A stunning Red-rumped Swallow around the paddocks at Leasowe Lighthouse this afternoon and early evening. Showing well at times, distantly at others and going missing for longish periods too. In the skies at the same time Swift, Swallow, Sand Martin & lots of House Martins. A couple of Spotted Flycatchers in the vicinity too.
Cheers Paul
sid ashton said
Fri May 6 8:38 PM, 2011
A last minute change of plan today had me in Liverpool late morning so I nipped through the tunnel to the Leasowe Lighthouse area in the hope of catching up with the big numbers of Yellow Wagtails reported yesterday. Unfortunately there were only 7 in the horse paddocks west of the lighthouse and no unusal birds amongst them.
Also present a single Whimbrel and several Sandwich Terns seen from the embankment.
David Wilson said
Sun May 1 3:10 PM, 2011
Burton marsh. walk from denhall lane past denhall house farm this morning with trouble + strife. strife being wife + trouble being 2 yr old daughter.! Nevertheless despite odds being stacked against me, still managed to spot.: 5 whinchat 1 Grasshopper warbler( heard.) Sedge warblers reed warblers numerous whitethroats swallows little egrets kestrel hunting grey heron g.s.woody (Heard.)
David Wilson said
Sat Apr 16 9:21 PM, 2011
Lovely afternoon in rivacre country park. Green woodpecker in oak tree in hillside wood. very vocal giving me best view to date of one. sat amongst the carpet of bluebells. great spotted woody 3 grey wagtail 2 plenty chiffchaffs blackcap plus the usual residents
paul brady said
Tue Apr 12 4:17 PM, 2011
Hi All,
For anybody interested there are 4 upcoming RSPB events around the Dee Estuary just click on www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm or www.rspb.org.uk/pointofayr and look at the events listing.
A particular fave in the past have been our "Up with the Lark" events at Ness Gardens where we ID all the bird song before returning to the award winning cafe for a sumptious Full English!
Phone 0151 353 0123 for the Ness Gardens event
Thanks
-- Edited by paul brady on Tuesday 12th of April 2011 04:20:34 PM
paul brady said
Thu Mar 31 10:55 AM, 2011
Jon Bowen wrote:
Just wanted to say thanks to the wardens today for the trip out to Hilbre Island and to the guys at the observatory for their passion and for allowing us to get up close and personal with a chiffchaff.
other birds seen:
Peregrine,
up to 90 Pale Bellied Brent,
2 Redpoll,
Meadow Pipit,
Knot,
Purple Sandpiper,
Turnstone,
Sand Martin,
It was our pleasure!
jason fisher said
Sun Mar 27 8:31 PM, 2011
Jon Bowen wrote:
Just wanted to say thanks to the wardens today for the trip out to Hilbre Island and to the guys at the observatory for their passion and for allowing us to get up close and personal with a chiffchaff.
other birds seen:
Peregrine,
up to 90 Pale Bellied Brent,
2 Redpoll,
Meadow Pipit,
Knot,
Purple Sandpiper,
Turnstone,
Sand Martin,
there were actually 132 pale bellied brent, on the way back between the 2 smaller islands.
i was the bloke with long blond hair.
Jon Bowen said
Sat Mar 26 9:34 PM, 2011
Just wanted to say thanks to the wardens today for the trip out to Hilbre Island and to the guys at the observatory for their passion and for allowing us to get up close and personal with a chiffchaff.
other birds seen:
Peregrine,
up to 90 Pale Bellied Brent,
2 Redpoll,
Meadow Pipit,
Knot,
Purple Sandpiper,
Turnstone,
Sand Martin,
sid ashton said
Sat Mar 26 7:14 PM, 2011
After Worlds End a quick visit to Burton Marsh and then Heswall Marsh produced of note two Short-eared Owls at Burton, a Harrier species and four Peregrines in the gloom of Heswall Marsh
paul brady said
Thu Mar 24 10:35 AM, 2011
There are still a few spaces left on our FREE guided walk to Hilbre Island on Saturday ... phone 0151 648 4371 to book a place
Graham Gill said
Mon Mar 21 8:16 PM, 2011
Parkgate 10:00--13:00 High tide at 12:00 but water still 60m from wall; however:
Rivacre nature reserve for a couple of hours this afternoon.
