Patch Perfect...

Today was one of those days that reminded me just why I am unashamedly a patch birder and a patch birder only and I can, hand on heart, say that there's very, very little that would draw me elsewhere, with the exception perhaps of Wryneck, which I've never seen and would probably 'go for' if it was in Cheshire. Otherwise, no. Why? Because Moore is my patch and I love its rickety aching bones to bits. Sure it's not the sprightly hot thing it was a decade ago (who of us are.. or perhaps even were?) but it exemplifies birding purity for me - that special mix of well-trodden paths, 'off piste' nooks and constant surprises. You never know what you're going to see - and that's the whole point. Whatever you DO see is through the sweat of your own brow. It's not about other people's birds. It's about your own and if I may digress into a rubbish baking metaphor for a moment, it's like baking your own bread. It may not be that pristine bloomer in Devonshire Bakery, but you mixed the flour, water and yeast and so it invariably tastes good. The patch was just like that today - no surprise Jalapenos, no crusty lattice work, just a good old fashion, fresh tasty loaf. So if you'll permit me, I'd like to a share a slice of it with you. 

For once, I actually managed to get up for sunrise and parked up opposite Pumphouse Pool to start, as I usually do, at the eastern end of the patch.

06:34 - Out of the car and... Song Thrush and Robin singing away, Blue Tit flitting about, 75 Black-headed Gull over east, a Chaffinch singing and the distant honk of a Canada Goose. 

06:40 - All's relatively quiet at the Eastern Reedbed. There had been a little ice on my car when I got up and so I was half-hopeful of a slight freeze and a late Bittern, but no. It was the usual fare... pair of Canada Goose, 2 Coot, 1 Moorhen, pair of Tufted Duck, a calling Reed Bunting and the loud, intermittent blast of Cetti's Warbler. Funny to lump Cetti's in 'the usual', but these days it is. I must have had five different birds on the patch today (including one I actually saw!)  and it is our commonest winter warbler these days - it used to be the 1-2 overwintering Chiffchaff we'd get. Not any more.

06:45 - There wasn't much more on Mill Brook Pond behind me; 2 Canada Goose, 2 Coot, pair of Tufted Duck... but I did add Little Grebe and male Shoveler. In the trees at the back were 7 Grey Heron noisily setting up shop in their little heronry and a then there was a equally noisy 'peeep peeep', as two Kingfisher chased across the pool heading for Pumphouse. Fabulous and the first of the day's year ticks.

                         Eastern Reedbed                                       Mill Brook Pool

Whilst I was 'down that end' of the patch I thought I'd check the river, ever hopeful of a Goosander, but alas no. I did though get a cracking view of an enormous pair of 3D glasses (!)... 

... 3 Stock Dove on the wires and my first singing Chiffchaff of the year. I thought perhaps 'they'd arrived', but it was the only one I heard all day, so I'm guessing it was either one that 'got the worm' or was an overwintering chap trying out his voice.

07:11 - Black Field Pools. Curlew over calling, Raven too... another blast of Cetti's Warbler and a somewhat embarrassed 'how do I follow that' half-hearted burble from a Reed Bunting. BFPE yielded 2 Canada Goose, 6 Teal, 1 Shoveler, 3 Coot, 2 Gadwall, 3 Tufted Duck and a pair of Oystercatcher, whilst BFPW added another 7 Teal, 2 more Canada Goose and a Great Crested Grebe. Walked back along Firecrest Alley and picked up Jay and 4 Redwing - the latter a reminder that the winter visitors have not all yet departed.

07:45 - Pumphouse Pool (east, aka Colin's). 49 Black-headed Gull, 1 Common Gull, 13 Tufted Duck, 7 Little Grebe (!), 7 Gadwall, 1 Mallard, pair of Teal, pair of Canada Goose, 3 Moorhen, 1 Shoveler, juvenile Mute Swan, 8 Coot and the first of the day's splendid Pochard, 2m 1f. All were briefly joined raucously by the two Oystercatchers from BFP, who didn't like what they saw and quickly left - thankfully. Nothing worse than noisy Oystercatchers, apart perhaps from the noisier and more irritating Canada Geese at the moment. Do they ever stop honking?

