2 great white egrets came into roost last night again
Which hide is best to watch the Egret roost from and roughly what time has the Great White Egret, or Egrets, arrived?
Many thanks in advance, John
Steve Suttill said
Mon Oct 24 10:39 PM, 2011
Popped in to see the new facilities on Saturday afternoon but was quickly driven away by screaming kids Perhaps a midweek visit next time?
Went for a stroll along Denhall Lane to the Harp Inn and back, which was much more pleasant (as was the Holts' bitter ). Marsh harrier, flock of Pinkfeet overhead, several Little Egrets, a few Redshank and more Stonechats then I've seen for quite a while.
Steve
Nick Isherwood said
Mon Oct 24 9:02 PM, 2011
Dropped on at IMF today for a quick hour at lunchtime. Surprised to see that the pool is now almost completely dry. Consequently the only birds on it were a Heron and a single Moorhen. The lack of birds though was made up for by a cracking Ringtail Harrier that quartered the marsh right in front of the hide. It gave excellent views for well over ten minutes before drifting off across border pool.
Other birds seen were:
4 Whooper Swan on Border pool 1 Raven over c30 Greylag towards BMW
paul brady said
Mon Oct 17 10:44 AM, 2011
1 juve marsh ahrrier very active this morning 6 whooper swans 1 Bewick's swan
2 greta white egrets came into roost last night again
sid ashton said
Wed Sep 14 9:44 PM, 2011
A pleasant couple of hours at IMF after the windy shores of Leasowe. Comical listening to the good natured banter in a fairly busy hide of folk looking for the Spotted Crake. It didn't put in an appearance while I was there - glad I already have it on my list
The highlight for me was the Water Rail family of two adults and a chick in front of the hide in the newly cleared areas in the reeds. Also seen were the long staying Ross's Goose as well as 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 6 Common Snipe, 5 Spotted Redshank, 6 Ruff, 1 Black-tailed Godwit as well as Common Redshank, plenty of Lapwing, Teal, Little Egret, a flyover Buzzard and a Kestrel.
-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 15th of September 2011 08:42:56 AM
jason fisher said
Fri Sep 9 8:56 PM, 2011
a mooch round IMF today produced about a dozen ruff
one spotted crake 3 curlew sandpipers 1 hen harrier a couple of buzzard plus plenty of the usual suspects
and one singing chif chaf which left me wondering about both my sanity and hearing
-- Edited by jason fisher on Friday 9th of September 2011 08:56:33 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Sep 7 3:27 PM, 2011
Thanks to Paul Brady of the RSPB Dee Estuary Team, Manchester Birding has been very generously invited to an exclusive pre-opening guided tour of the brand new fantastic Burton Mere Wetlands at Inner Marsh Farm RSPB.
The tour will be on the 14th September and as there's a maximum of 30 birders permitted it's a first come first served basis. Anyone interested should let me know by email please (or private message) asap. Anyone wanting to go but struggling for lifts let me know likewise and I'll see if we can't organise some lifts/fuel sharing.
paul brady said
Mon Sep 5 1:03 PM, 2011
Dennis atherton wrote:
and also nice to finally meet 1 Paul Brady,
On a rare trip to the hide honest ... and somehow my year list for IMF is at 125
paul brady said
Mon Sep 5 1:01 PM, 2011
Tony Coatsworth wrote:
Opening ceremony on Thursday night for RSPB volunteers.
I'll find out when it will be open to the public.
Must add the the "do" for RSPB volunteers on Thursday night was by invite only - no gatecrashers please!
And we will open to the public toward the end of Sept ... watch this space.
BTW No sptted crake sighting today but 7 curlew sandpipers
alan patterson said
Sun Sep 4 7:59 PM, 2011
Hi Nick,
I was at IMF from 11 till 12.15 and I went back at 5pm after a really long luch and managed to find the Crake within 10 minutes. The Curlew Sandpipers were showing well in front of the hide.
