UKH

Pink footed geese and three Brent geese. 

Rock pipit, long tailed duck and turnstone 

Sanderling and ????

Cropped. 

Surely with that upcurved bill and no wing bar it's a Bar-tailed Godwit

The Long-tailed Duck looks like a lost puppy - cute - never seen one

Maybe he is asking about was is knot the Bar-tailed Godwit?

Quite a few Long tailed Ducks have been staying close inshore along E Fife for whatever reason.

Ha ha I was trying to capture something similar this last week! Didn’t manage to get it as good as yours though.

I'd not looked closely because I'd just assumed they were yet more Sanderling, are they Knot?

That’s a cracking long tailed duck - I saw one in South Devon a few years back, a female of course so didn’t have a long tail - a smart bird though, a bit penguin like in the face!

I’m not very good on Knot ID (understatement as I usually miss them 🫣), but look like they probably are mainly due to size c/w Godwit. Colouration though including in wings give some indication. Maybe wrong!

And we're back to winter wader ID being almost as bad as small brown bird ID 😁 (I'm ok on Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers)

I suspect you're right, they do feel just a bit too large for Sanderling compared with the Godwit.

I reckon I saw my first Hen Harrier the other day. No photos unfortunately as I was mt biking at the time. Colouration, size, and flight looked right though for a male.

I’ll need to head back to the location and see if I can get a photo to confirm ID.

A lot of the time, harriers just fly differently, somehow feels more floaty. I've seen enough now (mainly Marsh, some Hen) to quickly realise if it doesn't feel quite right for a buzzard (my default large bird of prey), especially if I'm somewhere that's the right habitat.

There aren't many other large grey birds, problem usually is that you only see them for an instant and then they've gone over that little rise which you run up but they're nowhere to be seen.

They're one of those birds where you think "if only I'd been just over there, I'd have had a great view". No you wouldn't, they'd have flown a different route.

If you get a good view then the male's pretty unmistakable unless you're considering Pallid (rare in UK) or Montague's (summer only in UK, rare and IIRC still very localised in the south)

At first glance it, my thoughts were larger than a kestrel, long tail, pale colouring, floating and relaxed on the wing, and black wing tips distinctive against the pale back.

I came across it again half an hour later sitting on a tree. It was nothing like I’ve seen before and that’s when I though maybe HH. As soon as I braked the bike hard to have a better view though it was off into the distance, but in a very relaxed floaty style, low down hugging the land, and as you say over that little rise never to be seen again!

I can only think it was a male H Harrier looking at the books. If I was to walk in the raptors would see me long before I could see them, so might never see it again there.

Barwit and a few dunlin. 

You’ve pretty much described a male hen harrier. And by elimination, nothing much else it can be. Well done !  They are surprisingly smaller than the female. 

Other highlights: Cobbleshore: 9 greenshank, 50 twite, male Merlin, those Brent geese, 4 grey plover, 6 slavonians and similar red throated divers. 90% sure saw a black throated, but it vanished. Loads winter thrushes everywhere. Turnstone and sanderling on west sands, with lots of pipits, 50 knot near sea life centre. 

And couldn’t believe the storm damage around the harbour. 

Thanks. I’ll need to study knots’ ID features more!!

Twite - I’ve never knowingly seen one as I always just assume Linnet. Any pointers to look out for - smaller beak, “warmer” colouring is all I’ve read so far (though there are different sounds which I’m unlikely to pick up on I understand).

Not been near harbour part for months, but have seen lots of seaweed in the main car park at start of W Sands weeks ago. Also erosion on dune line on W Sands is noticeably changed. 

Not the first time that winter plumage Dunlin have fooled me and unlikely to be the last.

And where were they if not near the sea life centre 🤣🤣

Pretty much fits male HH

You were definitely lucky there.

Definitely harrier style, I wonder if you on a bike is not so easily recognised as a threat (similar to being in a car) so you got closer than you otherwise might.

