The Manchester Birder

June and early July were contrasting times for me in terms of birding.  I have stayed local almost all of that time, but my one twitch was a big  twitch. I walked a lot in June.  I don't usually - the horse flies and mosquitoes have a deep desire to sample my blood, and my immune system does not enjoy their attention.  I tend to only go birding near the coast during these months, focusing on tern colonies and enjoying the breeze rather than being eaten alive.  This month I couldn't do that really, with only a visit to Seaforth to squint with migraine-inducing focus through the fence while trying (successfully - well done Lee) to find Roseate Terns with Lee.  While we were at Seaforth, he told me about a conversation he had had with two birders on Anglesey recently, and how he was struck by the gentle joyfulness of one of these women who was incredibly knowledgeable and generous with her time and expertise.  He felt that her whole approach to wildlife w...

Western Reef Heron, said the message on my phone.  I was, to put it mildly, surprised.  I had logged out of social media, blog, listing software and websites and BirdGuides a month earlier, putting birding WhatsApps on mute, and withdrawing into my own company for a little while.  So when several people of my acquaintance wanted me to know there was a first for Britain 80 miles from home their messages built up until not even I could ignore the deluge. Western Reef Heron, said BirdGuides when I logged back in.  Three exclamation marks to tell me it was a serious rarity.  Seen in Caernarfon, a favourite place of mine full of friendly people, good birders, great scenery and the potential for close encounters with wildlife.  I pondered. My withdrawal wasn't a mistake, or a whim, or a tantrum.  I needed a break.  Was I ready to rejoin the hobby?  Was I ready to socialise more broadly?  Was I refreshed enough to want to go birding - not just ...

Working from home is littered with potential distractions and temptations, and all three of these birds in the last week have been species that have caused disruption in that I have either started late, finished early, or woken up late as a result of staying out to find them! Osprey as a species feels like it has hit a critical mass in recent years, with colonisation occurring in lots of southern England, the midlands, as well as Northumberland, parts of Wales, south Cumbria, and of course the Scottish traditional strongholds. The number of non-breeding birds that seem to have lingered in Lancashire over the last couple of summers is good news, and especially seeing birds coming back to the same stretches of the Ribble means there is potential for breeding on the plethora of reservoirs and lakes to be found in east Lancashire, north Manchester and even where I am in the flat plains of west Manchester and north Cheshire.  Reports of an Osprey lingering at Pennington Flash across a w...

As a birder, I often struggle with my eyesight.  I wear very strong prescription glasses, and this makes birding in rain or humidity a proper pain in the neck.  Droplets on my glasses and steaming up when using binoculars are frustrating.  I find a change of focal length disorientating and difficult to adapt to; moving between binoculars and naked eye, or telescope to camera, or in particular from phone to optics leaves my vision momentarily fuzzy and blurred.  So I often depend on my ears when I'm birding.  I'm not brilliant at instant ID when it comes to bird song, but I usually use birds calling as a way of homing in on them and confirming identification visually.  I don't know how I'd manage to go birding without that sense, given how slow my eyes are to focus.   Positively accessible The Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell Labs has real application here, giving instant access to at least an approximation of this sense that a hearing impaired pers...