North West blast

After having missing out on seeing Ring Ouzel pass through the island during the spring migration again I was starting to wonder if I would ever see one.   As I was moaning about this to a birder friend she said she was also dieing to see one as she had tried several times to see Ring Ouzel in Yorkshire but had dipped every time (god knows how since they are easy to see there ;) ) .    I didn’t think anymore of it till a few days later she suggested a quick daytrip to England to try for Ring Ouzel.  I liked the idea but I’m not a big traveller so decided not to.  But after being nagged for weeks about it, I finally gave in (mainly to shut her up :P) and figured out a plan.  After research we found out the nearest place to Heysham to see Ring Ouzel was Haweswater in the Lake District.   But the Ferry timings weren’t helpful to get up there early on the same day so in the end we had to go on the evening ferry and stop at Haweswater overnight to be able to go for Ring Ouzel first thing.  On the way back to we decided on the overnight ferry so with the extra time in the afternoon we decided we would pop into Leighton moss on the way down to try for Bearded Tit, another bird both of us had failed to see despite many attempts.

After an unstressful crossing (excluding Wendy’s chilled out attitude towards steam packet instructions!!)  we headed up to Haweswater in the dark.  On the winding road to the lake we spotted several bats some obviously Pipistrelle but some bats were much larger.   We both had no idea what they were though.  Wendy then saw an Owl go across the road.   It was a brown one so either Tawny or Long eared but she wasn’t sure which.   Shame as Tawny would have been her first Lifer of the trip.   A bit further on she shrieked in my ear to stop and jumped out the car... I was thinking “ut oh, my not so smooth driving style has resulted in vomit again” but then I noticed she was actually trying to usher a Hedgehog out the road.     Nice to see our first mammal of the trip.   This was quickly followed up by a tiny Shrew darting across the road, then a Hare jumping clean over the roadside wall.   

After only a few hours sleep it was up at 5am at Haweswater.   As forecasted it was overcast and raining but the area still looked amazing.  A wonderful place to be especially at this time of the day.

The rain was a bit annoying but it didn’t deter us.  Wendy was out dealing with her addiction straight away (coffee) whilst I staggered around in a knackered haze, until suddenly snapped out of it by Wendy screaming “FOX” !!! .   I grabbed my camera and attempted to follow her horrific directions...  “It’s there on the grass.” ....... I then worked out where she meant and saw the bum of the fox disappear over the wall.   Still this was Wendy’s first lifer of the trip.  So that was a great start to the day.   Before I could switch back off she spotted it running up the hill to the left of the carpark.   Even though it was 5.25am and raining I managed a sharp enough long distant record shot.

After that excitement we got our gear together to walk round to the eagle watchpoint.  Probably only a mile and a half in distance if that.    On the way round we had to keep our eyes on the mountain to the left of the path as that’s where the Ring ouzels had been seen (last sighting I found had been 2 years before though :-\).    First off I spotted a Great crested Grebe on the water, then it was met by a second and they started their impressive display.   Very cool to see.  We then heard a call we recognised from last month on the Isle of man.  It was from two Common Sandpiper as they flew low over the water.   Also at the waters edge was a Grey Heron.  In the plantation by the carpark we could hear the common stuff Wren, Willow Warbler, Robin and Chaffinch.  Round the path I heard a song I didn’t recognise at all.    I had made sure i revised all the potential songs and calls of birds possible to see on the trip but this one threw me completely.   Suddenly I spotted a bird do the song in a parachute display.   I was just about to go for a Tree Pipit (even though I had learnt the song of a Tree Pipit and this didn’t sound like that)  when I got a look of the bird through my bins.  It all became obvious then.  There was a Northern Wheatear.   Even though I’ve seen hundreds of them migrating through my local patch, I’ve never seen one on its breeding grounds and therefore not heard its song.   We had obviously walked into a very good habitat as there was alot of songs going off.   Next one I heard was another weird one.   I found the culprit quite quickly this time on the top of a tree, it was a Male Common Redstart.   I quickly got Wendy onto the bird and she was very pleased as this was lifer number 2.   I was a bit miffed though as the song wasn’t the same as what I had learnt... weird.   A cracking looking bird though.

