are presumed migrants. A few Siskin and Redpolls also over while a fem / imm Merlin has been chasing migrant finches and a male Sparrowhawk had one of the two remaining Wheatears for its lunch! With a few days left of October, things seem to be qietening down, but there's always enough time for bird of the autumn to be found yet.

Great orme - Richard's Pipit, Black Reds and Snow Bunts

Video clip of Yellowhammer on the limestone pavement wall - a scarce bird on the Orme but becoming more regular with a few records each autumn and early spring.

A total of seven birders were on the headland at dawn and this was reflected in the number of birds seen. The Richard's pipit was still present in the sheep fields, while two Black Redstarts were new in. One was near the limestone carpark (PA) and another in the cemetery (AD). The two Snow Buntings continued to show very well near the cairn. A nice selection of buntings produced at least one Yellowhammer along the wall, a good bird here as well as at least 6 Reed Buntings. Seven Bramblings were noted amongst the small passage of finches, while 10 Crossbills passed over head. Four Wheatears were dotted around the pavements, while a Golden Plover and two Snipe represented the waders. A female Merlin hunted a Goldfinch along the cliffs (PA).

2nd for Bardsey - best bird of the year!!!!

A Spoonbill flew in over Pen Cristin this morning, and after briefly settling with a few gulls on the Narrows, took off and headed back East towards the mainland. This rather unexpected adddition to the year list is only the second for the island, with the last island record being almost 60 years ago in 1953.

Carmel head

Had Carmel head to myslef this morning in pleasant conditions. Chaffinches were coming in off the sea continuously in small flocks with the odd brambling, siskin and greenfinch mixed in. A welcoming commitee of Merlin and Kestrel waited to greet them and at one stage both were chasing the same small passerine. A couple of flyover lap bunts was nice and there were plenty of coal tits and a couple of chiffchaffs in the plantations. A quick seawatch from the end had plenty of kittiwakes feeding in the tiderace with a nice juv Sabine's gull and an arctic tern as wrell, which ain't bad for 10 mins of seawatching.

Stopping off at Llanfachraeth on the way back I had great if brief views of the lesser yellowlegs before it took off and flew south over the fields - hopefully it's not gone for good.

Further down the estuary an odd wader had me baffled. It was quite distant and into the sun. I lost it for good when I changed position so I was none the wiser. However if anyone claims a pec there in the next decade - I'm having it ; )

probable Blyth's Reed Warbler Breakwater CP

KC found a very probable BRW in the quarry area to the south of BWCP.  The amount of cover is mind blowing and there was no further sightings since Ken watched it for up to 10mins in total constantly moving from hawthorn to the ivy on the sides of the quarry.  He got all features to be expected in the field and 'jiz' but no pic unfort.  Time of year also very much in favour of BRW.  It will be looked for at first light.  It didnt really get bright today and light was poor all pm.  Ta to Ken for getting news out and giving a few locals chance to search for it.  Fingers crossed for the morning.

Alan and I had a SEO in-off the sea at Penmaenmawr on the way.  It was high over the east roundabout on the A55 and headed south.

Elegant Tern

I recently went on an excellent birding trip to Costa Rica. One of the highlights was finally catching up with Elegant tern after I missed the Porthmadoc bird. It was on a boat trip around the mangroves and estuary near Carara national Park on the mid-Pacific coast. There were 2 amongst 40 -50 Royal terns and a bunch of Brown Pelicans. They were on a sandbank at the mouth of an estuary. In fact the back-drop, in the rain with a grey sky reminded me a bit of Porthmadoc. Obviously the "Welsh" bird must have felt at home when it found Porthmadoc. Pity it didn't hang around a little longer!

Swallows over Llangefni

I also had 3 late Swallows over Llangefni at lunchtime. Has anyone else had any late Swallows these last few days?

Monday 24th Oct Lesser Yellowlegs

The bird was still showing well at 1pm today giving views like in Rob's nice pickies yesterday. It was on the estuary to the right (looking from the bridge) feeding on the mud until it flew just around the bend.

