March 8th-18th 2010.

Above: Water Vole, Rainham Marshes RSPB, London - 7th March 2010. Whilst watching the individual above I was fascinated to learn from a warden at the reserve that during the population crash of circa a couple of decades ago, numbers of this species at Rainham Marshes were not affected and as a result held 10% of the national population at the height of the 'crash'. Nowadays as numbers have recovered nationally, Rainham holds 1% of the population, with between 5,000-7,000 Water Vole estimated to be present on the reserve currently.

Above: drake American Wigeon, MMWWT, Lancs - 13th March 2010. Axillary colour not seen during time of observation, but a cracking bird otherwise!

Above & Below: 4 Med Gull (2pr), Brockholes LWT, Lancs - 18th March 2010. Fabulous birds and a single day site record count I think. Also, 5 Sand Martin, LRP and Ringed Plover seen.

Great Grey Shrike, Waddington Fell, Lancs - 6th March 2010.

An overdue twitch for the Waddington Fell/Grindleton adult Great Grey Shrike early afternoon was rewarded with good views of the bird on wires to the east of Slaidburn Rd, plus 2 Raven overhead.

A few hours with the wife in Clitheroe followed before nipping back up to the Fells with 50 minutes of light remaining and a hastily drawn up hit list of species to see within the timeframe: Great Grey Shrike, Hen Harrier, Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl, Tawny Owl and Little Owl.

The list proved a little over ambitious in the remaining light, with four of the six species seen. The Shrike obliged on arrival at 17:50, still actively hunting from trees and fencing and was followed by a drive around the wider area which produced Tawny Owl, 1+ Short-eared Owl, Little Owl and a bonus Woodcock which flew past at close range as darkness fell.

Local birding: Med Gulls, Fishmoor Res, Lancs - 5th Feb 2010.

Above & below: 2ndw Med Gull.

One of my very favourite species in all plumages, it was nice to get three Med Gulls at Fishmoor tonight: adult, 2ndw and 1stw. Both the adult and 2ndw were unringed, whilst the 1stw was the red darvic ringed individual.

Although 3 Med Gulls have been recorded in an evening roost at the site on a few occasions in the past 15yrs (Med Gulls were considerably rarer in the region prior to 1995), I can't recall a single date roost count exceeding 3 from memory. The post breeding roost from mid- Jul into August/Sept would probably offer the best chance of exceeding three birds on a single date nowadays.

My kingdom for an Iceland Gull though!

Lancs: Med Gulls - 4th Feb 2010.

A couple of Med Gulls seen today inc this distant unringed adult at Myerscough Quarry, 'phonescoped' through the Leica APO 62 in dull conditions, but at least its a record. The other Med was a 1stw at Fishmoor Reservoir, red darvic ringed on the right leg, thought to probably be the recent Hungarian bird still coming into roost, but no chance of confirmation other than the same ring colour on the same leg!

Local birding: 2 of 4 Smew, River Ribble - 24th Jan 2010.

This Camcorder videograb was taken on c400x magnification at close to 1/2 mile range in dull conditions on the stretch of River Ribble, c1km NE of Brockholes LWT at Lower Hall, viewed distantly from Bezza Lane early afternoon, hence the very poor quality, but those of us old enough to remember pre-digiscoping technology shouldn't lose sight of how remarkable it is to achieve any sort of record image at this distance!

Zac Hinchcliffe put the time in this morning arriving at Alston No1 Res for first light where all four Smew had obviously roosted. Having noted the E/SE flight direction when they left the roost at 08:18, Zac then relocated them at Jackson's Bank Wood. They went missing from 10:00 as they moved downstream along poorly viewable reaches of the river before eventually all four were relocated by observers at Lower Hall early-mid afternoon.

Tantalisingly these birds have so far been as close as 1/2km from the local patch, Brockholes LWT. Lets hope they actually grace the waterbodies onsite, adj River Ribble or are seen by somebody onsite in distant flight at some point.

Many thanks to the so far unknown finder of these birds for sharing his/her good fortune and putting the news out on the 20th Jan.

In an ELOC context, this flock of four represent a record-equalling flock for the ELOC recording area (Lancs avifauna states four present on Clowbridge Reservoir in the winter of 1995/1996).

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.