With the furthest reaches of the eastern end done, I usually potter back via Birchwood Pool and do a quick count there, but I was already freezing... and my car was at 'this end' of the patch, so instead I drove back to Runcorn to grab a coffee and munchies and then headed back to the patch for part two. The plan was to count Lapwing Lake, check the Feeding Station, spend a little time looking for LSW before heading to Birchwood Pool (west hide) to see what was about. First though, a quick check of the Manchester Ship Canal from the bridge and... wow! Tufted Duck everywhere... large and small gatherings as far as the eye could see west towards the warehouses -  I counted 114 in total (my highest count so far this year), plus a couple of Cormorant.

08:41 - Lapwing Lake. 24 Wigeon still (guess they'll be moving along soon...), 3 Little Grebe, 9 Coot,  3 Canada Goose, 4 Tufted Duck, 1 Moorhen, 2 Mallard, 1 Grey Heron, 1 male Pochard, pair of Teal.

Picked up Siskin along Lapwing Lane near the Car Park and the usual suspects, but little of note. No sign of the Lesser Spotted... just Great Spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker today. the former, tapping on one of the dead trees and the latter variously yaffling from both ends of the reserve. The Feeding Station was relatively quiet (not much seed in the feeders), but did get all the usual tits, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit (no Willow Tit or Marsh Tit today) along with several Nuthatch, Chaffinch and a cracking female Brambling that I watched for a good 10 minutes... another reminder that the winter is still clinging on my its icy finger tips. There were also loads of Treecreeper and Goldcrest about, as in previous recent visits.

09:30ish - Birchwood Pool (west). Another winter visitor who has yet to depart - Goldeneye, or rather 3 of them, 1m, 2f feeding in the NW corner. Also there were another 3 male Pochard, resplendently chestnut-headed in the sunlight, otherwise there was a pair of Canada Goose, 2 pairs of Little Grebe and a pair of Great Crested Grebe - no sign on any other ducks... hmmmm.

So, it was now about 10:00am and the eastern half of the reserve was done... time to hit the west: Upper Moss Side, the Manchester Ship Canal and Halfway House. I decided to get to the MCS via Hillcrest Quarry, in case of finches - there were none, but I did get 3 skeins of Pink-footed Goose over in quick succession, flying west: 140+170+50 - the most I've seen over in one go this year. The large number of Tufted Duck on the MCS were quickly confirmed too when I arrive at the piers and looked up and down the canal. If anything, there were even more than I'd been able to pick up from the road bridge and as I walked along the canal past the Warehouses I picked up another 50 Tufted Duck, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 8 Mallard, 2 Moorhen, 10 Gadwall, Common Buzzard... another Kingfisher zipping past calling and a bonus Pied Wagtail (year tick!) on the far strandline among the flotsam and jetsam (see example below) whilst scanning for possible Common Sandpiper (they have overwintered here in the past...). Also checked the fields on the far bank for thrushes. Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush and Ring Ouzel have all turned up in the past along with Wheatear later in the spring. Today though, just Magpies and Wood Pigeons...

                                                                     Today's Flotsam...

11:09 - Halfway House. My first visit with the tide out (!)... and it was pretty much like it often is... quiet. Today on the mud were; 70+37 Lapwing, 13 Canada Goose, 11 Carrion Crow, 2 Shelduck, 4 Cormorant, 6 Gadwall, 2 Mallard, 36 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 2 Great Black-backed Gulls...

11:30 - Upper Moss Side. It's funny isn't it, that when you spot a memorable bird at a certain place, at a certain time in the past, that you anticipate the same bird will turn up at the same place at the same time forever after. Of course they never (well, rarely...) do and today was no different. No Barn Owl flitting over the farmland in the lunchtime sunshine today. In fact, no Great Grey Shrike or Little Owl in the Balloon Hut Field either...

