Shore Lark, Bufflehead, Surf Scoter, Lesser Yellowlegs, American Wigeon... January 2026 birding gets good

Saturday 10th January was nothing less than a bloody brilliant day out.  Setting off at 6am and heading west along the north Wales coast Kris and I arrived at Foryd Bay just after 8am to clear skies and a sunrise above snow-covered mountains.  Unlike last time I was in a vehicle at Foryd we managed to park in a place that wasn't a sinkhole of mud, and walking south we crossed a footbridge from which the Bufflehead had been seen the late afternoon previous.  A Kingfisher flitted back and forth along the channel which remained ice-free, a Greenshank was active on the far bank of the marsh, and wildfowl was present in good numbers, but no sign of the dapper duck we had travelled to see.  Wandering north we eventually bumped into familiar birders from close to home, three gents who are always encouraging and quick to share sightings and knowledge.  These guys are always a welcome sight at any birding location, and we tend to see good birds when we bump into them.  They'd already found the Bufflehead on the same channel we had been watching, hidden around a bend so that we couldn't quite lay eyes on him from where we'd been.  A brief but satisfying view of the "colgate white", and it flew off back down the channel to feed in peace without being interrupted by so many Wigeon.  We left it in the capable scopes of some newly arrived birders and made our way west towards the Great Orme.

The long-staying Shore Lark on the Great Orme has been elusive for many.  Some birders have made multiple trips to see it and still come away without any view at all.  Arriving in the limestone pavement car park a returning birder told us she had been fortunate to see it quickly though warned us it was mobile.  She gave us great directions, and we struck lucky again - the Lark was already perching openly on the cliff edge when we arrived and walked toward us relentlessly and fearlessly.  At that moment the slight cloud cover broke and shafts of sunlight lit up the yellow face of this stunning bird.  Between photographs of the Shore Lark we watched a number of Shags fly over the sea, and two Chough flew in their inimitable way over Marine Drive.  Feeling joyful and optimistic we headed towards Rhos to see if we could pick up a few Purple Sandpipers.  Turnstone and Ringed Plover were everywhere, but the tide was out and the Purples were hiding and feeding away from us.  Our first missed species of the day, and not our last, but nothing was going to spoil a day as good as this.

Just a couple more miles down the coast (though it felt like hours of travel time at 20mph) we had received news that the regular adult male Surf Scoter was showing from the car park at Porth Eirias.  I've seen the Surf Scoters from Llandulas and from the old fisherman's pier and they've almost always been 6 miles out to sea and only recognisable from the white head patch gleaming in the sun.  Today was just one of those lucky days: a local birder had his scope on the Surf Scoter in the closest to shore group of Commons in great sunlight, and we quickly got on it and watched the weirdly shaped bird splashing and rearing in the water, chasing female Common Scoters and generally being odd-looking in the great light.  We watched him for an hour, and as he began to swim to a more distant location we picked up Red-breasted Mergansers and Red-throated Divers on the water further out.  The photos and footage don't do justice to excellent views in good light.

A well-documented Lesser Yellowlegs has been on the river mud at Rhyl for some time.  Not a location I've ever been to before, I was really impressed with the size of the wader flocks on the exposed mud.  The Yellowlegs was almost the first bird we saw, found by the same kind soul who helped us see the Surf Scoter.  It was happy to feed alone and amongst Redshank and though the legs didn't look particularly yellowy they positively glowed amber when next to the obvious red shanks of the Redshanks.  As we checked out the other bird life we saw huge flocks of Lapwings, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit and a single wintering Common Sandpiper on the mud.  There have been Water Pipits at that location recently, and though we heard them calling we could never get eyes on one.  Ah well, next time.  The Black Redstart that's been at Horton's Nose Nature Reserve for a few days proved elusive.  Our third miss of the day, but in the context of seeing some absolutely brilliant birds there was no sense of disappointment.  Tired and ready to be closer to home we stopped off at Scotsman's Flash in Wigan just on the Western edge of the 10km circle in order to see (probably) the same Great Northern Diver I saw at Rivington Lower Reservoir (just outside the north of my 10km circle!) in the week.  The light had gone, the path was icy, and I was ready for a brew and my feet up.  We headed home in that slightly light-headed way a really good day of birding can make you feel sometimes.

Arriving home with the setting sun I spent a little time reflecting (definitely not snoozing on the couch) about appreciating both the wildlife where I am and the skill of others in finding unusual birds and their help in exploring different habitats.  We were lucky that day that so many other birders have found these birds and that they shared their knowledge generously.  We were lucky to bump into people who had done the hard work on the day for us, and who were happy to show us Bufflehead, Shore Lark, Surf Scoter and Lesser Yellowlegs.  Their generosity plus a little good fortune really put the shine on a great day out.

Two days later and thoughts about American ducks led me to try for an American Wigeon that has been at Myerscough Quarry pits for a couple of days.  The adult male bird is a striking and colourful creature, and it had been 12 months to the day since my last, also a male on a quarry pit but in southern Scotland.  Arriving at the kissing gate to access the site and search for the duck I was greeted by half a dozen birders and the news that all 200 Wigeon on the pit had just flown high and south, taking their American cousin with them.  Disappointed to have missed the bird by half an hour, I perked up instantly as news was put out  of a male American Wigeon on the Ribble at Penwortham.  Surely the same bird only 6 miles south, I set off with Lee to walk the south bank of the Ribble and scan through the flocks of Wigeon.  Within 10 minutes of arriving we had found the American version in amongst a couple of hundred Eurasian Wigeon and were regretting leaving cameras in the car, assuming both that the bird would be too distant and that the rain would persist.  In fact the duck was fairly close in and the rain cleared quickly - there would have been great photo opportunities!  

What was clear though was that this was a young male, not as well marked as the bird at Myerscough Quarry.  Surely not two male American Wigeons in Preston at the same time?  As we watched the bird on the Ribble, reports of the original bird at the quarry pit came in.  Two separate ducks indeed.  There has been a recent change in the status of these birds in the UK along with Lesser Scaup and, seemingly, Bufflehead, but this is surely an unusual occurrence.  Spending time watching the American Wigeon gave me a pleasing sense of completeness.  Five species of American ducks in the first two weeks of 2026 including Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Surf Scoter and Ring-necked Duck could only really be bettered if I'd seen a Canvasback too.  There's still time...

Driving home happy with this satisfying set of ducks we drove past Martin Mere and in a ditch a mile before reaching the reserve spotted five Cattle Egrets sitting less than fifty metres from the road.  A bird I twitched in Yorkshire as recently as 2021 has become a fairly easy to see resident species in the farmland of Lancashire.  I expect them on the Mosses in Manchester in the next 18 months, and there has been a report or two of a flock of ten flying over a little visited (and fairly dangerous and treacherous) area of Astley Moss east.  Worth more investigation when the mud firms up after the rain.

Despite not trying at all for a big 300 year I seem to have seen a lot in the last 10 days, but I hasten to add that many of the species I've been aiming for have been in order to help me learn them better.  I'm determined to find more birds for myself this year, and the likeliest candidates are American ducks with at least half a dozen Lesser Scaup through Manchester in the last two years.  Would I recognise a female Lesser Scaup for myself?  Would I see a young male American Wigeon in a flock of hundreds of Eurasian Wigeon?  Would I check every "Redshank" to see the one with mud-covered yellowish legs?  I'm not sure I would, and that makes this weeks' birding a valuable experience in seeing what's there to be found.