 (A bit further round the path later on I got a record shot of another male.)

As we rounded the corner to go up the valley I was looking up at the top of the mountain on the left when I spotted a dark bird fly across land on the corner of a crag.  I got very excited and said “I think I’ve got a Ring Ouzel” but as I said those words the bird on the corner of the crag was light and I realised it was a Wheatear.   I got a bit of abuse off Wendy for that but I was (and still am) confused as the bird I first saw was definitely dark and bigger than a Wheatear.  I didn’t have time to ponder though as nearly straight away a Pipit flew past us and landed on the wall.    A quick check confirmed this as a Tree Pipit and this was Wendys 3^rd lifer already.   A Meadow Pipit landed near it and we got a nice comparison of the two birds. 

Whilst I was permantly staring at the slope on the left, Wendy had been looking at the water and she located a Female Goosander with 3 young on her back.   I snatched a very very distant record shot. 

Another sight neither of us had had before. 

Also on the water was a group of Greylag and Canada Geese.   Back across the water there was an island which had a Lesser Black-backed Gull colony on it.

We got to the watchpoint at about 6.45am.  Nearby a Siskin flew into the trees and there were a few Carrion Crow about.  There was absolutely no chance of the Eagle appearing as the clouds were so low they were covering the top of the valley.  But a Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel and Raven did make a flypast.  There was nothing unusual calling or singing so Wendy and I resorted to methodically scanning the slope on the left for the next two hours (in the rain).   It was literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack although I reckon that would be easier than this.    Whilst scanning I spotted some Deer about a billion miles away.  Try as I might, with super clear pinpoint instructions Wendy couldn’t see them (duhhhh).   In the end I had to take a photo so she could look at it then work out where to look! haha.   This was that photo, we actually only thought there were 3 Deer but on inspection of the photo there was another 2 further to the left.  

We assumed they were Red Deer but they could have been Antelope for all we knew at that distance.

After two hours our enthusiasm had completely gone.  So I took a piccie of the nice scenery looking back at Haweswater and we headed back.

On the way back I put forward the idea of walking a bit up the path to the left of the carpark as I had read in a book that on that walk Ring Ouzels are sometimes seen on the slopes to the left.  But as we walked the weather quickly changed and the sun started to appear and it was really strong.  I felt my face burn nearly instantly (I stupidly hadn’t put any cream on as there was no sun forecast till much later) .  When we got back to the car I was feeling way too hot to move let alone go up the steep (for me) path.    As I was planning what to do next I saw two official looking people walk past.  I egged Wendy on to ask them about Ring Ouzel and amazingly Wendy turned round and went “OI!!”   haha.

After a few minutes she came back looking a bit flustered....   I then saw why.   The warden bloke was a big blond haired German chap.   I fully expected Wendy to have no idea what was said to her but to her credit she rattled off all the details.    The Warden bloke had said our best bet was up at Small water which was up the path I was thinking about.   We looked up there.  My guess is it was at least 1300ft up.   :O  I sat in the car thinking could we make it and put the decision to Wendy but she sat on the fence and left it down to me.    I was already knackered and burnt but I thought we had come this far we had to give it a go and I got a second wind so off we went.  Worst case if we couldn’t make it we could just turn round and come back.   I had hoped we could get up there in under 2 hours but we made amazing progress (for two unfit slackers) and apart from one occasion where Wendy nearly got blown off the hill by a freak gust (I don’t think she appreciated me laughing my head off :P)  we made it to Small water in 45 minutes!   I had hoped the small water was actually small but it was flipping massive!  And again we had huge slopes to scan. 

Nevertheless scan we did.  As we did Wendy spotted a grey pipit flew past and land on the near shore.  I had not expected a Rock Pipit here at all but it was one.  Very wierd.   More normal a Grey Wagtail flew in from the stream.   After scanning for ages I went off for a wander and got across the stream to take a photo looking back down the valley to Haweswater.   You don’t get a sense of the height in the photo but trust me we were well high up!.  

