Gatewarth 4.30 1st swallow of the year, single over old tip near canal
Masses of gulls on River, a juv Glaucous Gull was present.
John O'Neill said
Sun Apr 7 9:29 AM, 2013
Gatewarth 6/4/13 M Stonechat still present At least 4 Chiffchaff seen and/or heard including one in reedbed doing an impression of reed warbler. 1 Buzzard low over
Mike Mulholland said
Tue Apr 2 12:57 AM, 2013
Three jack snipe amongst common snipe on the south end of Norton Marsh yesterday.
Brian Baird said
Mon Apr 1 10:24 PM, 2013
Gatewarth
Male Stonechat still on west-facing field this morning and a Redshank on the river mud. No sign of any migrants though.
Mike Mulholland said
Sun Mar 31 4:31 AM, 2013
Two Black-tailed Godwit yesterday on the Mersey west of Norton Marsh, also 5 Redshank and 78 Shelduck.
John O'Neill said
Thu Mar 14 8:27 AM, 2013
Gatewarth 2(1m 1f) Stonechats on the old tip area. At least 3 buzzards. Massive no.s of gulls on River.
Brian Baird said
Thu Mar 7 8:07 PM, 2013
Gatewarth
A male Stonechat was present this afternoon and two Oystercatchers were on the river mud opposite the Pumping Station.
-- Edited by Brian Baird on Thursday 7th of March 2013 08:08:16 PM
John O'Neill said
Mon Mar 4 7:22 AM, 2013
Gatewarth Am : lots of gulls on the River...couldn't locate anything unusual, the bright sunlight made viewing majority of birds difficult. Pm : tide higher, far less gulls. Buzzard been mobbed by crows. Single Teal on River.
John O'Neill said
Thu Feb 21 7:42 AM, 2013
Fiddlers Ferry 9 Redshank and 2 Oystercatchers on the River in front of FF pub.
Mike Mulholland said
Mon Feb 4 6:54 PM, 2013
Brent goose (dark bellied) still present yesterday- it has been seen on Norton Marsh and the mudflats to the west, best viewed from Owens Wood.
Mike Mulholland said
Wed Jan 30 3:26 AM, 2013
Spent an hour or so at HWH this morning - mainly looking for a Brent Goose that had been found late sunday afternoon. Just about to head home when a Brent goose suddenly appeared, initially flying around the S/E corner of Norton Marsh it then joined a small flock of Canada Geese on the S/E corner of Fiddlers Ferry. A patch first for me (cheers Den and Mal!!).
John O'Neill said
Sun Jan 27 1:19 AM, 2013
Gatewarth 5.00pm ish Single Woodcock low over
-- Edited by John O'Neill on Sunday 27th of January 2013 01:20:33 AM
James Walsh said
Sat Jan 19 2:56 PM, 2013
Cheshire has had it's first confirmed record of genuinely wild Barnacle Goose, on the Mersey Estuary in 2011
2 adult (colour ringed) and 3 juvenile Barnacle Geese were present on Hale Marsh on 28th November 2011, the birds were ringed as part of a programme in Svalbard archipelago (Norway)
Info courtesy of Bill Morton & Tony Broome
http://frodshammarshbirdblog.wordpress.com/
Brian Baird said
Sat Jan 5 5:49 PM, 2013
HWH / West of Norton Marsh
Spent an hour or so here this morning :-
Lapwing 350 Golden Plover 11 Curlew 1 Grey Heron 2 Cormorant 3 Shelduck 5 Canada Goose 50 Mallard 10 Pheasant 1 Plus Corvids and Woodpigeons Over 1000 mixed gulls on the mud but I did not pick out anything unusual.
-- Edited by Brian Baird on Saturday 5th of January 2013 05:50:01 PM
John O'Neill said
Mon Dec 24 3:55 AM, 2012
Gatewarth Sodden and muddy this morning. Not much moving.
Fields on the other side of the railway, around Penketh Old Hall/ Riding Stables flooded. Ducks swimming around here inc a pair of Shoveler. Single female Grey Wagtail here.
