Afternoon visit to Parkgate with Simon Gough.

Birds included...
- 1 cracking male Hen Harrier (seen twice)
- 10+ Marsh Harrier
- 1 Short-eared Owl
- 1 Merlin
- 2 Peregrine

- Water Rail and Tawny Owl heard from the Old Baths car park then a Tawny Owl seen in flight not far from Neston.

1130-1530 at the Harp Inn

Hen Harrier 3 - including the sublime adult male bird, what a beauty!
Marsh Harrier 3 at least
Merlin 2
Short-eared Owl 2
Stonechat 2
Kingfisher 1
Hundreds of Pink-footed Geese

I've never seen a Kingfisher anywhere near the marsh before, but this bird was zipping along one of the saltmarsh channels. The male Hen Harrier showed 4 times in all, once when a Shortie provoked it into the air. I saw it catch a bird in flight at one point and then drop down to eat it; it came close enough that you could see its yellow eyes. This was a classic Dee Estuary day.

A good three hours on the estuary this afternoon, mainly Denhall Lane with a final hour at Parkgate, Old Baths car park. Weather sunny and quite pleasant.

Several hundred Canada Goose were seen out from Denhall Lane on the flooded marsh but the main players were two Peregrine, a minimum two Marsh Harrier and a ring tail Hen Harrier. A Great White Egret was noted and there was a Ringed Plover and two Ruff on Decca Pools.

At Parkgate, the star bird was a male Hen Harrier. Initially hidden, straight out from the car park, the bird emerged after a half hour wait to give superb views in the lovely light conditions. It quartered the marsh, first off to the right then moving far left, opposite the bottom end of the village, not before having a brief spat with a female Marsh Harrier. A Peregrine was also present, opposite the car park, preening on a branch sticking up out of the marsh.

Old gun site at Leasowe. 08:20 till 13:30ish. Lots of waders batting around at high tide including the usual suspects of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Redshank and Oystercatchers. A cracking adult Arctic Skua was a great sight as was a Juvenile Red-throated Diver just off the beach. Loads and loads of Common Scoter, i.e. thousands in the distance. Also hundreds of Meadow Pipits streaming in across the sea. Several thousand in the time i was there. It was also nice to see the Sandwich Terns and a few Common Terns still knocking around.

Saturday 20th. 7.30pm donkey stand flash, parkgate.

1 little stint, showing well
7 dunlin
1 black tailed godwit
200+ redshank
4 marsh harriers, up in the air at once
3 kestrels
lots of little egrets passing over going to roost.

27/07/16
Merlin through Parkgate at circa 1600.

Burton Marsh - Decca Pools 8.15 - 10.00am Highlights

Spoonbill 1 juvinile on Decca Pools towards Harp Inn end
Avocet 4
Great White Egret
Little Egret c20
Peregrine
Sedge Warbler many singing

Over to Parkgate today for a 10m tide, which ended up hitting the seawall and doing a top job of flushing everything. Nothing too surprising, although I did pick up a pair of Eiders on the water as the tide was almost at it's peak. Watching from the Old Baths, first good bird for me was a Great White Egret. Then a Hen Harrier showed very well in front of us, I figured a female as it was very pale underneath and looked like all the pictures I've seen. Awesome to watch, not a bird you can get tired of.

When the tide was really up the Short-eared Owls started appearing, with 5 showing brilliantly in the end. At one point 4 landed about 100m out on a slightly raised bit of ground. They all lingered nicely until the water won the battle. Finally a couple of Water Rails appeared with assorted rodents, as the water kept on coming. I saw voles and shrews, as far as I could tell being no expert.

There was a smart adult Peregrine out there too, but I didn't manage any Merlin. Of note was the hundreds of Curlews, more than I have seen before, and many hundreds of Pink-footed Geese. I only saw a few Snipe and no Lapwings, which must be related to the time of year. It was also lovely to hear the constant soundtrack of Meadow Pipits singing, outvoicing Skylarks for once.