As I went to go back I suddenly realised I couldn’t get back across the stream...erk... there were no easy places to step across from this side ... ut oh.. there was nothing else for it but to attempt a “no run up” long jump... With camera and bins in hand I launched myself like a Gazelle, beautifully floating across the stream... just as I reached the other edge I plummeted like a stone, my right foot just caught the grassy edge.. I was going back into the stream so had to fling myself forward flat on my face...  I looked up out of the grass to see I had subconsciously kept my bins and camera up in the air... skillz!  Doubly lucky for me I was hidden from Wendys view so she couldn’t rip the michael... Excellent :)

I staggered back to where Wendy was and asked had there been any sign. I think she replied with how many Ring Ouzels she wanted to see.

So it was back to scanning again.   Suddenly we heard a very unusual call.  Basically it was a constant loud solo whistle.  Peeep .........peeeep......peeeep.......peeep....  (hmmm that doesn’t sound anything like the call.)  Try as we might we couldn’t locate where it was coming from all we knew was it was on the back right slope about 200 yards away.  But the corrie was creating wierd harmonics and we couldn’t pinpoint the position of the noise at all.   I listened again to the Ring ouzel songs and calls I had on my iphone and none of them sounded anything like this.  So that was discounted but it was a strong call so anything smaller didn’t make sense.   We thought about walking to that slope but we were both completely gone from the hard walk up the hill so we couldn’t manage it.   This was probably the correct decision as this could well have ended our day right there.

After probably another 20 minutes of having this call do our head in we decided we had to give in.   Ring Ouzel had defeating us.  It was bitterly disappointing but we couldn’t be upset really as we had put in as much effort as physically possible.  You can’t say we didn’t try.

Wendy flew back down the path (probably smelling her next coffee) whereas I struggled down it like an old man, by now my joints were giving up, how I didn’t end up rolling down the 1000ft I don’t know.   (I think I’m genetically modified for car birding :) .)   Back at the carpark it was now lunchtime.   We had originally planned to be at Leighton moss by now but that wasn’t too important.  The plan had enough room for flexibility so that was good.  If we had booked for the afternoon Ferry we would have been goofed. 

After a lovely lunch of crisps and chocolate and lucozade we moved off down to the dam side of Haweswater.  Down here were some nice little woods where Chris had told me was really good for the Woodland birds you get in England.  Several of them would be Lifers for Wendy so our enthusiasm picked up again.  Getting out of the car we straight away heard a Cuckoo calling in a far off copse.   A nice bird to put on the trip list but I knew it would be near impossible to see it and this was a downer for Wendy as she’s never seen Cuckoo.   We hung about for a few minutes in case it flew across the field but it didn’t so we moved off into the wood.   I had looked at the map and seen we could take a path then track round the base of the dam then back round to the car.. Perfect.    Straight away we heard a chaffinch like call.   I knew from my revising that Pied flycatchers had a chaffinch like call.  So was practically positive it was one.  We scanned the trees in the direction of the call and then heard calls of Chaffinches.  This near enough confirmed to me this bird was a Pied fly but I wanted to see it to confirm.   After several minutes of trying we couldn’t find the blighter.  We decided to move on and try and have another go when we got back.   Near enough straight away Wendy shouted in a hushed voice “STOP STOP THERE THERE THERE”  I was like ehhh. She said Red Squirrel !!  and despite her directions (:P) I spotted it.  Absolutely brilliant!.  I’ve only ever seen Red squirrel in Formby which although they are wild it feels a bit unnatural.  Here it felt perfect.  We had a good view too.    Unfortunately it ran off up a tree before I could get a photo.  A few more steps into the wood and Wendy spotted a flycatcher.   Here we go I thought only for it to be a Spotted Flycatcher.  Dohh.   A few weeks ago we had 9 in one day on the island so we were desperate to see a pied fly.  (also pied fly was a lifer for Wendy).   Further on we had another Spot fly and another.  I couldn’t believe it.  Then I heard a call I recognise and called Nuthatch sure enough a Nuthatch flew in and landed on the tree right in front of us.  It then moved across to a small hole in the tree and we saw some little mouths appear!  Cool a Nuthatch nest!   I quickly grabbed a record shot.   We both had never seen a Nuthatch nest before so even though we weren’t getting lifers it was still another interesting sighting. 

