Pallas's Warbler showed fairly well in small trees around the filtration beds of the sewage works off Target Road, Heswall this morning. Also five (collybita) Chiffchaff.

Great Northern Diver still on West Kirby marine lake.

Out on the Dee Marshes, highlights included:

Three ringtail Hen Harrier
Three Merlin
Single Peregrine
Single (second calendar year) Marsh Harrier from the Old Baths
Four Great White Egret
Single Kestrel and Sparrowhawk
Four Short-eared Owl from Denhall Lane
Plenty of Rock Pipits
Herd of Whooper Swans off Denhall Lane

Good if brief views of Pallas's Warbler between 10.10 and 10.20 am this morning. No show from then until i left at 11.15. From Heswall head towards sewage works on Target Road.

Also in area were 10 Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, 10 Redwing, 3 Little Egret and 30 Pied Wagtail. 

-- Edited by Chris Harper on Sunday 3rd of January 2016 12:28:33 PM

Tues 29th Had a wander round the Wirral in fine weather to try and get a last couple of birds on the year list :-

New Brighton on incoming tide one sanderling mixed in with the oyster catchers

Leashowe high tide roost 100+ knot with about 25 lapwing and 2 redshank.

New Brighton Marine Lake at high tide Roosting on the pontoon 30+ redshank, 40+ turnstone, 2 sanderling and at least 3 purple sandpipers. Someone spooked the birds just after I arrived and they didn't return, so there could have been more sandpipers in amongst the turnstones.

Parkgate One very accommodating ring-tailed hen harrier allowing me to photograph it.

Burton Mere RSPB popped in to try and get some better photos of the LE owl, but it wasn't in its usual bush. I did notice footprints in the stream in front of its bush, so it looks as if the bird had been disturbed by birders trying to get close to photograph it. Pretty poor show if that was the case.

Added sanderling and purple sandpiper to give a year total of 182, so not a completely wasted day.

Must try harder next year!

west Kirby marine lake.

great northern diver showing really well despite the weather.
no sign of the red throated diver
12 red breasted merganser
4 great crested grebe
redshank, dunlin & turnstone around the lake.
also 7 brent geese on the sea as the tide came in.

new brighton.

6 purple sandpiper
100+ turnstone
70+ redshank
22 dunlin
all on the pontoon.

parkgate.

1 hen harrier, ringtail
1 marsh harrier

I had hoped the NW winds would keep up until today, but not to be. Still I decided to go anyway. Meols / Dove point produced the expected waders mainly Dunlin, Redshank and Oystercatchers with a couple of Sanderling. Plenty Gulls loafing on the beach with all the common species. Some too far out to be worth checking for rarer species. A few Common Scoter on the sea and flying around along with at least one Great Crested Grebe and one Red-throated Diver. I carried on to Inner Marsh Farm, but saw nothing of note. Always a disappointment this reserve.

-- Edited by Craig Higson on Sunday 22nd of November 2015 10:14:13 PM

Originally posted today by Mark Jarrett:

Six Leach's Petrel seen today at Leasowe. The winds die down a bit over the weekend but first thing Monday morning are around 45 mph and westerlies. Lessening to around 25 mph by midday. Hopefully still be good for a few birds being blown in.

Parkgate today, 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 1 Great White Egret, 5 Little Egrets and all the expected species.

Burton Marsh, 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 20+ Mute Swan and all the expected species.

Phil

 

 

-- Edited by Phil Hampson on Tuesday 3rd of November 2015 11:23:18 PM

Burton Marsh, Denhall Lane, first light till 9.00am (Sat 24th) Highlights

Pink footed Geese 1000+
Marsh Harrier 2, 1 quartering the marsh and 1 perched up
Peregrine
Merlin
Kestrel 3
Short eared owl
Little Egret 34 over in two flocks presumably leaving the roost
Stonechat 2

Today's Parkgate sightings

It was windy to begin, which tapered off.

Short Eared Owl briefly hunting
Female Hen Harrier

Donkey Stand Flash had 20 Redshanks

After visiting Burton Mere Wetlands then spent a productive couple of hours or so down on the estuary split between Station Road/Denhall Lane and later Parkgate in the Old Baths car park. Amongst others :- Marsh Harrier (1f, 1f/juv) Buzzard (1) Kestrel (1) Merlin (1) Barn Owl (1) Short eared Owl (2) Great white Egret (1) Little Egret (c.30) Pink footed Goose (c.750)

Belated report from Station Road, Burton Marsh, for Friday, October 2nd.

Stonechat 1m 1f.
Raven 1
Swallow 4
Siskin 1
Little Egret 4
Marsh Harrier 2 imms.
Meadow Pipits
Skylarks
Buzzard 1
Kestrel 1
Pink-feet Geese 30+
Curlew 1
Linnets
Starlings
Lapwings
etc.

Very disappointing "high tide" on the Dee yesterday, didn't seem to come up much at all.
I haven't tried a high tide watch here for years - does it need a strong wing up the estuary to make it flood the marsh these days?
Hardly a raptor in sight, one Peregrine, one Marsh Harrier, both at ridiculous range, a few Kestrels and Buzzards.
Possible Merlin, possible Sparrowhawk, both miles away in the heat haze.

