Wilson's Wildlife
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Birds
    • Finches, Sparrows and Buntings.
    • Warblers
    • Woodpeckers / creepers.
    • Sea Birds
    • Raptors
    • Hummingbirds
    • Tanagers.
    • Water birds
    • Herons, egrets and bitterns
    • Waders
    • Ducks, Geese and Swans
    • Other European birds
    • Other North and Central American Birds
    • Other South American Birds
    • Waxwing Gallery
    • Osprey gallery
  • Bugs
    • Butterflies
    • moths
    • Flies
    • Bees and wasps
    • Beetles
    • Dragonflies
    • Damselflies
    • Crickets and Grasshoppers
    • Spiders
  • Mammals
    • European
    • African
    • American
    • Australasian
    • Asian
  • Reptiles
    • European
    • American
    • African
    • Asian
    • Australasian
  • Amphibians
    • Frogs and toads
  • Fish
    • Sea Fish
    • Freshwater Fish
  • Contact
  • Talks
  • Links

Weird Warbler

20/5/2014

 
News of a Curlew Sandpiper at Marshside on Saturday drew Eddie and I to this excellent Southport reserve.  The bird was nowhere to be seen, but plenty of other stuff kept us occupied...   
Picture
Reed Warbler, 17/05/14, Marshside, Southport. Taken from Nel's Hide.
Picture
Orange Tip Butterfly, 17/05/14, Marshside, Southport.
Nothing had prepared us for this little guy: a leucistic Sedge Warbler, standing out like a sore thumb.  Actually, the birders parked opposite the bird on double-yellow lines grabbed our attention first. 
Picture
Sedge Warbler (leucistic) 17/05/14, Marshside, Southport.
Next stop: Martin Mere, just a hop, skip and a jump away. 
Picture
Brown Hare, 17/05/14, Martin Mere, Lancs. Taken from United Utilities Hide.
Picture
Grey Heron, 17/05/14, Martin Mere, Lancs. United Utilities Hide.

Late at Leighton

20/5/2014

 
Mark Abram and I headed to Leighton Moss on Thursday night, blessed again with decent weather and lengthening evening daylight.  First stop: Public Hide...      
Picture
Mating Great Black-backed Gulls, 15/05/14, Island opposite Public Hide, Leighton Moss, Lancs.
Next stop: the saltmarsh hides where we met this chap munching on leaves in the brambles by the path.  
Picture
Bank Vole, 15/05/14, Salt Marsh Path, Leighton Moss, Lancs.
Then we watched the water birds until well after sunset: all the usual suspect; Little Egrets, Avocets, Black-Tailed Godwits... all common birds but the atmosphere was magical.
Picture
Little Egret, 15/05/14, Eric Morecambe Hide, Leighton Moss, Lancs.

Fylde Foray

20/5/2014

 
Mark Abram lives on our cul-de-sac and has a similar interest in wildlife.  The fine weather last Monday evening brought us out to the coast to see what was happening.  Good to see that Lytham Crematorium still had a healthy population of Ring-necked Parakeets, four of which were roosting in the same tree.
Picture
Ring-necked Parakeets, 12/05/14, Lytham Crematorium.
Parking the car on Lawson Road, Blackpool, we found Marton Mere alive with noisy warblers; Cetti's Warblers were heard and several Grasshopper Warblers were seen in the long grass.  Too dark for wildlife photography, but at least this crow sat nice and still for me.         
Picture
Carrion Crow, 12/05/14, Lawson's Wetland next to Marton Mere, Blackpool, Lancs.
Picture

Wet Weekend Wanderings

11/5/2014

 
Rainy, windy weather would normally root me to the house, but there had been enough rarity reports on "Birdguides. com" to lure me and Eddie out yet again.  First stop was Aldcliffe Marsh near Lancaster to see if the Woodchat Shrike was still around...       
Picture
Kestrel, 10/05/14, Aldcliffe Marsh, Lancaster. On parking the car we were greeted by this bird, hovering nice and close.
Picture
Roe Deer, Aldcliffe Marsh, Lancaster. No sign of the Shrike, but other wildlife made up for it...
Picture
Mute Swan, 10/05/14, Aldcliffe Marsh, Lancaster, with Ashton Memorial in the distance.
Next stop: Leighton Moss to see if the spoonbill would play ball.  This time we struck lucky as this specimen politely waited for our arrival, albeit distantly.
Picture
Spoonbill, 10/05/14, Leighton Moss, Silverdale, Lancs (Eric Morecambe Saltmarsh hide).
Other birds at the saltmarsh getting wet:
Picture
Robin. Very approachable on the path.
Picture
Greylag Geese, common at Leighton Moss.
Picture
Avosex.

Devon

7/5/2014

 
Bank Holiday Weekend + Decent Weather = Devon.  The English Riviera has just about everything a family could want plus loads of wildlife, especially along the shoreline.      
Picture
Goodrington Sands, just west of Paignton has some excellent rock pools. Go at low tide when the rocks are exposed and you'll find starfish, prawns, crabs, we even found a dogfish once (go to sea fish section).
Picture
Shore Crab, 03/05/14, Goodrington Sands, Paignton, Devon.
And if your kids like crabbing, you must take them here.  Just 10 minutes from Paignton lies the sleepy village of Stoke Gabriel, arguably the best place in Britain to go crabbing.  Watch them haul em out, one after the other. With a £1 crab line and bit of bacon rind, you can't go wrong...      
Picture
Shore Crab, 04/05/14, Stoke Gabriel, Devon, modeled by Holly in a pink rabbit balaclava. It was a bit nippy. Geddit? Nippy? Oh never mind...
But what's in it for the serious naturalist I here you ask?  Honestly, this area is wildlife heaven.  On Sunday morning I drove for just 7 minutes from our hotel in Paignton to a favourite destination of mine: Broadsands Beach.  This is one of the few places in Britain where you are likely to see a Cirl Bunting.  From Paignton head towards Brixham and turn left into Broadsands Lane, park your car at the end of this road (where the road meets the farm track:  Elderberry Lane).  Get there early, before the dog walkers, and you wont be disappointed.      
Picture
Cirl Bunting, 04/05/14, Broadsands, Devon.
And to round it all off, there's nothing quite like a bit of terrorism.  Don your finest pirate outfit and get ye down to Brixham Pirate Festival.  Take the water-taxi from Torquay or Paignton, stay the whole day and get as drunk as ye like with hundreds of other pirates.  Aaaaargh! 
Picture
Picture
What?! Kidnap my children?! OK then.
Picture
Oh dear, someone's had a few too many.
Picture
Should have gone to Specsavers.

Mallard Madness

1/5/2014

 
For the life of me, I have no idea why we get Mallards in our front garden.
The pond is round the back!  
Picture
Mallards, 01/05/14, Front Garden, Penwortham.

    Author

    Tony Wilson.
    Amateur wildlife photographer.   

    Archives

    May 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.