Doc Brewster wrote:

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Late post, but I managed to go to see the Red-necked Grebe on return from my Highland Scotland Holiday last week. The bird had appeared whilst I was away & loving summer plumaged birds of this species I was hoping that it would stick. Stick it has with it still there up to the present time and remaining pretty faithful to a short stretch of river. On the evening I was there I was the only birder present, watching it in the sunshine, neck glowing red and the yellow on the beak almost fluorescent. The bird spent equal amounts of time over near the far bank & right up close under the near bank where I managed my best photos. In a couple of hours watching it spent a fair amount of time roosting but a good period fishing too. It was seen to surface with small fish in a pretty high proportion of dives which explains its long stay

As I was leaving I was able to show a couple of visiting Notts birders the grebe through my scope and have a good chat. This was a lifer for them, what a plumage to get your life tick Red-necked Grebe in, well done

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Friday 6th of June 2014 09:48:19 AM

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which part of the weaver is it favoring upstream or downstream of the bend or on the bend itself?which is the best spot for parking these days,as I haven't been for quite a while.
cheers John

Late post, but I managed to go to see the Red-necked Grebe on return from my Highland Scotland Holiday last week. The bird had appeared whilst I was away & loving summer plumaged birds of this species I was hoping that it would stick. Stick it has with it still there up to the present time and remaining pretty faithful to a short stretch of river. On the evening I was there I was the only birder present, watching it in the sunshine, neck glowing red and the yellow on the beak almost fluorescent. The bird spent equal amounts of time over near the far bank & right up close under the near bank where I managed my best photos. In a couple of hours watching it spent a fair amount of time roosting but a good period fishing too. It was seen to surface with small fish in a pretty high proportion of dives which explains its long stay

As I was leaving I was able to show a couple of visiting Notts birders the grebe through my scope and have a good chat. This was a lifer for them, what a plumage to get your life tick Red-necked Grebe in, well done

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Friday 6th of June 2014 09:48:19 AM

A morning visit to coincide with an opticians appointment in Frodsham.

Red-necked Grebe showing brilliantly on the Weaver, just yards from the near bank. Lovely bird. Also present a few Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Shelduck and a couple of Reed Warbler making a racket.

On No 6, the Lesser Scaup is still with a group of Tufted Duck on there and easily found. Also a beautifully marked Buzzard floating on the wind, a hunting Kestrel (f) and a few commoner passerines.

A quick edit: On no 6, another birder and I also got onto a duck with a small pointed tail and white flash on the lower part of its face. It was quite distant and initially we thought a female Ruddy Duck - hence not being part of the initial post. Photos on the Frodsham Birds blog show it actually to be a female Common Scoter - so in she goes! Was associating with the group of Tufted where the Lesser Scaup was.

-- Edited by Andrew Mitchell on Friday 6th of June 2014 09:59:26 AM

Red necked grebe showed brilliantly this morning before it got disturbed by the great crested grebes then decided to go on to the far bank of the weaver.
Lesser scaup was moving around but still showing well on no 6 tank.
Several buzzards around
2 kestrels
1 Peregrine falcon
1 red legged partridge
Several whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, reed & sedge warblers around.

Nice to meet you again Ollie, also Austin & dawn

-- Edited by steven burke on Sunday 1st of June 2014 11:30:35 PM

Red-necked Grebe showed splendidly at Weaver Bend - Lesser Scaup was a bit further out at Tank 6, where 2 Little Egrets also dropped in. Great to see Steve Burke too.

-- Edited by Ollie Wright on Sunday 1st of June 2014 09:42:41 PM

Lesser Scaup & Red-necked Grebe showing well today

Also there this afternoon,

Lesser Scaup in the middle of No6 tank with a small group of Tufted Duck.

Along the track and small copse on Eastern corner of No 6 were 3 Linnets, 3 Sedge Warblers, several Common Whitethroats & lots of Goldfinches.

