No piccys but 2 new ticks

Started out at Marsh Lane as usual, and staright away kicked off with a Kingfisher, not a new tick admittedly but the best views ive had thus far. Did fire off some shots but he was just to far away for them to be anygood :-(

1. Kingfisher
2. Coot
3. Moorhen
4. Green Sandpiper
5. Lesser Black-backed Gull
6. Black Headed Gull
7. Greylag
8. Pochard
9. Mallard
10. Teal
11. Grey Heron
12. Cormorant
13. Mute Swan
14. Little Grebe
15. Lapwing
16. Stock Dove
17. Tufted Duck
18. Wood Pigeon
19. Buzzard
20. Crow
21. Magpie
22. Pheasant
23. Black Swan
24. Canada Goose
25. Starling
26. Greenfinch
27. Chaffinch
28. Common Tern
29. Blue Tit

Right then, fairly uneventful and where are these new ticks?

Well, we decided to head off to the new RSPB Middleton Lakes reserve, 1st impressions were ok but your a long way away from where the birds are, with no real way of getting any closer. There are no hides and no elevated sections to get you above the foilage, so large sections of the wetlands are pretty much invisible, so a scope really is a big advantage leaving photography pretty much to overhead ariel shots only..

Nevertheless, we did get 2 new ticks

1. Blue Tit
2. Great Tit
3. Goldfinch
4. Greenshank - NEW
5. Coot
6. Mute Swan
7. Mallard
8. Canada Goose
9. Lapwing
10. Swallow
11. Great Crested Grebe
12. Wood Pigeon
13. Little Egret
14. Grey Heron
15. Tufted Duck
16. Lesser Black-backed Gull
17. Peregrin - NEW
18. Crow
19. Wood Sandpiper
20. Cormorant
21. House Martin 

Finally a new tick!!

It's been very quite on the bird front lately, but at last Marsh Lane produces a new one.

The Count:

1. Water Rail - NEW
2. Coot
3. Moorhen
4. Little Egret
5. Mallard
6. Mute Swan
7. Common Tern
8. Lesser Black-backed Gull
9. Greylag
10. Dunlin
11. Buzzard
12. Wood Pigeon
13. Great Tit
14. Redshank
15. Chaffinch
16. Greenfinch
17. Pheasant
18. Grey Heron
19. Lapwing
20. Black-headed Gull
21. Black Swan
22. Little Grebe
23. Starling
24. Oystercatcher
25. Cormorant

Water Rail

Apart from the Water Rail, a quick scout around revealed nothing new or photographable so we shot off to Whitacre Heath to see if anything was showing there. A 2 hour wait through rain and a thunderstorm revealed not alot with the count making a massive 3!!!

1. Green Sandpiper
2. Sparrowhawk
3. Wood Pigeon

Green Sandpiper

Marsh Lane & Whitacre Heath

Usual Sunday visit to Marsh Lane was pretty poor today, no new ticks and a count that was struggling to  reach even 30! So after an hour and a half we gave up and headed for Whitacre Heath for a chance of the Kingfishers.

The minute we arived at the Main pool hide we knew the Kingfisher was going to be a no show, as the main pool was no longer a pool! Its now just a dry mud field with some reeds sticking out of it!

Ok we thought, lets go and see if the stilt hide over looking the scrape is the same -

A tiny bit of water still remains, but its not gonna last for long!

We sat for a couple of hours wondering if the Kingfisher would put an appearance in, but he did'nt :-(
So we killed the boredom with some Common Whitethroat and Blue Tit shots..

Marsh Lane produces a new 1

Finally the Sunday afternoon visit to Marsh Lane gave a new Life Tick with good views of a Hobby, sadly though the piccys i managed were crap due to me having the camera setup completely wrong aperture wise! Every shot was so dark that i could "JUST" make out what i was looking at with no chance of salvage through editing the RAW file either. GUTTED!!

So, yet another looooong distance shot of a Sedge Warbler -

&, a reasonable'ish shot of a Shelduck -

The count -

1. Black-headed Gull
2. Little Grebe
3. Lapwing
4. Coot
5. Starling
6. Grey Heron
7. Stockdove
8. Common Tern
9. Mallard
10. Greylag Goose
11. Wood Pigeon
12. Pochard
13. Tufted Duck
14. Canada Goose
15. Moorhen
16. Oystercatcher
17. Redshank
18. Pied Wagtail
19. Hobby - NEW
20. Great Crested Grebe
21. Little Ringed Plover
22. Cormorant
23. Reed Bunting
24. Teal
25. Shelduck
26. Sedge Warbler
27. Lesser Black-backed Gull
28. Crow
29. Chaffinch
30. Great Tit
31. Blue Tit
32. Greenfinch
33. Blackbird
34. Pheasant
35. Robin
36. Bullfinch
37. Magpie
38. Green Woodpecker
39. Mute swan
40. Black Swan

Marsh Lane

Went to Marsh Lane for the Tawny's today, but as per my luck, no show :-(

Oyster Catcher was pretty close though

Another long distance shot of a Sedge Warbler

The Count-

1. Tufted Duck
2. Black-headed Gull
3. Coot
4. Grey Heron
5. Little Ringed Plover
6. Little Grebe
7. Mute Swan
8. Black Swan
9. Common Tern
10. Pochard
11. House Martin
12. Sand Martin
13. Redshank
14. Lesser Black-backed Gull
15. Great Tit
16. Chaffinch
17. Greenfinch
18. Canada Goose
19. Lapwing
20. Starling
21. Oyster Catcher
22. Stock Dove
23. Crow
24. Mallard
25. Moorhen
26. Greylag Goose
27. Wood Pigeon
28. Magpie
29. Jackdaw
30. Goldfinch
31. Tree Sparrow
32. Reed Warbler
33. Robin
34. Sedge Warbler
35. Reed Bunting

430 miles for 6 new ticks!