Great to see Alan and Beryl Turner, whom I had last seen at Ashton Moss in February. When we heard about the Green-winged Teal at Burton Mere they very kindly offered me a lift down there. I've posted on that thread for the birds seen down there

Leasowe Lighthouse area, Sun 3 April mid pm

1 Ring Ouzel (m) Langham Lane 1st field on left
1 obvious White Wagtail in paddocks with Pied Wagtails (m+f)
1 Wheatear (m) in paddocks
sev Chiffchaff
~40 Linnet
3 Meadow Pipits
1 prob Blackcap (heard only)

-- Edited by John Watson on Monday 4th of April 2016 08:49:50 AM

just had an email that there is a Wheatear in the horse paddocks at Leasowe Lighthouse, so the season has started, a nice place for a day out over Easter if you can dodge the forecast showers on some days!!

I tried my luck with reports of a black redstart at quayside, the harp inn, but that soon faded shortly after I pulled up & I realised the high tide had just gone out & there was lots of activity going on out on the marsh.
5-6 short eared owl
1 ring tailed hen harrier
lots of little egrets
1 great white egret
teal
curlew
lapwing
redshank
meadow pipits
skylarks
2 stonechat
hundreds of pink-footed geese

neston sewage works..

at least 4 chiffchaff
1 water pipit, feeding with meadow pipits in the field next to the sewage works
2 cettis warbler, heard only
2 buzzard
1 kestrel

new brighton at high tide.

10 purple sandpiper
300+ redshank
40+ turnstone
60+ dunlin
all on the pontoon.

decca pools..

1 ringtail hen harrier
1 peregrine falcon
1 merlin
wigeon
teal
lapwing, several golden plover amongst them.
40+ dunlin

quayside..

2 short eared owl
2 stonechat, with reports of a spoonbill not too far away I decided to stay late & watch the egrets come over to go to roost incase a spoonbill happened to join them but no luck, plenty of little egret & 2 great white egret.



-- Edited by steven burke on Sunday 21st of February 2016 11:04:11 PM

Hi Rob.

Water Pipit is a major, major rarity on Hilbre and a description species in Cheshire! There are a couple of Rock Pipits overwintering. Could you have mistaken these for Water Pipits?

Did you stay over the high tide and see the Purple Sandpipers all together or as individuals? We've had a maximum count of 3 recently although your birds could have been displaced from New Brighton Marine lake.

Edit: there have been no previous records of Water Pipit on Hilbre in living memory.

-- Edited by Phil Woollen on Wednesday 17th of February 2016 03:26:15 PM

Went for a Valentine's Day walk in the sun starting at Neston (luckily my wife is an avid birder too!!)

Met up with a local patcher who lives at Ness & we searched the old quay area where his patch insinct came in handy, spotting a pipit across the field in a tree. Just as I got the scope on it, it flew but not before I could see the pale underparts, clear wing-bars & bold supercilium, it had to be a Water Pipit. My wife followed its flight to the next field where we found it feeding in a damp hollow where it gave great scoped views to us all & comfirmed my first ID, winter plumaged Water Pipit A quick sacn of the marsh from the Old Quay revealed a distant but obviously large egret, which obligingly turned its head revealing its huge yellow beak, a Great White Egret. No raptors but a good start.

We then headed to Denhall Lane where we walked along the path towards Decca Pools. A pair of Stonechats were the first notable species right next to the path. More distant was a single Golden Plover amongst the Lapwings. Other waders included Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin & Redshank. Finally the scanning paid off with a ringtail Hen Harrier that even landed on a hummock & gave fab scoped views on the deck, something I rarely see Both male and female Merlins were seen on posts, showing really well and staying long enough for us to show lots of other birders these diminutive falcons through my scope. A second (probably since we hadn't seen the other fly back this way) Great White Egret was also seen out on Burton Marsh.

Over 50 species were seen in a relaxing stroll in warm sunshine which ended with a Valentine's Hot Chocolate & homemade slab of cake sat outside Nets Cafe looking out at Burton Marsh at the days end

 

Popped down & followed the tide in along the path down towards Parkgate Old Baths from the end of Cottage Lane.

The tide looked like it wasn't going to get very far in but in the last 15mins it raced in & was up the wall alongside the path. Highlights included 4 Short-eared Owls, a male & female Peregrine, a flushed (by the tide) Jack Snipe, a Brambling amongst lots of Chaffinches and a Great White Egret. The latter hadn't been reported out when I looked at my pager so dutifully (relating to another thread!!) I reported it to mates at the info services.

