Managed a swift once over of the Sands Lake late this afternoon - just enough time before the sun sank to have a look around.
Cold and quiet, with no gulls (apart from those passing overhead to roost on the beach).
Only 46 Tufted Ducks this afternoon, which was a bit disappointing, but at least their Bobby Charlton comb-overs are coming on a treat.
Took the trouble to tally up 186 Mallards, but there could have been more dozing under the overhanging branches.
I don't usually count the Mallards, but was spurred on by a press release the BTO sent me lamenting the decline of Mallard as a wintering species in the UK.
Apparently there's been a 33% drop in the critters since 1980, with poor breeding seasons and milder winters being cited as the reasons for the fall.
No severe temperatures means the Mallards stay on smaller waters apparently, so there's no big counts on larger lakes and meres - this would explain why little Sands Lake has a stonking 186 (admittedly some of them are a bit hybridy, and one is even pure white).
Still a few hundred at Marshside too.
14 Shovelers on Sands Lake top end, and a single drake Pochard.
About 40 irritable Coot in total.
The Magpies were beginning to gather pre-roost as I left and went to check the beach.
The sea looked very big and angry from the bottom of Shore Road, with Sanderling and small numbers of Grey Plover on the tideline, and Black Headed Gulls washing in the deep puddles at the beach entrance.
A few Common and Herring Gulls were there too, but I suspect the big gull numbers were further north around Taggs.
Earlier in the afternoon, as I passed through Ince Blundell Woods the Grey Herons were mooching around the traditional nest sites in the VERY tall trees (they were there last week too), and Jackdaws and Woodpigeons were heading into the pinewoods at Ainsdale to roost.
One more thing, colleagues up in Newcastle sent me this story from the Newcastle Chronicle's website about a Blackbird on eggs in Toon town already.
Don't give much for its chances if the predicted cold snap hits in the next 24 hours.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Alan and Ruth (The Biggest Twitch) wrote...
Hi John
Hope you're still enjoying the diary just a quick update on our travels
Our first leg of The Biggest Twitch,
Arizona, Mexico and Ecuador, went very well, mind blowing stuff!
We have had trouble finding internet access in Ecuador so have not been able
to update the diary as often as possible, luckily our friends at Tropical
Birding ( www.tropicalbirding.com ) have been very helpful and added entries
when we could get a phone signal. We are hoping to do a review of the first
month before we set off to Ethiopia in a couple of days. Not easy to pick
out highlights, so many wonderful birds and places. Our stay at Sacha Lodge
in the Amazon was certainly one, a very remote and beautiful wilderness area
teeming with birds, and amazing lodge with very tasty food! Our time in the
Andes was also wonderful with stunning scenery and four seasons weather in a
day! We will never forget the views of Buff bellied Seedsnipe at 14,000 feet
in bitter cold. Lower down at Milpe we saw the incredible Scarlet and White
Tanager - the colour of a traffic cone! Then our last day gave us Andean
Condor what better way to leave Ecuador. We can't rate this country highly
enough it has it all. Back here in the UK we saw Bewick's Swans on the way
home from the airport, a species we unlikely to see again. We spent today
birding along the North Wales coast, our local patch, where we recorded 98
species for the day, though not all new. New species total: 1122!
Best wishes and good birding!
Alan and Ruth
Posted by: Alan and Ruth (The Biggest Twitch) | January 31, 2008 1:04 PM