Nick Isherwood said
Sun Sep 4 7:34 PM, 2011
I did two and a half hours here today 11.00am to 1.30pm waiting for the elusive Spotted Crake to make an appearance. Unfortunatley it was a 'no show' whilst I was there. I did manage the following though:
At least 2 Water Rail - one sunning itself on the far bank. The longest I've ever seen one stand still for!! A Hobby giving excellent views as it hunted and caught and ate dragonflies on the wing over the marsh. The escaped Ross's goose was over on Border pool. 5 Curlew Sandpiper c15 Ruff 1 Black tailed Godwit 5 Little Egret. 1 Grey Heron - struggling to eat a 'bootlace' eel. 1 Wheatear - on my way back to the car up the hill. And also the strange sight of a very large common carp (estimate about 15-20lb) swimming around in the very shallow water with its back out of the water.
Also nice to bump into Tim Wilcox for the 2nd time this week.
Tony Coatsworth said
Sat Sep 3 5:04 PM, 2011
Opening ceremony on Thursday night for RSPB volunteers.
I'll find out when it will be open to the public.
Dennis atherton said
Sat Sep 3 4:34 PM, 2011
Spotted crake at IMF today from hide
Also present was at least 5 curlew sandpipers, possibly 7, i spent too much time hunting the crake to get a proper count, also lots of ruff, 1 little stint and a few spotted redshanks, 1 black tailed godwit, 1 bar headed goose escapee of some form but still a stunning bird, 3 buzzards together, 1 snipe, loads of lapwings but no golden plovers,
and also nice to finally meet 1 Paul Brady,
new hides and center well on there way, looks great, not long now
Nick Isherwood said
Thu Sep 1 7:48 PM, 2011
Following on from my other post on The Wirral thread, John Barber, Sid Ashton and myself arrived at Inner Marsh farm to a quite full hide. After squeezing in where we could we began to scan the flocks (or phalanx as John likes to call them). Amongst the large numbers of Teal and Black headed Gull we managed to pick out the following:
5 Curlew Sandpiper 4 Spotted Redshank - Two surprisingly appeared to already be in winter plumage. Good numbers of Ruff and Knot. 4 Buzzard.
A great day out in brilliant conditions with great company.
paul brady said
Sun Aug 28 7:28 PM, 2011
Amazing scenes at IMF this evening with 12(eleven when I was there) curlew sandpiper together on No2 not even trying to be elusive.
Also 22 ruff and an array of random geese - Ross's,Barnacle,Pink-footed and Bar-headed all being reported
paul brady said
Sat Aug 20 2:07 PM, 2011
Construction of "Marsh Covert" hide at Burton Mere has begun for more details go to www.rspb.org.uk/deeestuary and look on the blog.
paul brady said
Mon Jul 18 1:17 PM, 2011
paul brady wrote:
Another notice but its only to be fair to those who may travel a long way and end up disappointed that there is a big tractor in front of the hide!
There may be some disturbance around the pools at RSPB Inner Marsh Farm over the next couple of days as contractors cut back some of the more dense rush areas. This is part of the ongoing management work to improve both the breeding habitat for waders and to improve the area for wintering wildfowl. The upmost care is been taken to reduce the impact on the wildlife and to visitors.
We aim to have this work completed as soon a possible and is mostly been done today whilst the reserve is closed.
I'll let you know when its complete or phone 0151 336 7681
IMF is back to normal service
paul brady said
Tue Jul 12 1:21 PM, 2011
Another notice but its only to be fair to those who may travel a long way and end up disappointed that there is a big tractor in front of the hide!
There may be some disturbance around the pools at RSPB Inner Marsh Farm over the next couple of days as contractors cut back some of the more dense rush areas. This is part of the ongoing management work to improve both the breeding habitat for waders and to improve the area for wintering wildfowl. The upmost care is been taken to reduce the impact on the wildlife and to visitors.
We aim to have this work completed as soon a possible and is mostly been done today whilst the reserve is closed.
I'll let you know when its complete or phone 0151 336 7681
paul brady said
Tue Jul 5 9:19 AM, 2011
Can I politely remind all readers that the new place at Burton Mere is NOT yet open to the public.
There are still several contractors working on site plus some of the footpaths, screening, landscaping etc are not yet finished so the site is unsafe.
