It was a great morning for blowing the Christmas cobwebs away at Woolston Eyes today - hazy sunshine and a pleasant breeze, plus some excellent birds. Highlight was the arrival of another female Marsh Harrier, this one with unusually extensive pale shoulders unlike the long-staying individual. It made a couple of sallies along the reed-bed before drifting off to the south. Other sightings of note included: Raven, Snipe, KIngfisher, Willow Tits, a skein of Pink-footed Geese, Cetti’s Warblers and a few Redwings. In addition, the ringing team caught a couple of Water Rails, along with a few Teal and Mallards. The Reserve total of 153 species seen so far in 2019 is our second highest total since the 1980s. Let’s hope 2020 brings some more surprises. A Happy New Year to all ! Cheers David (with Diane Shepherd, David Spencer and Sue Haddock)

View from the Morgan Hide this morning Cheers David

Photo of a Sparrowhawk Cheers David

Photo of a Greenfinch Cheers David

Photo of a Goldfinch Cheers David

Photo of this morning’s moon over No.3 bed Cheers David

Photo of a Long-tailed Tit Cheers David

A pleasant morning at on No.3 bed, starting with a brilliant moon and 360 Fieldfares leaving a roost at dawn and moving off to the east. The long-staying Marsh Harrier was again active for most of the morning, bringing 220 Teal out of the reeds. Wandering around the bed produced 70 feeding Redwings, four Cetti’s Warblers and three Water Rails. Finch numbers were also good, with at least 120 Greenfinches and 50 Chaffinches around the feeding stations. We finished the morning with some photography at the Hogg Hide feeding station, where 75 Pink-footed Geese also flew over. Photo of a Reed Bunting Cheers David Bowman (with Daniel Owen)

A rather murky day and a lot of the waters remained frozen all day. The cold weather has resulted in an influx of Tufted Ducks and a count of 582 was the highest this winter. 4 female Goldeneye were at Bollin Point and a male near the Weir Basin. Other wildfowl included 106 Mallard, 80 Gadwall and 51 Coot. A total of 62 Shoveler was on the river between Nos. 2 and 3 beds. A Barn Owl was on No.1 bed.

female Brambling from the Sybil Hogg hide, hopefully the first of many to visit the new feeding station here!

WeBS Count Little Grebe 7, Great crested Grebe 5, Cormorant 10, Grey Heron 3, Mute Swan 40, Shelduck 3, Greylag Goose 25, Canada Goose 33, Gadwall 75, Teal 267, Mallard 85, Shoveler 102, Tufted Duck 450, Goldeneye 4, Moorhen 32, Coot 95, Black headed Gull 279, Great Black backed Gull 2 .

A total of 1571 birds

It was a dawn start today, in blustery but largely sunny conditions. We started in the Morgan Hide before going as far as Bollin Point to complete the monthly Wetland Birds Survey. Highlights were: the long-staying Marsh Harrier showing well, a couple of Peregrines, four Goldeneyes, a Snipe, a male Brambling, a skein of Pink-footed Geese, 70 Redwings and a couple of hundred each of Teal and Tufted Duck. Photo of a Long-tailed Tit Cheers David (with David Spencer, Helen Wynn and Alan Warford)

Siberian Chiffchaff trapped and ringed by Mike Miles and Dan Owen on No.3 bed.

Peregrine face on.

Peregrine under the Thelwall Viaduct.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Sybil Hogg Hide

Blue Tit (cyanistes caeruleus) - Sybil Hogg Hide

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos Caudatus) - Sybil Hogg Hide

Photo of a Long-tailed Tit

Cheers David

Photo of a Robin

Cheers David

Today produced two harriers, with the Marsh Harrier which has been around for a couple of weeks regularly flushing the wildfowl on No.3 bed and the Hen Harrier again being reported on No.1 bed, by Danny Gornall. Hundreds of Redwings were feeding voraciously on the Hawthorns around the bed, attracting the attention of at least three Sparrowhawks. With the lagoon largely frozen, a couple of Water Rails were skittering along the ice and four Cetti’s Warblers were vocalising around the water’s edge. A Chiffchaff was also noted on the south bank, probably one of the four ringed this week. Photo of a Redwing Cheers David