Local birding: Hungarian colour ringed 1stw Med Gull - Fishmoor Res, Blackburn, Lancs, UK - 10th Jan 2010.

Details as follows:

Left Leg: Metal ring - Budapest 382723

Right Leg: Red darvic HE79

The bird was ringed in the nest at Rétszilas (Örspuszta), Fejér, Hungary (HG31 46°51'N 18°34'E) on 31st May 2009.

Distance from the ringing site in Hungary - Fishmoor Res, Blackburn, Lancs, UK: 1677km (297 degrees W-NW).

Time elapsed since ringing date: 7 months, 12 days.

This is the first report since the ringing date.

Local birding: 8th Jan 2010.

Above: 1stw Med Gull, Fishmoor Res, Blackburn - 8th Jan 2009. One of two Med Gulls this week, but i'm damned if I have been able to find anything else in 4 visits. The distortion in the image is either my aged and deteriorating camcorder or 'cold haze' or both! 50-70% of Gulls, large and small, coming in to Fishmoor over the past two nights have at some point departed purposefully to the west, coastwards, suggesting they are also having a hard time of it even on landfills. The first Fylde record of Caspian Gull in recent days is probably connected to this I think.

Lancs: Fylde birding - 3rd Jan 2010.

An enjoyable day's birding on the Fylde with Cllr John F. Wright began to the south of the Blackpool end of the M55 in the wider vicinity of Lytham Moss searching for Pink-footed Geese flocks. After over an hour we could only locate c150 Pink-feet on the deck, a flock of 11Whooper Swan and c400 Lapwing plus c100 Golden Plover in fields around Great Plumpton.

Zac Hinchcliffe kindly texted me with news that he had relocated the drake Ring-necked Duck at Marton Mere, so that was our next stop and a quality three hours birding followed.

The drake Ring-necked Duck was easily found amongst a horde of wildfowl which included numbers of Tufted, Pochard, Goldeneye, Gadwall, Shoveler and Teal. A Water Rail showed for 15 minutes sunning itself amongst some Mallard on the reed edge.

Mutliple Water Rails were heard in the reedbeds along the walk to the Long-eared Owl roost where three LEOs were just about visible.

4 vocal Cetti's Warbler's were noted calling from the reedbed/scrub, but mostly frustrated by giving only brief glimpses as they crept amongst the bases of the vegetation.

JW located a Bittern at the very far end western of the Mere. Whilst we watched this, another appeared only metres away, with both in view at the same time. Later one of the two or a third bird gave an excellent close flight view at the eastern end and some decent scope views on the deck whilst Cetti's warblers continued to call in the reed in front of us, rounding off a quality visit.

We were keen to grill some Goose flocks so headed Over Wyre for the final 2.5 hrs of light. c2000 were located in the Pilling area in two areas, but no other species could be found amongst them despite much searching, save for two neck collared Pink-feet CHT & PVF for which I have emailed the details and will add to this post when received.

From Pilling Lane Ends car park, single Merlin & Peregrine were noted, both sat distantly out on the saltmarsh, with the Merlin flying close by east a short while later. The same or another Merlin was seen perched on a fencepost in fields inland of PLE a short time later. A few Pintail were distantly offshore amongst numbers of Teal and Wigeon and two Little Egret fed in the saltmarsh creeks.

Above: Merlin. Below: Peregrine

Pilling Lane Ends - 3rd Jan 2010.

Final stop of the day was Eagland Hill, where two Barn Owl showed, one distant, one close. A Little Owl was perched on a hedge and two Little Egret flew over presumably heading to roost at Fluke Hall. The evocative calls of Grey Partridge filled the freezing, still air over the Mosses as darkness fell providing a very atmospheric end to the day.

Local birding: Black-necked Grebe & Glaucous Gull - 28th Dec 2009.

Above: Black-necked Grebe, Rishton Res, Lancs, 28th Dec 2009. Scoping the Gulls whilst sat on a bench on the promenade, I glanced forward with my 'spare' eye to see the Grebe only feet out from the prom. Cursing myself for not having my DSLR with me I managed this with the Camcorder on 10x optical before the BNG swam rapidly towards the outflow end of the Res. Fingers crossed it will now adopt a regular circuit of the eastern shoreline rather than stay along the awkward south end of the reservoir.

Above: 1stw Glaucous Gull, Fishmoor Res, Lancs, 28th Dec 2009. This bird came in to roost at 16:17. Moments after this record shot, any light for digiscoping had gone completely.

More Velvet Scoter images, Barrow Lodge Clitheroe - 22nd Dec 2009.

Some superb images of the Velvet Scoter at Barrow Lodge, Clitheroe, courtesy of Pete Morris.

Local MEGA: Velvet Scoter, Barrow Lodge, Clitheroe, SD740381 - 22nd Dec 2009

Medical advice not to drive following a very recent stomach operation simply had to be ignored when news of East Lancashire's first-ever Velvet Scoter broke mid-afternoon... and the pain was well worth it, what a bird!

To anyone who saw the Slavonian Grebe at the same site in early 2008, the Velvet gives staggering views just as close. A must-see MEGA local rarity. I'm unsure about age & indeed sex of the bird at this stage. From a photographic point of view, I just managed to get there with enough light to get something for the blog, but this bird is a dream subject in good light.

Above: The Velvet Scoter was showing as close as the nearest Mallard in centre of the photo!

According to the 'Birds of Lancashire' there have only been two genuine inland occurences, 3 probably immatures at Rivington Res on 12 Feb 1956 and a 1st winter male on the Ribble near Preston 21-25 January 1997 (per Tony Cooper). I believe the latter bird apparently made it as far upstream as Brockholes Bridge just downstream of the Tickle Trout Hotel.

Pom Skua, Chew Valley Lake, Somerset - 2nd Dec 2009.

Nice scope views of the albeit rather distant imm Pom Skua were had as it fed on a probable Common Gull at the mouth of Herons Green Bay, a cracking bird! A Red-throated diver off the Dam and a Black-necked Grebe off Nunnery Point were also seen in a couple of hours mid-late afternoon.