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The plan had been to have a day out at Southport to see what was around at Marshside and Crossens but I decided I wasn't going to end the year subject to the peculiar whims of Northern Rail.

Plenty about in the garden, I'm having to refill the feeders twice a week at the moment. The highlight of the day was a very brief visit by a very smart-looking female blackcap. The Mahonia at the bottom of the garden definitely earns it keep, as well as being very decorative at this time of year it's a very good small bird magnet. I'm never sure if the attraction is the nectar or the insects feeding on the nectar, or indeed both.

Martin Mere

Fieldfare

It was a nice morning so I thought I'd have a wander round Martin Mere. The changes to the train timetables mean that the service from Oxford Road to Southport is back (yay!) but it leaves ten minutes before my local train gets in to Oxford Road (boo!), but the connection to Wigan's still OK and now connects with an all-stations stopping train to Southport. Which means I can now get off at New Lane, wander down to Martin Mere then walk down to Burscough Bridge Station where there's a train every half hour so I'm not constantly watching the clock while I'm birdwatching. So that seems like a good development.

The walk down Marsh Moss Lane from New Lane Station was mostly notable for the large flock of fieldfares splitting their time between the Winter stubble in the fields and the tops of the roadside trees. There were a few redwings and a couple of song thrushes in the trees, too. On the approach to Martin Mere there was a smaller flock of fieldfares which included a couple of mistle thrushes.

Inside Martin Mere, which was unsurprisingly busy, the mere itself was heaving with all the usual suspects. It was nice to see half a dozen pochard amongst the crowds, they seemed to have abandoned the mere for the Harrier Hide pool last Winter.

Black-tailed godwit

Whooper swan

Ruff

Pink-footed geese
Using the feet and the alula (the "bastard wing" or "thumb") as air brakes

Pink-footed geese

Pink-footed goose

Pintail

I didn't have much luck with raptors, just two buzzards sitting in trees on the far side of the mere.

Buzzard
I like the acccidental "Ladybird Book" feel of this picture.

It was nice to see a willow tit on the feeders by the Janet Kear Hide. Apparently it's been around a few weeks, fingers crossed a few more will join it and settle in.

By the time I set off home it had clouded over and the sun was going down. Scan as I may the fields along Red Cat Lane I had no luck finding any barn owls or little owls in the twilight but there were more large flocks of fieldfares settling down in the trees and more incoming pink-footed geese.

Sunset on Red Cat Lane

A lovely day out, marred only by Northern Rail having yet another Monday meltdown on the way home.

The Wirral

Redshanks, New Brighton

Plenty of redshanks, dunlins and turnstones at New Brighton but still no purple sandpipers either roosting on the pontoon or on the rocks and breakwaters around Fort Perch Rock. The accumulation to the year list crawled to a halt in mid-November. Still, it's always a nice short walk round, especially when high tide brings the waders in to roost.

Redshanks, dunlins and turnstones, New Brighton

Oystercatcher, New Brighton

Herring gull, New Brighton

New Brighton

I moved on to West Kirby to have a walk round the Marine Lake. It turned out to be very busy with families taking the air while it was dry and fairly mild. The only ducks on the lake were a couple of red-breasted mergansers. Lots of big sky in the twilight.

Looking across the Dee Estuary from West Kirby Marine Lake

There weren't very many gulls on the lake, most were out on the the estuary following the receding tide. One particularly small and dinky herring gull caught my eye. For a moment or two I hoped it might be a ring-billed gull but sadly not. Ah well, another day perhaps.

Herring gull, West Kirby Marine Lake

Local patch

The garden was very busy with starlings and house sparrows this morning so I nearly missed the goldcrest fussing about in the conifer at the bottom of the garden. I was pleased to see that a pair of goldfinches had finally started using the niger feeder I'd hung up three weeks ago.

There were a few gulls on the school playing field: thirty-nine black-headed gulls and four each of common and herring gulls. Yesterday, after a blustery Sunday night, there were fifty-six black-headed gulls, ten common gulls and four each of herring and lesser black-backed gulls, together with a first Winter yellow-legged gull. The yellow-legged gulls round here are always juveniles and come few and far between in Autumn and Winter, never staying more than a couple of hours.