The Red Necked Grebe was on the Weaver in company with a Great Crested Grebe.

I kept finding large hairy caterpillars along the track, some squashed by cars, or feet, they look like Drinker moth larvae, but couldn't be 100% sure?.

This afternoon Red-necked Grebe still showing on Weaver Bend and male Lesser Scaup on No. 6.
Also, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Ravens and 2 adult Avocets plus 1 juvenile...etc.etc.etc.

Visited the area this morning. The lesser scaup was seen resting with mallards on the no. 6 tank. The red necked grebe was intially hard to pick out but, once found, showed well, rarely diving unlike the nearby great crested grebes.

A fantastic first visit to the site. Both of these birds were lifers for me!

Called in at the marsh on the way home from Merseyside this evening for a look at the summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe which was still present downstream the Weaver bend. Also went up to number six tank where the Lesser Scaup was easily picked out amongst 5 Tufted Ducks.

On the new scrapes in the fields adjacent to the "bend" Avocets with chicks were present

Just a post to say that the Red-necked Grebe was still present at the Weaver Estuary earlier today whilst the Lesser Scaup was viewable on No.6 tank.

Originally posted by Mark Speight today:

I had a walk round No 6 tank today. Firstly I spotted a Male Marsh Harrier in great condition. Really great views as it glided past on the river side of the tank. There where a lot of Buzzards in the area as usual. Worth the trip I thought. I noticed the male and female Marsh Harriers which were great stuff to see and I carried on my walk. Not much else to see at all from there . Then I got to the model plane area entrance gate. On the path that leads directly away from the gate up to where the wagon is used for advertising within the 1st 30 feet of that path sat on the barbed wire was a female Whinchat. She flitted from one side to the other of the path sitting on the wires and fence posts. I watched for a good hour and it never left. I have never seen one before. So it was a great day for me. I took some digiscope picture but a bit new at this so don't know how to load them. Hope some else gets to see it. Lovely little bird.

28th Dec 2013
My brother and I spent a whole day walking our legs off around Frodsham Marshes.

Plenty of buzzards and kestrels about.
Lapwings, Curlews, goldfinch and shelduck abundant
Distant views of peregrine and sparrowhawk.
Cormorant, redwing, pied wagtail, starling, greenfinch, great tit, blue tit, long tail tit seen
Tractors galore, some sort of vintage tractor rally took place. I didn't count them but there must have been at least a hundred going round.

Despite staying late, no owls were seen.

Some pictures from the day at http://stevensbirds.weebly.com

Cheers

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 16th of April 2014 03:45:06 PM

All-dayer on Frodsham Marsh, including The Score, 3 Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Whinchat, 1 Wheatear, c700 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Turnstone, 4 Knot, 20 Greylag Geese, 1 Peregrine, 1 Ruff, 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 17 Raven, 2 Common Sandpipers, 7 Pochard, c500 Teal and a funny looking Shelduck hybrid

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 30th of August 2013 08:54:19 PM

Despite knowing it hadn't been found today I still chanced my arm for the Cattle Egret down here. Sadly it wasn't re-found during my visit but I still managed some great birds down there.

Escaped Marbled Duck
2 Curlew Sandpiper
1 juv Little Stint
1 Ruff
2 juv Black Necked Grebes
1 male Marsh Harrier
1 Raven
Also around - hundreds of Teal, 50 Dunlin, 30 Snipe, several Ringed Plovers, a few Curlews and a single Black tailed Godwit.

Two Winchat and two Yellow Wags along Lordship Marsh, Two Swift over tank 6 and both male and female Marsh Harrier over tank 5.

Great day! More below

http://austinmorley.blogspot.co.uk/

Weaver bend at around 13:00:

Whinchat, male, fly-catching from the fence-posts
Common Sandpiper x 2
Dunlin x 5
White Wagtails x 20ish
Whitethroat

No.6 tank:

Marsh Harrier, male
Common Sandpiper x 1
Ringed Plover x 1
Dunlin x 1
Whitethroat, m&f
Reed Warblers x 3 (heard only)

55 Wheatear were in the ploughed field just over Marsh Lane motorway bridge this afternoon with 6 more in the paddock and another 7 present along Lordship Lane.