... and no Yellowhammer or Tree Sparrow in the hedgerows between the farm and white cottage, a 'given' in the past, nor Grey Partridge along the field margins, but I did finally flush a Snipe in a wet patch and got my first singing Skylark for the year - year ticks 3 and 4 for the day, respectively. The walk back along the track to Lapwing Lane was uneventful... and there was still no Willow Tit at the Feeding Station nor Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by the boardwalk... but do you know what? I didn't care a jot. I finished off with a big female Sparrowhawk soaring over Lapwing Lane, that got me thinking Goshawk for a while until I saw sense and I had a great 6 hours on the patch and walked every proverbial inch of it. The sun was shining. The birds were out and about. What more do you need, eh? Patch birding - gotta love it ;) 

FINAL TALLY for the day... 64spp (highest day total so far this year...)

Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Pheasant, Moorhen, Coot, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Feral Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Redwing, Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Jay, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Raven, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Brambling, Goldfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting... Year List 82spp

Apols for the tall narrow view... phone cam ;)

 

Call me Gandalf...

Sometimes days are unplanned as so it was...well, today. I had not awoken to thoughts of the patch but instead they emerged lunchtime and with them the urge to visit. Even then, I wasn't going 'for' a particular bird, nor even 'for' a particular part of the patch... I figured, as I quite often do, that I'd let the Universe decide and ended up parking at the cross and chatting to a bloke about the patch. He was there for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and hence, so it seems was I, and neither of us saw it. She remains illusive, being only occasionally seen near the cross. I did though get this chap Gandalf the Grey Wagtail, a year tick for me, as we conversed... it flitted through the waterlogged woody bit that was The Student Garden. 

Otherwise, it was all ears and wet feet. Ears first. Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Crow, Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, a distant Teal, an equally distant Wigeon (both presumably on Lapwing Lake), a closer brief burst of Cetti's Warbler, a middle-distance yaffle of Green Woodpecker and a surprising Tawny Owl calling briefly, somewhere back up Lapwing Lane. Then came the wet feet...

As the LSW was a no show, I thought I'd try for Snipe. I have still yet to get one, but figured there'd be enough sogginess to flush one along the north edge of the patch that is bounded by the Mersey and its shoreline of reeds and wet grassland. And so I tromped from Lapwing Lane to Norton Marsh along the river. I would not recommend it to anyone. It is crazily overgrown, hard plodding and very, very wet. There were no Snipe either... which was annoying, but I did flush a Woodcock and got another year tick - a flock of Linnet (c40) on one of the stubble fields together with 39 Curlew. 

To be honest, everywhere Upper Moss Side end was really quiet, apart from Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Dunnock and Wren...oh and a couple of Common Buzzard over and the occasional gull. No Yellowhammer. On a brighter note, the two farms look potentially promising as launch pads for the Barn Owl caught on camera nearby a few days back...

Anyway, I shouldn't complain... it got me out for a few hours in the sunshine and I got some nice birds along the way...plus, I'm now fired up for an early start tomorrow. Let's see if that happens, eh?

Year list now at... 78spp

 

Alphabetical storms and Mo(o)re food for the Snipes...

Three weeks ago, the Forestry Commission hid here... 

...now this is all that's left... 

The reason? An argument between Eunice and Franklin over who would be the wolf and who would be the three little pigs. I have no idea who won, but somebody's 'huff and puff' did the job. Not only that, but they did a pretty good job on many of the trees along the north path too...

 

I'd returned after the early morning woodpecker extravaganza to walk the dog and take in Hillcrest Quarry - a part of the patch I had yet to hit up this year. I always have a bit of a buzz when I'm near the gorse, as it potentially provides a different habitat mix than the woody/watery norm of the reserve proper. It's also where I've had Linnet in the past and so I guess subconsciously, that was why we ended  there - that and a surfeit of D.absens (see previous blog). Ironically, of the finches that part of the patch throws up, hound and I got pretty much all of them, except Linnet. There were Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch and Chaffinch singing and L.Redpoll over calling. Linnet though? Carduelis absens...

In fact, absence, it seemed, was the word of the day, as there were no raptors from the ironically named Raptor Watch View Point either...

...ah well, on the brighter side, there were 35 Tufty (largest count this year for me), 5 L.Grebe, 10 Wigeon and handfuls of Coot, Cormorant and Moorhen on Lapwing Lake...

