UKH

Starting with this tester…

Followed by this absolute stonker !  Glossy ibis. 

Lesser Scaup, far from home? If so: two fantastic sightings!

Had a great weekend myself; heard the first Chiffchaff this year, and saw for the first time an Osprey within Berlin’s city limits, circling one of the small wooded lakes in the South of the city.

Marsh harrier. 

Yes and yes. Photo of a male and female lesser scaup (Leighton Moss) and photos of greater scaup (Marshside). 

Been hearing chiffchaffs for nearly a week, and that’s a great Osprey sighting. 

Amazing how they know every year that it’s ok to risk the Channel and continue North rather than head for sunny but still continentally cold Berlin. But I suppose the yearlings just follow the older birds who’ve done the respective trips before. Was that early for you? Two weeks earlier than last year here.

Nice photos BC. Not sure I could recognise a Lesser S. Glossy Ibis could get my attention though if I ever saw one!

Ha I saw either a Chiffchaff or a Willow Warbler last week. Wasn’t signing as too busy feeding and very mobile flitting about. Still seems I have difficulty with ID between them (🤬) and I don’t know which one it was!

Have you seen a beaver? Next time you are up in Fife, you could be the first (maybe) to get a photo of one at Birnie and Gaddon lochs. I’m assuming one at least is there as evidence of some tree damage which looked like it could only be a beaver.

That Lesser Scaup would just float by me as a Greater Scaup unless someone told me. How do you spot the difference unless there's a Greater Scaup there to compare against?

Where was the Glossy Ibis? I've only ever seen abroad although I believe there are some over here every year and it's not like they get miss-identified. Wondering whether it's a juvenile (or just still winter plumage) because it's not as glossy as they get.

That's a couple of great springtime spots.

Marsh Harriers - seeing them so often that I'm in danger of becoming blase about them - must make sure I don't do that because they are beautiful to watch.

Chiffchaff - heard+seen again today by the Irwell in Salford, a week after the first one

Almost certainly Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers arrive slightly later - they have further to migrate, and because of that they also have slightly longer wings - which you might spot on photos, but in the field I suspect that would be a tad tricky.

Also the number of Chiffchaff overwintering is going up - global warming no doubt.

Off the top of my head; male greater has a very rounded head, lesser has a slight peak at the back of the head (seen in the photo), and has a greenish tinge to its head (greater has a blue/purple tinge, similar to tufted).  Females ?  I’ve no idea. 

The ibis is at Middleton - turn off the M6 for Heysham, head for Heysham then hang a left for Middleton. It’s in some flooded horse paddocks and is not easily spooked. In fact, it was making its way towards where I was stood when one one from the stable shouts across ‘is it there, quite tame you know, been here for months’ - and the ibis turned its back on me and probed its way away from me….  
 

Edit: it’s at the back of the parish hall on this map

I’d read somewhere that they’d been released, didn’t realise it was there. Will take a gander when I’m next there - thanks for the heads up. 

I’d read somewhere that they’d been released, didn’t realise it was there. Will take a gander when I’m next there - thanks for the heads up. 

I’d thought that I’d got some great photos of the ibis flapping it’s wings etc, but the focus was all wrong. A pretty unmistakeable  and very striking bird. 

I took this recent photo of a treecreeper taking off …. only to find it was out of focus afterwards! Sadly it was my fault having somehow set to manual focus only so can’t blame the camera!

I’d be saying ‘was out photographing tree bark and got photo-bombed by this treecreeper’

Shame, still an interesting shot but in focus that would have been an absolutely awesome shot.

Seems like this beaver wasn’t a release according to this notice. No one I spoke to has actually seen one or knows if one is still around or not. Apart from known trees being affected, and I noticed what could well have been a beaver trail through the reeds (similar to what I’ve seen beavers do elsewhere) there is little new evidence to suggest one still about. Good luck for your visit.

BTW saw my first sighting of a Kingfisher at Gaddon today (never heard anyone seeing one there before); also saw and heard a Chiffchaff there 😎. Only one Chiffchaff seen and it was highly mobile, but calling well which was the giveaway. 

I was at Loch of Kinnordy near Kirrie a couple of weeks back. There’s an obvious lodge and evidence of tree felling. I don’t know if they were deliberately introduced there but lots of trees had heavy gauge wire mesh wrapped around their bases suggesting perhaps a certain level of regret.

Yes, interesting site and shows an example of some of the extent how beavers change the environment.

There are three lodges visible from the main path one left (west) of main car park and two to the right, but there are actually I’m told 11 lodges in total noted through survey - the loch and it’s surrounds are far larger than can be seen from the hides.

Apparently there are (or were at the time of the survey I was told about) an estimated 40 beavers living at Kinnordy. Don’t know the history if they were introduced or not, but there has been some upset I gather with locals and flooding has been a problem.

Unfortunately I’ve not yet seen any of beavers. I do like the reserve for seeing Marsh Harriers, Ospreys, and many other birds. Heard my first (well two of) Water Rail at the Loch last year; if only I could see them!

