Local birding, Lancs: Brockholes NR LWT: 6th-12th April 2011.

Above & below: 2cy Iceland Gull - Brockholes NR LWT - 12th April 2011. Found on 'Chain Gang Tuesday' by Volunteer's Tony Parnell, Pete Bainbridge & Robin Shenton as they were working on screen building by one of the new hides on No1 Pit. The bird is the first site record and was only present for c1hr around midday before heading west with the small flock of Lesser Black-backed Gulls it had arrived with. Thanks to the newly revived Brockholes text group, a clinical twitch saw Myself, Tony Disley, Zac Hinchcliffe and Cllr. John F. Wright all sucessfully connect with it before it departed.

Above & below: A few flocks of icelandic Black-tailed Godwits have been recorded passing through the site in the past week presumably on cross country migration, largest flock size 29 on 12th April.

Above & below: A pair of Med Gull dropped in on 12th. It looks as though five different birds have been recorded in recent weeks, including a silver 'BTO-type' ringed adult.

Above: Kestrel.

Above & below: Good to see Tree Sparrows making use of the 'Totem Pole' nest boxes.

Above: Bolton legend Ricky Hoyle (right), 12th April 2011. Haven't seen him for years!

Other patch highlights following good coverage by several observers include: 2 Osprey (I have put in 30hrs so far and not connected with one yet!), Yellow Wagtail (always notable nowadays), at least 2 Greenshank, small numbers of Dunlin and a maximum day count of 12 LRP. Whilst the first Whimbrel of the year should be imminent!

Local birding, Lancs: Avocets - 5th April 2011.

These two Avocets were initially found by Pete Bainbridge at the local patch, Brockholes NR LWT, on No1 Pit at 09:00 and represent the third site record, totalling seven individuals, since the first, long overdue record in 2009. At 10:34 they flew high and were lost to view over onsite trees before I had chance to obtain a record shot, but were relocated at 13:30 a few miles to the north of the site at Grimsargh Reservoirs nr Longridge. There they were still present 15:37 at least when I acquired the record shots above.