buzzard giving very close views around bird table 2x pairs grey wagtails on brook Nuthatch Treecreeper First chiffchaff of year Song thrush 4 Flock of goldfinches plus usual suspects
Pete Welch said
Sun Mar 20 8:19 PM, 2011
Quick visit to Parkgate as the sun set today saw an immature male Hen Harrier flying to the west , many more egrets than there have been of late and a possible Water Pipit - call only and I'm not the best at calls! Plus my first Chiffchaff of the year :)
-- Edited by Pete Welch on Sunday 20th of March 2011 08:44:10 PM
Phil Owen said
Tue Mar 8 10:07 PM, 2011
Stopped off at Neston Sewage Works after the Dartford Warbler at World's End.
1 Water Pipit 1 Meadow Pipit 1 Stonechat 1 Merlin 1 Little Egret amongst others
Jonathan Platt said
Fri Mar 4 8:22 PM, 2011
Three short-eared owls at Burton Marsh this evening, plus three hen harriers (inc. adult male), peregrine, merlin, several buzzards, kestrel, etc.
David Wilson said
Thu Mar 3 8:44 PM, 2011
A nice couple of hours spent this after noon in the spring sunshine at Rivacre nature reserve.
2x pairs of Grey wagtails bickering over territory on brook Nuthatch Treecreeper Goldcrest 2 Great spotted woody Coal, blue, great and long tailed tits Bull, chaff, green and goldfinches
25 species
paul brady said
Mon Feb 28 10:09 AM, 2011
Hi People,
A heads up for all those interested the Wirral Council Rangers, Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens and the RSPB are hosting a free birdwatching event this Saturday (5th at 9.30am - pop along anythime) at "King's Gap" Hoylake. We will have telescopes to show beginners (or just those interested) the many birds that use this site as a vital high tide roost.
For more details visit www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm and look at the events section.
Fingers crossed for some of those gulls that everyone has been talking about!
Gary Gorner said
Mon Feb 28 10:03 AM, 2011
26/02/11
A quick visit to the pontoon at perch rock New Brighton to get our target bird purple sandpiper, at least 20 birds which is the most ive ever counted here.Also plenty redshank, 1 single greenshank,turnstones and several dunlin.
Pete Hines said
Mon Feb 21 10:22 PM, 2011
Sounds like like the same one, I remember the Crows coming now. They get a hard time at high tide those Rails. I headed off early to check the Gulls at Hoylake after a report of a prob juv American Herring Gull there earlier.
-- Edited by Pete Hines on Monday 21st of February 2011 10:23:59 PM
Jonathan Platt said
Mon Feb 21 10:01 PM, 2011
If it was the same one I watched Pete it unfortunately didn't make it! It initially escaped the owl, then a gull, and appeared to escape into cover. But two crows followed and kept having a go at it as it struggled to avoid them. I thought it may have got away as the crows seemed to lose interest. Then a herring gull started to have a go and I suggested to the lady next to me that it was doomed if a gbb turned up. Seconds later, one did! It grabbed the unfortunate rail, flew into open water and began to break the carcass up. I left shortly after.
Pete Hines said
Mon Feb 21 9:26 PM, 2011
I watched a Short-eared Owl make a few attempts to grab a Water Rail out of the water today. Mobbing Gulls pushed the Owl on and the rail made it to (rapidly decreasing) cover.
Dennis atherton said
Mon Feb 21 7:57 PM, 2011
it gave me a good smile too, the plastic short eared owl, lol, i pranked my friend saying quick look in my scope ive got a little owl, knowing they had not seen a little owl this year yet, i wont mention any names, They know who they are
paul brady said
Mon Feb 21 4:37 PM, 2011
Dennis atherton wrote:
Hear. Hear. Many thanks to the Rspb for all they did to make it a good day. Thanks to Paul B who i am sure was there though i missed the chance to say Hello. Big thank you
To all you guys thanks for the thanks and I'll pass the pleasantries onto the team here at IMF. Some feedback from locals is that its great to see so many people there (spending money!) and they want a high tide eveery week!!!
