First visit here yesterday (Friday ) ,plenty of teal,mallards 4 pairs of goldeneye,6 great crested grebes,and loads of bh and lesser black back gulls ...fleeting glimpse of cettis warbler from second hide (going round clockwise )...friendly-bloke with the world's biggest camera lense put me onto it !!! The feeding-station hide was alive with birds....loads of blue,great and long tailed tits ,goldfinch,greenfinch and chaffinch ,robins,blackbirds,dunnock and two lady pheasants,playing hide and seek with a very frustrated male !!! Also at least 5 pairs of reed bunting ...Great views of a hunting kestrel ,as we were leaving the site ....Did not spot the LEO's .....I should have read this thread before going !!!! That'll teach me !! Visiting here, has put a whole new perspective on my view of days out in Blackpool with the missus !!!

I guess I should've realised that an owl could develop a favoured roost spot but on reviewing the LEO shots on the Out of County there are three shots over two months of an LEO in exactly the same spot - [bark missing and prominent bramble in the background] by three different photographers... so if anyone else is going looking we can be precise with the details down to which branch!

My first visit to Marton Mere today [there via Clitheroe for the Shrike which showed well and back via Bolton for the waxwings but missed them]. At least four pairs of Goldeneye a good selection of gulls and other waterfowl but the highlight was two LEOs - one of which was showing really well. However for anyone that's going even though I knew roughly where to look i.e. which section of the reserve; I spent an hour searching through about 400m of trees and shrubs before I found the first one and I'd expected them to be tucked down at the base of the threes but one was about 12 foot up and the other a bit higher.

Won't put exact directions on here but happy to provide by PM to any genuine birders from on here Photos will follow for Out of County

Just Confirmed by Ian, Female brambling, cheers

good day at marton mere today, first time there for me, two long eared owls taking there siestas, there was aparantly four as confirmed by the rangers today but i only found two, lots of teal, widgeon on the lake, also goldeneye, shelduck, tufted, and lots of common gulls, hundreds of pink feet in the adjacent fields,


Possible sighting of Brambling in feeding station, waiting for confirmation of photo on that one,

Wigan RSPB Trip today

Marton Mere In Foggy Conditions
3 Long Eared Owls

Fleetwood Marsh Nature Res
No R N Duck
1 Peregrine
Lots of P F Geese flying over but due to the fog couldnt see nowt

ICI Thornton Pools bit clearer here
6 Goldeneye
3 Pochard
6 Tufted Duck
1 Ring Neck Duck but as is usual with this bird only put its head up once while we was there

Anchorsholme
12 Turnstone
8 Redshank
20 Oystercatchers
Due to the Fog couldnt see much else here as well

Cheers Jimmy

Damn Fog

3 owls in the roost this a.m.- 1 grey bird, 2 brown.

Also, from the metal bridge, 50 whooper swans in about 5 groups low across the fields & a thousand or so pinkfeet against a glorious winter sunrise

3/10 SEE ME!

Cetti's Warbler

sorry sir ment chetty warbler
and a vernon day out is just that because he picks where we are going in his quest for ticks and i cant get a word in edgeways.

chetis ???????????

Whats a venon day out???????????????

A venon day out today with bramley apple pies and millionaires cakes mmmmm
all the usual wildfowl and 1 snipe flyby.
two shooters with dogs sent the ducks into a frenzie and luckily for us sent a bittern up from the reed beds which flew 50yds before going back down into the deepest part of the reedbed next to the central hide.fieldfares and redwings feeding on the fallen apples and again 2 long eared owls, but still hard to see with the thick foliage even though we were only 20yards from them. a few focks of green and goldfinches feeding on the alders and wrens and a few reed buntings in the reedbeds. only one possible sighting of the chetis but too quick to get the bins on
A couple of sprawks one a superb male and a kestrel flew over the reserve.
A heron flew over and was in hunting mode trying to catch a teal in mid air without success though.

Spent the day at marton mere target birds were chetis warbler and long eared owl and with hawk eye wife Mary beside me we /she got them both. The 2 long eared owls were showng at the side of the path alongside the golf course and the chetis next to the hide closest to the caravan park which is also a good spot to watch the starling display at dusk On the lake were lots of teal ,shovellor,gadwall,pochard,coot ,moorhen,goldeneye f . A curlew and snipe flew by and male and female sparrowhawk hunting the reed beds was a nice surprise, amazing how silently they fly past the front of the hides , 1 kestrel also decided to get in on the act. The gull roost wasnt up to much with only all the usual stuff about. MISSING THE CAKES VERNON HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT WEEK