A visit to my Grandparents' house up in Cheshire meant only one thing for me - some left of field birding! With this in mind I decided to take a trip to Hope Carr nature reserve in order to try and add the reported Blyth's Reed Warbler to my life list.
After a fairly late start, me and my Dad embarked towards Leigh in search of the site. However, it proved extremely hard to find, and if it wasn't for the help of Elliot Montieth, we'd probably still be somewhere in Greater Manchester now! Anyway, eventually we found the place (which was not the most glamorous reserve I've been to) and, seeing fellow birders, we headed towards the perimeter fence opposite the Industrial estate. Speaking to a few of the guys raised my hopes of seeing the bird as they had had brief glimpses and views of the Warbler in flight.
A Goosander got the day's list off to an interesting start, providing a year tick of a bird that is seldom seen on my patch. After searching for the Blyth's for a good 20 minutes, a brownish bird popped up from the undergrowth causing me great excitement for a split second... until I realised it was only a Chiffchaff. However, despite this initial disappointment, I was still pleased to see this bird as it provided me with another year tick. After another half an hour, a Green Sandpiper gave me something interesting to look at, showing from behind the fence, and is actually a long awaited lifer for me.
After another half an hour passed and I was slowly beginning to lose interest as, after all, there's only so long that you can stare at a line of hedges for before you lose the will to live. This, along with the lack of any birds, really started to discourage me. But a cry of "Peregrine" caused me to look up to the sky to observe the beautiful raptor flying above the urban sewage plant. However, even the Peregrine didn't stick around for long, once again sending me back to my duties of searching for the warbler.
Every now and then, one of the birders would observe some movement in the undergrowths but it frustratingly always turned out to be either: a Chiffchaff, a Dunnock or a Wren. At around 2:30, the weather began to worsen. This - as well as me and my Dad's tired legs - caused us to give up reluctantly and head towards our next destination; Pennington Flash.
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After a bit of research into the, now dipped, twitch I quickly discovered that there was another reserve only 10 minutes down the road, going by the name of Pennington flash. An even greater magnet than this short journey, was the prospect of getting another lifer for the day, in the form of one of the Flash's Willow Tit's.
On arrival at the reserve, we headed straight for the Bunting hide, and after getting a bit lost (don't ask me how) we found it. Walking into the hide, my feeling of excitement went through the roof. This is because, as soon as I sat down, a vast array of birds met my eyes, one of these was the beautiful Bullfinch. But what could be better than 1 Bullfinch? Well 5 of course! This had me buzzing as I've only seen 1 previously, and their colours truly lit up the now dull, northern day. I should also give an honourable mention to the Bullfinch's supporting cast, which was made up of: a Nuthatch, at least 3 Greenfinch, 5 long tailed tits, 10 Reed Bunting and 10 Stock Dove, all showing extremely close up.
However, despite the brilliant Bullfinches, the Willow Tit's were yet to put in an appearance. But I wasn't going to dip two birds in one day without going down with a fight. So we waited another 20 minutes in the hide - which felt like light work after looking for the Blyth's Reed Warbler for 3 hours! Eventually, the Willow Tit decided to stick to the script, putting in several brief appearances in the trees and on the feeders, providing a satisfying ending to - at times - a frustrating day.
But it was still an enjoyable one despite dipping the Blyth's Reed Warbler, with: 2 lifers, many year ticks and a good opportunity to explore two nature reserves I've never been to. Once again, a big thank you to my Dad for standing with me in a sewage works looking for a dull brown bird for 3 hours and to Elliot Montieth for helping me find the place!
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