Many thanks to Neil Roberts for sending me his shots of the Gyr out on the mosses near Altcar this afternoon so quickly.
The bird has been seen once or twice on Plex Moss too over the past week, and has no jesses or sat nav attached.
As Neil rightly points out, it appears to be a Gyr Falcon, and just pale enough (given the lousy light today) to be a Greenlander.
Neil explains: "Hi John, I think its a pure bred Gyr what do you think?
I have no idea if it's a wild bird or not but no jesses hanging down or sat nav attached.
"The flight shots are very poor but look at the bulk in the last shot.
"It wasn't around for long when I first saw it and last seen heading south towards Engine Lane, Altcar."
Given the conditions, I think Neil's (copyrighted) shots are pretty darn good.
Never know for sure if it's a wild bird or an escape, unless there's a falconer out there who keeps untagged Gyrs and knows otherwise?
Just hope it sticks around for awhile to give the mosses that extra buzz this winter.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Thank you for taking the time to report to us details of a bird ring you found. Information about this bird and its movements is given below.
Ringing Scheme:London
Ring Number: Y02717
Species of bird: Guillemot
This bird was ringed by R.G Scan as a nestling, sex unknown on 18-Jun-2011 at Puffin Island, Isle of Anglesey
OS Map reference SH6582, co-ordinates 53deg 19min N 4deg 2min W.
It was found on 09-Oct-2011 at Ainsdale, Southport, Merseyside
OS Map reference SD3111, co-ordinates 53deg 35min N 3deg 3min W.
The bird was found as a tideline corpse.
It was found 113 days after it was ringed, 72 km from the ringing site, direction ENE.
Hi John,
Red Kite still present Altcar this morning with 3 Short Eared Owls and a Merlin present yesterday pm at Sefton Meadows. Been out and about for a bit but no other sightings of the Gyr.
Yo, Trops and I had two Tundra Beans and 3 Euro Fronts on Plex today, with about 5k Pinkies. No sign of the falcon there or at the Withins.
Red Kite soaring over Altcar Withins with seven Buzzards at noon yesterday, and the Green Winged Teal reported on Crossens Channel. Flock of 9 Eurasian Whitefronts on Marshside Two on Friday afternoon.
Hi John,
John last night I spoke to a falconer from the South Liverpool area who, 8 weeks ago lost a first year Gyr/Saker. The bird lost had not been trained and did not have jesses or telemetry attached. The bird does have anklets and a blue ring. I asked him to view the pics I had taken and he said there was a strong possibility that the bird I had seen was indeed the bird he had lost but could not confirm for sure that this was the actual bird. Two weeks ago another observer saw a very pale falcon on Altcar and he believes it was the bird I saw and he like me did not see anklets or a ring but the bird was only in view for a short space of time.
This bird could now well have lost its anklets and the views both I and the other observer have had of it are not good enough to conclusively state it has not got a ring. There is still John the possibility that this is a different bird and a pure bred as other observers who have seen this form of Gyr in the wild do think its a good one, but until the presence or absence of a ring can be established on this particular bird I cannot claim it's a pure bred Gyr and even if proved to be I would have reservations about ever claiming it was a wild bird
Regards Neil
Hi John
I am a landscape architect student working on a project on the human and wildlife symbiosis in urban Liverpool. I wondered if I could pick your brains please? I found your site through the Merseyside Environmental Trust site (via Project Dirt Liverpool) and then a link to your fab blog!
I understand you will be busy blogging and writing for other sources, but just a few little questions from me would hopefully not take up too much of your time! Would this be ok? I can't find a contact button on your blog but assume if you reply to this then I would get a response (?)
All of your expertise and knowledge would undoubtedly be credited in my research!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Kind regards
Andrea Ku
JD: "Project Dirt Liverpool"? How can I resist...I'll be in touch Andrea.