BTW, if you are interested in Ospreys, you should pop along to the other side of Forfar to the Balgavies nest. It is visible from the hide and when the Osprey are feeding young there can be impressive displays of fish being transferred from the male to female and then fed to the young. The pair there don’t actually fish in that loch though which is why I look to Kinnordy for seeing Ospreys catching fish.

That’s excellent knowledge, thank you. It was the lodge left of the gull(ery?) hide that we saw. To be honest, I’m not sure we would have done were it not for the helpful artist who was sharing the hide with us. He had seen a water rail before our arrival but it kept itself hidden from us. Our best spot was a single pintail drake.

Kinnordy was the location of my first osprey spot, about ten years ago. It came in, dived and left with a fish. Very matter of fact. That was the evening before the snow roads audax and being the superstitious sort I took it as a very good omen.

Ah the “fungi artist”, David Mitchell, I assume if same person as last year. Nice guy works away quietly, but who is very helpful and as he is at the Gullery hide a lot from what he said. He is a font of knowledge of the resident and visiting birds besides his in depth knowledge of fungi. More than happy to point out birds and other wildlife to newbies if they ask looking for whatever species. Was preparing for a book launch last time I spoke to him.

Probably was him that told me about the lodge to the left of the hide too first time I was there 🫣.  Last year it was him that told me the male Marsh Harrier had two females, nests and young to look after which explained why I was seeing the male dropping into two different nests with food.

Kinnordy is/was apparently a known site for Black necked Grebe if you want a challenge to see as a rare find.

The very same, really helpful and very gentle with correcting our misidentifications. He said that Chris Packham had agreed to do the foreword for his book. Hopefully that will help it along.

Challenge accepted btw.

7.30 this morning, in Hindley (few miles from Wigan town centre).  Wow!!!!!!!

We have been seeing a red poll or two daily in the garden (along with a load of siskins) and a collared dove which I was quite excited about. These are new birds for our garden this Spring. And I think the hedgehog has woken up as I've found some hedgehog poo in the food area. I think mice had been eating it all winter but this hedgehog also made a mess of it.

Stunning, I think someone had reported a couple on Elton res, so there are some obviously around, but great to see in summer plumage before they head off north 

Fantastic! And now I have no excuses on the ID. We’re on holiday from Friday so might head down to Kinnordy on the off chance. There’s always a consolation cafe option if we are not successful.

Excellent find and photo.

If you don’t mind, what do you think of this duck? It seems more like a lesser with the head shape, thinner neck, and overall more the size of a tufted; could it be my first sighting? Thanks.

Of course it may not be in summer plumage! If it is of any help, I was told east end of the loch was place to look. I took that to be well past the hides, but worth checking from each hide. Good luck.

Well until the tutorial further upthread I'd have just said Scaup, but the head shape in the second shot (the water ripples look stunning by the way) definitely seems to fit the lesser criterion.

I suppose this all means that whenever I now see Scaup (which is not a frequent thing at all) I'm now going to have to stare long and hard to check whether greater or lesser. I wonder if they hybridise 🤦‍♂️

Lesser, defo. Whereabouts ?

Thanks. My first sighting then! - Gaddon, this afternoon.

IMO there is beaver still around at B/G. Much more evidence of trees and branches being gnawed. No obvious sign of a lodge though yet.

BTW Morton car park is currently closed this week, but should reopen at weekend if you are visiting.

Mmm maybe not. What caught my eye was it just seemed different from the first moment of seeing. My initial reaction was a possibly a lesser, but not having seen one I was doubting myself at the time. I usually “need” to take photos and look at them rather than full ID in field for a lot of birds still. This duck was more under the water than above so took the chance with getting photos rather than using binoculars.

Rather than start a new thread I hope it’s ok to post this screenshot of a fb post that came up on my feed. It’s not April 1st for a few days yet so I’m presuming it’s legit. Wow.

Those must surely be escaped or released. Would be a bit of a double take if you knew at least something about birds, were ignorant of their existence but just happened to see them, as in wtf 😁

Just done a google.

Phrase of the week: Noisy Nookie !!!

Someone is having a laugh!

You're supposed to give us a chance at a guess before you tell us! 

Have you ever met a wee wife fae Fife?

As an ex Fifer I stand by that joke but apologise for it's childishness.

Next time you are up in Fife, you could be the first (maybe) to get a photo of one at Birnie and Gaddon lochs. 

That's interesting, I'll also have a look there. Unfortunately my photography isn't a patch on Mick's.

I'd like to add another possibility for this individual.

It looks remarkably like the male Tufted Duck x female Pochard hybrid illustrated in the Collins Bird Guide 3rd edition, page 35.

It appears to have too much black on the bill tip for either of the scaups. The back is more plain grey rather than noticeably vermiculated as is the case with both scaups. It appears to have a slight tuft and its head colour has a bit of a purplish brown tint as per Tufted / Pochard hybrid. All of which fit with the description that goes with the illustration.

