POMARINE SKUA ON THE FYLDE

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Pomarine Skua, Cocker's Dyke, Lancashire

BETWEEN SLEET AND HAIL SHOWERS, A POMARINE SKUA on the Fylde at Pilling was the main focus of a day out with the Morrises. Unfortunately it was in a very sorry state, dropping its left wing and appearing quite sluggish and reluctant to fly. However, it has a store of food, which it returns to every few hours, a macabre pile of dead birds, presumably put out for it, although we heard from someone that it had moved these birds itself? It was nice to get a good look at its plumage anyway, a very typical first winter bird.

My first Pom was on a seawatch from Seaton Sluice in Northumberland more than 30 years ago but I haven't seen that many anywhere since with a scatter of sightings. I could do with seeing some more of them but one look at this bird on the ground and there was never a question of it being anything else with its heavy Glaucous Gull-like bill. A Little Egret and an adult Mediterranean Gull at Cocker's Dyke, few Twite from Knott End Esplanade and a Firecrest with Long-tailed Tits at Marton Mere also brightened up an enjoyable day out. Thanks Pete.

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Pete Morris at Cocker's Dyke - there was a cold wind today, I don't think the guy next to us was worried about us nicking his scope and tripod.

WILD PENDLE

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Pendleside, January 2015

FOUR SNOW BUNTINGS WERE THE HIGHLIGHT of a wild and very bleak winter's day on Pendle Hill's summit. Just how I like it! However, they were the only birds up there today in a very strong gusting northwest wind. I could hardly stand up at times and there was zero chance of holding the camera steady enough for a photo, the wind even blew it out of my hands a couple of times! Lower down on the Pendleside slope were three stonechats, a kestrel and a flock of around 50 Fieldfares with a similar number of starlings towards the Barley Road. Well at least a hike up Pendle is good excerise!

YORKSHIRE BLYTH'S PIPIT

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Blyth's Pipit, Wakefield, January 2015

THE WINTERING BLYTH'S PIPIT IN WAKEFIELD HAS BECOME MUCH MORE OBLIGING now that its favourite field has become more flooded and then frozen. It is now feeding quite frequently on the surrounding exposed roadside verges so Alan McBride and I risked a visit to the People's Republic and enjoyed some superb views of this hitherto skulker. The local birders did a great job in encouraging folks to give it some space and stand back from the banks surrounding the field, which is hemmed in by a business park and the pipit duly obliged with a couple of great walk pasts. Very happily there was no need to enter the field or hassle it in any way and it was very instructive to have such a good look at a bird I do not see very often. It called a couple of times as well. Yorkshire is off to a great start this year! 'Great' could have been the word of the day, with the pipit views followed back in East Lancs by a couple of long-stayers - Great Northern Diver at Rishton Reservoir and Great Grey Shrike at Grindleton Forest, although these two could have been a bit closer.

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Blyth's Pipit, Wakefield, January 2015

POOR AUSSIE BUSTARD

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Australian Bustard, Victoria River, NT

LYING DEAD IN THE RED DIRT BY THE ROADSIDE, the desperately sad sight of an Australian Bustard wiped out out by a passing vehicle near Victoria River from my recent travels in Northern Territory. Janó had seen a very showy bird near this spot about a fortnight earlier, maybe the same individual? We saw so much roadside wildlife carnage in Australia, which left me thinking, surely you would have to be racing along, completely oblivious or bent on distruction to hit all these creatures? No doubt the unswervable road trains do a lot of it? We drove over 6000km in around two weeks and did not hit anything, although we saw plenty of things in our way in the road from kangaroos to water buffalos. I saw some live bustards later near Katherine but the needless death of this magnificent bird affected me for a while.