Several recent trespassers have recklessly disturbed the sensitive wildlife on the site.
So can I please ask all potential visitors to put their enthusiasm on hold until we are ready to allow access and we have the facilities in place to show you the great wildlife w/o unnecessarily disturbing it.
Thank You for your co-operation in this.
RSPB Dee Estuary Team 0151 336 7681
sid ashton said
Fri Jul 1 6:29 PM, 2011
On the way home from Gronant- separate post - called in at IMF. Not exactly a hive of activity but present were 2 Dunlin, a Common Buzzard, 30+ Little Egret, and 35+ Black tailed Godwit
paul brady said
Wed Jun 8 9:28 AM, 2011
Doc Brewster wrote:
IMF came up with the goods again in the shape of a cracking Pectoral Sandpiper today. When I was there it was showing really well amongst the Lapwings just out from the hide. Amazingly there were fewer folk in there than a usual Sunday, and despite the car park gearing up for a rush by opening up the field, it just never materialised, not whilst I was there anyway! A Cuckoo was showing at the back of the lagoons and a Med Gull had been reported earlier.
Cheers Paul
Pec Sand was refound last night hopefully it is still there this morning
Doc Brewster said
Sun Jun 5 8:22 PM, 2011
IMF came up with the goods again in the shape of a cracking Pectoral Sandpiper today. When I was there it was showing really well amongst the Lapwings just out from the hide. Amazingly there were fewer folk in there than a usual Sunday, and despite the car park gearing up for a rush by opening up the field, it just never materialised, not whilst I was there anyway! A Cuckoo was showing at the back of the lagoons and a Med Gull had been reported earlier.
Cheers Paul
paul brady said
Tue May 31 5:00 PM, 2011
The verys latest pics of the new reception building at Burton Mere are uploaded to www.rspb.org.uk/deeestuary along with a brilliant story about our resident water voles :)
paul brady said
Thu May 26 3:42 PM, 2011
Recent days have seen the advantages of being staff with a curlew sandpiper and spoonbill (today) on the not yet open to the public section! Although the spoonbill did fly right over the IMF hide pool so anybody in there would have seen it - unfortunately the hide was empty because nobody has come out to play birdwatcher!!!
Yesterady therer were 4 avocet and 3 oystecatchers plus a peregrine and hobby - I also saw a kestrel dive and carry away a tiny golden -brown furry object - answrs on a postcard hahaha!
paul brady said
Sun May 1 1:04 PM, 2011
For all you budding photographers we have arranged a wildlife photography workshop at IMF for Tuesday 10th May (for full details see www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm)
Phone 0151 336 7681 to book
There is a small charge to cover cost
The keen eyed of you will not ethe the reserve is normally closed on Tuesdays ... so we will have the reserve to ourselves!
sid ashton said
Fri Apr 29 10:13 PM, 2011
Pair of Garganey still on no. 1 pool and a male Pintail and 4 Spotted Redshank (3 in full sunmmer colours) on no. 2 pool this afternoon.
paul brady said
Thu Apr 28 2:07 PM, 2011
Oh BTW,
Today has seen a common sandpiper reported plus there are roughly 300 black-tailed godwits on the pools too.
Recently there have been a pair of garganey on the hide pool AND on the border pool - just to clarify that is two seperate pairs of garganey!
3 lesser whitethroats have been heard singing too - excellent
paul brady said
Thu Apr 28 2:02 PM, 2011
Jonathan Platt wrote:
paul brady wrote:
Jonathan Platt wrote:
Pair of garganey, four spotted redshank, three ruff, two dunlin, a whimbrel flew in with a curlew, two flyby yellow wags and a lesser whitethroat calling by the start of the boardwalk. Two grasshopper warblers reeling on Denhall Lane (there were six on Friday morning, plus several more towards Decca Pools then Burton Point).
Hi Jonathan,
Did anybody else see the whimbrel? We need it for our year list - did it call?
