With no further sightings of Saturday’s RB shrike and the notable change in weather (from positively Mediterranean to classic Northern European) one would expect things to have quietened down on the patch in recent days.However, a couple of very welcom…
Obviously one of the concerns of local patch birding is how to treat news if one finds a rare bird? Can we manage parking and access, how far might people wish to travel in order to see a scarce visitor and how many birdwatchers might descend on this r…
As April gave way to May the optimistic amongst us were out in search of more incoming migrants and while there were few surprises, we did at least see the continued arrival of commoner species.Newly arrived swallow stops for a brief rest at the pools …
After the relative thrills of having a spring wood sandpiper on the local patch, Dan got wood for a second time in two days when he found a singing wood warbler near the FAUNA nature reserve on Sunday morning.Wood warbler record shot by Dan HYet anothe…
A great find by Dan on the Wildfowlers’ Pools this morning – a dazzling, spangled wood sandpiper.Although just about annual on the Aldcliffe patch, these scarce waders are more likely to be found in late summer when failed / post-breeding or juvenile b…
Yellow wagtail (Barrie Cooper)Spring continues to bring us sunshine, and easterlies with no rain. As a consequence, we have seen relatively little in the way of off-passage migration but the regular stuff returning to territory has certainly been notic…
Yellow wagtail (Dan Heywood)Despite the lack of forecast (then un-forecast) rain this morning there was still enough to entertain the early bird. I had rather hoped to be tripping over freshly dropped migrants but with a steady easterly wind and not a …
Hello there!Well, once again I find myself posting for the first time in ages and offering an apology of sorts…The lack of updates doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of visits to the Aldcliffe patch on my part, more a reflection of my ability to be b…
Regular visitors birding in the Aldcliffe area may have noticed that the maize fields have yet to be ploughed and seeded, so fingers crossed the lapwings might just get some chicks hatched again this year. That said, I haven’t seen many pairs in there …
A few highlights from a morning trawl today included: House Martin – my first of the year with with a few sand martins at Freeman’s PoolsSand martin – several passing through plus birds feeding at Freeman’s pools. Wheatear …