Hen Harrier - Lunt Meadows, Lancashire

A last-minute decision to visit Lunt Meadows LWT with Carl this evening, in the hopes of seeing the long-staying ringtail Hen Harrier. Arriving at around 15:30, the sun was already quite low but the light was actually really nice.

Within a matter of minutes, a raptor emerged from above one of the more obscured reedbeds, which was quickly confirmed to be the ringtail Hen Harrier. Over the next 30 minutes, the bird showed really well if distantly. I've seen a few Hen Harriers now but this was definitely my most prolonged views.

Ringtail Hen Harrier, showed well but stayed low and distant throughout

Soon after, a pale shape moving across the far end of the reserve turned out be a Barn Owl. By 16:00, there were at least three hunting the reserve, two of which came quite close.

One of three Barn Owls hunting the reserve at dusk

Other sightings included decent numbers of Shoveler and Teal on the main lake, hundreds of Pink-Footed Geese moving over head, several Kestrels and a single Buzzard. Water Rail and Cetti's Warbler were both heard from the reeds. Despite visiting for less than an hour I really enjoyed the site and will definitely return!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Tern - Pennington Flash, Greater Manchester

Image
Back at Pennington Flash again this afternoon. Thankfully, a few Little Gulls were still hanging around. I counted at least three adult birds, one of which showed much better than my visit on Friday. The light was still poor, but this bird flew within 20 metres of the shore line At one point, the sailing boats came pretty close to the spit, forcing the Little Gulls and several Common Terns towards the northern shore. The sailors didn't seem too interested in the Little Gull above their heads The bird of the day though was a Black Tern . I spotted it almost immediately on a buoy, but it performed several flights around the flash while I was there. With lots of Sand Martins, Swallows and House Martins over the water, it was difficult to keep track of at times. The Black Tern is a holarctic species, but in Europe it is a more common breeder further east. Apparently they did used to breed in the UK, but now are passage migrants that turn up regularly on inland waterbodies such as Pen...
Read more

Myrtle Warbler - Kilwinning, Ayrshire

Image
Having waited for over a week to have a crack at Kilwinning's over-wintering Myrtle Warbler, this Sunday I finally got the chance. Arriving after a four-hour journey, I made my way through the door of a small block of flats (quite a surreal experience but apparently okay to do so!) and within seconds I was watching the Myrtle Warbler on a garden bird feeder! I couldn't quite believe it and still hadn't got used to it by the time I left. The bird was quite wary, but occasionally showed very well coming to the bird feeders and also making its way around the ornaments of next door's garden! It was also highly territorial, chasing off the resident Blue , Great and Long-Tailed Tits . This was my fifth New World warbler in the UK, and by far my best views. Unfortunately, as I'm still getting used to my new camera, the pictures were much worse than they should have been! Not the brightest of birds, but my best views of a New World warbler! With a little time to kill befor...
Read more

Wood Warblers - North Wales

Image
While I've yet to see the Grey-Headed Lapwing, I settled for some great birds closer to home today. Me and Carl visited two sites in North Wales in the hopes of finding Wood Warbler, one of the more obvious UK species I'm yet to catch up with. With some great local information from John Roberts, we arrived at Bod Petrayl in north-east Wales at around 7:30am. Just as John had said, Wood Warbler was the first bird we heard after leaving the car! It took a little while to spot it in the poor light as it darted amongst the conifers adjacent to the car park, but when it came down to the lower branches the views were great! Poor light, but some great views of Wood Warbler ! We did a bit of exploring in the surrounding woodland - really interesting to see well-developed coniferous woodland with diverse ground flora, alive with birds compared to most desert-like plantations! It wasn't long before we picked up another Wood Warbler , also in conifers on the other side of a small lak...
Read more