Terry Long said
Wed Dec 5 9:46 AM, 2012
Anybody regularly birding the cheshire mersey estuary , have you considered submitting counts as a weBs counter ? The currents weBs team is seriously undermanned in our attempt to map the estuary , some more info on the mersey estuary weBs facebook page or contact the area co-ordinator of the team on dermot.smith@fsmail.net
John O'Neill said
Sun Nov 25 9:59 AM, 2012
Gatewarth
Early light frost made GW look almost picturesque this morning. Single Fieldfare with finches (green and gold mainly) in bushes. 2 more over. A Fox cantered by, along River, near-side. Semed to have prey in mouth,poss mouse. As it ran it put up Redshank and a single Snipe from reedy edge of River.
Brian Baird said
Tue Nov 20 4:01 AM, 2012
Gatewarth
A single Fieldfare on the hawthorn bushes this afternoon.
Pete Welch said
Fri Nov 16 3:50 AM, 2012
Thanks Ian, from about three miles distant I momentarily thought the gulls were the starling flocks there were so many! Pete
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Nov 16 1:29 AM, 2012
High tide around there was just after midday today Pete and it was a big one! More likely these gulls are headed off to roost after spending the day around Arpley Tip and Richmond Bank, maybe from even further afield too as I see late flying gulls heading that way over here in Astley
Pete Welch said
Fri Nov 16 1:19 AM, 2012
As well as the starlings displaying nicely at the bridge this evening there was an amazing stream of gulls heading out of the river and over the bridge - must have been several thousand in the five minutes or so I was queuing. I regularly see small and large parties of gulls there but these were remarkable for their numbers - guess the tide was coming in...
Brian Baird said
Thu Nov 15 5:07 PM, 2012
West of Norton Marsh / opposite Fiddlers Ferry
Just before the high tide this morning were :-
100 + Golden Plover 500 + Lapwing 20 Greylag Geese 4 Redshank 300 Canada Geese 500+ mixed Gulls including around 50 Great Black - backed gulls 9 Shelduck 7 Mallard 2 Cormorant 2 Grey Heron 2 Mute Swans 1 Kestrel 1 Buzzard 23 Starlings on the pylons 1 Pheasant 6 Redwing en route to the watchpoint and 100 Pinkfeet flew over - north
-- Edited by Brian Baird on Thursday 15th of November 2012 05:08:05 PM
John O'Neill said
Mon Nov 5 3:46 AM, 2012
Pickerings Pasture Single Fieldfare gorging on berries with Blackbirds on bushes right in front of screen.
M. Kestrel flying over River mobbed by a Herring Gull.
Mixed flock of Lapwing and Golden Plover on sandbank, maybe 100 birds.
Brian Baird said
Tue Oct 30 11:37 PM, 2012
Gatewarth
2 Stonechat here this morning near the river, (a male was present on 21 Oct. at Phase 3) 25 Redwing flew over towards Moore. 8 Curlew and 3 Canada Geese on the mud banks. 11 Lapwing flew west.
The field facing the wooden walkway that has recently been used to graze the Longhorn is now much less sparsely grassed than last year. 2 Mippits flew over it today , compared with last year 50+ M.pipit,50+chaffinch,30+linnet along with pied wagtail,goldfinch,starling and possibly skylark. If the fields higher up facing the start of the Widnes Warth NR trail are utilised for these, then i can see some long term benefits of attempting to add bio-diversity from grazing. They don't seem to be at the moment though.
Site tick for me today with a Green Woodpecker calling , heard from old tip area as I walked on to reserve. Eventually tracked the bird down to a Willow tree close to the Wind Pump. Called briefly then flew down into trees closer to the River ,quick view. Prob juv bird.
Long Tailed Tits, Jays, Kestrel.
Good nos of Gulls on River Bank being disturbed deliberately (for some reason?) by a couple in a small red sailed boat.
Mike Mulholland said
Fri Oct 12 10:00 PM, 2012
Approx 3hrs at HWH/Owens Wood from late morning with Andy Dutton checking the mudflats west of Norton Marsh. 1 Black-tailed Godwit Several sightings of Dunlin, probably involving a total of 20 birds. 2 Redshank 68 Curlew 1400 Lapwing 1 Little Egret 1 Peregrine 11 Shelduck 1 Willow tit
4 Curlew 6 Redshank 9 Shelduck 40 Lapwing 3 Canada Geese 1 Grey Heron 1 Swallow 1 Sparrowhawk and 100 plus mixed gulls and corvids late afternoon.