Nice to hear of some belated sightings too - with all them people and car parking issues I barely got to bird watch myself!!!
Got the two brambling today and had great fun trying to point them out to a relative newcomer to our shores and couldn't miss the show-off merlin and sparrowhawks!
Although the funniest moment of the day may have been explaining several times that the plastic short-eared owl was indeed a practical joke!!!!
Roll on March ....
Dennis atherton said
Mon Feb 21 10:15 AM, 2011
Hear. Hear. Many thanks to the Rspb for all they did to make it a good day. Thanks to Paul B who i am sure was there though i missed the chance to say Hello. Big thank you
Scott Reid said
Sun Feb 20 10:17 PM, 2011
It was almost like a comical boat chase!! Every time the sail boat got closer, Santa kept paddling further away!
The two muppits in canoes were clueless as well...spooking the SEO and the Merlin that were giving great views perched a couple of hunderd yards out!!
Brilliant turn out though, it was great to see so many families with young children getting involved. It's so important to get the next generation of kids excited and enthusiastic about wildlife. The RSBP guys from IMF derserve a lot of credit for doing that and giving people the chance to experience the joys of nature!! Well done!!
The only other notable moment to add was the couple of hundred pink-feet in spectacular formation flying over the carpark a while after high tide. It was a nice end to the afternoon!
Pete Welch said
Sun Feb 20 9:49 PM, 2011
Nick Isherwood wrote:
I think they may have been chasing the old guy who punted up on his raft 100 yards in front of them!! Sort of like the Americas cup but with idiots on a really small budget!!
The nearest thing to disaster was when the rafter was rather surprised by a cock pheasant that exploded from cover just next to him as he left on the ebbing tide...
-- Edited by Pete Welch on Sunday 20th of February 2011 09:49:57 PM
Nick Isherwood said
Sun Feb 20 9:12 PM, 2011
Good one Dennis, made me laugh did that!!
I think they may have been chasing the old guy who punted up on his raft 100 yards in front of them!! Sort of like the Americas cup but with idiots on a really small budget!!
Dennis atherton wrote:
Haha Nick, Brilliant, forgot about that, so funny, it was like an episode of the Twilightzone, Just picture the scene...
They were Punting up the estuary in home made boat, something you could make from empty cornflakes packets and duct tape and glue after watching how to make a boat cheaply monolog on Blue peter, and then they actually stopped, mid estuary, Centre stage in the Main area where we was all hoping for action, 50ft out, in front of a hundred or so birders all looking at them with bins, scopes and all that, all of us looking at them in confused wonder, on stage, main spotlight on, testing 1,2,3, Centr of attention, lights, camera, action, and then they all lit up and had a fag break, i half expected them to open up bottles of extra strong cider too and have a drink, Apparantly that was the plan but they left the cider in the truck, Damn
Nick Isherwood wrote:
Parkgate raptor watch this morning. Pretty much the same as Dennis' and Steve's earlier posts. Also had 13 Brent geese out on the estuary westwards as the tide rose.
Also, can't help but mention the hillbilly types attempting to punt up the small creek in front of the car park in a home built yacht. What the hell was that all about??
-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Sunday 20th of February 2011 08:52:39 PM
Dennis atherton said
Sun Feb 20 8:46 PM, 2011
Haha Nick, Brilliant, forgot about that, so funny, it was like an episode of the Twilightzone, Just picture the scene...
They were Punting up the estuary in home made boat, something you could make from empty cornflakes packets and duct tape and glue after watching how to make a boat cheaply monolog on Blue peter, and then they actually stopped, mid estuary, Centre stage in the Main area where we was all hoping for action, 50ft out, in front of a hundred or so birders all looking at them with bins, scopes and all that, all of us looking at them in confused wonder, on stage, main spotlight on, testing 1,2,3, Centr of attention, lights, camera, action, and then they all lit up and had a fag break, i half expected them to open up bottles of extra strong cider too and have a drink, Apparantly that was the plan but they left the cider in the truck, Damn
Nick Isherwood wrote:
Parkgate raptor watch this morning. Pretty much the same as Dennis' and Steve's earlier posts. Also had 13 Brent geese out on the estuary westwards as the tide rose.
