Billinge Bits

Just a few photos from the last week or so .... a few migrants including blackcap, chiffchaff, whinchat whilst the curlew were on Old Coach Road

 

 

 

Blackcap (m) - as those elder berries ripen sylvia warblers become very protective, listen out for harsh "tacking" noises and a blackcap, garden warbler or something rarer may pop into view.

 

 

d Coach Rd but a regular tweeter @neilg had many more

 

 

Whinchat - Apparently used to once breed in St Helens but now sadly only occur as passage migrants.  This one was on the fences of the pony paddocks at Crookhurst Farm where I've had them in previous years.  Red Barn Lane, fields around Carr Mill Dam and Billinge Hill Summit are other locations to look in late August - early Sept.

   

 

 

Sparrowhawks also migrate  (following the passerine migrants)  and I've been noting one around a lot more often recently.

 

 

 

Lesser redpoll have begun moving, some people expect BIG numbers this winter so fill those nyger feeders up!

 

 

Painted Lady hopefully a migrant and not one bred as part of a school project!

 

Long-tailed tit - these are beginning to move around in large flocks, they often carry other birds with them including blue tit, great tit but the ones I've been seeing are with goldcrest, treecreeper and coal tit.  If you're gonna find a firecrest or yellow-browed warbler then keep your ears alert and eyes peeled as flocks of mixed tits fly through.

 

Chiffchaff - Keep a close eye on any warblers you see, you never know when or where a Bonelli's or Siberian Chiffchaff may pop up!

Cheers

Paul B

Newton Lake

Teal numbers increasing on Newton Lake and had reached a minimum of 37 this morning

Regards
Dave Broome

Eccleston Mere

Coot around 200
Siskin 5

The first siskin I've seen for a while.

Damian P

Blue butterfly - my garden Eccleston

I see these butterflies every summer in my garden on the same bit of over overgrown hedge (if that's what it is?). I've always assumed that they are Common Blue but have never been quick enough to get a photo before. This one hung around for a bit because it was laying eggs. Is it a Holly Blue?

Damian P

Billinge Hill Lap

Today was the first chance I've had to get back up to Billinge since Monday. There was still a small part of me that was hoping to find the Bonelli's again but there were very few birds at all around the pine copse area, let alone anything rare.


I was pleased to see both the Little Owls at both of their known sites - they both appeared to be warming themselves in the sun.


There was a distant flock of birds on the barbed wire fence at the end of Red Barn Lane which turned out to be mainly greenfinch. Eventually a wheatear and then a whinchat joined them. It was difficult to tell the wheatear and whinchat apart sometimes as they were so far away.

Little Owl

Wheatear left and Whinchat right

Whinchat big crop

Damian P

Bonelli's Warbler 31-08-2015

I had a bit of free time on Monday morning so decided to return to Billinge Hill to have another look at the spotted flycatchers that myself and Paul had been watching the previous evening. I walked up past the horse paddocks and up to the summit, but couldn't find any flycatchers.

I knew that Paul had found flycatchers and also a redstart at the pine copse on the public footpath towards Mountain's farm the year before so I decided to head over that way for a look.

I walked past the pine copse to the gap in the hedge and then looked back to watch a couple of goldcrest at the top of the pine trees. I soon saw another bird flitting around in one of the smaller trees close to the path. At first it was staying too deep in the tree for me to have a decent look, but it looked like another goldcrest by the way that it was flitting about.

After a while it flew out of the tree flycatching and I got my first glimpse of it. I could see that it wasn't a goldcrest but a warbler, and a strikingly pale one at that.

I knew that a few acredula type willow warblers had been ringed recently nearby and so started to think that it might be one of those. I'm not familiar with that race and couldn't remember if they were very pale.

With my interest piqued, I started to concentrate solely on getting a decent photo of the bird for ID. Eventually the bird came back to the front of the tree and I got some photos of it. I got really confused looking at these - I'd never seen a willow warbler before that was pure white below!

I waited around a while longer trying to get a photo of the primary projection, hoping that this would help with the ID. I got a few more photos and the bird flew into the pine copse to where the goldcrest had been previously. I took yet more photos of it in the pine and then it flew deeper into the pine copse out of view.

I decided that my photos should be enough to ID it whatever it was so started to walk back to the car. On the way, I texted Paul to ask him if acredula willow warblers were pure white below and then texted 'Got a warbler photo reminds me of a bonelli's - pure white below, even the vent'. Paul texted back the id features to distinguish it but I thought that the supercillium looked fairly distinct so went back to thinking it was a pale willow warbler again.

When I got home, I uploaded the photos to the blog straight away, and then texted Paul so that he could have a look. I then googled for photos of Bonelli's, and when the first image came up, my heart began to race! It could have been the same bird that I had just photographed.

Still not quite believing what I had found, I posted a cautious thread on the birdforum id page. A few minutes later, Paul had seen the bird on the blog and phoned up, very excited, to say that he thought the bird looked good for a Bonelli's too. I refreshed the birdforum thread while I was on the phone and already the first replies were in, all confirming Bonelli's Warbler!

Bonelli's Warbler Billinge Hill 31-08-2015

Damian P

Billinge Hill Migrants&More

In all the madness of the Bonelli's Warbler its easy to forget that the following birds are good records for St Helens :)

 

 

Been a couple of ravens knocking about for a week or so, wonder if they managed to breed anywhere local?

 

 

Been a few redstarts about but they're tricky to photograph especially in early morning sun and shade!  Peter Alker managed to ring one today though watch his blog for details 

http://two-in-a-bush.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

Spotted flycatcher have been reasonably numerous and I optimistically surmise that there may have been up to 5 individuals at any one point....?

 

 

This wheatear was a little shy and ave me the "look", this was one of 3 present this morning after singles in the previous two days.

 

 

There has also been a few butterflies knocking about too including these two firstly a meadow brown and secondly a gatekeeper (butterflies are quite hard to capture with a long lens!)

 

 

The amount of orange on a meadow brown can vary thus making them look similar to the gatekeeper but the latter is smaller and if you look carefully at the "pupils" on the black dots the meadow brown has only a single white dot.  Interestingly the gatekeepers other name is the hedge brown.

Paul B