Rob Creek wrote:

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If anyone local to Frodsham knows which Pipit species normally move through there then let me know.
Cheers

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They'll most certainly be Meadow Pipits Rob

Weaver Bends : a bit bleak and desolate.
Birds of note: 2 Buzzards, ~40 Lapwing, large colony of Black Headed Gulls, a Kestrel and a lot of Pipits constantly moving. Couldn't identify as they didn't set down until too far away and out of view.

Drove further round to Frodsham Marsh.
1 Birder (presume its Austin Morley) said he had just seen a Hen Harrier but I missed it, only raptors I saw were 3 Buzzards flying low over the marsh and a male Merlin. More Lapwing, and roughly 20 or so Golden Plovers. A few Raven knocking about and again lots of Pipits on the move but they didn't land anywhere near me so I only got overhead views against the light so I couldn't identify positively but I think they were all Meadow Pipits.

If anyone local to Frodsham knows which Pipit species normally move through there then let me know.
Cheers

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 07:21:49 PM

A nice walk around Frodsham Marsh today were I spotted a female hen harrier, several raven around tank 5 and 15+ pintail on weaver bend with a single male stonechat on the bend as well.

Cheers Jon,
Much appreciated.
Kev B

Hi Everyone,
Does anyone have directions and advice please for parking/ access etc for the Frodsham 'Patch'? Haven't been before and want to add it to my growing list of spots to go to at the weekends.

Cheers, KevB

Kev,

The Frodsham Birding Blog gives a wealth of information as to what's about ( see link )

http://frodshammarshbirdblog.wordpress.com/


and

http://www.cawos.org/frodshammarsh.htm

has a good link to a map of the marsh.

If you've got a satnav entering Marsh Lane Frodsham should get you there, although the above two sites should give you advise on where best to park

cheers

KEV BROWN wrote:

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Hi Everyone,
Does anyone have directions and advice please for parking/ access etc for the Frodsham 'Patch'? Haven't been before and want to add it to my growing list of spots to go to at the weekends.

Cheers, KevB

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-- Edited by Jon Bowen on Tuesday 12th of February 2013 06:17:46 AM

Sunday 20th Jan 2013 9.15am: Lone waxwing on track to No6 tank viewing spot, looking for none existant berries. Flew off towards Marsh Lane area. Teal sitting out their time on the frozen tank.

-- Edited by DAVID KENNEDY on Monday 21st of January 2013 10:03:56 AM

Highlights from my visit here this morning included :-

2 Ruff
3 Sanderling
5 Grey Plover
1 Ringed Plover
100+ Golden Plover
100+ Lapwing
50+ Curlew
10+ Redshank
50+ Dunlin
1 Peregrine

All on or near No. 6 tank.

A Little Stint was also found, unfortunately after I had left.

Many thanks to the other observers for sharing their sightings.

Cheers Brian

On number 6 tank, Garganey, 3 Knot, 1 Greenshank, 6 Golden Plover, 25 Black-tailed Godwit, 9 Pintail

Managed an hour or so at Frodsham this afternoon - the four Ruddy Shelduck were still present on no.6 along with Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Shoveler, Teal and big numbers of Pied Wagtails taking insects. Also present was a Black Swan looking very much at home and apparently feeding well.

On no. 5 tank there was a big flock of low-flying Swallows and two Buzzards on the ground.

Great, lets get the troops out there, better chance of finding it, any news then I will post on here & my own forums if you could do the same that would be great. With the record over recent years it wouldn't surprise me to see it re-found up the Wirral in the Meols/Leasowe area

Hi Doc

I'll try and get down to Frodders today...........but if I can't............I'll text the lads there to put the word out regarding the Red Rumped Swallow,and hopefully someone will be able to relocate it.