Sound analysis (above) and sound recording of Richard's Pipit here - http://www.zshare.net/audio/951130535a414820/

Quality sure made up for quantity on the Great Orme this morning. As I arrived a single Reed Bunting dropped into the gorse at the north end - a promising start. Soon after that, two Tree Sparrows, my first of the autumn, flew over head amongst a small but steady passage of finches. The odd Brambling, Redpoll and Siskin amongst them too. Two Snow Buntings and four Wheatears were at the cairn, a nice mix of summer and winter meeting. A familiar yet unusual call had me straining my ears and as it got closer my suspiscions that a Woodlark was around was confirmed, its beautiful yodelling call echoing across the limestone pavements. I picked the bird up flying in from the north and making its way south towards the summit. Its stubby short tail and broad wings giving it a unique appearance as it continued its journey. A single Snipe and a couple of Goldcrest were grounded as were a small number of Redwing and a single Mistle Thrush. As I was returning to the car and chatting to Pete Alderson, a Richard's Pipit gave away its presence by call and flying past us with four Meadow pipits, landing by the small hill to the east of the car part. A quick walk in that direction and the bird was seen at close quarters before flying off back to the sheep fields crying out its loud 'sschreeep' call. All in all not a bad morning.

Lesser Yellowlegs still on the Alaw estuary

Still at the top end of the Alaw Estuary-access from Llanfachraeth-please park in the village by the pub and walk down to the bridge (only 3 mins) then footpath on the left just after the bridge.  There is no new footbridge yet per my first post but its where the 2 rivers meet at SH311822 exactly where the Black Stork was!  Only the 2nd for Anglesey and found by regular visiting birder Mark Sutton. It was seen catching invertebrates in the mud and then taking them to the water’s edge to wash before eating.  I’ve seen other tringas do that.  I wonder if it will now overwinter. I can’t see it going far now that it’s arrived so late on in the autumn.
D-Scoped:

Mid-Wales Woodland Wonder

I spent last night and this morning wandering the Woodlands around Welshpool in mid-Wales. Last night I was with mid Wales birder Paul Leafe and we managed to catch a ring a fine Woodcock. It was great to watch Badgers, Hares, Goosanders, Snipe and Woodcock in the torchlight and at such close quarters. It amazes me that they allow such close approach at night.
This morning a wander through the woodlands produced 3 Marsh tit, a few flocks of Crossbill and at least a thousand Redwings at Powys Castle. A Tawny Owl frightened the living daylights out of me as I investigated some aggitated thrushes and Tits. A fine Stag also showed well amongst several hinds and at one point tried to outstare me.

Lesser Yellowlegs. Alaw Est

One was found yesterday at the top end of the Alaw Estuary-access from Llanfachraeth and the bird was by the new footbridge where the 2 rivers meet at SH311822.  It was seen last at 16.40 per KC

Great Orme ouzel

A late ring ouzel was present at the gun site area of the Great Orme this morning while 2 snow buntings were on the cliff edge leading to the cairn. Crossbills were still on the move (20+ MH) and 20 brambling (MH) were among the hundreds of finches moving through. Ten chough also logged.

Point Of Air 21st October

John Roberts and i decided to visit Point of Air in the hope of finding a migrant or 2.
Sadly no rare migrants in the Warren. Blackcap, chiffchaff, redwings and a few goldcrests were the best migrants.
A nice female merlin was on the saltmarsh.

The sea produced some good birding. 2 juv Poms drifted east, a bonxie sat on the sea and a single dark arctic skua powered through west. Other seabirds seen included 3 late gannets, a commic tern, 1 red throated diver, 3 guillimots and 6 grey plover with 40 sanderling on the beach.

Gresford flash goose flock held the long standing Ross' goose, along with a barnacle and 180 greylag.

Must be good for a sibe this weekend with the wind shifting to the south east.

Bramblings, Ring Ouzels & Goldcrests

Nice selection of birds in the Uwchmynydd area this morning including a few Bramblings, male Ring Ouzel in Porth Meudwy and a couple of Merlins. Star bird was Goldcrest with serious numbers on patch ;-)

Full details at http://lleyn-birding.blogspot.com/
 

Weather forecast is looking kind of interesting next week with SE winds... time for a nice Sibe somewhere in the area methinks! 