Brian Baird said
Fri Sep 28 4:58 AM, 2012
Gatewarth
A Kingfisher was perched on the dead tree branch on the riverbank after high tide this afternoon. Also noted were Kestrel 1 Buzzard 1 Cormorant 2 Grey Heron 4 Lapwing 38 Mute Swan 4 (juveniles) Canada Goose 1
A dog Fox was seen in the fields south of the river.
Cheers Brian
John O'Neill said
Mon Sep 24 1:44 AM, 2012
Gatewarth
8.00AM 23/09
Pretty quiet this morning, even Gull numbers v low on River.
Flocks of Goldfinches and a single Great Spotted Woodpecker about the sum of birds moving about in trees and bushes.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 24th of September 2012 08:00:03 AM
John O'Neill said
Sun Sep 9 7:41 AM, 2012
Gatewarth At least one Chiffchaff in mixed flock of passerines, mainly goldfince and long tailed tits in hedges along top of RiverBank.
Mike Mulholland said
Wed Sep 5 2:39 AM, 2012
Not been on the patch much recently but did a couple of hours at Hwh yesterday, highlights:-
5 Golden Plover 500+ Lapwing 74 Curlew I Greenshank 15 Snipe 1 Little Egret Juv Peregrine
Brian Baird said
Tue Aug 14 5:34 AM, 2012
West of Norton Marsh
300+ Lapwing on the mudflats this morning with 2 Common Gulls, 200+ mixed Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, incl. many juveniles, 10 Greylag Geese, 60 Canada Geese, 3 Cormorants,1 Grey Heron (juv) and 10 Sand Martins.
Ian McKerchar said
Sun Jul 29 4:47 AM, 2012
Mike Mulholland wrote:
Whimbrel on the mudflats west of Norton Marsh today with a few Curlew and a single Black-tailed Godwit (possibly of the race islandica).
Practically all our Black-tailed Godwits in the north-west are islandica anyway Mike
Mike Mulholland said
Sun Jul 29 2:52 AM, 2012
Whimbrel on the mudflats west of Norton Marsh today with a few Curlew and a single Black-tailed Godwit (possibly of the race islandica).
John O'Neill said
Sun Jul 22 5:57 AM, 2012
Gatewarth Gull numbers up on the River. Majority LBB and Herring. Whitethroat, Linnet, Goldfinch in small groups all with young birds. Toadlet on path. Small Skippers and Gatekeepers on wing.
Mike Mulholland said
Thu Jul 19 4:09 PM, 2012
Checked the Mersey mudflats from HWH mid evening yesterday - 1 adult Med gull amongst 2500 BHG, 1000+ LBBG, a couple of GBBG, 1 adult YLG and a yellow legged Argenteus Herring Gull. Lapwing flock now 1000+ also 243 Curlew, and singles of Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank. Earlier in the day en route to HWH came across a 'new' Purple Hairstreak tree - a relatively small tree and had excellent views in the sunshine, also 2 Commas.
John O'Neill said
Thu Jul 5 6:17 AM, 2012
Gatewarth
Thanks Dave...armed with this exact information , unsurprisingly, I managed to see Bee Orchids this afternoon . 3 Spikes on the towpath, still half out.
Three Grasshopper Warblers reeling persistantly 4.00pm ish.
Dave Riley said
Mon Jul 2 4:31 PM, 2012
John,
We found at least nine Bee Orchids along the canal towpath on Friday, mainly concentrated by the bridge at the end of Hall Nook, we also found a mole on the towpath by the Ferry tavern, eating a worm, before moving into the grass, only the second time we have ever seen a live one!
Dave Riley
John O'Neill said
Mon Jul 2 8:29 AM, 2012
Gatewarth Southern Marsh Orchids nearly all over now. Not found any Bee Orchids this year.
