New Year 2010/11

A Ruff at Martinmere a few days ago. The snow has all melted and now we just have dull grey drizzly weather: at least this means my flight back next week should be unaffected..............

I visited various well known locales in the last 10 days or so. At Fairhaven there was a good selection of waders on the beach but the lake was frozen over and the only thing of interest there was a male Shoveler on the ice. The waders were fairly close but the sun was right behind them meaning no decent photos to speak of. I did take this though, part of a small flock of finches. I thought it was a Twite at first but on second thoughts it may just be a Linnet.

I also managed to limp down to the river in Penwortham. Not much at all here except lots of Redwings and Fieldfare and a lone Merlin. The ice drifting down the river on the incoming tide looked like something you would see in Alaska, I'd never seen this before in Preston................

Lapland Bunting had been reported near here the week before but the only Buntings I could find were Reed Buntings..............

At Marshside there were no birds at all, this drake Gadwall was on the frozen Marine Lake.

Martinmere was better, lots of Whooper Swans plus the usual ducks and geese plus plenty of Ruff..........

At Fleetwood there were lots more waders on the beach but it was so cold and dark photos were out of the question so here's a Robin in Penwortham...............

I have a new respect for bird photographers in the UK. In Japan the birds seem a touch tamer and consistently dark dull days are the exception rather than the norm.

So a bit quiet on the birding front, one thing I've noticed is that Common Buzzards are everywhere and there appear to be at least 3 Nuthatch territories near my parents' house (the latter was a scarce bird when I was last living here and the former was only common in upland areas I recall).

So Happy New Year to all those who follow this blog.................