Also, can't help but mention the hillbilly types attempting to punt up the small creek in front of the car park in a home built yacht. What the hell was that all about??
-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Sunday 20th of February 2011 08:52:39 PM
David Wilson said
Sun Feb 20 8:26 PM, 2011
Got to parkgate( or was it blackpool?!) just at high tide. Managed to get parked up and wander down with wife and daughter. Been a few times but thats the highest ive seen it come in. Wasnt serious birding but there was lots to see. Shame the sun wasnt out. I havent seen it as busy. Great atmosphere.
Pete Welch said
Sun Feb 20 8:18 PM, 2011
Just to add to the earlier posts - at least two Brambling in the flock of chaffinch half way between the baths and the golf course, seemed to be a good number of Pintail out at the margins - plus the water eventually reached the wall there at about 13:20 flushing a few voles and shrews. Four SEOs from that spot. Good to see so many people taking an interest - must have been well over a thousand there from the golf course to the far end of the prom at Parkgate itself?
I've seen the "boaters" mentioned below every high tide I've been - at a bit of a loss as to why...
Nick Isherwood said
Sun Feb 20 7:58 PM, 2011
Parkgate raptor watch this morning. Pretty much the same as Dennis' and Steve's earlier posts. Also had 13 Brent geese out on the estuary westwards as the tide rose.
Also, can't help but mention the hillbilly types attempting to punt up the small creek in front of the car park in a home built yacht. What the hell was that all about??
Dennis atherton said
Sun Feb 20 7:26 PM, 2011
Not much to add to todays already mentioned sightings, better views of the shorties today, also a stoat ran in front of me just six feet and water rail did a short flight quite close in
Same sparrowhawk as Steve straight over all our heads low,
Superb
Parkgate chippy filled our bellies too, mmm
sid ashton said
Sun Feb 20 6:06 PM, 2011
Went over to the Wirral for the high tide this morning with the particular intention of looking for Short-eared Owls. Having spent many hours this winter searching the marsh for them was pleased to see 7 of the beauties all off Heswall golf course.
Also had Merlin (perched and hunting), Peregrine, Kestrel, Hen Harrier (1 ring tail) and of note flocks of c.40 Brent Geese, c.100 Skylark and big group of 100s of Pink Feet over.
Dennis atherton said
Sun Feb 20 3:29 PM, 2011
Med gull on marine lake. perch rock. Purple sands showing too
Steve Johnson said
Sun Feb 20 3:10 PM, 2011
Trip down to Parkgate today for the 12.30 high tide and see what raptors it brought in, wind kept the water from getting right in.
Kestrel 1 Merlin 3 Two going over head, one making a kill on shore line Buzzard 3 Sparrowhawk 2 One coming right in across the front of car park Hen Harrier 3 Short Eared Owl 2 Peregrine 1 stayed very far out People 100's
Worth the trip and the traffic jam trying to get back out.
Dennis atherton said
Sat Feb 19 7:49 PM, 2011
New brighton
12 purple sandpipers on the marine platform at high tide, with also redshank, turnstones, dunlin
parkgate
Big turn out, car park full to the brim, a few coach parties too, tide did not come to the wall but quite high, supposed to be 6 inches higher tommorow,
late arrival for me after high tide but 3 hen harriers, all female, 1 short eared owl, a first there for a while for me, not as many as last year, 2 perigrine, kestrel, lots of action out on the marsh, loads of pinkies, a few stonechats, also not seen as many recently, skylarks, snipe, and the usuals
inner marsh
1 hen harrier took a lapwing from front of hide, sparrowhawk sat on bank for a while, usual redshank blackwits and a couple of dunlin, best birds were around 60 golden plover mixed in with 200+ lapwings
-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Saturday 19th of February 2011 07:52:40 PM
Dennis atherton said
Tue Feb 15 5:54 PM, 2011
Hight tide this weekend at parkgate on sunday 10.18m, could be a good doe, see what it pushes in
paul brady said
Tue Feb 15 2:00 PM, 2011
David Wilson wrote:
Large flock of starlings displaying over m53 junction 5. seems to be increasing in size every evening this week as i drive past at 5.15. not sure where they are roosting but some large conifers under them. any ideas.?