Brian Baird said
Wed May 23 3:10 AM, 2012
Gatewarth
A stroll around here in the sunshine this afternoon produced at least - 12 Common Whitethroat, 4 Willow Warbler, 4 Greenfinch, 4 Goldfinch, 3 Linnets, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 2 Swift, 6 Swallow, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Gadwall,1 Chiffchaff, a very busy Great Tit and 2 Buzzard hovering and circling over the area before being mobbed by 4 Crows.
John O'Neill said
Wed May 16 7:24 AM, 2012
Gatewarth 8.00pm-ish 15.05 Cuckoo heard calling tonight. Very distant. First one I've heard here in 3 years, I think. Good no's of various warblers, esp Whitethroat.No Grasshopper W's heard tho'
Mike Mulholland said
Mon May 7 5:47 PM, 2012
Hi John, HWH is the abbreviation for Halfway House which was the name given to the derelict bungalow on the track between the Mersey and the ship canal about 30 metres east of Wigg Island. When we refer to HWH now we mean the general area east of the bungalow but in particular Owens Wood where for some years myself and other patchers have regularly watched the river, fiddlers and Norton Marsh. Over the years we have had some good stuff there, it was a bit quiet this morning, I would normally expect to get a few waders on the mudflats but there were several Wheatears in the area and a male Whinchat.
John O'Neill said
Mon May 7 7:45 AM, 2012
Gatewarth : 8.00/9.00pm 6/5
No Grasshopper Warblers reeling tonight.
Plenty of Whitethroat.
At least 2 Reed Warblers singing in canal reeds. One showing well.
Meadow Pipit singing.
Nice Fox on marsh. Seemed to be eating grass.
Mike : excuse my ignorance where or what is "HWH" ?
Mike Mulholland said
Mon May 7 2:05 AM, 2012
Lesser Whitethroat singing and showing quite well in Hawthorns on the track leading to HWH today also 2 male and 1 female Wheatear on the opposite bank of the ship canal. 1 male wheatear on Norton Marsh showing characteristics of the Greenland race. Male Whinchat in the eastern section of Upper Moss-side on the 3rd
Brian Baird said
Sat May 5 2:39 AM, 2012
Gatewarth A Wheatear was on the log ten yards or so from the path along the shoreline from the Pumping Station between 10 and 11am today. An immature Iceland Gull was still hanging about on Richmond Bank with about 500 other gulls (mostly Lesser Black - backs). Also a few Reed Warblers were showing well in the canal reeds near the level crossing. Sadly, no Grasshopper Warbler for me yet but as per previous post Wiilow Warblers, Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiffcaffs etc. were in good voice and showing well too.
4.30
1st swallow of the year, single over old tip near canal
Masses of gulls on River, a juv Glaucous Gull was present.
M Stonechat still present
At least 4 Chiffchaff seen and/or heard including one in reedbed doing an impression of reed warbler.
1 Buzzard low over
Male Stonechat still on west-facing field this morning and a Redshank on the river mud.
No sign of any migrants though.
2(1m 1f) Stonechats on the old tip area.
At least 3 buzzards.
Massive no.s of gulls on River.
Gatewarth
A male Stonechat was present this afternoon and two Oystercatchers were on the river mud opposite the Pumping Station.
-- Edited by Brian Baird on Thursday 7th of March 2013 08:08:16 PM
Am : lots of gulls on the River...couldn't locate anything unusual, the bright sunlight made viewing majority of birds difficult.
Pm : tide higher, far less gulls. Buzzard been mobbed by crows. Single Teal on River.
9 Redshank and 2 Oystercatchers on the River in front of FF pub.
5.00pm ish
Single Woodcock low over
-- Edited by John O'Neill on Sunday 27th of January 2013 01:20:33 AM
2 adult (colour ringed) and 3 juvenile Barnacle Geese were present on Hale Marsh on 28th November 2011, the birds were ringed as part of a programme in Svalbard archipelago (Norway)
Info courtesy of Bill Morton & Tony Broome
http://frodshammarshbirdblog.wordpress.com/
Spent an hour or so here this morning :-
Lapwing 350
Golden Plover 11
Curlew 1
Grey Heron 2
Cormorant 3
Shelduck 5
Canada Goose 50
Mallard 10
Pheasant 1
Plus Corvids and Woodpigeons
Over 1000 mixed gulls on the mud but I did not pick out anything unusual.
