Monthly Archives: February 2025

Today I was out on a visit to a local site, Pugneys Country Park, about 20mins drive from home, why was I at Pugneys, I had come down to try and find an American bird the Green winged Teal.

The Green winged Teal was last seen on the nature reserve lake and not the main lake, so I headed out towards the nature reserve lake. Settling into the hide, it was a matter of scanning thru all the ducks on site, there were Tufted Ducks, Cormorants, Grey Herons which seemed to building a nest close to the hide location, one bird was actively flying too and fro with nesting material, mainly large sticks, still scanning, Gulls about were Lesser Black backed Gull, Herring Gull, and Black headed Gull, a few Great Crested Grebe were present along with Coots and Moorhens, but alas no Teal at all.

I then walked over to the other hide, which overlooks the main lake, adding Wigeon and Goldeneye to the day. I then went walking around to the flooded fields, in vain the hope, but only saw a few Blackbirds.

So as a last resort I went back to the Nature Reserve Hide, and once again settled in, with eventually a couple more birders joining me, so with further searching we managed to find some Common Teal, hiding amongst the reeds, and with close scrutiny, I finally managed to find the Green winged, it was really tucked away in the reeds. I kept an eye on it in the hope it was the one, it did eventually give itself up for a brief moment, but positive identification was certain, then it went even deeper into the reeds and not seen again, hence giving no photos’

Another visit on the 16th, didn’t bear fruit either at Pugneys, so I went onto Sands Lane (Mirfield) again in the hope of a Caspian Gull, see video HERE for the results

Birds Seen at Pugneys : Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Green winged Teal, Grey Heron, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pochard, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon (includes birds from the 16th visit) (23)

Birds Seen at Sands Lane : Black headed Gull, Canada Goose, Caspian Gull, Common Gull, Cormorant, Goosander, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Kestrel, Lesser Black backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Pied Wagtail (13) (112/200)

Herring Gull

Caspian Gull (First Winter)

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Never heard of the place, until this last week, when a Black Redstart and Twite had drawn my attention. I arrived at Knott End early, then took a look around the area where the birds had been last seen, no show, but there was plenty of other birds to look thru, out on the mudflats were Redshank, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, and Curlews. Out on the sea, I picked up plenty of Shelduck and also Eider.

Around 9:30am, an hour after I’d been there, other birders started to arrive, couple of guys pointed a Peregrine out on the mud flats, it had taken a seat on a tree branch, and during the morning sat there for a while, until a dog walker disturbed it and took flight, there was still no sign of the target birds. I got talking to another couple, local birders, after the chat, I decided on going around the back of the hotel, where the couple said, that that’s where the Black Redstart usually hangs out. Sure enough after about five minutes of looking I spotted it, a distance away, and I couldn’t get nearer due to railings, I put other birders on to it, then went taking video footage of other birds that were around, the Twite were a no show.

Then it was down to Southport for Snow Bunting and Twite, but on looking around Southport they were a no show here too, could have been down to the amount of dogs and walkers about, so I went to RSPB Marshside for the rest of the day. At Marshside were plenty of Tufted Duck, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Moorhen, Canada Goose, last place to look around was across the road at the saltmarsh, here I saw Marsh Harrier, Grey Heron, plenty of Pink footed Geese, Canada Geese, Little Egret, and Great Egret to finish the day

Video of the Day can be seen HERE

Birds at Knott End: Black Redstart, Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Great Black backed Gull, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Magpie, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Redshank, Shelduck, Turnstone, Woodpigeon (18)

Birds at Marshside: Black headed Gull, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Coot, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Pink footed Goose, Pintail, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, (16) 109/200