...on the cloudier side, I lost ANOTHER pair of glasses to the Snipe (see previous blog), this time my rather nice white round-lensed prescription sunglasses. So if you're out and about and spot them, be a dear, keep them safe and drop me a comment... and in the meantime, I'll set about training the wee dog to sniff them out. Apparently, I am not the only donor to the Snipe foodbank... so who knows, we may find YOUR glasses...

Snipe 2 - 0 Mark

Dendrocopus absens...

 

At Moore, perhaps no bird is more appropriately named than the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus minor), for indeed it is not spotted often compared to its larger cousin, the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major). Yesterday, word got out that a female LSW had been seen near the Feeding Station and predictably enough, this drew a small crowd early doors.

However, we were treated not to its demure delights, but instead, to cracking views of its much much commoner cousin, the Unspotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus absens).  The eight or so birders that were already on site when I arrived around 8:45, had been treated to spectacular views, as too, was I for the next hour and a half.

We paced in teams around the little triangle of trees by the boardwalk enjoying its silent invisibility from all angles and I even snapped it flitting about (below).

Nobody was confident enough to sex it, but I reckon the small silent flock feeding voraciously on homeopathic bugs and grubs in the treetops, among the singing Goldcrests and Treecreepers, numbered perhaps 6-7, mostly males judging from their weight (male Unspotteds are much heavier than females and so make the trees move more...). Regardless, and of course we could debate the validity of the latter assertion, I left the now 16 birders enjoying the sunshine, happy with my three year ticks - Greenfinch, Collared Dove and Sparrowhawk.

Marsh Tit!

That little chap above is a Marsh Tit... and these past couple of weeks there has been some talk on the patch about whether there's one knocking around Lapwing Lane and the Feeding Station, usually the haunt of Willow Tit. I had debated Marsh Tit records on the reserve with young Michael not long ago, and he was less sceptical than me on account of a photo he'd seen showing a potential bird with a white spot at the base of the bill and had, himself, one or two on the patch over the years. So, when a report of one singing popped up on the Manchester Bird Forum I decided to take advantage of a post-Eunice sunny window and investigate. Parked up the hill alongside the car park and set off...

Today was all about the ears... picked up the expected Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush... less expected Siskin (are these the flock from Pumphouse?), Redwing, Treecreeper, Goldcrest and a totally UNexpected Chiffchaff calling on Lapwing Lane... presumably an overwintering resident or one overwintering off-patch and blown in by Eunice. However, there was no calling OR singing Marsh Tit. 

Gadwall, Coot, Moorhen, Teal, Mallard all calling from Lapwing Lake and there were 30 Cormorant roosting already (it was only about 3pm)... but MT? Nada. At that point my sunny window came to an end and the sky got dark and heavy fast. Fearing a sudden downpour I headed back to the car and bumped into a lad and ladess in birding togs. "Owt about?" I ask... "Marsh Tit..." came the reply. "Really?" I queried, "Was it calling?" "Nope, but it showing well 10 minutes ago at the Feeding Station. A few female Brambling too." I thanked them and shot down.

The place was buzzing. There was a constant stream of Great Tit, Blue Tit and Chaffinch constantly rotating through the feeder in front of the screen along with occasional Robin, Coal Tit and Nuthatch. On the hanging feeders were Great-Spotted Woodpecker and Long-tailed Tit too and Teal, Mallard and Coot pottering around in the puddles - but, there were no Brambling and no Marsh Tit. Ah well, different species come and go at different rates I reasoned and so decided to hunker down and watch. I'm glad I did because the first new species in, about 15 minutes later was, a Willow Tit... followed 1 minute later by another and then 7 minutes later by another... but wait... this one looked different. Was that a pale spot at the base of its bill? It shot off into the trees to my right and I lost it. For the next hour I watched as a pattern began to emerge and I could get more and more on the 'odd' bird. There seemed to be just two Willow Tit. They came in from the back of the feeding station, always from the left in quick succession and returned to the same trees. The 'odd' bird always came from the right and at different times to the other two. I managed to get good views of all of them and concluded the 'two' were likely a pair, clearly Willow Tit, pale on the wing, dull black cap, slightly 'fuzzy' bibs, no bill spots, fattish-necked, whereas the solitary bird has an almost shiny black cap and nape (the black extending more too), no pale patch on the wing, had a dinkier neater bib, seemed less compact and had a distinct pale spot at the base of the upper mandible. Sadly none of them called, so I can't confirm Marsh Tit on call or song, but I'm pretty confident that I can on all the rest. Was able to compare birds in relatively quick succession and in similar light ranging from shade to bright sunlight, so, please, if you're at Moore... keep your eyes (and ears!) peeled and comment me here if you get any records...