-- Edited by Brian Baird on Saturday 5th of January 2013 05:50:01 PM
Sodden and muddy this morning. Not much moving.
Fields on the other side of the railway, around Penketh Old Hall/ Riding Stables flooded. Ducks swimming around here inc a pair of Shoveler. Single female Grey Wagtail here.
The currents weBs team is seriously undermanned in our attempt to map the estuary , some more info on the mersey estuary weBs facebook page or contact the area co-ordinator of the team on dermot.smith@fsmail.net
Early light frost made GW look almost picturesque this morning.
Single Fieldfare with finches (green and gold mainly) in bushes. 2 more over.
A Fox cantered by, along River, near-side. Semed to have prey in mouth,poss mouse. As it ran it put up Redshank and a single Snipe from reedy edge of River.
A single Fieldfare on the hawthorn bushes this afternoon.
Just before the high tide this morning were :-
100 + Golden Plover
500 + Lapwing
20 Greylag Geese
4 Redshank
300 Canada Geese
500+ mixed Gulls including around 50 Great Black - backed gulls
9 Shelduck
7 Mallard
2 Cormorant
2 Grey Heron
2 Mute Swans
1 Kestrel
1 Buzzard
23 Starlings on the pylons
1 Pheasant
6 Redwing en route to the watchpoint and
100 Pinkfeet flew over - north
-- Edited by Brian Baird on Thursday 15th of November 2012 05:08:05 PM
Single Fieldfare gorging on berries with Blackbirds on bushes right in front of screen.
M. Kestrel flying over River mobbed by a Herring Gull.
Mixed flock of Lapwing and Golden Plover on sandbank, maybe 100 birds.
2 Stonechat here this morning near the river, (a male was present on 21 Oct. at Phase 3)
25 Redwing flew over towards Moore.
8 Curlew and 3 Canada Geese on the mud banks.
11 Lapwing flew west.
2 meadow pipit
Grey Heron
poss. Redwing
Mallard
Gulls
The field facing the wooden walkway that has recently been used to graze the Longhorn is now much less sparsely grassed than last year. 2 Mippits flew over it today , compared with last year 50+ M.pipit,50+chaffinch,30+linnet along with pied wagtail,goldfinch,starling and possibly skylark.
If the fields higher up facing the start of the Widnes Warth NR trail are utilised for these, then i can see some long term benefits of attempting to add bio-diversity from grazing. They don't seem to be at the moment though.
1 Teal
8 Redshank
Kingfisher
C.Buzzard (v.large)
1 Chiffchaff
2 Kestrel
Site tick for me today with a Green Woodpecker calling , heard from old tip area as I walked on to reserve. Eventually tracked the bird down to a Willow tree close to the Wind Pump. Called briefly then flew down into trees closer to the River ,quick view. Prob juv bird.
Long Tailed Tits, Jays, Kestrel.
Good nos of Gulls on River Bank being disturbed deliberately (for some reason?) by a couple in a small red sailed boat.
1 Black-tailed Godwit
Several sightings of Dunlin, probably involving a total of 20 birds.
2 Redshank
68 Curlew
1400 Lapwing
1 Little Egret
1 Peregrine
11 Shelduck
1 Willow tit
close in
14 Redshank
25 Shelduck
Black-headed Gull
Lesser black-backed Gull
Cormorant
Carrion crow
1 Raven (tumbling)
further out towards Norton marsh
few hundred Lapwing
Herring Gull
Common Gull
Greater black-backed Gull
another 20+ Shelduck
surrounds
3 Jay (1 looked white capped poss.glandarius)
2 parties Long-tailed tit
50-100 Starling
6 Mistle Thrush (3 looked very small for missies)
2 Meadow pipit
Goldfinch
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Kestrel
Foggy early morning, River not visible from top of bank !