Roosting between junction 8 and 9 not far from the Boat Museum - in conifers (leylandii?) near to "Custom House"
A few local people seem to know about it - a nice little show, especially when the lcal sprawk turns up!
David Wilson said
Sat Feb 12 9:29 PM, 2011
Rivacre nature reserve: Lovely couple of hours spent on a spring like afternoon.
Lots of activity including Great tits and blue tits in every other tree, or at least that what it seemed like.! Long tailed tits active and a couple of Goldcrests showing well.Jays flying to and fro with acorns and 4 pairs of Bullfinches all in the same tree dropping to the ground to feed and also feeding on catkins. The most ive seen all together. The birds were in good voice with song thrush and blackbird and robin in good form. 20 species seen.
David Wilson said
Fri Feb 11 9:30 PM, 2011
Large flock of starlings displaying over m53 junction 5. seems to be increasing in size every evening this week as i drive past at 5.15. not sure where they are roosting but some large conifers under them. any ideas.?
sid ashton said
Thu Feb 10 8:01 PM, 2011
Highlights of a very brief visit to the Wirral this afternoon were 50 - 60 pale-bellied Brent Geese flying around Middle Eye on the rising tide, viewed from Red Rocks and 13 Purple Sandpiper on the pontoon at New Brighton marine lake. All of the birds on the pontoon Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank along with the Purple Sands left the pontoon about 20 minutes after high water so if anyone is planning to go over it is best to arrive before high tide for reasonable views as this seems to be their regular behaviour according to a local birder.
Robert Adderley said
Tue Feb 8 8:59 PM, 2011
Tues - 8/2/11
New Brighton - late am
7+ Purple Sandpipers and 1 Greenshank with other waders on the platform on the Marine Lake.
Leasowe. early pm
28 Scaup (in 3 groups) at high tide.
West Kirby - pm
c60 Pale-bellied Brent Geese distantly from West Kirby shore.
Parkgate late pm.
2+ Hen Harriers including a male showing reasonably close to the carpark. 1 Merlin
sid ashton said
Tue Feb 8 7:47 PM, 2011
After Worlds End Phil and I just managed to get to Parkgate before lights out in time to watch 2 possibly 3 ring tail Hen Harriers going into the roost.
John O'Neill said
Sun Feb 6 9:14 PM, 2011
New Brighton Marine Lake 12.00 ish
High tide . Waders packing onto the platforms in the lake inc at least 20 Purple Sandpipers in with Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone and a couple of Knot.
Doc Brewster said
Sat Feb 5 8:00 PM, 2011
Jonathan Platt wrote:
Mike Baron wrote:
Funnily enough the other day Jonathan Platt was commenting on how rare it is to see perched up Hen Harriers. I have only ever seen them flying around.
Hi Mike,
They do regularly perch on the ground, but I don't often see them on posts, dead branches, etc. However, over the Christmas period when it was bitterly cold with the ground covered in snow, I spent three days at Hesketh Out Marsh and regularly saw them landing on posts, rather than the ground. I can only presume it had something to do with the snow or very low temperatures?
Having said that, I had a hen harrier, a merlin and a peregrine all perched up on posts within 50yds of each other a couple of weeks ago at Parkgate, earlier in the day I'd had another ring-tail perched on a fence post at Burton Marsh . . . so what do I know!!
Cheers Jonathan
Yes Jonathan I agree about the ground perching habit being the commoner but sods law means that whenever I see them land off the Old Baths it's always out of view, in a dip, behind tussocks etc :(
This was unusual only in that I got a scoped, perched view as I said - it filled the scope for all of 5 seconds before it moved to a more usual landing spot - hidden!!!