Wildfowl can be a bit naughty when it comes to hybridising with other species and can produce all sorts of oddities. (I've enlarged and lightened one of you photos a bit).

Think you might be right. 

Thanks, appreciated.

Looking at Collins book now it does seem like it is that hybrid cross. It definitely had what looked like a plain grey back and that did cause me to question what was seeing at the time, but I (wrongly) convinced myself that Lesser S maybe could have variations! I also thought at one point it had a brownish tinge to the head, but put that down to a trick of the light which was poor that day; oops.

Had a wee laugh with the comment in the book about the cross frequently produces offspring that resemble Lesser Scaup! Make sense now. The joys of crosses and aberrants (the latter which I was just reading about earlier in the week as something that catches out a lot of birders).

Thanks again.

These are great! 

Not got the Collins but I think you're probably correct, the pale grey back is probably the main giveaway. Well done, and you're right about duck hybrids being a bit naughty, especially combined with eclipse plumages, it's a minefield out there.

Not much of a guess with Glossy Ibis, I don't think there's anything else out there to mistake it for.

Thanks for the Ibis tip - I'll come onto that.

Today was meant to be a walking day, mopping up a few lesser significant tops/summits in the Lakes, but coming down from the first one my heart arrhythmia happened again (I stopped it after a few minutes) but when that happens I'm sort of meant to stop exercising for the day so the rest of the day turned into a bird-watching day (plan B).

On the drive back stopped under  Stonestar Crag - lower Duddon valley - to see the Peregrines - they've nested there for several years and it's a fairly reliable "spot" in breeding season - saw both birds but unless they're together (they weren't) I can never seem to tell which is which.

Onto Leighton Moss - within 2 minutes of going up the sky tower I'd had 3 great views of Marsh Harriers, overall probably had at least a dozen good views. In the sunlight, the adult males are simply stunning. Bitterns booming away but no sightings - I was told to try in about 6 weeks when the young need feeding so the adults get less circumspect. Best ever view of a Cetti's Warbler - could hear them from the sky tower, the other person up there looked over the side and said "I can see it down there", it was almost under the tower, good enough view to properly see the rounded tail and the eye stripe. Funny thing was this wasn't the bird that was calling, it just happened to be there.

Looked on Maps and saw only about 30 mins to Middleton so I could get there whilst still light. As I drive towards the village I'm looking in any fields (when it's safe) just in case. Drive up to the village and looking through the fence I think "is that the ibis" - stop at the gate to the field, can see it's the Ibis, so I get out of the car to have a better look, but unlike your experience, this spooks the Ibis and it takes off and flies away - maybe it was late enough so that any disturbance sends it off to wherever it's roosting.

But WTF is a Glossy Ibis (new species for me in the UK) doing in a poxy little semi-flooded grassy horse paddock with adjoining horse stables immediately behind a village. It's not remote or out in the countryside, it's really quite bizarre how mundane the location is. Just stop the car by the road and look at the Glossy Ibis! - I might pop in again soon for a (hopefully) better, longer look.

So not a wasted day, rescued by the bird-watching 😁

For anyone who wants to go look, I've attached a snip of the satellite view, the flooded bit is where the darker green bit is in the middle of the snip.

I believe Cetti’s warblers can be more (than average) visible as they are pairing up etc, hence more oblivious to what’s going on,  which also coincides with lack of vegetation. Best view I’ve had was at Leighton Moss. Also: one of those male marsh harriers  at Leighton is the best plumaged marsh harrier I’ve ever seen. A truely beautiful and well marked bird. Puts the Martin mere birds to shame. It’s the one you can see from Grisedale  hide.  Sit in the far right corner of the hide for best views. 
 

When I saw the Ibis I parked up behind the church/village hall and it was right there. It did fly off towards the gate you saw it from - coz I went round there to view it and stood right against the gate.  It then flew back to dark green patch. So I went back and then this bloke shouts ‘it’s quite tame you know’ so the Ibis turned it’s back on me and probed itself away from me. Great views though. But yes, odd that it likes such a place. But if there’s food, and no predators, then why waste energy in trying to findp somewhere better (which % wise is most likely to be worse).  
 

Meanwhile, up in Fife, it’s been dull and drab and windy and Baltic. And looks set for more of the same for the whole week. Seen a few cracking birds though. Will post more later …

Saw this Red-necked Grebe on Easter Sunday north of Berlin; hadn’t seen any here for a couple of years, nice that they’re back.

Nice. I’ve only seen them way out in the distance. I’ve got 80 minutes to see a red necked grebe to have seen all 5 main species in the same week. 

Yes, this must have been the first time I got to within about 20m away, had to stalk it through the bushes for 20 min

Did you get your #5?

Nope. The weather is 100% rubbish. Pity, coz I often see red necked grebe at Largo, not too far from where I’m staying (but didn’t see any on Sunday when I nipped over there ).