As we ended the path we found the track and walked down that,  we ended up walking through one of the weirdest hamlets Ive ever seen.   About 10 small bungalows lined the track and many of the people living there we standing outside their house watching us walk through.  I felt really uneasy and quietly mutterered “dinga ding a ding a ding a dingggg”.  (I think it’s from Deliverance, if not I associate that tune with people getting murdered in a hick town :) ).   Flying around this hamlet were House Martins and Swallows.  I wonder if they were feeding off the flies that had been attracted by the rotting corpses murdered by the hamlet folk.......  (possibly not).

The people were really looking at us wierd and then we realised why, as at the end of the track was an open gate but the sign said “Private No entry”.  Dohhhhh.   The hamlet people were just laughing their heads off at us.   They didn’t actually want to kill us.... silly me.    I tried to blame the stupid map but I think I got track and public track mixed up.   It was a shame as im sure the track route would have been brilliant.  Anyway we had to turn round and walk past the hamlet folk.  Luckily I spotted another footpath so we quickly scuttled off back down it.  This led back to the original footpath and we didn’t spot another different until we got back to the original potential pied fly.  Again it was calling but this time out by the road.  We went there and Wendy went it’s a Chaffinch, I laughed and went yeah don’t be a plank.  But she went no really it’s a Chaffinch its above us.  I looked and sure enough there was a Chaffinch doing a call nothing like all the other Chaffinches in the area..... ehhhh whats that all about?.     Now doubly embarrassed by two back to back mistakes I suggested we walked round the road back towards haweswater as Wendy had seen a footpath sign saying dam when we drove past.   Maybe that would get us in into the smart woodland we could see from the road.  

Round the road I suddenly heard a wierd call but I recognised it straight away.  Green Woodpecker.   It was calling from a wood about 150 yards back from the road.  Wendy was desperate to see this bird so we tried really hard to pin it down.  But just like the Cuckoo these are really tricky to spot and just like the Cuckoo we failed.  Yet another disappointment.   After our great start this wasn’t going well anymore.  Just to put the icing on the cake Wendy had obviously dreamt about the footpath sign as there wasn’t one so we had walked up there for nothing.  Hahah.   Back at the car we realised what we hadn’t managed to see that we should have and both were lifers for Wendy.  Wood Warbler which I hadn’t even heard a song from and grrr Pied Flycatcher.    These were practically guaranteed by Chris before we came but I think they aren’t as prolific as they were in the 60s when Chris birded in England. ;)

It was now about half 2.  We had been birding for 9 hours and Wendy had 3 Lifers with two more close but no cigars.   I had expected more lifers for her by the point of leaving Haweswater but there was nothing we could do about it, it was time to leave.  