Proper chipper and still a little incredulous at the Marsh Tit (the presence on the patch of which I had stubbornly refused to accept up until now), I decided to extend my stay (the weather had brightened) and chance my luck at finding a few year ticks... the Marshy, the earlier Treecreeper and itinerant Chiffchaff being three. Quick check of the trees by the capped tip path, north of the Feeding Station yielded 2 female Brambling. A quick tromp around the boardwalks could not however conjure up a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and I don't know of any records at all for 2022 yet... but I did get a motionless, squirrel-shaped plastic bag hung in a small willow... that actually turned out to be a motionless squirrel (above). I was convinced it was dead and had somehow become 'impaled' in the willow, until I shook the tree and the thing bolted. So, with Lapwing Lane done, I thought, why not see the sun go down at the east end? Always a chance of flitty stuff in the alders alongside Pumphouse, Mill Brook and the Eastern Reedbed. Alas, not today... unless you count Cetti's Warbler, singing briefly at ERB. Mind you, I did finally get calling Water Rail - a late bonus 4th year tick. The river again however, yielded no Goosander, but Firecrest Alley came up trumps...

It was the first time this year I have walked it, preferring usually to skirt the high ridge to look out over the Black Fields and their pools - but not today. There was enough twittering in the Hawthorns for an illusive finch or crest and enough potential in the ditches for flushed Snipe to keep me on the path. Alas just Great Tit, Blue Tit and Robin... oh, and a heavy sigh from me as I passed the bench near where Long-eared Owl used to regularly roost during the winter before the photographers scared them off... ho hum. And as I neared the steps at the far end, I thought that was that, until a Woodcock flitted across the path and disappeared into the wet woods. Year tick number 5 and from the same spot as I'd had one donkey's years ago - go figure...

Pumphouse Pool was next up and despite scanning the mud, no Snipe there either - just the usual (see previous posts recently). Was getting dark so headed off, bumping into a chap called Ian en route who'd had Redpoll earlier (doh) with the small Goldfinch flock that flew in as we watched. Still, Goldfinch was No.6 for me and I got the Redpoll on a quick backtrack later (No.7) so all was good. Took the south path through Birchwood back to the car, picking up 1 male and 2 female Goldeneye on Birchwood Pool... and a bunch of fallen trees from storm Eunice.

 

All in all though, a great couple of hours today - full tally below 51 spp.

GC.Grebe, L.Grebe, M.Swan, C.Goose, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Tufty, Goldeneye, Buzzard, Pheasant, Coot, Moorhen, Water Rail, Woodcock, BH.Gull, H.Gull, C.Gull, W.Pigeon, S.Dove, G.Woodpecker, GS.Woodpecker, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, S.Thrush, M.Thrush, Redwing, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Goldcrest, G.Tit, B.Tit, LT.Tit, C.Tit, W.TiT, M.Tit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Siskin, Goldfinch, L.Redpoll, Brambling, Crow, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw

Year List to date, now 73 - starting to look up, but waaaaay off the usually hoped for ton ahead of the first migrants...

The Monkey Birds of Runcorn...

 

I was out a couple of weeks back, late at night in Runcorn, near my house giving the wee boy his pre-sleep walk when I heard cackling above me. It was not a sound I recognized and on looking up was met with a coven of these things settling in for the night - Monkey Birds, or at least that's what they looked like when I checked the above photo on my phone when I got indoors.

In total there were 13 of them and they were there just for the one night. The question was, what on earth were they? I had to know. Now perhaps, YOU can tell from the pix, but I certainly couldn't and their glowing eyes and owl monkey-ish appearance got me guessing. And before you leap in with... they're owls, really? Think again - they are NOT owls. Neither are they native to this country... and I had never before seen them in a tree!