Paul
It was a whimbrel. They're really not that difficult to ID, especially in spring when there's no juv curlew knocking about. There were about half a dozen birders in the hide at the time it flew in, I pointed it out to them. It spent ten minutes seemingly picking flies off the undergrowth whilst the curlew stood by the water's edge. Both birds called as they flew off. Later, I walked back up to the car park with a guy I know from Risley Moss. He asked me if he should report the whimbrel, I said yes, so I presume he did?
Excellent, we'll chalk it up on our year list - thanks.
The "other guy" either didn't report it or the person they reported it to did not let me know so it hadn't made it on yet. Quite a tough one to get on the list though so I'm glad we got ther in the end :)
Any chance you could get us a Cetti'e Warbler on the list!?!
Jonathan Platt said
Mon Apr 25 8:15 PM, 2011
paul brady wrote:
Jonathan Platt wrote:
Pair of garganey, four spotted redshank, three ruff, two dunlin, a whimbrel flew in with a curlew, two flyby yellow wags and a lesser whitethroat calling by the start of the boardwalk. Two grasshopper warblers reeling on Denhall Lane (there were six on Friday morning, plus several more towards Decca Pools then Burton Point).
Hi Jonathan,
Did anybody else see the whimbrel? We need it for our year list - did it call?
Paul
It was a whimbrel. They're really not that difficult to ID, especially in spring when there's no juv curlew knocking about. There were about half a dozen birders in the hide at the time it flew in, I pointed it out to them. It spent ten minutes seemingly picking flies off the undergrowth whilst the curlew stood by the water's edge. Both birds called as they flew off. Later, I walked back up to the car park with a guy I know from Risley Moss. He asked me if he should report the whimbrel, I said yes, so I presume he did?
paul brady said
Mon Apr 25 10:37 AM, 2011
Jonathan Platt wrote:
Pair of garganey, four spotted redshank, three ruff, two dunlin, a whimbrel flew in with a curlew, two flyby yellow wags and a lesser whitethroat calling by the start of the boardwalk. Two grasshopper warblers reeling on Denhall Lane (there were six on Friday morning, plus several more towards Decca Pools then Burton Point).
Hi Jonathan,
Did anybody else see the whimbrel? We need it for our year list - did it call?
Paul
Jonathan Platt said
Sun Apr 24 9:13 PM, 2011
Pair of garganey, four spotted redshank, three ruff, two dunlin, a whimbrel flew in with a curlew, two flyby yellow wags and a lesser whitethroat calling by the start of the boardwalk. Two grasshopper warblers reeling on Denhall Lane (there were six on Friday morning, plus several more towards Decca Pools then Burton Point).
paul brady said
Fri Apr 22 12:01 PM, 2011
For those interested IMF's Big year list stands at 120 species so far.....
Todays highlights include a very showy lesser whitethroat, grasshopper warbler and 9 spotted redshanks.... no sign of garganey today so far ....
Nearby Burton Marsh has several stonechats, a whinchat, 5 wheatears and possbily 5 grasshopper warblers!
paul brady said
Sat Apr 9 3:18 PM, 2011
Highlights so far today: 1 male marsh harrier (also seen at Burton marsh) 6 avocets 1 spotted redshank 2 swallows
paul brady said
Mon Apr 4 12:13 PM, 2011
A 10 min visit this morning before becoming stuck in the office! 1 sand martin 1 swallow 1 merlin 2 wheatears several chiffchaffs, willow warblers and blackcaps singing now :)
paul brady said
Wed Mar 16 12:39 PM, 2011
Bird News from today: 10 avocets 2 sand martins 3 spotted redshank 3 ruff 1 hen harrier
3 siskin (1male), 1 reed bunting (now regular) and 1 bullfinch, GS Woodpecker and nuthatch on the feeders near the car park
paul brady said
Mon Mar 14 12:10 PM, 2011
A gorgeous spring day on the Dee with green woodpecker yaffling away ...
Sunday saw the arrival of sand martin and wheatear at IMF
The latest Blog entry covers some new habitat work for farmland birds down on "IMF2" http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/groups/deeestuary/blog/archive/2011/03/14/farming-for-birds.aspx
Cheers Paul
paul brady said
Fri Mar 11 12:07 PM, 2011
2 avocets at IMF today - sluices opened up and water level dropping......