The highlights of an hour's walk around Lostock Park and Barton Clough in the afternoon mizzle were a flock of twenty-six redwings and a skein of twelve pink-footed geese flying over surprisingly low and quiet.

Garden

Blue tit

It must be Christmas: the first blackcap of Winter, a very spruce male, feeding on the Mahonia flowers in the back garden, much to the disgust of the blue tits that have been monopolising the bush for the past few weeks. I'm not sure if we've got four or five blue tits, there's one that regularly accompanies the silver team of house sparrows but I don't know if it's also one of the ones that bounce around the sycamores on the railway embankment at the bottom of the garden. There are two coal tits but they don't often come in together.

When I was a kid we never had jackdaws round here, these days it's unusual if there isn't a dozen of them bouncing round the school field across the road. One of them has discovered the fat feeders on the feeding station. A right bloody performance of it it makes, too.

Jackdaw

Chorlton Water Park

I'm flagging a lot lately, probably a combination of Winter blues, Christmas shopping and new train timetables. Today I had an afternoon wander round Chorlton Water Park and walked down along the river to Hardy Farm then got the bus home.

Black-headed gulls, a coot and a tufted duck

Duck gadwall

The water park was packed with coots, gadwall and tufted ducks and a flock of fifty-odd black-headed gulls seemed to be too skittish to loaf about properly. A couple of male pochards and a great crested grebe added a bit of variety. A small flock of goldfinches worked their way through the alders accompanied by a handful of siskin while magpies and ring-necked parakeets vied to see who could make the most noise.

Barlow Tip

Barlow Tip was very quiet. This time of year, no matter how suburban the setting it still looks like the blasted heath. A few blackbirds were picking their way through the last of the hawthorn berries. Other than that it was just singles of robin, wren and woodpigeon.

Walking along the Mersey in the mizzle

Walking along the Mersey between Barlow Tip and Hardy Farm the river was well down from my visit last week (thank Heaven!). A few mallard dabbled by the river edge and a lone duck goosander steamed downstream at a rate of knots. I kept hearing a grey wagtail but it took a while to pick it out amongst the mud-flattened grass. The puddles on Hardy Farm were smaller but the usual juvenile heron was still working its way along the side of the path.

Leighton Moss

Leighton Moss

A day out at Leighton Moss while the sun was shining (and the trains between Manchester and Silverdale were running pretty much to time unlike the rest of the network).

Plenty of ducks on Lilian's Hide: teal and mallard close to the hide, wigeon, shoveler and pintail on the far side of the pool with a few tufted ducks and goldeneye, and a couple of dozen gadwall peppered about. All were momentarily spooked as a marsh harrier flew over then settled back down quietly. A nice surprise was a bittern suddenly flying up out of the reedbed and flying a few yards before disappearing whence it came.

Drake teal singing

There were more marsh tits about than I've seen so far this year, which comes as a bit of a relief as I'd started worrying about that. The alders between Lilian's Hide and the Hideout hosted a small flock of siskins.

Marsh tit

I didn't get to see any bearded tits or Cetti's warblers this time, though there were two singing Cetti's, one on the causeway and one in the new reeds by the boardwalk.

From the Causeway Hide the first thing that struck the eye was a large raft of coot and gadwall. There were a few mute swans and a large group of mallard but not much in the way of diving duck besides a solitary duck goldeneye. On the little island — which seems to be getting smaller each time I visit — a couple of cormorants and a great black-backed gull made a couple of lapwings look a bit nervous.

Coot

A mixed tit flock at the bottom of the causeway was mostly long-tailed tits and blue tits with a marsh tit tagging along for company.

Long-tailed tit

A large flock of fieldfare, accompanied by a few blackbirds and redwings, was scattered round the visitor centre and the trees by the golf course. The field between the visitor centre and the railway line seemed to be the place most favoured by redwings. A few of the fieldfares jostled with a flock of starlings for the pick of the apples in the orchard.

Fieldfare

Just as I set off for the train home it started raining, which was nicer timing than usual.