It reminded me of a different occasion in which an expected species turned up in an unexpected place and momentarily threw me completely. My friend and I were in Scotland hunting for this beauty...

We lived there at the time and had been tipped off about a couple of possible lekking sites and so went for a tromp up a steep Heather and Blaeberry slope to some semi-natural Scots Pine habitat where a male had been calling for a few days. We kept our ears peeled for the characteristic 'knife-sharpening & champagne cork-popping' song to no avail and after an hour or so, headed somewhat disappointed back down the slope at which point there was a loud whoosh as a bird the size of a turkey skimmed our heads and clattered off down into the valley. It had been high up in a Scots Pine unseen by us until it decided to hop ship and skedaddle. We had NOT expected that. Nowhere in the field guides does it say "Oh, and don't forget to check the trees!" Thankfully we got the same chap showing off to three females among the pines a week or so later, but it just goes to show - one can be caught off guard.

Back to the Monkey Birds. So, in that 'what are they doing up there' mindset in combination with their non-native status and the fact that yesterday they were feeding on the grass... and there were only four of them... you can perhaps understand why it took me a second visit with a torch to confirm what they were.

Perhaps a silhouette will satisfy the curious... 

How easily we forget...

 

Well, I managed an hour on the patch today and saw sod all...but I did add TWO to my Moore life list? Now how is that possible? Failing memory and a good chew on some patch fat with my fellow patcher, young Michael - that's how.

Bumped into each other near the Eastern Reedbed. I was on my way to check for Water Rail, finches along the path, Goosander on the river and anything on the Black Fields... he had already done the east end and found zilch. The place was dead. So instead of yonking the loop, we sat at Pumphouse at Colin's Screen (it can no longer be called a hide) and chewed the proverbial. Wasn't long before days of yore were on the menu and those birds still yet to get. Now, the Mullster's patch list is longer than mine, without a doubt, he had after all been working it long before I came along... and so conversation ambled into birds I have still to get. One of which is this little chap...

So, I was rueing not yet having had Little Gull when I was reminded that I had, so I checked my blog and bugger me, he was right! I'd had one on Birchwood Pool. Here's the very bit from 'Little Things...' my blog of Sunday April 1st 2012... and yes the irony of the date is not lost on me!

"There was already a bloke at the west hide when I arrived and we chatted briefly until... hang on... what's that... bloody hell LITTLE Gull. A gorgeous adult not yet with its summer black hood was hawking for insects in the sunlight with elegant dips and flutters above the pool.  Smokey underwing, delicately rounded wingtips, lightest most bouyant flight... beautiful. Quickly gave Mully a ring who was down in about 5 minutes flat and who then began the round of calls and texts to other patchers. This was apparently the first Little Gull for the reserve itself, the only other records coming from Halfway House."

Slightly worrying how the old memory fades... even more so when I asked him about the Richard's Pipit records for the reserve (his memory far exceeds my own...). He'd had one or two and looked a little surprised at my envy... "Well you had one too..." he said. I did? Then in a bizarre epiphany a flash of a record whizzed past 'Eastern Reedbed!' I remembered. Well, I wasn't far off it was actually Mill Brook Pool on December 1st 2009... and I had blogged about that too! Maybe I should go back and read my own blogs lol. Here's the entry...

Dec 1st – Richard's Pipit NNW over Millbrook Pool mid-morning - calling "schriiip". Heading toward capped tip. Large pipit, long tail, pale underside. Long undulating flight. Called twice. 

I have no idea if I submitted it to CAWOS (I used to do crazy things like that back in the day before one too many rejections after which I thought... 'D'ya know what? F**k it! I know what I saw. Your approval is not necessary...', nor if I did, whether it was accepted - I'm guessing not. Either hoo, it's mine and I'm having it...

The Fast & Furious XVII...

 

If you watch the Fast & Furious movies, you'll know that one of the major tenets of the various stories is 'the quarter mile' - the distance the various protagonists race to demonstrate the speed of their cars and their Machismo or Marianismo (yes, I didn't know there was a female equivalent either...) and so today, I did the quarter mile at Moore - on foot.