Therefore, perhaps unsurprising that not much seen ....Curlews heard calling over, and prob on far -side fields. Flocks of Goldfinch and Greenfinch
West of Norton Marsh / HWH
On the mudflats this morning :-
251 Golden Plover
750+ Lapwing
2 Dunlin
4 Snipe
3 Cormorant
1 Grey Heron
Widnes Warth N R :-
4 Curlew
6 Redshank
9 Shelduck
40 Lapwing
3 Canada Geese
1 Grey Heron
1 Swallow
1 Sparrowhawk
and 100 plus mixed gulls and corvids late afternoon.
Gatewarth
A Kingfisher was perched on the dead tree branch on the riverbank after high tide this afternoon. Also noted were
Kestrel 1
Buzzard 1
Cormorant 2
Grey Heron 4
Lapwing 38
Mute Swan 4 (juveniles)
Canada Goose 1
A dog Fox was seen in the fields south of the river.
Cheers Brian
8.00AM 23/09
Pretty quiet this morning, even Gull numbers v low on River.
Flocks of Goldfinches and a single Great Spotted Woodpecker about the sum of birds moving about in trees and bushes.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 24th of September 2012 08:00:03 AM
At least one Chiffchaff in mixed flock of passerines, mainly goldfince and long tailed tits in hedges along top of RiverBank.
5 Golden Plover
500+ Lapwing
74 Curlew
I Greenshank
15 Snipe
1 Little Egret
Juv Peregrine
300+ Lapwing on the mudflats this morning with 2 Common Gulls, 200+ mixed Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, incl. many juveniles, 10 Greylag Geese, 60 Canada Geese, 3 Cormorants,1 Grey Heron (juv) and 10 Sand Martins.
Practically all our Black-tailed Godwits in the north-west are islandica anyway Mike
Gull numbers up on the River. Majority LBB and Herring.
Whitethroat, Linnet, Goldfinch in small groups all with young birds.
Toadlet on path.
Small Skippers and Gatekeepers on wing.
Lapwing flock now 1000+ also 243 Curlew, and singles of Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank.
Earlier in the day en route to HWH came across a 'new' Purple Hairstreak tree - a relatively small tree and had excellent views in the sunshine, also 2 Commas.
Thanks Dave...armed with this exact information , unsurprisingly, I managed to see Bee Orchids this afternoon . 3 Spikes on the towpath, still half out.
Three Grasshopper Warblers reeling persistantly 4.00pm ish.
We found at least nine Bee Orchids along the canal towpath on Friday, mainly concentrated by the bridge at the end of Hall Nook, we also found a mole on the towpath by the Ferry tavern, eating a worm, before moving into the grass, only the second time we have ever seen a live one!
Dave Riley
Southern Marsh Orchids nearly all over now. Not found any Bee Orchids this year.
A stroll around here in the sunshine this afternoon produced at least -
12 Common Whitethroat, 4 Willow Warbler, 4 Greenfinch, 4 Goldfinch, 3 Linnets, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 2 Swift, 6 Swallow, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Gadwall,1 Chiffchaff, a very busy Great Tit and 2 Buzzard hovering and circling over the area before being mobbed by 4 Crows.
8.00pm-ish 15.05
Cuckoo heard calling tonight. Very distant. First one I've heard here in 3 years, I think.
Good no's of various warblers, esp Whitethroat.No Grasshopper W's heard tho'
8.00/9.00pm 6/5
No Grasshopper Warblers reeling tonight.
Plenty of Whitethroat.
At least 2 Reed Warblers singing in canal reeds. One showing well.
Meadow Pipit singing.
Nice Fox on marsh. Seemed to be eating grass.
Mike : excuse my ignorance where or what is "HWH" ?
Male Whinchat in the eastern section of Upper Moss-side on the 3rd
A Wheatear was on the log ten yards or so from the path along the shoreline from the Pumping Station between 10 and 11am today.
An immature Iceland Gull was still hanging about on Richmond Bank with about 500 other gulls (mostly Lesser Black - backs).
Also a few Reed Warblers were showing well in the canal reeds near the level crossing.
Sadly, no Grasshopper Warbler for me yet but as per previous post Wiilow Warblers, Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiffcaffs etc. were in good voice and showing well too.