Elton Reservoir

Elton Reservoir

An afternoon stroll round Elton Reservoir with a brief spate of sunshine in between showers. I was half-hoping to add lesser redpoll to the annual list but they tend to turn up after the New Year so it wasn't desperately disappointing to not find any. The usual feeding stations by the sailing club were removed earlier this year (is this another place that's had a rat problem this year?) so there was no idling about in the car park to see what was coming in. Plenty of goldfinches and greenfinches about, a fair-sized flock of house sparrows and a pair of bullfinches feeding on the dock seeds amongst the chickens by the High Bank cottages. I could hear a heron calling but couldn't see it. Until I looked up.

Grey heron

Most of the gulls on the reservoir were black-headed gulls. Out in the middle there was a raft of mostly juvenile herring and lesser black-backed gulls (a few more adults flew in as I was walking round). Half a dozen great black-backs and a few common gulls were dotted about. A third-Winter (I think) yellow-legged gull flew in with a couple of lesser back-backs and some herring gulls.

Cormorant and great black-back

Common gull

Besides gulls there were the usual suspects, including nearly a hundred coot, a couple of dozen tufted ducks and a dozen great crested grebes. A little egret worked its way round the water's edge. As I walked along the path on the Eastern side (which was just as wet but not nearly as muddy as the path on the other side) I disturbed a grey wagtail and as I was looking to see where it had gone a kingfisher zoomed past across the reservoir. A few pied wagtails were feeding amongst the Highland cattle in the field by the farmhouse. A couple of dozen Canada geese had gathered together at the Southern end of the reservoir, together with a few teal, a female goldeneye and two male pochards. And there, sitting on the bank, was the kingfisher that had flown by earlier.

Kingfisher

I wandered down the very muddy path over to Withins Reservoir, which was mostly quiet besides a few teal and mallard then retraced my steps back to the path towards St. Andrew's Road and wandered down to get the bus back into Manchester.

The lane from Withins Reservoir to St. Andrew's Road

Pennington Flash

The afternoon light on the pool by the Tom Edmondson Hide was wonderful and made a wonderful backdrop for the herons on there.

Grey heron

Grey heron

Grey heron

Grey heron

Grey heron

Conwy

Conway Castle

After last week's being stuck at home I was wanting a proper day out, December's a time for catching up both with the year list and site visits so I thought I'd visit RSPB Conwy as I'd not got round to it so far this year and firecrests have been reported from there a few time over the past few days.

It was a nice day for a walk and a pleasant stroll down from Lllandudno Junction station. Plenty of redshanks, gulls and teal on the river, together with a handful of curlew. Good numbers of oystercatchers on the estuary but none on the river south of the railway line.

Conwy RSPB was a bit quiet birdwise. The mixed tit flocks were almost entirely blue tits and great tits, a chiffchaff was tagging along with one of them. Lots of robins begging for food along the paths. Ducks on the open water included mallard, teal, gadwall and a few tufted ducks, accompanied by rafts of coot and the occasional moorhen. There was an interesting looking domestic mallard having a kip alongside a little egret, mostly white with black markings and an odd black and washed-out blue speculum.

Domestic mallard and little egret

Sadly, no firecrests. But it was a nice day out all the same.

Etherow Country Park

Mandarin duck

A bright Winter's afternoon with a splendid low light just begging for pictures of mandarin ducks. So I nipped over to Etherow Country Park to give it a go.

Mandarin duck

Mandarin duck

Mandarin ducks

Fight!

Magpies having a punch-up, Lostock Park

I'd gone for an hour's walk round my local patch to see whether I was up to a proper birding excursion later this week. Fairly quiet all round, a small mixed tit flock worked its way through the poplars and a handful each of blackbirds and robins.

Quite a few magpies about, generally in lose groups of two or three. Until I threw some suet pellets under some elder bushes. As is often the way, the magpies soon forgot about the food and turned their attentions on making sure each knew its place.

Scrapping magpies

Scrapping magpies

Scrapping magpies

Scrapping magpies

Scrapping magpies

Scrapping magpies

After five minutes' noisy kerfuffle involving up to six magpies at times victor and vanquished got up and chased after a carrion crow that had taken most of the food they'd been fighting over.