I had very little time and it was as much about grabbing a dry window to let the wee boy have a run with his favourite blue ball, as seriously looking for patch ticks. If I got any, bonus, but to be honest it was nice to get out in the fresh air for a bit. So, we parked up near Pumphouse and ambled up to the East Hide (Colin's), picking up what little there was in between scuffing said blue ball along the track and through the puddles so that the pooch could get wet and muddy and then hopefully snooze later.

The first thing we heard and saw were 13 Siskin and 7 Redwing in the alders near the gate to the Eastern Reedbed, along with a few Blue Tits, calling Long-tailed Tits and a single singing Goldcrest. Along the path past the Green Woodpecker view point sign that looks out over a scrubby area with pines on the east shore of Pumphouse, we got one 'yaffling' together with a Great Spotted Woodpecker 'chekking' in the distance, 2 Herring Gull and 2 Carrion Crow over west.

There were zero surprises on Pumphouse itself, although I forgot to 'predict' Shoveler, Moorhen and Grey Heron in my previous dismissal of a site visit this week on account of the weather... what was I thinking...

Pumphouse Pool (east hide) - 26 Gadwall, 6 Mallard, 14 Tufted Duck, 3 Shoveler, 15 Coot, 8 Black-headed Gull. 1 Grey Heron, 3 Moorhen

... and that was pretty much that. No Greenfinch. No Goldfinch. No Linnet. No Redpoll. Where ARE all the finches??

The Alpaca Cocktail Bar...

The other day we headed to Crosthwaite to run some robotics at a primary school there where we were unexpectedly met by the local Alpacas. It was strange to see them up in the lakes, peering over a dry-stone wall and making little chunnering noises, but it struck me afterwards how much MORE strange it must be for them, looking out over the Cumbrian landscape at the Crows, Magpies, Buzzards and local Robins, instead of their Andean neighbours.

Now of course, I'm romanticizing here... these particular Alpacas are no doubt, as English as you or I, bred in captivity somewhere and now happily pottering around in the English countryside, unlike their native cousins 6000 miles away in the Andes... but it got me thinking...

...if not Crows, Magpies, Buzzards and Robins then what? What sights and sounds were our Anglicized friends in the north missing out on? Stick them on a flight to meet the relatives and what birds might they encounter in their home country?

Sadly, I have yet to hit the Bolivian Altiplano or its neighbouring environs where Alan the Alpaca may naturally hang out and so I've had to rely on the Interweb for gobbits of curious information. Apparently, 23  bird species have the prefix Andean, namely; avocet, condor, coot, crested duck, duck, emerald, flamingo, flicker, goose, guan, gull, hillstar, lapwing, motmot, potto, siskin, solitaire, swallow, swift, teal, tinamou and tit-spinetail...

Curiosity aroused! What on earth is a Tit-Spinetail?? Well, it's one of these... an Ovenbird. Handsome wee crittur! And in case you're wondering, they get their name from the resemblance their covered nests have to Dutch ovens...

... and what indeed is the difference between a Eurasian Siskin and an Andean one? Answer: this...

 

However, it was two particular Andean species that caught my eye - both sounded like they were on the menu of a Cocktail bar to me and I had no idea what either looked like... I give you the Andean Negrito and the Subtropical Doradito.

The first is made by mixing tiny amounts of Gin, Sweet Vermouth, Campari and Orange Juice and the second by toasting ground maize, vegetable oil and salt and shaping the mix into snack-sized flat triangle-shaped Tortilla crisps. The resultant birds are rather splendid, especially the wee Doradito, whose name in Spanish means 'Little Fried and Golden Thing'! More apt perhaps for its contracted cousin, the Dorito.

 

                              Andean Negrito                                         Subtropical Doradito

... and I leave you with perhaps the saddest and most non-descript birdy epithet from the region (presumably the equivalent of the British 'Little Brown Job') and a bird that looks like the love-child of a Bullfinch and Dunnock,  the ambivalently name Plain-colored Seedeater. Aw, bless...