Yep, pity to have missed each other Mike, see ya next time I hope :)
Paul
-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Saturday 5th of February 2011 08:01:24 PM
-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Saturday 5th of February 2011 08:04:47 PM
Jonathan Platt said
Sat Feb 5 5:43 PM, 2011
Mike Baron wrote:
Funnily enough the other day Jonathan Platt was commenting on how rare it is to see perched up Hen Harriers. I have only ever seen them flying around.
Hi Mike,
They do regularly perch on the ground, but I don't often see them on posts, dead branches, etc. However, over the Christmas period when it was bitterly cold with the ground covered in snow, I spent three days at Hesketh Out Marsh and regularly saw them landing on posts, rather than the ground. I can only presume it had something to do with the snow or very low temperatures?
Having said that, I had a hen harrier, a merlin and a peregrine all perched up on posts within 50yds of each other a couple of weeks ago at Parkgate, earlier in the day I'd had another ring-tail perched on a fence post at Burton Marsh . . . so what do I know!!
Cheers Jonathan
Mike Baron said
Sat Feb 5 2:24 PM, 2011
Doc Brewster wrote:
Hiya Mike I was at the Old Baths car park on Thursday afternoon so sorry to have missed you, had cracking views of a male Hen Harrier, albeit in very windy conditions. The wind probably forced it to land on a hump of ground giving a scoped perched view - rare here, before it floated up and over a tussocky bit which it dropped into. Gave up soon afetr that cos I thought that I'd et blown away!! Cheers Paul
Hi Doc
Haven't seen you for a while - would have been nice to catch up at Parkgate.
Funnily enough the other day Jonathan Platt was commenting on how rare it is to see perched up Hen Harriers. I have only ever seen them flying around. While I was there the wind was attrocious though it did cause one of the ring-tails to hang in the air right in front of the car park giving really good views.
Last time I was there the male headed off towards Burton Marsh at dusk and I wonder if it is roosting there?
Take care
Mike
Doc Brewster said
Sat Feb 5 2:14 PM, 2011
Hiya Mike I was at the Old Baths car park on Thursday afternoon so sorry to have missed you, had cracking views of a male Hen Harrier, albeit in very windy conditions. The wind probably forced it to land on a hump of ground giving a scoped perched view - rare here, before it floated up and over a tussocky bit which it dropped into. Gave up soon afetr that cos I thought that I'd et blown away!! Cheers Paul
Mike Baron said
Thu Feb 3 6:11 PM, 2011
Very windy and wet this evening. Two ring-tails came into roost very early - viewing difficult though so I didn't linger.
paul brady said
Thu Feb 3 11:34 AM, 2011
Nick Isherwood wrote:
Also, on my way inbetween West Kirby and Parkgate at Caldy I just happened to notice a small pool in a field by the side of the road that held a few geese. After a quick u-turn in the car and another look it revealed 8 Barnacle geese and 5 Greylag.
I think this pool has held up to 23 feral barnacle geese this year - one or two people have noticed it
Cheers Paul
Also present a single Whimbrel and several Sandwich Terns seen from the embankment.
walk from denhall lane past denhall house farm this morning with trouble + strife. strife being wife + trouble being 2 yr old daughter.! Nevertheless despite odds being stacked against me, still managed to spot.:
5 whinchat
1 Grasshopper warbler( heard.)
Sedge warblers
reed warblers
numerous whitethroats
swallows
little egrets
kestrel hunting
grey heron
g.s.woody (Heard.)
Green woodpecker in oak tree in hillside wood. very vocal giving me best view to date of one. sat amongst the carpet of bluebells.
great spotted woody 3
grey wagtail 2
plenty chiffchaffs
blackcap
plus the usual residents
For anybody interested there are 4 upcoming RSPB events around the Dee Estuary just click on www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm or www.rspb.org.uk/pointofayr and look at the events listing.
A particular fave in the past have been our "Up with the Lark" events at Ness Gardens where we ID all the bird song before returning to the award winning cafe for a sumptious Full English!