Sean Sweeney said
Mon Feb 14 10:10 AM, 2011
Popped in to the reserve fropm 9:30 till 11:30 on Saturday gone, 12th Feb. Very bright with sun shining in eyes for start (forgot about that), but a nice mix of waders and ducks about. No sign of the GW Teal despite scanning many times through the 1,000s of Teal, but wrong time for tide, with high tide not till afternoon, so wasn't expecting too much with respect waders, raptors etc!?
Grey Heron 12 (must be getting ready for neesting nearby with that many together) Teal 1,500+ Mallard 300+ Pochard 2 Gadwall 1 Shoveller 20+ Wigeon 200+ Pintail 8 Common Buzzard 2 Ruff 4 Dunlin 1 Black-tailed Godwits 20+ Redshank 40+ Lapwing 400+ Raven 2 Siskin 20+ Linnet 20+
A lovely morning in the sunshine?!
paul brady said
Thu Feb 10 4:42 PM, 2011
Green winged teal has been showing over the past few days ... if you can find it amognst 1000 eurasians!
other highlights male hen harrier merlin 3 ruff
paul brady said
Fri Feb 4 1:15 PM, 2011
A blustery old morning .... a fair few wader were roosting/feeding very near to the hide:
11 Bewick's flying (and numerous geese) over were not getting to the direction they were headed to!
In other news we received an excellent piece of news very recently .... www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm
Karen Foulkes said
Sat Jan 22 5:51 PM, 2011
1 Buzzard feeding on what looked like a goose carcass was joined by 3 Ravens, the Buzzard trying to shield the carcass 2 Ruff 1 Black Tailed Godwit, I'm sure there were more hidden out of sight 1 Brambling with a huge flock of Chaffinches seen by my dad 25+ Magpies (what's the rhyme for that then?)
Also a good selection of wildfowl
paul brady said
Mon Jan 10 11:52 AM, 2011
sid ashton wrote:
Much the same list as Ian's yesterday - the Green-winged Teal was showing really well on number 1 pool for about 15 minutes from 09.15.
And again from about 12.30 until 1.30pm (at least) when I got to see it!
There was a flock of about 40 golden plover feeding in sheep fields with curlew, lapwing, buzzard and kestrel!
Skeins of pink-feet tallied up to 500 in the morning and in the evening one mega-skein gouing back out to the estuary totalled around 350-400 !!!
sid ashton said
Sun Jan 9 12:30 PM, 2011
Much the same list as Ian's yesterday - the Green-winged Teal was showing really well on number 1 pool for about 15 minutes from 09.15.
Ian Woosey said
Sat Jan 8 2:33 PM, 2011
8/1/11
Green-winged Teal still present
1 Hen Harrier (ringtail) 1 Bewick`s Swan 8 Black-tailed Godwit 1 Dunlin 2 Ruff 3 Redshank 3 Curlew 1 Shelduck 1 Raven 2 Buzzard small skeins of Pink-feet over small flock of Linnets and Chaffinches along the path through the fields Pintail, Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal, Mallard & Canada Geese pretty much covers everything..
Burton Marsh:
At least 12 Ravens, especially round the new house that is for sale, where there were a couple of sheep carcasses lying about. I don`t think I`ve ever seen as many Ravens together in one place... 1 Little Egret 2 Buzzard Pink-feet over.
A walk along Denhall Lane produced a distant Peregrine chasing Woodpigeon, more Ravens, and a huge flock of Linnets.
paul brady said
Thu Jan 6 5:22 PM, 2011
Two new year ticks for IMF today :)
1 drake green winged teal this afternoon (also noted in the book for last night) 1 cormorant
No sign yesterday of the grebe ... but brilliant views of both ring tail and grey male hen harrier hunting together and interacting. the male seemed to catch a prey item and leave it to the ringtail whilst he flew away taking the maurading crows with him!
IMF Big Year List is up to 70 with grey heron and tufted duck still needed!
