Orrell Water Park 15/03/15

Went for a walk with the dog late this morning and I had only just got into the park when a site tick swam by me on the top lake. It wasn't anything you would call rare but it still stopped me in my tracks as I knew I had not seen one there in 30 years of watching the site. It was a very out of place looking female Shoveler. The two small lakes in Orrell Water Park are home to a motley selection of Mallard and domesticated hybrids and not a great deal else in terms of duck species so this Shoveler was more than a bit of a surprise.

I am not into keeping lists but it is always good to see a new species on a local patch.

A little further on I thought I glimpsed my first Chiffchaff of the year but it disappeared before I could get my bins on it and even though I watched for a while it didn't reappear. I continued my walk but didn't get far as someone was pigeon shooting on the fields nearby and my dog just flips when he hears any loud bangs. He is a rescue dog, twice over, and has a few issues to say the least so I decided to head back. A Chiffchaff was now showing where I thought I had glimpsed one earlier and it was obviously a recent arrival from warmer climes as the feathers around the bill were matted into 'pollen horns'. It was busily and quietly feeding and didn't call once or break into song.

Welcome to the UK the land of discarded drinks cans, crisp packets and all manner of discarded objects. Littering is getting worse in the UK and has apparently gone up by a staggering 500% since 1960 and now costs more than £1bn to clear up and we don't do that very well. Just think what else you could do with £1bn+.

There should be plenty more to follow this one in the next few days.

While I was trying to get a half decent photo of the Chiffchaff a Water Rail taunted me with fleeting views. It is one of those birds that can show annoyingly well if you don't have a camera with you. It probably won't be around much longer as it is only a winter visitor to a small patch of reeds at this site. 

This was the best view I got and I suppose it isn't bad given how secretive they can be. 

Not a bad little selection of birds for a curtailed dog walk on my local patch.

Bits and bobs

There have been a few bits and bobs of interest so far this week. On Monday an early morning visit to Amberswood Common with John G and Wayne produced several Crossbills that were picked up from their calls as they passed overhead. There were a minimum of 3 birds involved but we couldn't get an accurate count through the tree cover, although I suspect there were actually 4 or 5. I had only remarked that the site looked good for Crossbills a few days earlier but finding them so soon after was still a surprise as none had been reported in the area. A Common (Mealy) Redpoll was also seen the same morning along with 6 of the Lesser variety.

The highlights of a short visit to Scotman's Flash yesterday were my first Sand Martins of the year with 4 flying south and another Common Redpoll that was seen in the company of 2 Lesser Redpolls. Chiffchaffs have been turning up here and there all week and one ringed yesterday had 'pollen horns' which is a clear sign of the bird having recently arrived from warmer climes.

A Chiffchaff with 'pollen horns'.

Pollen horns are a sticky residue that mat the feathers around the bill and result from the bird feeding on insects in flowers and possibly from drinking nectar too.

This morning I was joined by Wayne for a very brief Siskin ringing session in the garden and then we went to survey an area for Willow Tits not far from home and adjacent to the M6. We located one pair and Wayne soon found the partially excavated nest hole. This particular site looks good for at least 2 pairs but only time and much field work will tell. While checking out this area we picked out the flight calls of yet more Crossbills and this time we could see it was a party of 5 flying north. There doesn't seem to have been any other reports of Crossbills in the area or region so the two sightings this week don't appear to have been part of a wider movement. Crossbills breed very early so both of these sightings are likely to have been wandering family parties; if that is the case it would be really interesting to know where they had bred.

The moth trap has been producing routine fare all week but on checking it today there was a new species for the garden in the form of a Grey Shoulder-knot. This species is more common in southern England but is much scarcer and more sparsely distributed in the north west.

Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus), a first for the garden. 

Moth trap totals this morning were:
Grey Shoulder-knot 1
Satellite 1
Twin-spotted Quaker 1
Oak Beauty 1
Early Grey 2
Dotted Border 2
Clouded Drab 5
Hebrew Character 8
Common Quaker 16

The Satellite (Eupsilia transversa)

Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)

Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)

Oak Beauty (Biston strataria)

Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda)

Some colder nights are forecast so moth catches are likely to drop off for a while but the birding should get even more interesting as spring migration 'hots up'.