Phone 0151 353 0123 for the Ness Gardens event
Thanks
-- Edited by paul brady on Tuesday 12th of April 2011 04:20:34 PM
High tide at 12:00 but water still 60m from wall; however:
Short-eared owl - 3
Hen harrier - 1
Peregrine - 1
Little egret - 6
Greater black-backed gull - 3
Godwit, Redshank, Curlew, Shelduck - 100s
Skylark, Mipits - 10s
Buzzard - 4 (M56)
buzzard giving very close views around bird table
2x pairs grey wagtails on brook
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
First chiffchaff of year
Song thrush 4
Flock of goldfinches
plus usual suspects
-- Edited by Pete Welch on Sunday 20th of March 2011 08:44:10 PM
1 Water Pipit
1 Meadow Pipit
1 Stonechat
1 Merlin
1 Little Egret
amongst others
2x pairs of Grey wagtails bickering over territory on brook
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
Goldcrest 2
Great spotted woody
Coal, blue, great and long tailed tits
Bull, chaff, green and goldfinches
25 species
A heads up for all those interested the Wirral Council Rangers, Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens and the RSPB are hosting a free birdwatching event this Saturday (5th at 9.30am - pop along anythime) at "King's Gap" Hoylake. We will have telescopes to show beginners (or just those interested) the many birds that use this site as a vital high tide roost.
For more details visit www.rspb.org.uk/innermarshfarm and look at the events section.
Fingers crossed for some of those gulls that everyone has been talking about!
A quick visit to the pontoon at perch rock New Brighton to get our target bird purple sandpiper, at least 20 birds which is the most ive ever counted here.
-- Edited by Pete Hines on Monday 21st of February 2011 10:23:59 PM
To all you guys thanks for the thanks and I'll pass the pleasantries onto the team here at IMF. Some feedback from locals is that its great to see so many people there (spending money!) and they want a high tide eveery week!!!
Nice to hear of some belated sightings too - with all them people and car parking issues I barely got to bird watch myself!!!
Got the two brambling today and had great fun trying to point them out to a relative newcomer to our shores and couldn't miss the show-off merlin and sparrowhawks!
Although the funniest moment of the day may have been explaining several times that the plastic short-eared owl was indeed a practical joke!!!!
Roll on March ....
The two muppits in canoes were clueless as well...spooking the SEO and the Merlin that were giving great views perched a couple of hunderd yards out!!
Brilliant turn out though, it was great to see so many families with young children getting involved. It's so important to get the next generation of kids excited and enthusiastic about wildlife. The RSBP guys from IMF derserve a lot of credit for doing that and giving people the chance to experience the joys of nature!! Well done!!
The only other notable moment to add was the couple of hundred pink-feet in spectacular formation flying over the carpark a while after high tide. It was a nice end to the afternoon!
-- Edited by Pete Welch on Sunday 20th of February 2011 09:49:57 PM
I think they may have been chasing the old guy who punted up on his raft 100 yards in front of them!! Sort of like the Americas cup but with idiots on a really small budget!!
They were Punting up the estuary in home made boat, something you could make from empty cornflakes packets and duct tape and glue after watching how to make a boat cheaply monolog on Blue peter, and then they actually stopped, mid estuary, Centre stage in the Main area where we was all hoping for action, 50ft out, in front of a hundred or so birders all looking at them with bins, scopes and all that, all of us looking at them in confused wonder, on stage, main spotlight on, testing 1,2,3, Centr of attention, lights, camera, action, and then they all lit up and had a fag break, i half expected them to open up bottles of extra strong cider too and have a drink, Apparantly that was the plan but they left the cider in the truck, Damn
-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Sunday 20th of February 2011 08:52:39 PM
I've seen the "boaters" mentioned below every high tide I've been - at a bit of a loss as to why...
Also, can't help but mention the hillbilly types attempting to punt up the small creek in front of the car park in a home built yacht. What the hell was that all about??
Same sparrowhawk as Steve straight over all our heads low,
Superb
Parkgate chippy filled our bellies too, mmm
Also had Merlin (perched and hunting), Peregrine, Kestrel, Hen Harrier (1 ring tail) and of note flocks of c.40 Brent Geese, c.100 Skylark and big group of 100s of Pink Feet over.