Mugimaki Flycatcher anyone?

Good Birding

Andrew

SOUTHERN SPAIN 12th-26th SEPTEMBER

My wife and i headed for a fortnight in the sunshine of southern Spain in mid September. The plan as always was to get as much birding in as allowed, as well as doing the usual holiday activities. As this was our first trip to mainland Spain we decided to travel around quite a bit. First port of call was Tarifa, the southernmost tip of Spain, then up to Coto Donana, onto Seville and finally for a fews days further north in Extremadura.

We flew Ryanair from Liverpool to Seville. Unfortunataly the plane had technical difficulties and had to land in Madrid for us to change planes. This delayed us somewhat but we were soon out of Seville airport in our hire car and heading south.

First stop was a lake called Laguna De Marida just off the road. This is a famous lake for white headed duck. Sure enough there was a small group of these stifftails in the corner of the lake. First new bird of the trip! Sadly no marbled teal or crested coot but other notable birds were black necked grebes, short toed eagle, melodious, cetti's and western olivaceous warbler. On the drive south we saw other birds that were to become familiar: spotless starlings, griffon vultures and white storks. Early evening checked into the hotel 2 miles west of Tarifa and headed into town for a meal.

Tarifa is famous for migration, in particular raptor migration. The next 5 days were spent heading to the viewpoints just east of Tarifa town, as well as visiting nearby farmland and paddy fields around La Janda, the hills at Bolinas along with tourist days visiting Gibraltar, whale watching and visiting the old city of Cadiz.

On each day i spent at least some days at either the Cazalla or the Algorrobo watchpoint with birders from all over Europe. It was great to get your eye in on the huge numbers of raptors either passing over or just hanging around. For the first 3 days there was a very strong Levante wind (easterly) which meant that very few birds crossed. This meant that more raptors were further west at Algorrobo which is more sheltered.

Honey Buzzard

Whilst the Levante was blowing there were still good numbers of raptors around. Small flocks of 5 to 30 birds of commoner species were seen. Black kites, honey buzzards, sparrowhawks, egyptian and griffon vultures, short toed and booted eagles were all plentiful. Small numbers of common and lesser kestrel, peregrine, osprey, common buzzard and marsh harriers were also passing through. The bird I most wanted to see though was Ruppells Vulture. This area has become the European hotspot for this African species with birds seen in very small numbers each Autumn and Spring with the juvenile Griffons which head to and from Africa.

Short Toed Eagle

Juv Egyptian Vulture

Day two I had no joy at Cazalla so headed to Algorrobo. Quite literally the first bird i saw on leaving my car at this site was a sub adult Ruppells over my head about 50 metres up. Magic! It was soon joined by a griff and a good comparison could be made. The smaller size, darker plumage and distinctive white line close to the forwing were all obvious. The dutchman next to me was over the moon and celebrated by offering me a high 5! Another lifer and it was great to catch up with Ruppells having missed them previously in Africa.

After another hour watching numerous raptors, bee eaters and red rumped swallows over head, we visited Gibraltar. I have to admit the town itself did not do much for me. The rock was interesting though. The Barbary macaques certainly were not shy. Sadly dipped the barbary partridge but there were still plenty of raptors passing overhead.

Pre breakfast and evening birding also had good birds. I visited Los Lances beach in a strong easterly. Juvenile honey buzzards were passing at eye level barely moving against the wind. Audouins and yellow legged gulls were plentiful, waders, crested larks, black stork and a few cory's were seen here. It wasn't until I got home that I reaslised I had dipped both a royal and a lesser crested tern here!

Yellow Legged Gull

La Janda.

This area of farmland with plentiful irrigation channels was full of birds. Spanish sparrow flocks, ortolan, crested larks, glossy ibis, hundreds of white storks, numerous marsh and montagues harriers, black shouldered kites and large flocks of lesser kestrel were all seen well. The best bird though was a juvenile lanner. This bird was reported to be around for a few days. Doubt however was raised when a photo appeared of an odd falcon which turned out to be a northern race peregrine from this same area. The lanner though appeared all brown on the back and wing with distinctive paler patch on the hind neck. The bird was photographed by someone else shwing a pale vent also. The northern peregrine had more grey on the back but from the photo online is quite unlike any peregrine I have ever seen!