Cheers Denzil

One of the Marbury Patch Lads texted me around teatime to say that he was watching a Red-rumped Swallow in a flock of hirundines over Number 6 Tank today. The bird flew west and unfortunately could not be relocated but could still be in the area. Well worth checking out those hirundine flocks anywhere in the area over the next few days

No luck with the reported Aquatic Warbler at Red Rocks so a very quick stop at Frodsham to check number 6 tank on way home.

A Little Stint and a Curlew Sandpiper showed well in the same 'scope view amongst the many Dunlin, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwits and Ring Plovers also present.

Nice narrative on a good morning down at Frodsham.

Pity about the rain, but the abundance and variety of birds more than compensated. I wonder if the Buff-breasted will show again tomorrow ? May just have to go and take another look !

A cancellation to my plans for today left me at a loose end this morning. A quick text to fellow birder John Barber and we decided to head for Frodsham marsh as there'd been quite a few good birds down there recently.

I met up with John on No. 6 tank at 9.00am and we started sifting through the large numbers of Black tailed Godwits and Dunlins on show in front of us. John soon picked out a Sanderling while I managed a Curlew Sandpiper just before the heavens opened and we had to retreat to the car for thirty minutes while it 'bounced down'.

After the deluge we resumed scoping but all the Dunlin had relocated further away so a scope of the other areas began. John at this point went for walkies with another local birder (Paul Crawley) while I and another birder (didn't get his name) continued scoping. A summer plumage Turnstone was then pointed to me while I found five juvenile Yellow Wagtails. At this point around a hundred Dunlin came swooping back in just beyond the Godwits. I quickly put my scope onto them and immediately picked out a Curlew Sandpiper. I then noticed a different bird that wandered into view. Hells Bells!! I shouted, or words to that effect. Its the Buff Breasted Sandpiper. A quick direction from me soon put the other birder onto it as I waved my arms frantically to get Johns attention. Fortunately he saw me and was able to get a view of the bird before it started making off left for cover. We actually only managed to view it for about ten minutes before it disappeared once more into the scrub.

Its general direction was then pointed out to other birders present but then what looked to be a sub adult female Peregrine burst onto the scene sending everything scattering. Further checking for another hour or so proved fruitless but all in all some good birds were seen this morning.

1 Buff Breasted Sandpiper
1 Sanderling
1 Turnstone
2 Curlew Sandpiper
c150 Dunlin
c250 Black Tailed Godwit
c40 Curlew
c10 Ringed Plover
6 Avocet
5 Yellow Wagtails
1 Peregrine
2 Raven
c150 Black Headed Gulls
c25 Shelduck

Quick look around tank 6 mid to late afternoon
No sign of the sandpiper which had flown off earlier on but other birds present:
2 ruddy shelduck
c 50 dunlin
20 black tailed godwit
2 ringed plover
3 stock dove
yellow wagtail
Sedge warbler
Reed warbler

buff-breasted sandpiper still present around 5pm

14.30-16.30

No 6 tank

1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Whimbrel juv, 1 Redshank, 142 Dunlin,

2 Pintail (eclipse), 2 groups juv Shelduck ( 14 + 7), 2 Marsh Harriers m/f,

2 f Kestrel (1 in really scruffy moult), single flock of 160 Starling being

harassed by male harrier.

1 Red Admiral, 6 Comma, plus lots of Gatekeeper & S.Tortoiseshell

butterflies.

300 Dunlin
400 Black tailed godwit
12 Curlew
6 Ringed plover
all on no.6 tank

2 Water rail calling in south east corner of no.4 tank near metal gate.
1 Peregrine falcon over factory at end of Lordship lane.
family of Whitethroat on path at side of no.6 tank. Plenty pied wagtail with young but no yellow wagtail today.

Thanks for that Ian. must have been still writing my post when you replied.! saved me trawling through all those Black tailed godwits.! i was looking forward to that.!! ahem.