Marsh Lane has proved just a little bit fruitless lately with no new ticks being added for quite some time, so this Sunday we packed the car up and headed for Bempton Cliffs & North Yorkshire Moors.
The weather was glorious, sunny and very warm with a small breeze to keep you just cool enough!
The plan was to hit Bempton for the Puffins, of which we did manage to see, but only very fleeting glimpse's as they darted in and out of their nesting burrows! So, no photo's :-(

The Gannets however were nowhere near as private and sat in the sun happy for the snaps -

Gannets

Fulmars

By 11:00 Bempton was getting busy, very busy! so off we go for a drive over the moors.
A short stop for some lunch and we could hear the distant call of a Golden Plover, after a little bit of searching we found him, although he was quite some distance away -

Long distance shot of a Golden Plover

So the 6 new ticks were -

1. Puffin
2. Guillemot
3. Gannet
4. Fulmar
5. Golden Plover
6. Red Grouse

Few Piccys

Normal Sunday afternoon trip to Marsh Lane proved to be reletively fruitless again with not a great deal to point the camera at.

The count made a meager 40 with no new ticks :-(

Common Tern

Long distance shot of the tiny Little Ringed Plover

Male & Female Tufted and a Redshank - Look like theyre waiting for a bus!

Couple of piccys

After a morning at the hospital for a routine check-up, i managed to escape to Marsh Lane for a couple of hours to see what was there to catch up with - Nothing!!

Mr Squirrel was in the mood for posing though

And also managed a half decent shot of a Goldfinch

Finally a new Tick

The obligatory stroll around Marsh Lane every Sunday has been tick free for the last few weeks, with only the usual culprits checking in for the register. Today though a Wood Sandpiper dropped in and finally broke the deadlock, not the best piccy in the world but he was quite a long way off.

Wood Sandpiper

Not a lot happening otherwise, with not an awful lot to point the camera at, did spot Mum & Dad Blue Tit feeding the kids though -

Blue Tits

Coot

Moorhen

Reed Bunting

Ok, its not a bird but i'm forever seeing these going into the nearby Birmingham Airport, so i decided to snap it -

Boeing 777



The count -

1. Lesser Black-backed Gull
2. Jackdaw
3. Coot
4. Greylag
5. Lapwing
6. Tufted Duck
7. Wood Pigeon
8. Mallard
9. Cormorant
10. Black-headed Gull
11. Mute Swan
12. Oyster Catcher
13. Goldfinch
14. Little Grebe
15. Moorhen
16. Canada Goose
17. Swift
18. Reed Bunting
19. Little Ringed Plover
20. Starling
21. Black Swan
22. Common Tern
23. Pheasant
24. Great Crested Grebe
25. Buzzard
26. Magpie
27. Carrion Crow
28. Grey Heron
29. Pochard
30. Reed Warbler
31. Pied Wagtail
32. Wood Sandpiper NEW
33. Redshank
     
 
 

Not a lot happening at Marsh Lane

Rain in the air and blowing a gale, but i went regardless thinking i might be rewarded with something unusual. No such chance!!

All run of the mill stuff im afraid, in fact if anything, its very quiet.

1. Coot
2. Tufted Duck
3. Lapwing
4. Oyster Catcher
5. Jackdaw
6. Cormorant
7. Black-headed Gull
8. Greylag
9. Common Tern
10. Sand Martin
11. Mallard
12. Great Crested Grebe
13. Pochard
14. Little Ringed Plover
15. Shelduck
16. Swift
17. Lesser Black-backed Gull
18. Redshank
19. Wood Pigeon
20. Crow
21. Gadwell
22. Goldfinch
23. Reed Bunting
24. Canada Goose
25. Mute Swan
26. Chiffchaff
27. Little Grebe
28. Moorhen
29. Jay
30. Pied wagtail
31. Black Swan
32. Blue Tit
33. Grey Heron
34. Magpie
35. Starling
36. Tree Sparrow

Blue Tit

Grey Heron

Reed Bunting

Oyster Catcher with its young

Marsh Lane & a mission to Shustoke Reservoir

Run of the mill stuff at Marsh Lane although we did cut the visit shorter than usual in order to go to Shustoke Reservoir.

Still a reasonable count though -

1. Magpie
2. Pied Wagtail
3. Greylag
4. Oystercatcher
5. Coot
6. Tufted Duck
7. Grey Heron
8. Swift
9. Mute Swan
10. Cormorant
11. Lapwing
12. Mallard
13. Jackdaw
14. Pheasant
15. Pochard
16. Wood Pigeon
17. Black-headed Gull
18. Ringed Plover
19. Dunlin
20. Canada Goose
21. Lesser Black-backed Gull
22. Gadwell
23. Starling
24. Little Grebe
25. Redshank
26. Little Ringed Plover
27. Sand Martin
28. Common Tern
29. Swallow
30. Goldfinch
31. Crow
32. Moorhen
33. Dunnock
34. Black Swan
35. Shelduck
36. Great Crested Grebe
37. Buzzard
38. Blue Tit
39. Sedge Warbler

Oystercatcher

Off to Shustoke Reservoir then with the mission to find the Black Throated Diver, with a good chance to practice some flight shots with the Gulls zipping about on the way -

Gull

And couldn't resist the little Goslings

But no sign of the Diver, even with now 3 of us on the prowl for it, although in truth, healthy conversation had put our observations on the back seat, only when a fourth birder joined our little group and pointed the Diver out to us did we spot him. Right under our noses!!!
Managed to get a few decent shots off and now cant decide which one is best, so here's a shortlist for you to decide!