Bolinas.

This area a little further east is famous for breeding white rumped and little swifts. Sadly despite 3 visits I and many others saw none. They breed in a cave here and when nesting are very reliable. Sadly breeding was over and none were to be seen here or at other sites for these species. In theory the white rumoed should still be around and the littles are resident. The local griffons though put on a show along with blue rock thrushes, sardinian warblers and calandra larks.

A trip to the ancient city of Cadiz was pleasant. Few birds were added to the trip list, although flamingos were seen on route and there is a healthy population of monk parakeets in the city.

Monk Parakeets

As i'd earned a few brownie points we made a diversion on the way home to check out the pools near Jerez. Laguna de Medina was poor but the smaller lake down a bumpy track (amazing where hire cars will go, although by now it was making a nasty rattling noise) called Laguna de Puerto Real produced the goods. Plenty of flamingo, purple gallinule, ducks and waders were present. The highlight here and another lifer being 4 marbled teal.

On the 16th the wind shifted to a light Westerly and the raptor migration was on! I spent the moring up at the Cazalla watchpoint for one of the most spectacular mornings birding I have ever had. Raptors were on the move in their thousands. In the 4 hours I was there it was estimated that 3000 short toed and 3000 booted eagles passed over. Add to this 100 egyptian, 10 griffs, and 2 more Ruppells vulture, 200 black kite, 200 honey buzzard, 10 sparrowhawk, 10 kestrel sp, 80+black and 300 white storks along with hirundines, buzzing tree pipits and turtle doves all heading south. The sky was full of birds and a truely amazing spectacle!

I had to leave at lunch to go whale watching. From the boat we saw numerous pilot whales, a few bottle nosed dolphins and sunfish. Sadly only a few seabirds were seen including storm petrel, a single balearic and a few cory's shearwaters and caspian terns. Not many pelagics though produce osprey, short toed eagle and a monty!

Pilot Whale

The 17th saw us leaving Tarifa and heading to the lovely town of El Rocio near Coto Donana. On route we heard a rumour that a tour company had a stake out for bald ibis so we decided we would follow them. The re introduced birds are often to be found in early mornings feeding on a golf course in the area. After a little searching part of the flock were seen well feeding on the putting green. I believe these birds are now breeding in Spain so hopefully they will start to increase. Also seen here was green woodpecker of the Iberian race. Surely a good split in the near future. They look different, sound different and now i've seen them they should be split.

Coto Donana.

Squacco Heron

We spent the next 3 days around Coto Donana area. Not at its best in Autumn this special place still held many birds. Our first evening produced red necked nightjar on the road just after dark. I was really chuffed to get this species as they would soon be leaving for Africa and it was a another new bird for me.

We hired the services of a guide for a morning. Jose from Discovering Donana proved good company and knew his birds. He also had access to parts of the reserve we would not be allowed to get to. Highlights of the morning were pin tailed sandgrouse, lesser short toed lark, bluethroat, azure winged magpie, spectacled, western orphean and dartford warbler, slender billed gull, numerous flocks of glossy ibis, spoonbills, herons and egrets (squacco, night and purple heron with all 3 egrets) and best of all stonking views of a melanistic montagues Harrier. Sadly we missed imperial eagle but Jose pointed me in the direction of a good site close to El Rocio. Sure enough later that afternoon I was watching a Spanish imperial eagle soaring with a booted eagle and a griff for company.

Eurasian Spoonbill

We also explored nearby pools, lakes and farmland where waders and waterbirds were common. A few exotics were added to my list; black rumped waxbill and golden bishop. Red crested pochards and white headed ducks added some colour along with red kites. An odd looking buzzard had me hopeful that it was a long legged, but the proportions were wrong and the bright rufous tail had a dark sub terminal band pointing towards a probable steppe buzzard.

From here we spent 2 days in Seville. A great city with much to see (only added ring necked parakeet here).

