Dog blog

Took Treakle (see picture) for a walk around Barrow lodge today, good excuse to take the bins for a look. 2 Dippers setting up home in the brook, which is good news after last years pollution dumping. A single meadow pipit and 2 pied wagtails near the printworks building.




On the lower lodge
63 mallard (inc 2 hybrids)
38 B H Gulls
3 tufted duck (2m 1f)
4 coot
4 moorhen

Didnt cross the a59 to upper lodge cos its too busy for Treakle, so not much else around, just 1 female bullfinch in the garden of interest.

Like the 1st day of spring

Typical eh? The birds must know when the RSPB big garden birdwatch is on. Much more going on around the garden today, its like the first day of Spring. 7 male blackbirds all vying for territory with 2 females, 2 song thrushes singing, the pair of great tits were checkin out the newest nestbox that I put up last week and the magpies, woodpigeons and starlings that didnt make my list for the "BGB", all turned up today.

Drove up to PC world in Blackburn today stopping at Dean Clough Reservoir with scope and bins along the way.

10 Black headed Gulls
1 Great Black backed Gull
33 Mallard
4 Tufted Duck
2 Great crested Grebe
4 Cormorant
2 Coot
1 pair of Stonechat
30 + woodpigeon
1 Kestrel
Hitchcock numbers of birds in the Beech wood next to the Reservoir!!
Mixed flock of mostly winter visitors getting ready to head north
Probably about 1000 in the flock
-Fieldfare
-Redwing
-Brambling
with some starlings and chaffinch.

Not the most exciting birding but did my 1 hour from the upstairs window.
Just posted the results to the RSPB as follows -

Blue tit 4
Coal tit 2
Great tit 2
Robin 3
Dunnock 3
Blackbird 3 (1m 2 f)
Chaffinch 2 (1m 1 f)
Feral pigeon 6
Wren 1
Goldcrest 1

notable absentees today were
GS woodpecker, greenfinch,woodpigeon, magpie, starling and our daily party of 5 long tailed tits.

Marton mere, Blackpool

Nearly the end of January and I finally get the birding blog off the ground!!!
I've only been out birding twice this year ( to Stocks reservoir and Marshside) but reports of Cettis warbler and Bittern at Marton mere were too tempting to stay in being lazy.
Havent been to MM for about 2 years, but then it is 30 miles from home. It is a much better option than similarly named Martin Mere cos entry is free and people dont bring their kids to feed the ducks etc its a bit less "theme-park like".
Unfortunately, it does suffer from teenagers running amok on trail motorbikes, litter and vandalism to the bird hides.


There is a well known Long eared Owl roost between the lake and the golf course. There were 4 owls visible today, but they can be quite difficult to see. All four are in the picture to the left, but only 1 is obvious.
No luck with the Cetti's but lots of reed buntings flitting around the reed beds pretending to be Cetti's just to annoy me. Jill saw a Bittern to much excited acclaim but of course it was just a long "bittern shaped" blade of grass!!

Heres a list of all birds seen today -

Blue tit
Great tit
Long tailed tit
Coal tit
Reed bunting
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Dunnock
Robin
Wren
Redwing
Fieldfare
Blackbird
Starling
Stonechat
Pheasant
Lapwing
Sparrowhawk
Buzzard
Kestrel
Long eared owl
Wood pigeon
Stock dove
Collared dove
Grey Heron
Mute swan
Greylag goose
Canada goose
Cormorant
Mallard
Tufted duck
Pochard
Teal
Gadwall
Wigeon
Shoveller
Coot
Moorhen
Great crested grebe
Black headed gull
Herring gull
Magpie
Rook
Carrion crow

So 45 species for the day, but no Cettis or Bittern.
Nice to see that the LEOs are still roosting there.

Think I'll contact the warden at MM to suggest combination locks (rather than key locks) for the hides. We use this system at other birding locations in Lancs, meaning that the birders can still gain access to the hides (after contacting the warden for the code) but keep the ASBO offspring out.