Plus if anyone who saw the grebe can give us a description then we can confirm a 1st ever record for the reserve!!!
paul brady said
Sun Jan 2 9:17 AM, 2011
53 species recorded yesterday with some massive gaps - heron, little egret, tufted duck and sparrowhawk !!!
paul brady said
Wed Dec 22 10:41 AM, 2010
Merry Christmas One and All,
Inner Marsh Farm will do its best to stay open throughout the holiday period and should only be closed on Christmas Day itself. However, if the weather becomes much worse we may have to close due to unsafe car park and footpaths :( Phone ahead to hear the latest on 0151 336 7681 (be prepared to be patient and let whoever is on duty run up the stairs!)
For all you listers (or anybody who hasn't done a big year before) out there - IMF is doing a BIG YEARd uring its big year of transition! Those wanting to take part can pick up an entry form and for the entry donation you will receieve an up to date checklist of birds for IMF from reception - all staff will be taking part too so can you beat them?!?
Latest Raptor Watch report with photos http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/groups/deeestuary/blog/archive/2010/12/22/raptor-watch-19th-december.aspx Next Raptor Watch event Sunday 16th 2.30pm
-- Edited by paul brady on Wednesday 22nd of December 2010 02:27:39 PM
Joe Wynn said
Sun Dec 12 4:46 PM, 2010
went on the trip to imf2 today. Its a fantastic reserve, something the RSPB should be really proud of! Got excellent view of loads of farmland birds. There was at leas c.1000 Linnet, about 10 individual Yellowhammers, again about 10 Reed Bunting, a few Chaffinch, about 500 stock dove and some woodpigeon, a grey wag, a few brambling (mixed in with the linnets), a few lapwing, a couple of crows and about 10 teals. Over all, a fantastic morning out!
Which hide is best to watch the Egret roost from and roughly what time has the Great White Egret, or Egrets, arrived?
Many thanks in advance, John
Went for a stroll along Denhall Lane to the Harp Inn and back, which was much more pleasant (as was the Holts' bitter ). Marsh harrier, flock of Pinkfeet overhead, several Little Egrets, a few Redshank and more Stonechats then I've seen for quite a while.
Steve
Other birds seen were:
4 Whooper Swan on Border pool
1 Raven over
c30 Greylag towards BMW
6 whooper swans
1 Bewick's swan
2 greta white egrets came into roost last night again
The highlight for me was the Water Rail family of two adults and a chick in front of the hide in the newly cleared areas in the reeds. Also seen were the long staying Ross's Goose as well as 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 6 Common Snipe, 5 Spotted Redshank, 6 Ruff, 1 Black-tailed Godwit as well as Common Redshank, plenty of Lapwing, Teal, Little Egret, a flyover Buzzard and a Kestrel.
-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 15th of September 2011 08:42:56 AM
one spotted crake
3 curlew sandpipers
1 hen harrier
a couple of buzzard
plus plenty of the usual suspects
and one singing chif chaf which left me wondering about both my sanity and hearing
-- Edited by jason fisher on Friday 9th of September 2011 08:56:33 PM
The tour will be on the 14th September and as there's a maximum of 30 birders permitted it's a first come first served basis. Anyone interested should let me know by email please (or private message) asap. Anyone wanting to go but struggling for lifts let me know likewise and I'll see if we can't organise some lifts/fuel sharing.
On a rare trip to the hide honest ... and somehow my year list for IMF is at 125
Must add the the "do" for RSPB volunteers on Thursday night was by invite only - no gatecrashers please!
And we will open to the public toward the end of Sept ... watch this space.
BTW No sptted crake sighting today but 7 curlew sandpipers
I was at IMF from 11 till 12.15 and I went back at 5pm after a really long luch and managed to find the Crake within 10 minutes. The Curlew Sandpipers were showing well in front of the hide.
At least 2 Water Rail - one sunning itself on the far bank. The longest I've ever seen one stand still for!!
A Hobby giving excellent views as it hunted and caught and ate dragonflies on the wing over the marsh.
The escaped Ross's goose was over on Border pool.