We arrived at Leighton moss at half 3 and originally were going to go straight to the Eric Morecambe hide but as it was so late we decided to go to the main reserve as we didn’t know what time they shut.  Lucky enough they were open till dusk which was exactly what we were looking for.  Last time I was here there was a Marsh Tit coming to the feeder outside the shop this would have been a lifer for Wendy but the feeders looked pretty poor really.  Nothing of any note were appearing.   Oh dear.  The one lifer I guaranteed was Marsh Tit...... ooops.  As we were about to move off down the track I realised the display of feeders at the shop window were actually feeders and not ones for sale.  Nearly in the same second as realising this a Marsh Tit landed on them.  I pointed Wendy to it but for some wierd reason she didn’t see it...... ehhh.   We hung around and luckily enough it came back and this time she did see it.   Phew.  Lifer number 4 for her.  We had a quick look at the feeding station down the track but this was also poor.  Only Pheasant, Moorhen and Rabbit.  :-\   We carried on to the first hide.  Lillians hide.  The seats were nice and comfy in here but all that was viewable was a breeding colony of very loud Black-headed Gulls.   This must be a recent thing as I never remembered seeing Black headed gulls here before let alone a breeding colony.  I checked through them in case of a Med gull but there wasn’t so after noting the millions of Swifts we moved on.  Moving along the path I heard a song I haven’t heard in a long time.  I called it to Wendy but the little %^&* questioned me.!   Maybe still remembering the “pied fly incident” so I had to explain why it was what it was by doing an impression.  Instead of putting her mind at ease this put her in stitches as I obviously looked a complete plank.  Thank god no one else came along the path.  The bird in question was a Reed Warbler but we could not pick it out of the Reeds.   Even though this would be a lifer for Wendy I wasn’t worried I was sure we would see one sooner or later.   We then got into Tim Jackson hide and straight away we had a bad feeling about it.  There was no one in it and we could see why .  There was Gadwall, Shoveler and a Teal but that was it.  We were thinking about leaving but decided to sit by the side window to see if the singing Reed Warbler would appear in view.   After a few minutes of calling this hide every name under the sun and replying to some texts asking how it was going.. (to which the reply was.. pretty poo) everything turned on its head in a flash.   We suddenly heard ping ping ping ping.   Before I could even say what I thought it was the bird flew in and landed probably 10 foot from the hide ... both me and Wendy in complete excitement spat out BEARDED TIT!!!!   Wendy went for her bins in a flash but I was far too excited for that and sort of whalloped Wendys arm as I flailed about in a hysteric fit.   This knocked the bins from her hand and at the same moment the bird dived into the reeds never to be seen again....whoopsy.    But still this bird made up for missing out on the Ring Ouzel.   Wendy and I had separately put far more time into trying to see bearded tit than Ring Ouzel.  It was a lifer for both of us and the view had been fantastic.  I apologised to Tim Jackson hide it went from the worst hide ever to the best hide ever in the blink of an eye!.  We waited to see if it would reappear but it didn’t so we moved on to the Griesdale hide.

On the walk we again heard ping ping ping and Wendy picked out another male Bearded Tit deep in the reeds!.  Unbelievable.  They were like buses.  Further on the walk I again heard Reed Warbler but again couldn’t spot it.   I carried on and in one of the gaps in the reeds there was a Reed Warbler out in the open.   My instant reaction was to lift the camera but I quickly realised Wendy had never actually seen one.  I turned to point her in the right direction but she was still down the path trying to see the other one.  I urgently ushered her to the gap and she finally got her bins on the bird for a really good view of a Reed Warbler. Lifer number 6.   This was more like it.  

At the Griesdale hide we finally saw a Marsh Harrier at the back of the reserve but it never came close which was a shame.  Also here were Coot, another pile of Black headed Gulls and at the back of the pool about 100 Black-tailed godwit.  I nearly didn’t even mention them as we get them most autumns in the Isle of Man but when I did Wendy said ooo first time I’ve seen them!  I had no idea that was a lifer and number 7 at that.   Not much else happened and it was now half 4 so we decided to move round to the coastal hides.  Later on we would come back and finish off at the public hides. 

Round at the coastal hides we started off in Allen hide.   I knew there had been some birds here recently that would be good to see if they were still here so I set about trying to find them.   Whilst scanning we picked up Shelduck, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Wendy saw her first ever Avocet. 

Lifer number 8...  Suddenly double figures were on the cards!!   About the same time I was looking over on the Eric Morecambe pool from the Allen hide.  I was 99% positive I could see one of the target birds.  But as i was umming and arring Wendy said isn’t this one here.   I had a look in the Allen pool and sure enough there was a Little Gull.  The bird I had watched in the other pool flew over and was also one.  In the end there were 3 flying about.  Brilliant.  They never came close unfortunately but I did get a record shot of two of them.  This was only the 3^rd time I’d seen Little Gull and it was lifer number 9 for Wendy.