I’m sure that when on the bike I’m not seen as much of a threat as long as the direction is not towards them directly and direction/speed are maintained. Can’t be a coincidence lots of wildlife tend to ignore the bike as has happened too often.

Only time I’ve seen owls (pre bird watching days) was when on a bike. Last week I was within 2m of a rook sitting on a fence post. It was ready to fly I reckon, but just kept eye on me passing on the track behind it as I maintained speed and direction.

The day I saw the HH, I biked near a buzzard in a tree and it only flew off after I had passed and when I braked to look back towards it. Don’t think it would have moved if I had kept biking.

Re Knot, or not, I’m maintaining my 100% failure record unfortunately. Agh, must try harder. 

Yay, the Goldeneye are back on the Irwell in the middle of Salford

Rubbish photo (phone, max zoom, can't see screen because of sunlight, real point and shoot), 15 of them, 6m 9f

Going to have to put scope, tripod and adaptor in the boot to get some decent photos, still limited by the phone though 

I'd agree with CP, your description "floating," describes their mode of hunting quite well.

Took a days annual leave to go birding today (couldn’t resist this weather !). Saw some good stuff: a few Merlin, peregrine, spotted redshanks, loads golden plover, spoonbill, great egrets and fieldfare, various swans, geese and ducks (inc a few thousand wigeon !!). Then a birding friend shouts ‘male hen harrier, low and moving quickly’. ‘Where?’  ‘Over there, going past that tower, back of the marsh’ ‘which tower?’  etc etc etc. Never saw it. The sunset was magical and Baltic !  

Looks like Hesketh Out Marsh - question, where did you see the Merlin (still waiting for a sighting that's definitively male), similarly the Spotted Redshanks & Spoonbill.

I'll guess that the plethora of Golden Plover and Widgeon were Marshside.

Not interested in male HH (that's not really true, every BoP is great in my book), but I need to see a ringtail.

Might go Marshside & HOM on Friday - won't be able to stay until sunset though.

Sunset at Banks Marsh (in between Hesketh and Marshside). Spotted red at Hesketh OM, Merlin popping up everywhere, spoonbill at Banks. Will sort better details tomorrow. 

PM sent. Spot Red on the muddy bank. Very elegant bird, leggy, more sender ‘jizz’, noticeable eye stripe. 

Ta, I'll probably spend some time getting cold at the raptor viewpoint at Marshside, and Omskirk's off my normal route so I'll see whether I've got time on the way back.

The SR, even though it's fuzzy, that photo really shows a different jizz to a Common Redshank

Only 12 Goldeneye on the Irwell today, love watching them diving and the noise they make when flying, the modus operandi appears to be to gradually drift down the river diving and then fly upstream a couple of hundred meters, and repeat.

Today's surprise was a Mink (seen there before a couple of times) but this time it was on the bank on "my" side of the river, only about 10-15m away, hopping along the rocks at the bottom and every so often just stopping and looking at me, not phased at all, just checking whether I was staying put or moving along.

You’re lucky having goldeneye on your stretch. A beautiful duck (as are most ducks), stunning plumage. And hoping Raptor Viewpoint lives up to its name!  

Doh, just seen 1st email (15 mins after seeing 2nd one), thanks for the info.

The Goldeneye, just have to park a bit round the corner from Lidl (nice croissants), walk 10m through a gap in hedge, scan river, walk along to get closer view. They won't be on that stretch every day but last winter I saw at least some more than 50% of the time that I went there, max flock I saw was 30. If you're opposite them then they tend to drift away to be slightly on the other side but they're pretty tolerant.

It still freaks me a bit that in the middle of a not particularly attractive urban area, you can get as good a view as anywhere of a decent number of Goldeneye and Goosander (springtime best).

Some random local birds.

Had a kestrel cunningly wait until i put the camera away before diving out of cover and posing in front of me.