Stars and Stripes

Hi,

December produced some great birds at Saltholme for example, the record breaking Marsh Harrier, Short-Eared Owls and Eurasian and Greenland White-Fronted Geese. With December over with I thought I would write a blog looking into the future, not too far, January 2012. As a bit of fun I am going to make three predictions of what could turn up at Saltholme in January.

 Here we go, my three predictions are,

• Ring-Necked Duck.  A male of this American species turned up at a nearby site in December and could appear on any open water body at Saltholme if the main lake at Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park freezes over.
• Green-Winged Teal. Another American species which is similar to Teal however the males differ from their European relatives through a vertical white stripe known as a wing bar next to its breast and having no white stripe on its side. Females of both species look very similar so are unlikely to be discovered.
• Finally I thought I’d better have a safe prediction, if cold weather arrives and some of the water body’s freeze over Bittern and Water Rail should be sighted regularly.

This brilliant photograph of a male Ring-Necked Duck was taken by Ian.

What wildlife do you think could turn up at Saltholme in January 2012?

Cheers,

Adam