Kristian's Wildlife Blog

After seeing hundreds of reports of Alpine Swifts from around the country, finally today one turned up closer to home. It seemed to be sticking around too, with multiple reports of a distant Alpine Swift at Doxey Marshes in Staffordshire. I was on my local patch of Cutacre when Austin messaged asking if I fancied the hour or so drive. I was already having a pretty good day on the patch, with 3 male Wheatears (my first of the year), my first patch Curlew plus Green Sandpiper and Little Egret . Picking up Gary on the way, we arrived at the site at about 4pm, in pretty poor light but knowing that the bird was still present, albeit showing distantly. We soon came across a decent group of birders and they quickly got us onto the Alpine Swift . It was distant to say the least, googling afterwards it seemed to be at least 1.4km out over a distant housing estate, in front of Stafford Castle hill.  You'll have to trust me, but this is the Alpine Swift ! We watched the bird for about 20 min...

While working away in Scotland this week, I've tried to do a bit of birdwatching inbetween surveys. Today, after finishing early, I drove towards the middle of nowhere in Fife hoping to connect with a female Ring-Necked Duck which had apparently been on a small pool for some time. Having missed this American species quite a few times now, I didn't have particularly high expectations! Upon arriving, I parked in a convenient layby and headed down a track. There was a larger lake here, which I briefly scanned, but it was the smaller pond (a glorified duck pond really!) which supposedly held the bird. Viewing the pond from the track, I noticed a few Pochard , Tufted Duck and Mallard , and another duck swimming alongside a drake Pochard - the female Ring-Necked Duck . Typically, after finally breaking my curse with this bird, it didn't show well at all, remaining hidden behind branches and reeds for the entire time! Why do all of my American ducks have to be female! On the larg...

A great day in the south-west with Carl started at Ham Wall RSPB, near Glastonbury. For the last week or so at least 2 Penduline Tits had been seen from the reserve, a species I'd already missed a couple of times. We arrived fairly early, in nice but freezing conditions! Passing the first lake, we managed to pick out the long-staying 2 Glossy Ibis which showed well on the other side of the lake. We gave the Penduline Tits a good hour at their favoured area of reed mace, but unfortunately, there was no sign. The wind was strong and cold though, they could well have been hunkering down somewhere else. There were plenty of other cool birds around though, including 3 Great Egrets , 4 Marsh Harriers , multiple Water Rails and Cetti's Warblers heard and one brief 'boom' from a Bittern . Driving for a few minutes round to the other side of the large reserve, we stopped at a spot where the long-staying Lesser Scaup apparently favoured. It didn't take long before we spott...

Staying fairly local today, me and Carl made the short trip to Marshside RSPB, near the Ribble Estuary. On the way there, we noticed a report of a Tundra Bean Goose in nearby fields, but typically we arrived about 10 minutes too late. There were lots of Pink-Footed Geese around, and as we walked towards the sea through the saltmarsh a huge number of Skylarks were out singing. At the coast, there were vast flocks of Oystercatcher , Dunlin and Cormorant , with smaller numbers of Curlew , Black-Tailed Godwit and Redshank . We then made our way to Banks Marsh, which was initially quieter but did have some decent flocks of Lapwing , Golden Plover , Wigeon and Teal . We also had a Brown Hare which looked slightly out of place running through the saltmarsh channels. On the arable fields nearby was a monster flock of Pink-Footed Geese , perhaps 500 or more, and 2 Grey Partridge . As we walked back to the car, we picked up a flock of passerines in some Ash trees. Upon approach, we identified...

With a survey in south Manchester at 11am, I had just enough time to first visit the local Waxwing which had turned up in Bolton, less than 20 minutes from home. After seeing flocks in Flamborough and Middlesborough last year, Waxwings had quickly become one of my favourite birds. Unfortunately, while my previous sightings had been great, the lighting had always been really poor. This time there was bright sunshine, and by 9am I was watching the Waxwing in a small housing estate with a few berry trees. I only stayed for a couple of minutes, but it was great to watch the bird feed and then commute to a larger tree on the other side of the road. Lots of other birders were present, but everything seemed very respectful given the proximity to people's houses and gardens. The lone male Waxwing showed amazingly! On the way back from the survey I thought I would try my luck for the female Scaup at Amberswood NR, another decent local bird. However, the lake was almost deserted, with only a...

Sticking on the theme of gulls, this morning Austin and I made the hour-and-a-half drive to Stubber's Green, on the outskirts of Walsall, for the long-staying juvenile Glaucous Gull. As with Iceland Gull, this was still a species I was yet to see. Thankfully, the juvenile Glaucous Gull showed really well almost as soon as we arrived at the site. The gulls were mainly congregated along the shoreline of a lake which had formed into a wet meadow. It was striking how much larger and more brutish the Glaucous Gull was compared to the other gulls, which included  Lesser Black-Backed , Herring , Common and Black-Headed . The Glaucous Gull was closer to the size of the geese than the other gulls! However, as we were trying to get a better vantage point, all the gulls suddenly shot up. Worried that we might have inadvertently flushed them, we were shocked to see a very scrawny Red Fox trotting towards the birds. The fox made little attempt at taking any of the birds but made sure the Gl...

With an afternoon off work, I decided to spend a few hours at Pennington Flash Country Park, Leigh. My main reason was an Iceland Gull which had roosted the previous night - the first local one for a while. I entered the site via the canal from Leigh, where I had good flocks of Siskin and Redwing in the surrounding trees. The Siskin flock along the canal was distant, but showed well  Arriving at the Country Park, I decided to try and squeeze in a full loop of the hides and car park before the gull roost. There wasn't a massive amount of activity anywhere, but I picked up plenty of species. Ducks were plentiful, and included 46 Gadwall , 30 Shoveler , 25 Teal , 31 Goosander , 26 Goldeneye and 56 Tufted Duck . Unfortunately, no sign of the recent Shelduck or Pintail. 2 Little Grebes were seen, with more heard. On the spit, at least 6 Oystercatchers were visible despite the hide being closed. 2 Little Egrets were seen from Ramsdale's Hide. The resident Oystercatcher (above) was j...