Common Scoter: These squat sea ducks are more commonly spotted as a line of dark ducks flying low over the water, or as large rafts of black ducks bobbing on the sea. but despite their seagoing habits, they do occur inland on lakes. A nocturnal migrating bird, they are known to  move cross the land between the northern Irish Sea and North Sea coast of northern England and on occasion they can get disoriented and land on inland lakes. This bird has been preset for around four days and papers to be in good shape, happily living side by side with the local mallards and Canad ..read more

Dark-eyed Junco: I finally caught up with on of these charismatic little sparrows, a bird common across much of temperate North America and in summer ranges far into the Arctic. Dark-eyed junco are now pretty much an annual bird to the UK but more often then not they are recorded ion private gardens. This bird didn't buy the trend turning up in a private garden. I was a little apprehensive the night before we set off, with the idea of limited viewing from a private garden who's owners only wanted us to arrive after 1pm I imaged a sene of carnage as folk screamed over each other and I'm left ..read more

Ruddy Duck: This North American species were imported into wildfowl collections in Britain  due the 50s. Some birds escaped from these collections and formed a free-flying population which expanded to cover most suitable habitat in the UK and by 2001 the ruddy duck population was around 6,000.   Eventually ruddy ducks were recorded in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Numbers of Ruddy Ducks also began arriving in Spain from the late 1980s and in the early 1990s these started to hybridise with the globally threatened  This hybridisation posed a serious risk to the  ..read more

Black-necked Grebe: Locally they are listed to breeding at Woolston Eyes NR in Warrington. But with with an abundant wintering numbers after a successful couple of breeding seasons there might be new birds prospecting for new breeding territories, hence the undisclosed location.  There has been records of adults with young at Moore Nature Reserve. Typically BNG colonies are associated with nesting black-headed gulls, which must give some measure of protection from aerial predators. There are just 55 breeding pairs in Britain, with around 120  individuals here in the wint ..read more

Capercaillie: The always excellent Damien Young is due to tie the knot in April, so we organised a stag weekend in Aviemore with the hopes of seeing some of the Scottish specialties. With a few notable absences the stag party consisted of Toby Young, Kristian Wade, Patrick Earth and of course the stag. We got lucky with this bird as walking through some undisclosed Caledonian forest hoping to see our first crested tit and walked right up to this resting bird off the public footpath. Astonishing crazy scenes!  Crested Tit: Although other types of crested tit occur in Europe, Scot ..read more

Myrtle Warbler: Known to be the first and only American warbler species to be recorded in Ayrshire the bird was first seen on the 20th of February. Its taken me 32 days to get off my backside and travel up to see it, but with a stag weekend in Aviemore planned in it came at a good time, besides this is my 4th Myrtle in the UK.  The bird has set up camp in a garden in Garnock View in Kilwinning in Ayrshire, a row of small gardens close to a block of flats, its goes to show that anything can turn up on the garden feeders.     The bird was protective over t ..read more

Great Grey Shrike: I started the day over in a fantastic woodland, the remnants of an ancient royal forest in Nottinghamshire, Sherwood Forest.  Meeting up with tom Marshall and Matt Woodward, two legends who I've not seen in far too long a time.   Made legendary as the home of the famous outlaw in the ballads of Robin Hood this 400 acre forest, surrounded by lowland heathland this is one of the premier places in the UK to see the famously scarce lesser-spotted woodpecker. Our main target for the day although we only had a brief male calling before flying overhead and out of ..read more

Glossy Ibis: After a busy few weekends without the chance of getting out for a spot of birding I eventually was let out and caught up with the long staying glossy ibis. These birds look so odd like a cross between a heron and a curlew with green and purple-brown plumage.  Once a rare vagrant to the UK glossy ibis numbers have increased in recent years and it has become more common, with exceptional arrivals in 2007-11. They were even confirmed as a new British breeder in 2002 when a pair was discovered breeding in Cambridgeshire.    A perfect storm that have created ..read more

Ring-necked Duck: Dave Owen found this smart looking drake RND during his regular wardening rounds of the parks and wild spaces across the area.  News came out while I was working ut of the Liverpool office, but I managed to make it before the fading light became too much of an issue. Taylor Park is the largest Victorian park in St Helens named after Samuel Taylor who gave the land the park was built on to St Helens Corporation in 1892.  Its a nice little park when you look past the obligatory poo bags hanging in trees, such a shame as its a beautiful park! Great childre ..read more

Green-winged Teal: Between the family duties around the festive break and now being back at work its took me a while to get myself over to Lunt.  This yank teal has made itself at home here for a few months now and I'm glad its stuck around so  I could go and see it. The bird was associating with the Eurasian teal on the great-white egret pool at the far end of the site.  It eventually showed really well after drifting in from the submerged vegetaion and took a power nap on the nearside bank close to the sluice.  Richardson's Cackling Goose: Another bird that has taken up ..read more