Have to check through my Godwit pics now.! just took some to get an estimate of numbers. any distinguishing features.? i noticed one pale greenshank coloured bird. it must be there somewhere as i met Paul Crawley arriving as i was leaving.! must have forgotten to tell him about Hudsonian godwit.! just as well someone knows what they are looking at.!!

Alleged Hudsonian Godwit is a Black-tailed Godwit; pretty much as those who found it believed originally, so I'm informed.

Who says photos can't lie? Field birders claim one over the 'Internet birding fraternity' . I wonder, if the bird had never been seen again after yesterday, how the magical Internet debates would have proceeded? With one observer noting white underwing coverts yesterday no doubt BBRC would have found it (rightly) not proven anyway but subsequently severely criticised due to the apparently confirmatory images available .

Praise be for bloody interesting birds like this, which challenge us and occasionally put birders back in their place. Remember, it's the birds who are in charge here. They're the real experts

15/07/2012 - a tense wait until dark this evening for the probable Hudsonian Godwit with Jason Atkinson, Phil Owen et al. The bird was photographed earlier in the day on tank6. A mere 489 Black-tailed Godwits in the roost by darkness so a large number of the total flock must have remained out on the Mersey and it was a no show from the Hud-wit. Other stuff seen on tank6:

2 Pochards
100+ Dunlins
1 Avocet
1 Whimbrel
3 Common Gulls
4 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Grasshopper Warbler

First light this morning. 1 Whinchat on No.5 tank viewed from top of slope near corner of No.6 tank. 1200 ish. Black-tailed godwit. 6 Knot. 100 Dunlin. 1 Avocet. 1 Yellow wagtail. 1 Male Marsh harrier over canal pools.

Tour round tank no 6 and walk length of Lordship lane in wet and very muddy conditions.: 2 Grasshopper warbler. Reed bunting. Reed warbler. Sedge warbler. Blackcap. Pochard. Tufted duck. Black-tailed godwit. Shelduck. 4 Yellow wagtail. Ringed plover. Large flocks of Goldfinch + Starling. Skylark. Redshank. Dunlin. Sand martin. Swift. Swallow. Whitethroat. Curlew. Bullfinch. Chiffchaff. Kestrel. Buzzard. Sparrowhawk.

Tour round tank no 6 and walk length of Lordship lane in wet and very muddy conditions.: 2 Grasshopper warbler. Reed bunting. Reed warbler. Sedge warbler. Blackcap. Pochard. Tufted duck. Black-tailed godwit. Shelduck. 4 Yellow wagtail. Ringed plover. Large flocks of Goldfinch + Starling. Skylark. Redshank. Dunlin. Sand martin. Swift. Swallow. Whitethroat. Curlew. Bullfinch. Chiffchaff. Kestrel. Buzzard. Sparrowhawk.

A very pleasant couple of hours this afternoon on the marsh with Mr Barber, in the sunshine, around number 6 tank.

100's of Black-tailed Godwit, several Redshank and Dunlin, 2 Ruff and one each of Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. 3 juvenile and one adult Avocet and one Spotted Redshank.

Steve Suttill wrote:

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Not that I'd ever compare our beloved website owner to Stalin...

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I should hope not too Steve! Rose-coloured Stalin perhaps though...

Ian McKerchar wrote
No idea what you're on about Steve...

The wonders of editing

It's just like Stalin removing all evidence of Trotsky from photos of the Russian revolution Not that I'd ever compare our beloved website owner to Stalin...

Steve

Steve Suttill wrote:

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or you could try: http://frodshammarshbirdblog.wordpress.com/

what's a bolg, Ian

Steve

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No idea what you're on about Steve...

"Swiftly he returned, and his wrath was redoubled, so that nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him. He scattered the bodyguard, and pulled down Bolg himself and crushed him."

Bolg (d. TA 2941) was a Goblin-king of the Misty Mountains in late Third Age.