5 Curlew Sandpiper
c15 Ruff
1 Black tailed Godwit
5 Little Egret.
1 Grey Heron - struggling to eat a 'bootlace' eel.
1 Wheatear - on my way back to the car up the hill.
And also the strange sight of a very large common carp (estimate about 15-20lb) swimming around in the very shallow water with its back out of the water.
Also nice to bump into Tim Wilcox for the 2nd time this week.
I'll find out when it will be open to the public.
Also present was at least 5 curlew sandpipers, possibly 7, i spent too much time hunting the crake to get a proper count, also lots of ruff, 1 little stint and a few spotted redshanks, 1 black tailed godwit, 1 bar headed goose escapee of some form but still a stunning bird, 3 buzzards together, 1 snipe, loads of lapwings but no golden plovers,
and also nice to finally meet 1 Paul Brady,
new hides and center well on there way, looks great, not long now
5 Curlew Sandpiper
4 Spotted Redshank - Two surprisingly appeared to already be in winter plumage.
Good numbers of Ruff and Knot.
4 Buzzard.
A great day out in brilliant conditions with great company.
Also 22 ruff and an array of random geese - Ross's,Barnacle,Pink-footed and Bar-headed all being reported
IMF is back to normal service
There may be some disturbance around the pools at RSPB Inner Marsh Farm over the next couple of days as contractors cut back some of the more dense rush areas. This is part of the ongoing management work to improve both the breeding habitat for waders and to improve the area for wintering wildfowl. The upmost care is been taken to reduce the impact on the wildlife and to visitors.
We aim to have this work completed as soon a possible and is mostly been done today whilst the reserve is closed.
I'll let you know when its complete or phone 0151 336 7681
There are still several contractors working on site plus some of the footpaths, screening, landscaping etc are not yet finished so the site is unsafe.
Several recent trespassers have recklessly disturbed the sensitive wildlife on the site.
So can I please ask all potential visitors to put their enthusiasm on hold until we are ready to allow access and we have the facilities in place to show you the great wildlife w/o unnecessarily disturbing it.
Thank You for your co-operation in this.
RSPB Dee Estuary Team
0151 336 7681
Pec Sand was refound last night hopefully it is still there this morning
Cheers
Paul
Yesterady therer were 4 avocet and 3 oystecatchers plus a peregrine and hobby - I also saw a kestrel dive and carry away a tiny golden -brown furry object - answrs on a postcard hahaha!
Phone 0151 336 7681 to book
There is a small charge to cover cost
The keen eyed of you will not ethe the reserve is normally closed on Tuesdays ... so we will have the reserve to ourselves!
Today has seen a common sandpiper reported plus there are roughly 300 black-tailed godwits on the pools too.
Recently there have been a pair of garganey on the hide pool AND on the border pool - just to clarify that is two seperate pairs of garganey!
3 lesser whitethroats have been heard singing too - excellent
Excellent, we'll chalk it up on our year list - thanks.
The "other guy" either didn't report it or the person they reported it to did not let me know so it hadn't made it on yet. Quite a tough one to get on the list though so I'm glad we got ther in the end :)
Any chance you could get us a Cetti'e Warbler on the list!?!
It was a whimbrel. They're really not that difficult to ID, especially in spring when there's no juv curlew knocking about. There were about half a dozen birders in the hide at the time it flew in, I pointed it out to them. It spent ten minutes seemingly picking flies off the undergrowth whilst the curlew stood by the water's edge. Both birds called as they flew off. Later, I walked back up to the car park with a guy I know from Risley Moss. He asked me if he should report the whimbrel, I said yes, so I presume he did?
Hi Jonathan,
Did anybody else see the whimbrel? We need it for our year list - did it call?
Paul
Todays highlights include a very showy lesser whitethroat, grasshopper warbler and 9 spotted redshanks.... no sign of garganey today so far ....
Nearby Burton Marsh has several stonechats, a whinchat, 5 wheatears and possbily 5 grasshopper warblers!