Kestrel 1
Merlin 3 Two going over head, one making a kill on shore line
Buzzard 3
Sparrowhawk 2 One coming right in across the front of car park
Hen Harrier 3
Short Eared Owl 2
Peregrine 1 stayed very far out
People 100's
Worth the trip and the traffic jam trying to get back out.
12 purple sandpipers on the marine platform at high tide, with also redshank, turnstones, dunlin
parkgate
Big turn out, car park full to the brim, a few coach parties too, tide did not come to the wall but quite high, supposed to be 6 inches higher tommorow,
late arrival for me after high tide but 3 hen harriers, all female, 1 short eared owl, a first there for a while for me, not as many as last year,
inner marsh
1 hen harrier took a lapwing from front of hide, sparrowhawk sat on bank for a while, usual redshank blackwits and a couple of dunlin, best birds were around 60 golden plover mixed in with 200+ lapwings
-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Saturday 19th of February 2011 07:52:40 PM
Roosting between junction 8 and 9 not far from the Boat Museum - in conifers (leylandii?) near to "Custom House"
A few local people seem to know about it - a nice little show, especially when the lcal sprawk turns up!
Lovely couple of hours spent on a spring like afternoon.
Lots of activity including Great tits and blue tits in every other tree, or at least that what it seemed like.! Long tailed tits active and a couple of Goldcrests showing well.Jays flying to and fro with acorns and 4 pairs of Bullfinches all in the same tree dropping to the ground to feed and also feeding on catkins. The most ive seen all together. The birds were in good voice with song thrush and blackbird and robin in good form. 20 species seen.
New Brighton - late am
7+ Purple Sandpipers and 1 Greenshank with other waders on the platform on the Marine Lake.
Leasowe. early pm
28 Scaup (in 3 groups) at high tide.
West Kirby - pm
c60 Pale-bellied Brent Geese distantly from West Kirby shore.
Parkgate late pm.
2+ Hen Harriers including a male showing reasonably close to the carpark.
1 Merlin
High tide . Waders packing onto the platforms in the lake inc at least 20 Purple Sandpipers in with Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone and a couple of Knot.
Yes Jonathan I agree about the ground perching habit being the commoner but sods law means that whenever I see them land off the Old Baths it's always out of view, in a dip, behind tussocks etc :(
This was unusual only in that I got a scoped, perched view as I said - it filled the scope for all of 5 seconds before it moved to a more usual landing spot - hidden!!!
Yep, pity to have missed each other Mike, see ya next time I hope :)
Paul
-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Saturday 5th of February 2011 08:01:24 PM
-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Saturday 5th of February 2011 08:04:47 PM
Hi Mike,
They do regularly perch on the ground, but I don't often see them on posts, dead branches, etc. However, over the Christmas period when it was bitterly cold with the ground covered in snow, I spent three days at Hesketh Out Marsh and regularly saw them landing on posts, rather than the ground. I can only presume it had something to do with the snow or very low temperatures?
Having said that, I had a hen harrier, a merlin and a peregrine all perched up on posts within 50yds of each other a couple of weeks ago at Parkgate, earlier in the day I'd had another ring-tail perched on a fence post at Burton Marsh . . . so what do I know!!
Cheers
Jonathan
Hi Doc
Haven't seen you for a while - would have been nice to catch up at Parkgate.
Funnily enough the other day Jonathan Platt was commenting on how rare it is to see perched up Hen Harriers. I have only ever seen them flying around. While I was there the wind was attrocious though it did cause one of the ring-tails to hang in the air right in front of the car park giving really good views.
Last time I was there the male headed off towards Burton Marsh at dusk and I wonder if it is roosting there?
Take care
Mike
I was at the Old Baths car park on Thursday afternoon so sorry to have missed you, had cracking views of a male Hen Harrier, albeit in very windy conditions. The wind probably forced it to land on a hump of ground giving a scoped perched view - rare here, before it floated up and over a tussocky bit which it dropped into. Gave up soon afetr that cos I thought that I'd et blown away!!
Cheers
Paul
I think this pool has held up to 23 feral barnacle geese this year - one or two people have noticed it