Ring and a Roll 28th Jan 2020

I was up in Perth for an RSPB meeting on Monday 27th, so a good opportunity to catch up with Andy and put the world to rights. Next morning it would have been rude not to cross the street to Strathclyde Country Park and try to catch-up with the returning adult Ring-billed Gull. Sure enough it was on it's favourite bouy off Car Park 4, exactly where Andy said it was likely to be. For me it was my first successful attempt to catch-up with this and I really don't recall when I last saw a UK 'ringer'. As a bit of a gull-o-phobe I'll say it quietly, but it was a rather lovely bird.

After that there was time for a quick bacon-roll in the café before heading off south and some homeward bound birding in Lancashire.

First stop was Pine Lake, Carnforth for the long-staying Ring-necked duck. Despite it being reported in the morning, and me searching every inch of the lake for over an hour I failed to find it - presumably it had chosen to visit one of the other lakes this afternoon. Still, there were 5 Scaup showing incredibly well, and the lake had good numbers of Pochard and Goldeneye, so it was a pleasant hour. 

Male Pochard

Onwards to Upper Thurnham on a swan visit. I found the flock of wintering Whooper Swans and Mute Swans, and the fields were full of Curlews, Lapwings and gulls. The weather was deteriorating into heavy showers and a cold wind, making it difficult to look through the flock but I was eventually sure that there weren't any Russian interlopers present. Back in the car I re-checking the previous reports and realised that I had not gone far enough along the road, so I headed a mile or so west only to see swans all over the place in scattered groups. The second group I looked at, close to the road, comprised more Whoopers and at least 5 Bewick's Swans. Lovely to see these daintier birds, something that used to be easy to see but has declined markedly over my lifetime. 

Bewick's to the left of me, Whoopers to the right...

Time was running out and it was bitterly cold, but worth a quick attempt at the over-wintering Purple Heron at nearby Eagland Hill. It has been present a couple of months, but become markedly more elusive of late so it was unsurprising that I failed to find it. There were plenty of Pink-footed Geese in the fields, and a male Merlin was good to see, all in an area I spent several years surveying for the Orchard End wind farm. In fact both the last two sites were teaming with birds, how it should be! 

Pink-feet and the Orchard End Wind Farm