*Eurasian Wryneck, Cant Clough Reservoir, 26 September 2020 (Mike Watson)*

AFTER THE CROWDS HAD LEFT, the Cant Clough wryneck landed closeby along the footpath on the southern shore of the reservoir there. Rocket and I fired off lots of photos and eventually it chose a nice spot on the grassy bank where it was feeding, quite unconcerned by our presence. It seems that as soon as the number of folks watching it exceeds three or four it becomes much more nervous. We are all surprised and happy it has stayed for a week now and longer if it wasn’t found on its first day. I hadn’t been that bothered about getting nicer photos of it but I was keen for Alexander to see it. In the end he got some nice views but he was more excited to take a walk with Rocket’s bulldog. We drove by Burnley’s famous football ground, Turf Moor on the way home and then the temporary Covid testing tents in the middle of town. The wryneck has certainly brightened up this awful period in East Lancashire history.

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*Eurasian Wryneck, Cant Clough Reservoir, 22 September 2020 - love the lichen markings on its tail*

AT LAST A WRYNECK IN THE ELOC RECORDING AREA! It is more than 15 years (the length of time I’ve been here now) since the last twitchable wryneck in East Lancs, at Dean Clough Reservoir so I was delighted to see the news that Bernard Lee had found one at Cant Clough Reservoir a couple of days ago. Less delightful was a lack of co-operation that meant I missed it during a quick try yesterday, during which I saw a Grasshopper Warbler and a few Twite. So it was a relief to catch up with it quickly today and enjoy some nice views of one of my favourite birds. OK I’ve seen lots of them, from my first at St Mary’s Island, Northumberland in September 1982 onwards: on migration in spring and autumn in the UK, including inland in Hampshire and Hertfordshire; singing and in nest holes in Belarus and Poland; on wintering grounds in India and on migration again in sping and autumn in the Middle East, but never one in East Lancs and that means something to me for some reason. As they go this one is quite shy, nowhere near as tame as some I’ve seen, particularly at Spurn and in Norfolk. I guess it is not a tired migrant that is more concerned to feed than for people to be near it but then again individual birds vary. Not all dotterels are tame for instance. It was quite tricky to see on the ground on the northern, south-facing shore of the cold upland reservoir but posed nicely in willows a couple of times. Eventually we lost track of it in the long grass of the moor, where Gaz commented it looked just like a snake as it disappeared from sight. When we eventually looked for it in there it had already given us the slip, a master of camouflage and disappearing acts!

*Wryneck habitat! Cant Clough Reservoir*

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