Above & below: Adult Red-throated Diver, Upper Foulridge Res, Colne - 6th March 2009.
My next plan of action was to spend time looking for the Rough-legged Buzzard seen the day before by Mark Breaks at Stocks Reservoir/Bowland Knotts. My route from Upper Foulridge would see me pass close to Hellifield Flash on the A65 in North Yorkshire and i'm glad I stopped to look as there was plenty of birds present.
Above & below: 1stw female Greater Scaup, Hellifield Flash, N. Yorks - 6th March 2009. This bird was very distant at the furthest end of the flash.
I was most impressed with the selection and numbers of Wildfowl present: 1 Greater Scaup, 6 Pochard, 12 Tufted, 20 Pintail, 29 Shoveler, 257 Wigeon, 26 Teal, 22 Mallard, 53 Coot and 5 Mute Swan. Waders were represented by 15 Oystercatcher, 30 Lapwing and 3 Redshank. Several hundred each of Common and Black-headed Gulls were present, but somewhat surprisingly, no Meds. Fantasies of finding an American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal or a Ring-billed Gull went unrealised as I scanned and counted the birds present, spending well over an hour at this little gem of a local site. What a pity it isn't just over the border!
A local birder then arrived and in conversation mentioned that another local had actually seen an adult Ring-billed Gull at the site c2weeks ago! - So I scanned every Gull again, but no joy!
I recalled several year ago hearing of a proposal to drain the flash and build a Caravan park upon it, so I asked the local birder whether the site had any level of protection against any such future threats. It apparently has none. Clearly this is a very important local site and it would be a tragedy if it was to be lost at some point.
Above: 3/4 of Hellifield Flash.It was now time to look for the Rough-legged Buzzard, so I decided to attack the area from the Yorkshire side, stopping and scanning along the road up to Bowland Knotts/Crutchenber Fell. In the three hours that followed several Common Buzzard were noted at various points, but no sign of the RLB.
Above: Scanning for the Rough-legged Buzzard on the Yorkshire side of Bowland Knotts. The vista to the north from here is one of my favourite views and despite a cold wind blowing conditions were great for the RLB to be hunting if it was in this vicinity. The finder, Mark Breaks, also put in three hours at different times, so that makes six hours combined with no sign of the target bird in this area today.On Crutchenber Fell, a female Stonechat and several Red Grouse were seen, whilst a Short-eared Owl gave outstanding views, catching and eating two voles whilst under observation.
Another Shortie was seen at Green Pike and a Green Woodpecker heard.
Above & below: Short-eared Owl, Crutchenber Fell - 6th March 2009. With my Canon 100-400 lens out of action, I am already suffering the woes of loss of quality using a lesser lens!
Mark Breaks was in the new hide at Stocks, overlooking the Hodder Inlet and the Gulls roosting/pre-roosting (?) on the exposed mud, so I joined him for the last hour or so of light, seeing 4 ad Med Gulls in the process. More Gulls were roosting in the narrows, so we trudged through the island viewpoint plantation to view them, but no other Meds were noted. On the walk back to the cars, Tawny Owls began calling and a single Woodcock was roding, rounding off a really enjoyable days birding in fantastic surroundings very nicely indeed.
Above: 3 of 4 adult Med Gulls, Stocks Reservoir - 6th March 2009.Also in the Gull roost at Stocks, a colour ringed adult Lesser Black-backed Gull bearing a pale blue darvic ring on the left leg, inscribed Y254 in black, was noted.
Details of the birds history as follows:
Ringed as an adult on 18.05.07 at Sandgerði, Reykjanes Peninsula, SW Iceland.
Resighted on 31.12.07 at Gloucester landfill site, Gloucestershire, England.
Resighted on 13.11.08 at Stoke Orchard landfill site, Gloucestershire, England.
Resighted on 06.03.09 at Stocks Reservoir, Lancashire, England.
