Venus Pool - 17 Feb 22

Today in the calm between the storms I paid another visit to the public hides at the SOS Reserve at Venus Pool. Here are some images.

A single Shelduck was present when I arrived but flew off. Here he goes – a 'he' because of the wide chest-band and the very prominent red shield at the base of the bill.

A group of Shoveler in flight. Four drakes and a duck. The lower middle drake shows some white behind the bill indicating it is a first year bird.

In close up a drake going this way...

...and that.

And a duck Shoveler. She needs to be camouflaged while she is sitting on the nest incubating the eggs. The bill is an amazing adaptation for filtering small food items out of the water.

A flotilla of Pochard comprising four drake and two ducks (one of the drakes is almost obscured by the second duck. A Great Crested Grebe looks on.

Very smart. The of the two Great Crested Grebes present.

Almost a study in black and white. A Little Egret alongside two immature Cormorants (with flecks of white on their belly) with two Moorhens pottering about.

The Little Egret comes in to land showing its yellow feet.

It is always good to see plenty of Lapwings these days. They are difficult to photograph in flight as their loose flocks are typically haphazardly arranged. This group managed to sort themselves out.

This one was reasonably close and catching the afternoon sun.

One coming in to land to join another.

Lapwings are very jumpy. This passing Common Buzzard put them all up.

At the woodland hide there are a few natural perches. A Blue Tit of course.

Here looking to see where there is available space on the feeders. Note the rather gnarled feet. It does not look as if it caused by the fungus that is particularly seen in Chaffinches. Old age?

This one seeking inspiration.

 "no publicity please"

A Great Tit.

This one is a male – the wide parallel-sized 'zip' down the belly is the diagnostic feature. Not sure why the head looks so flat-topped.

It might have been between the two storms but this Long-tailed Tit is suffering from a bad-feather day from the breeze.

(Ed Wilson)

Wirral - 4 Feb 22

It was Spring-tide again this week so I paid another visit to search Wirral's Wonderful Waders, concentrating on Hoylake. Here I waited for the rising tide to bring some of the many thousand waders that winter on the Dee estuary in to close view. It was a rather breezy day with passing squalls and intermittent bright sun.

Here a few images:

By far the greatest number of birds were Oystercatchers. Here are just a few of the thousand. Behind them the smaller pale grey birds with short all-black bills are Knots. The most distinctive feature visible here is the barring on the rear flanks.

One of the Knots takes to the air showing that the banding on the flanks extends on to the rump. The back-most of the three Oystercatchers shows a white chinstrap indicating it is a first-winter bird.

A closer view of some of the Oystercatchers.

A passing Oystercatcher showing the wing-pattern. The bright sunshine has made the bill look paler than it does in reality.

Here is an oddity. Yes it is an Oystercatcher with extensive unusual white areas on its head. All the other pigmentation is more or less as normal.

Here alongside an ordinary Oystercatcher it appears its bill is slightly paler.

Here it is again along with three others.

Once again: in a bigger group with at the top left the only Bar-tailed Godwit of the day. Note the godwit has a pink-based, slightly upturned bill.

A closer view of the Bar-tailed Godwit. Note a first-winter Oystercatcher is the closest bird on he left. It shows a dark-ended bill and paler legs.

A whole group of Oystercatchers where four the white-chinned first winter birds show the darker tips to their bills.

I was lucky that the godwit took off while I was waiting for it to emerge between Oystercatchers. It is obvious why it is called a Bar-tailed Godwit. Again the bright sun has made the bill and underwing look much paler than reality.

(Ed Wilson)