After the Avocets today I had to go to Warrington and once finished there decided to go to Burton Mere Wetlands as Spotted Crake has been showing over last few days. Within minutes of arriving at the visitor centre the Crake popped out and I managed to add another bird to my life list. It was very distant and oddly showed in the afternoon and not the morning or evening which was more usual. There are only three breeding birds of the North West of England I have never seen - Quail, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Black Grouse. Honey Buzzard and Hawfinch were on that list but I had luckily seen them in Germany. One of the Spoonbills had a really good wash at the end of the day.
Right out before the visitor centre were nine Spoonbills. Records were broken when 3 turned up here a couple of months ago as usually only one or two would turn up. Slowly numbers rose to 7 and today 9 were present. Not only that but they were sowing very well right in front of the hide and not just a distant blob out on the marsh. On top of that hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits chattering away, double figures of Little Egrets, Dunlin, Knot, Redshank and all the usual suspects. Five species of birds of prey were seen - Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard, Marsh Harrier and a Hobby - the latter my first sighting anywhere this year! Other good sightings included a female Mallard with one small duckling, a family party of Willow Warblers, Treecreeper, Linnet and at least three Spotted Flycatchers dazzling the spectators with their hunting prowess.
I managed to see my first Comma butterfly of the year - minimum 4-5 individuals, 4-5 fresh Peacocks, 15 plus Gatekeepers, 1 Meadow Brown, minimum of 10 white "type" butterflies (I cannot be offending Brian :P), 3-4 Tortoiseshells and 2 common Hawker Dragonflies.