We then moved around to Eric Morecambe hide in the hope we would get a closer view of the Little Gulls.  On the way we picked up Sedge Warbler and Dunnock.  Round at the Eric Morecambe hide we got more distant views of the Little Gulls but then they flew off towards Morecambe bay.  Dohh.  Whilst here Wendy spotted a lone Wigeon bit unusual this late in the year.  They have certainly all left the Isle of Man along time ago.   The question now was how do we get Wendys double figures.  After going through several candidates we settled on Bullfinch as the target.  I was pretty sure I had seen Bullfinch at the far end of the public causeway several years ago so we headed back to the main reserve.  It was now about 7pm.  We had been birding for 14 hours but weirdly both of us were feeling fine.  Even with only 3 hours the night before and having climbed a near mountain in those 14 hours!.. totally crazy.  Back at Leighton moss we decided to have another look at the feeding station down the track.   As we walked up to it I thought in my head I wonder why this place doesn’t get Bullfinch wierd.   At the feeding station the same things were about again but Greenfinch was also there.   I spotted a feeder further back that I hadn’t seen before.  So concentrated on that when suddenly Wendy nearly burst my eardrum with a Shriek and i think a foreign language cus I didn’t understand her.   Several times she tried to get her words out but in the end she just shouted “IN THE BOX”   I looked at the table with a cage on it and there was a stunning male Bullfinch!  Brilliant.  The fat thing sat there gobbling up the seed.  Lifer number 10! Double figures... wooooo excellent.   We still carried on round to the public causeway as that’s supposed to be the place for Bearded tit.  Not that we needed to see them we were just being greedy.  Probably about 50 yards onto the causeway we heard the now familiar ping ping ping ping.  We quickly spotted 2 female Bearded Tit pretty close to the path.   Try as I might I couldn’t get a clear shot through the reeds but at least I finally got a shot of our Lifer. 

We then moved onto the public hide.  We had decided not to carry on further and just stay here.  Whilst in the hide a Pochard came close and in the evening low light it looked quite nice so I got a pic

Also a Greylag goose came past obviously a plastic but I got a pic of that too.

Whilst I was playing about taking boring pics I suddenly heard a booom boooom.  Even though I haven’t heard it for over 10 years Whilst I was playing about taking boring pics I suddenly heard a booom boooom.  Even though I haven’t heard it for over 10 years I straight away said Bittern.  But I did a quick check against the birdguide sounds in my iphone.  Wierdly the call was different so I started doubting myself.  We thought maybe Red Deer as we thought that could possibly make that noise too.   But later on we overheard some people talking about the Bittern booming just before (and when home Wendy checked on the rspb website and the sound was identical,  I need a new birdguide on me phone i think) and that confirmed it.   We did keep an eye out in case it flew out of the reeds, it would have been a great lifer for Wendy but it never appeared.  Shame.   

Light was fading fast so we headed back to the comfy Lillians hide.  There seem to be more Marsh Harrier activity here as there was a bird in the sky every few minutes.  We saw one catch something far back possibly a vole of some sort then it flew back and the female appeared out of the reeds and they did an aerial food swap! Very smart!.   We had noticed that the Marsh Harriers were keeping well away from the Black headed gull colony until one female went straight over.  

Que massive kick off from the Gulls.  The harrier got mobbed like mental but amazingly wasn’t bothered at all and at one point turned upside down with her talons out.  That seemed to scare the gull off sufficiently.  I don’t think it fancied being supper.  And that pretty much ended our day.

The trip list stood at 79, impressive for the quick trip.   Wendy got 10 lifers in total and I got 1 but it was a very special 1.

Nipping across for a specific species and seeing other things whilst there worked really well and was very enjoyable.  I will definitely be doing it again the only difference next time is go for longer to get proper sleep as its now 2 days later and I still haven’t recovered :)

Trip list