Saw more raptors on the M56 driving there

Highlight was a Kingfisher

-- Edited by Richard Would on Thursday 1st of October 2015 08:40:39 AM

-- Edited by Richard Would on Thursday 1st of October 2015 08:41:38 AM

-- Edited by Richard Would on Thursday 1st of October 2015 08:43:50 AM

-- Edited by Richard Would on Thursday 1st of October 2015 08:44:15 AM

Steve Burke and I watched the marsh from Denhall Quay over the high tide. It was a theory of mine that the Short-eared Owls being seen lately might go up with the tide. This was a bad theory! We did see a nice juvenile Marsh Harrier hunting, and a couple of Great White Egret. Steve noticed 2 Raven that escaped me and also 2 Whinchat down at Station Road when he went to get some lunch at the Café! Also of note, 4 Ringed Plovers on Decca Pool, the first time I've seen them down there. It was generally a bit flat; people were saying the tidal surge was suppressed a bit by the wind. But on the plus side it was a lovely day and nice to be there in a T-shirt rather than all the winter gear.

Sunday 20th Sept approx 1.45pm to almost 8pm.

Neston - Station Road / Denhall Lane / Deca Pools and Quayside near the Harp Inn, and back, in the company of Steve Burke.

A very successful visit and difficult to put numbers to but myself and Steve weighed up the number of times some Bird species were seen, whereabouts on the marsh they were seen, and also the time span between the sightings so we think we've got it right!

Plenty of usuals including...
- Black-headed Gulls
- Common Gull ...1
- Lesser Black-backed Gulls ...plenty of adults around
- Great Black-backed Gulls ...no adults but plenty of monstrous juveniles, I mean HUGE!
- Common Teal ...sizeable numbers
- Northern Shoveler ...1 female
- Shelduck ...a few adults far out flying over the marsh
- Tufted Duck ...surprised to see a couple of females on one of the pools
- Cormorant ...1 only, flying low distantly towards the windmills
- Great White Egret ...3 together at once seen from Denhall Lane
- Little Egret ...well over 100 including groups of 33, 14, 11, and 10, mainly flying over
- Grey Heron ...at least 10
- Short-eared Owl ...minimum 5, 2 in the air together then singles all over the marsh
- Hen Harrier ...1 Ringtail, distant views
- Marsh Harrier ...absolute minimum of 3, quite possibly 4
- Merlin ...minimum 4, 2 females on posts same time, 1 male, and a female bombing it chasing Hirundines nowhere near others
- Peregrine ...1 female hunting distantly over far marsh
- Kestrel ...3 or 4, good views of 1 on post tearing apart a small mammal
- Common Buzzard ...1 only, sat on low dead tree, still there after nearly 6 hours
- Lapwing ...lots around
- Curlew ...good numbers incl 1 with virtually no bill flew over us twice, looked like a huge Golden Plover
- Common Snipe ...3 over, 1 sat at edge of reeds at Deca Pools
- Stock Dove ...1 feeding at Deca Pools edge
- Common Swift ...1, surprised everybody when this one appeared
- House Martin ...plenty around
- Swallow ...lots of them all over the marsh
- Meadow Pipit ...plenty around
- Skylark ...plenty around too
- Pied Wagtail ...2 over
- Siskin ...2 over
- Reed Bunting ...2 males, 1 on top of reeds another over calling
- Starling ...various large groups around, a few 100 in one group
- plenty of Corvids around including some mobbing the Short-eared Owls and the Marsh Harriers

Other things of note...
-Massive flock of small Waders in distance near Hilbre
-1 Wheatear and 1 Sparrowhawk reported by other birders.
-Water Rail heard on numerous occasions.
-More Common Snipe heard on way back to the car.
-A possible 4th Great White Egret dropped into the marsh near the Harp Inn, very large
-Merlin and Short-eared Owl's were seen on many occasions but we've compacted the numbers as mentioned
-The bill-less Curlew, or at least a stump remaining, what a strange sight that was and we were both wondering about how it's managed to survive so it must surface feed presumably.
-Plenty of small Bats around too, presumably Pipistrelle-types

A fantastic few hours here with some brilliant sightings.

Burton Marsh/Denhall Lane 7.45-9.00am

Great White Egret 2 inflight and 1 feeding
Little Egret many
Hen Harrier 2 Ring tails
Peregrine 1 perched on a fence post
Raven 2 over
Wheatear 6, 2(Greenland) notably bigger and plumper

Osprey reported Unfortunatly not seen by me

Just got back from my late showing at Park Lane area of Meols.

Planned to go early afternoon after work but unfortunately got stuck in the mayhem on the M56 caused by one person who managed to bring half of Greater Manchester to a standstill from 9.15am until teatime. Still, I made it in the end.