The final 3 days of the holiday were spent in Extremadura about 3 hours north of Seville. We stayed with British birder Martin Kelsey and his wife Claudia in their guesthouse Casa Rural El Recuerdo near Trujillo. This was an excellent place to stay with great local food and good company, and hawfinch, red rumped swallow and azure winged magpies in the garden. We went out birding with Martin around the local plains as well as heading to Monfrague national park. This part or Spain is very rural with scattered old towns and villages but full of birdlife.

Birding on the plains was like stepping back in time with flocks of corn buntings and sparrows everywhere. Stars of the show were the great and little bustards, black bellied sandgrouse, black vultures, stone curlew, thekla and calandra larks and numerous raptors.

Monfrague national park is more rugged with steep hills and cliff faces. This is a famous place for watching breeding raptors and there was great numbers of griffs around along with a few black vultures, booted and short toed eagle, a late honey buzzard and peregrine all soaring around the rock faces. A new bird in the shape of a black wheatear showed nicely for us. Dartford warbler, iberian shrike, blue rock thrush, alpine swift and azure winged magpie were also seen whilst watching the skies for raptors.

Sadly our time was soon up and we had to head for home. Our final day had us heading south and visiting some towns on route. The last bird of the trip was a griffin vulture sunning itself on the roof of our airport hotel!

We had a great time seeing 162 species incuding 10 lifers and 21 raptors. We will definately head to Spain again soon and can only imagine how good it must be in the Spring.

A few seabirds moving

David Wright was at Cemlyn this morning and had a Long-tailed Skua go by; Ken Croft was up at North Stack and had a Pomarine Skua and a good number of common seabirds past. So still worth getting out there.

We had a great 3 days (Fri, Sat, Sun) over in Norfolk where we found Yellow-browed Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, 3 Lapland Buntings and 2 Ruddy Shelduck. We also twitched the Red-flanked Bluetail at Holme and enjoyed a host of other great birds, and all in wonderful sunshine. Check out
http://www.thebiggesttwitch.com/diary/finding-great-birds-in-norfolk for photos and more details.

We're giving a talk on Friday 21st October at Penrhyn Bay on The Biggest Twitch, 7.30 pm. All welcome, so do come along, we look forward to seeing you there.
Good birding !
Alan and Ruth

Orme and the near miss

A good morning on the Orme with lots of birds - first significant fall of thrushes - 50+ Blackbirds, 20+ Song Thrush and 20+ Redwing, 2 Fieldfare and 4 Mistle Thrushes. Vis-mig over - 5 Snow Bunting, 6 Bullfinch, 10+ Lesser Redpoll, 45+ Crossbill, 20+ Siskin, 2 Reed Buntings, Grey Wagtail, Golden Plover, hundreds of Chaffinch and Greenfinch. A super Merlin showed well and a single Wheatear. A very grey washed out Chiffchaff was seen briefly near the ole cafe - probably an 'abientinus' race bird, but without a call and good views difficult to nail.
Had just talked to Steve Williams from Hilbre about the good feeling the morning had and suggested one of us should be phoning with a mega before the end of the morning. It was the Hilbre crew who struck gold with Steve phoning 30 minutes later to say he had a Bluetail!! Well done to them, and certainly shows that this species should be on our radar along the north Wales coast.

Pallas's Warbler, Richards Pipit and Vis mig over North Anglesey

Hightlight for me this morning was a calling Richards pipit seen flying west over Llanpadrig headland Cemaes. There were also small numbers of Crossbills fling west. Tony had about 40 - 50 at Cemlyn and a Garden Warbler. Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Redwings were also around Cemaes, with lots of Thrushes around the Brickworks. Reg and John Dyda came up trumps with a Pallas's Warbler, 12 Lap bunts, 50 Crossbills, adult Little Gull, GND, 6 Brambling,Arctic Skua and Hooded Crow around Carmel Head. Me and Tony thundered out there but with no joy, but we did get our exercise for the day!

RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL, Hilbre

Was found mid morning and it wasn't until 15:15 that the tide would allow access unless you're into swimming a mile and a half.  Thankfully the bird was still present and after being recaptured was released and showed again as it fed at the base of the cliffs on the north and east beaches.  Great record for the North West. More on 'Wirral Birders' on right.

Dear Mr Bluetail, why weren't you on the Orme this morning?