Peel Castle, Harbour and Jetty

The day started at Peel beach at 9am.  No dogs are permitted on the beach between April and September making the beach a good place to be at high tide.  Large numbers of Pied Wagtails flitted up with some Rock Pipit amoung them.  Large roosts of gulls were close to the shore, mosly Herring Gull with some Lesser Black-backed Gull too.  Rooks and Jackdaw were also on the sand with a flock of Eider and a few Shag in the bay.

The area behind the castle was home to a few Rock Pipit with a constant stream of Shag flying past - this is where I saw my first RP last year.  Looking from the jetty brough good views of Kittiwake, a couple of what we thought were Little Gulls and a single Oystercatcher.

The walk along the River Neb was uneventful with only the sound of Robins 'takking'.  There was Barnacle Goose at the foot over Peel Hill (the same place it was last year) and further up river near Emery's Fish Pass there was a Rookery in the trees above.

Later in the afternoon we took mum's dog for a walk and had a peep over the harbour wall to see if the Little Gulls were still there.  They were and I managed to get a couple of shots - although they weren't LG's but young Kittiwakes!

At last light we returned to the harbour and saw a couple of Redshank at the lifeboat station.

Ribble Estuary

Lytham Jetty

Quite a dull evening and slightly cooler than it has been recently.  HT at 22:00 so tonight was a LT watch.  I spent a couple of hours on the jetty watching the comings and goings.  On arrival 14 Cormorant flew past which were to be the only ones I'd see.  Plenty of Eider still about with young and some males moulting.  No sign of any Common Tern but 2 Arctic with the 1 perched on the pink buoy two O'Clock of the jetty (seems to be a usual spot for this bird). A noticeable increase in Curlew with 9 present tonight.  Just before leaving I decided to count the the Mute Swans that congregate at the eastern end of the estuary.  As I panned left I spotted a Little Egret, very nice, I thought and continued to count my swans but I wasn't seeing Swans!  I was seeing Egrets and lots of them - 10 in fact!  Shortly after 7 flew off and the remaining 3 staying for an hour.

Oh and there were 19 Mute Swans.

Ribble Estuary and Witch Wood

Glorious evening tonight and the light was wonderful!  With high tide after dark I decided to walk through Witch Wood first before heading onto the Estuary to give the tide as long as possible to come in.

Witch Wood:

Blackcap (2)
Song Thrush (2)
Chiffchaff (2 heard)

NO SIGN OF TURKEY VULTURE

Even at low tide there was plenty of activity on the estuary but only small numbers of passage waders.  The main spectacle was c90 Eider in a pool of very close to the Jetty.  A few birders and photographers were there taking advantage of the sight.

Ribble Estuary:

Meadow Pipit (10)
Knot (1 - appeared lame)
Ringed Plover (8)
Dunlin (8)
Eider (90)
Cormorant (4)
Grey Heron (3)
Little Egret (1)
Swallow (4)

Ribble Estuary

An hour along the estuary three hours after high tide.  Walking from Windmill to 'Cocklers Cobbles'.

Linnet -  Feeding on the green amongst the Sparrows
Grey Heron - 8 seen in total but 5 within a couple of hundred yards of each other
House Sparrow - Female next to RNLI station
Turnstone - C60 by 'Cockers Cobbles'
Dunlin - C250
Ringed Plover - C60 mixed with Dunlin and Turnstone
Eider - 8 pairs passed along the estuary with many more on the Southport shore
Meadow Pipit - 1 at Jetty
Cormorant - 2
Great Black-backed Gull - 1

Earlier in the day I saw what I thought was a flock of C60 Golden Plover at Granny's Bay.  The scope was maxed out and light not 100% but I got a relatively good view for a couple of seconds before the flock flew.  This one bird amongst the flock had the contrasting black and grey / golden parts separated by a distinct white 'S' shape.  My view was so brief that I started to think I may have just see a Dunlin in a funny light at a distance but when the flock flew it was clear to see that these were much larger waders.  I looked for a back axilla but saw none, there also didn't seem to much of a distinct wing bar.  The conditions weren't ideal and of course my inexperience didn't help.  It may be just a wader but I like these moments - always an opportunity to improve.  

Isle of Man - April 2014 - Day 2

Peel Harbour

We started the day with a trip to Peel Harbour / Marina where I'd read that Black Guillemot put in a regular appearance.  They didn't prove difficult to find and I managed a count of 17.

The Neb

From the harbour we walked inland following the Neb river.  We found a pair of Grey Wagtails and a Barnacle Goose at the mouth.  We hoped for Kingfisher as the habitat looked ideal (and my mum had said she sees them there regularly) but no success this time.  As we walked inland the river flowed faster and quite a few large rocks projected.  We hoped for Dipper but no joy.  I've been told that some species are completely devoid from the Island (GS Woodpeckers and Bullfinch) so maybe Dipper is one too?  Or maybe I was just unlucky.  The usual garden birds were present and we caught our first views of Hooded Crow in the adjacent fields.

Peel Hill

We retraced our steps back along the river and ventured up Peel Hill.  Here we had great views from the coast with sightings of Gannet, Guillemot, Chough and a solitary White Wagtail.

  

Peel Castle

A walk around Peel Castle brought close views of Rock Pipit, Eider, Shag and plenty of House Sparrow.

Douglas Head

We then travelled 15 miles east to Douglas on the opposite coast.  We drove to Marine Drive and managed good views of:  Shag, Kestrel, Chough, Raven, Fulmar and Hooded Crow.  The coastal colony of Fulmar were being pestered by four Ravens and a Sparrowhawk.

Derby Haven

We moved on to Derby Haven in the South East of the the Island and saw 59 Brent Goose (WB) and 2 Barnacle.  There were still a few Wigeon hanging about too.