- Juvenile Red-backed Shrike

A Lifer for me in the form of a juvenile, having only ever seen a brief view of an adult male in Hammamet, Tunisia, whilst I was on a Camel ride so didn't get a good look, got better view of the lizard it had caught and hung up to dry on a thorny bush.
This one wasn't showing at first and there was just me and 1 other birder, but we noticed another birder with a camera stood on presumably a path that was parallel to us looking at same trees we were.
Sure enough it was showing really well but on the blind side of the Hawthorn Tree. Amazing views down to around 30-40ft, it caught what looked like a Bee, and caught a few other things too.
It relocated to a Bramble bush after a while and then a dead head of what looked like Hogweed, and in the process was actually a little bit closer to us at one point.
Absolutely belting bird to watch going about its business.

Other birds of note...
- Black-tailed Godwits ...some dropped in onto one of the flooded Horse paddocks
- plenty of Teal, Mallard, and female Shoveler flew over
- Sedge Warbler ...heard only in the tall boggy grass
- 1 Little Egret over
- lots of Gulls, mainly Black-headed
- lots of Swallows
- 1 Linnet
- and a Robin producing the most fantastic melodic call right at the caravan park entrance


-- Edited by Rob Creek on Saturday 5th of September 2015 09:27:47 PM

Good day for Wheatears, 11+ at New Brighton near the Lifeguards station on the groynes and the beach. 1 male and rest mixed females and juveniles. At West Kirby Marine Lake at the usual wader roost spot there was a further 2, 1 adult female and a juvenile. These kept very close to each other so assume family group. Also 50+Turnstone and 3 Redshank (the roosting flock flew off) here. That is until a family decided to rockpool, fish and picnic on the rocks thereby disturbing all the birds. A visit from the wardens in the RIB had zero effect they just carried on. Then another 7 or 8 adults and children did the same at the other end. Gave up at that point. Superb views of the Wheatears before the disturbance though.
Dreadful behaviour by people who must have seen they were upsetting the birds plus they were told about it but chose to ignore. I don't envy the Wardens confronted with this type of behaviour and from what I have read on other forums it would not seem to be an isolated incident sadly.

Phil

After a relaxing early afternoon watching the waders at burton mere, I went for dinner with my family at the boathouse at parkgate. While eating, I was entertained by two female/juvenile marsh harriers, and I managed to spot the reported great white egret in the distance

-- Edited by M Gannon on Sunday 23rd of August 2015 09:17:42 PM

steven burke wrote:

---

Parkgate/ old baths car park. Brief visit after burton mere With rob Creek.

Quail heard on a few occasions in the marsh opposite the car park around 6pm.

---

Literally within seconds of parking the car we could hear the Quail calling out in the marsh, 3 or 4 bursts of the 'whip' call before it went quiet.

Other birds of note...
-Some Little Egrets around
-2 Mute Swan
-7 Oystercatcher
-plenty of Black-headed Gulls
-2 Grey Heron

A quick visit to Focalpoint Optics for a bit of business then off to Leasowe with Steve Burke.

TURTLE DOVE - 1
A Lifer for me and this one is a belter in brilliant plumage. Well worth the wait!
It must've been hungry because it fed none slop whilst we were there

Birds of note...
-Plenty of Collared Dove
-Loads of Woodpigeon
-Chaffinch
-Greenfinch
-Goldfinch
-House Sparrow
-Starling
-Whitethroat - 1
-Willow Warbler - 1 seen briefly as a silhouette but lots heard
-Chiffchaff - 1 seen briefly as a silhouette and more heard
-Song Thrush - 1
-Lots of Blackbird
-Robin - at least 5
-Dunnock
-Pied Wagtail - 1
-Common Buzzard - 1
-Great Spotted Woodpecker heard only


-- Edited by Rob Creek on Sunday 17th of May 2015 05:37:26 AM

A day off yesterday (Thursday) so a pop up to Leasowe Lighthouse for the morning. The weather was glorious, warm & sunny but possibly too good. 5 Wheatears were along the mound fenceline in the field inland of the paddocks path which runs between Lingham Lane & Park Lane. A few wagtails were in the paddocks including at least one White Wagtail. Best of all though was a stunning male Redstart in the bushes opposite the caravan park entrances on Park Lane. After performing well it later went missing when two cats took up residence in the same section of hedgerow!

Leasowe lighthouse area this afternoon:

Swallow
2 Wheatear
5 Chiffchaffs
Willow Warbler reported (but not seen by me)
At least 60 Meadow Pipit
Flock of at least 30 Linnet


-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 9th of April 2015 09:32:35 PM

Went looking at a car on the Wirral Sunday so called at New Brighton, very windy though the pontoon was sheltered.
Dipped on the Purple Sandpipers for a third time!
Laughing Gull still present on the pontoon with approx. 80 Redshank and half a dozen Turnstone.

Reading the Leasowe Lighthouse blog, the regular watchers there have been walking a long way down the beach at low tide to give themselves a view of the Scoter flock and hence it seems a first Cheshire Surf Scoter. There are some photos at this link, I really liked the shot from the post of the 22nd:

http://lighthousebirding.blogspot.co.uk/