Sunday 5 February 2012

The Big Freeze


I had a stroll around Greenbank and Sefton Parks today, the local waterfowl could be found very easily due to most of the open water being frozen over; in Sefton Park the female Mandarin is still in residence around the island, together with six Little Grebes (with the breeding plumaged males singing - or should that be trilling), ten Tufted Ducks, and 12 Mute Swans. Large numbers of Gulls could be seen circling the lake but rarely settling, one of these was an adult argentatus Herring Gull (or Scandinavian Herring Gull - not that unusual, but a nice bird). Plenty of Redwings around mostly in small numbers but over twenty towards Aigburth Peoples Hall and a calling Nuthatch in that area too. The regular pair of Parakeets were behind the Palm House and a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker too.
Three Tufted Ducks, Redwings, Nuthatch at Greenbank Park. With Ring Necked Parakeets calling on the university Rathbone Estate.


2 comments:

colintheconroy said...

Hi Danny,
I'm down in London now and was out today at Wraysbury Gravel Pits (Berkshire) where among loads of ducks we saw at least 12 Smew (five males, 7 females). Are there any Smew around the north-west?

Danny Foy said...

Hi Colin, wow 12 Smew; they are now a vitual rarity in the NW! They often could be seen in places such as the Cheshire Meres, Inner Marsh Farm, and Pennington Flash but not any more. There have been a couple of records this winter but hardly any. Lucky Thing. I may well be staying in East London for a few days in the Spring if you want to catch up for a birdwatch.

Cheers

Danny