1 male marsh harrier (also seen at Burton marsh)
6 avocets
1 spotted redshank
2 swallows
1 sand martin
1 swallow
1 merlin
2 wheatears
several chiffchaffs, willow warblers and blackcaps singing now :)
10 avocets
2 sand martins
3 spotted redshank
3 ruff
1 hen harrier
3 siskin (1male), 1 reed bunting (now regular) and 1 bullfinch, GS Woodpecker and nuthatch on the feeders near the car park
Sunday saw the arrival of sand martin and wheatear at IMF
The latest Blog entry covers some new habitat work for farmland birds down on "IMF2"
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/groups/deeestuary/blog/archive/2011/03/14/farming-for-birds.aspx
Cheers
Paul
Grey Heron 12 (must be getting ready for neesting nearby with that many together)
Teal 1,500+
Mallard 300+
Pochard 2
Gadwall 1
Shoveller 20+
Wigeon 200+
Pintail 8
Common Buzzard 2
Ruff 4
Dunlin 1
Black-tailed Godwits 20+
Redshank 40+
Lapwing 400+
Raven 2
Siskin 20+
Linnet 20+
A lovely morning in the sunshine?!
other highlights
male hen harrier
merlin
3 ruff
2 spotted redshank
2 ruff
3 dunlin
35 Blackwits
20 redshank
11 Bewick's flying (and numerous geese) over were not getting to the direction they were headed to!
In other news we received an excellent piece of news very recently .... www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm
2 Ruff
1 Black Tailed Godwit, I'm sure there were more hidden out of sight
1 Brambling with a huge flock of Chaffinches seen by my dad
25+ Magpies (what's the rhyme for that then?)
Also a good selection of wildfowl
And again from about 12.30 until 1.30pm (at least) when I got to see it!
There was a flock of about 40 golden plover feeding in sheep fields with curlew, lapwing, buzzard and kestrel!
Skeins of pink-feet tallied up to 500 in the morning and in the evening one mega-skein gouing back out to the estuary totalled around 350-400 !!!
Green-winged Teal still present
1 Hen Harrier (ringtail)
1 Bewick`s Swan
8 Black-tailed Godwit
1 Dunlin
2 Ruff
3 Redshank
3 Curlew
1 Shelduck
1 Raven
2 Buzzard
small skeins of Pink-feet over
small flock of Linnets and Chaffinches along the path through the fields
Pintail, Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal, Mallard & Canada Geese pretty much covers everything..
Burton Marsh:
At least 12 Ravens, especially round the new house that is for sale, where there were a couple of sheep carcasses lying about. I don`t think I`ve ever seen as many Ravens together in one place...
1 Little Egret
2 Buzzard
Pink-feet over.
A walk along Denhall Lane produced a distant Peregrine chasing Woodpigeon, more Ravens, and a huge flock of Linnets.
1 drake green winged teal this afternoon (also noted in the book for last night)
1 cormorant
Others
1 bewick swan
4 whooper
10 mute swans
2 ruff
4 dunlin
2 hen harrier
320+ teal
5 black-tailed godwits
1 redshank
2 ruff
2 snipe
IMF Big Year List is up to 70 with grey heron and tufted duck still needed!
Plus if anyone who saw the grebe can give us a description then we can confirm a 1st ever record for the reserve!!!
Inner Marsh Farm will do its best to stay open throughout the holiday period and should only be closed on Christmas Day itself. However, if the weather becomes much worse we may have to close due to unsafe car park and footpaths :( Phone ahead to hear the latest on 0151 336 7681 (be prepared to be patient and let whoever is on duty run up the stairs!)
For all you listers (or anybody who hasn't done a big year before) out there - IMF is doing a BIG YEARd uring its big year of transition! Those wanting to take part can pick up an entry form and for the entry donation you will receieve an up to date checklist of birds for IMF from reception - all staff will be taking part too so can you beat them?!?
Latest Raptor Watch report with photos
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/groups/deeestuary/blog/archive/2010/12/22/raptor-watch-19th-december.aspx
Next Raptor Watch event Sunday 16th 2.30pm
-- Edited by paul brady on Wednesday 22nd of December 2010 02:27:39 PM
Yesterday a path and hide check revealed:
4 brambling
1 woodcock
1 kingfisher
1 water rail
1 raven
62 pink footed geese (Flyover)
Enjoy whilst it lasts!