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Whiffle waffle

Posted by on September 28, 2009 10:02 PM | 

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Watched an ever-growing flock of Pinkies on the lagoon in front of Nels Hide at Marshside today for a good hour.
250+ birds, with more piling in all the time, and landing very close to the hide (they get more timid as the winter goes on, and they remember that encounters with humans ain't generally a positive experience...blam blam blam), for a good wash and brush up.

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Plenty of squabbling, wing flapping and general goose stuff.
The Water Rail was squealing away in the reeds to the right of the hide, with good numbers of Snipe, and Wigeon, Pintail, Mallard, Shoveler, Teal and Gadwall all gradually emerging from eclipse.

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Little Egrets all over Crossens Outer.
Robin, Wren, Wheatear and Mipit around the Sandplant, and over at Martin Mere, more Pinkies, with the first wild Whooper Swan of the autumn (or so I'm told) hooking up with the oversummering birds.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...


Comments (8)

Bill Aspin wrote...

Re the Great White Egret at Crossens on 26th Sept. Was it colour ringed? I am assuming this is the individual present at Brockholes Wetland LWT on Sept 25th, which we last saw heading SW downriver, estuary bound. We may not be able to clinch the ring details 100% as the bird was wading in deep water and the reply from the ringer doesn't quite tally with the finders description of the ring combination. If the Ribble Marshes bird is still present and can be clinched as colour ringed LEFT: Red over metal, RIGHT: Red over lime, then the bird was ringed at Lac de Grand-Lieu (Loire Atlantique, France) on 10/6/2006. Fingers crossed.

Posted by: Bill Aspin  | September 28, 2009 10:58 PM

ron Jackson wrote...

The GWE I filmed at Banks before it moved further out towards Warton didn't have any rings.
Maurice Jones last week was talking about two GWEs at Leighton/Silverdale.
Who knows which of the two is the one recently reported from Crossens and Heckie out marsh?

Ron

Posted by: ron Jackson  | September 29, 2009 11:53 AM

john aitchison wrote...

I saw the GWE on Sunday at Banks and it was ringed but it flew off before I could get the combination. I think there was yellow on both legs.

Posted by: john aitchison  | September 29, 2009 4:26 PM

phil boardman wrote...

Hi John I got a few shots of the Water Rail from Nels Hide on Sunday am, it walked right in front of the hide from left to right only feet away - on my flickr, use it if you wish.
kind regards Phil

Posted by: phil boardman  | September 29, 2009 6:48 PM

Bill Aspin wrote...

Hi Ron / John,
Thanks for your comments.
Ron: What date are you referring to for your unringed sighting? Don't think it has been confirmed that there are two birds involved at Leighton / Humphrey Head, though anythings possible.
John: That was the impression of the finder of the Brockholes bird, who also confirmed it was the same bird he had been watching the previous evening, Sept 24th, at Banks Marsh due to the same ring combination. He read it as red over yellow on both legs, but at the moment, i can't find a ringing scheme that matches.
I will post more images of what we obtained of the ring detail on my blog www.babb2.blogspot.com later today.
Cheers,
Bill.

Posted by: Bill Aspin  | September 30, 2009 9:29 AM

ron Jackson wrote...

I saw my bird on 12/09/09 but it had been around beforehand.
That was the only occasion I saw it reasonably close and was able via video to see no rings.
It was Maurice Jones who mentioned two birds, maybe not specifically "Leighton", perhaps somewhere in "North Lancs.", wherever that may be.

Ron

Posted by: ron Jackson  | September 30, 2009 2:52 PM

Bill Aspin wrote...

Hi Ron, Yes your dates tie in nicely with the, as you say, unringed bird.

It appears the GWE has relocated to Leighton Moss as a colour ringed bird bearing what looks to be the same ring combination as noted by the observer/finder of the 24th Sept Banks Marsh sighting and 25th Sept Brockholes bird has now joined the GWE already present

Posted by: Bill Aspin  | September 30, 2009 9:10 PM

Ron Jackson wrote...

Were the rings on the tibia or tarsus or a combination of both?
Rings just above the "ankle" can be difficult to see on wading birds.

Ron

Posted by: Ron Jackson  | October 1, 2009 9:06 AM

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