Mega Grebe

A Pied Billed Grebe, the 1st in the UK for 10 years, had been found in Greater Manchester about 10 days ago but today (20 November) was my first opportunity to twitch it.

Leaving Glasgow at 4am on a cold foggy morning I did myself absolutely no favours whatsoever by not properly planning my route. On reflection once I got to Preston I should have carried on south on the M61 and then on to the M62 and that would have brought me in through Rochdale which is close to Littleborough where the bird was at.

However, my route along the M65 resulted in me getting lost in Burnley before eventually taking the scenic route to Littleborough. Even when I got to Littleborough I struggled to find Hollingworth Lake. The moral, I'm getting a proper sat nav for my Christmas !

The Pied Billed Grebe showed very well, down to a few yards at times, and the following record shots were obtained:

Pied Billed Grebe

Pied Billed Grebe

The bird's features including chunky size, thick bill with a black spot and no pale panels on the back of the neck were all fairly obvious.

The Pied Billed Grebe was almost the only bird on the lake with only a Canada Goose and a Great Crested Grebe worthy of mention.

By 10:15 I headed back west again and, surprisingly, found my way to Southport with little problem. I contemplated doing Martin Mere but took one look at the car park and decided that it was probably a bad idea. The overflow car park was literally overflowing. Marshside had comparatively few visitors and getting into hides etc was absolutely no problem. The only annoyance is Marine Drive that is very busy with cars although once you are below the reserve banking you hardly notice it.

Bird wise Marshside was an absolute delight with thousands of Ducks, Geese and Waders present on a beautiful winter sun lit afternoon. Large flocks of Pink Feet were in the far fields with some Greylag and Canada. Large flocks of Waders, including Black Tailed Godwit, Lapwing & Golden Plover and Starlings constantly wheeled around. Huge flocks of Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal showed how important the reserve is as a wintering site for these birds.

Particularly notable birds were a female Merlin and 1 Ruff. Some images from a terrific afternoon:

Black Tailed Godwit

Drake Gadwall

Moorhen

Drake Pintail

Shelduck

Drake Shoveler