I know others who were there earlier saw harriers too but not for me this time.

Burton Marsh along Denhall lane towards Neston, Highlights

Great White Egret 2, could be the same bird just moving around
Little Egret 9
Merlin, female perched up low down on a gate
Short eared Owl distant views across the marsh
Whooper Swan 6

A look around Birkenhead docks this morning produced the hoped for 1st winter drake Scaup that has been present the past few days. The bird was mingling with a sizable flock of Great crested grebes in the area referred to as the east float, close to the clock tower. Best viewing point was Tower road. There was no sign of the Great northern diver that was spotted later on in the afternoon while I was there, but that was fine because I'd already been to West Kirby marine lake and saw the Diver that has been there for a while. The bird was hanging around the South end of the lake near the rocks were the waders roost. I saw the bird feed twice, and in the pictures I took it appears to be eating crabs, which other birders have noted previously. There were no waders on the wader roost rocks, but there were a few Turnstones and redshanks near the Jetty's at the north end, and a very showy Red breasted merganser was also seen.

Managed to dip on both Long Eared Owl AND Water Pipit - but really enjoyed the quiet of a sunny early morning from Neston Old Quay to the sewage works stream.

Of note were

Stonechat
Merlin
Short Eared Owl
Marsh Harrier
Linnet in numbers
Plentiful Curlew
Reed Bunting
Greenfinch looking spectacular in the Morning light - a much underestimated beauty!

Had a cracking day up and down the Wirral with my friend Paul Morris yesterday, starting at the crack of dawn at West Kirby and ending it at Burton before dusk.  I wasn't on a bird race, we were simply pottering about ad-hoc and looking out for birds on the way as I visited some old haunts - but we ended the day with 80 species, several of which were notable, so a good day in the field.  Pretty cold though and when I kitted up for the stroll over to Hilbre and realised my hat, snood and gloves were on the table at home it was chilly start, with some frozen fingers whilst sea watching for an hour on Hilbre!?

The following were notable sightings throughout the day:

 

West Kirby - Marina (08:30)

Great Northern Diver - 1

Red-breasted Merganser - 6

GC Grebe 8

 

Hilbre Island (09:30)

Scaup - 1 fem

Common Scoter - 30-40 distant

Purple Sandpiper - only 3

Sanderling - 1

Lots of Oystercatcher (1,000 +), some Dunlin (10+), Turnstone (50+), Redshank (100+) Grey Plover (5+), Bar-tailed godwit (50+), Curlew (200+), GC Grebe (20+), Little Egret (2), Pintail 1, Wigeon 8.  What was notable was a complete lack of Brent Geese anywhere on three islands or Tansky rocks, perhaps taking a day trip to North Wales!?  Either way it was a first for me not to encounter any Pale Bellies here!?

 

Thurstatson (11:30)

Pintail - 100+

Knot 5,000+

Dunlin 1,000+

Also plenty of Shelduck (50+), Redshank (200+), Curlew (200+), Lapwing (1,000+), Little Egret (2) and other waders/wildfowl.

 

Heswall (12:00)

Chiffchaff - 2

No sign of any Pallas's Leaf Warbler or even a Goldcrest, but was extremely cold down there!?!?

 

Gayton Sands (12:30)

Merlin - 1 (distant female/1st winter male)

Buzzard - 2

Little Egret - 8

Marsh Harrier - 2 (both female types)

Pink-footed Goose 500+

 

Parkgate 13:00

Marsh Harrier - 1 (both female types)

Hen Harrier - 2 (both ringtails)

Little Egret - 4

Raven - 1

 

Denhall Lane (or more towards the cyclists cafe - that is closed until the end of the month unfortunately) 13:30

Short-eared Owl - 2 (very close flying and perched)

Great White Egret - 1 (brief and poor view)

Marsh Harrier - 1 (female type)

 

Burton Mere Wetlands 14:00

Peregrine - 2 (1 male & 1 female)

Marsh Harrier - 1 (female type - perhaps we witnessed one individual multiple times flying from Gayton Sands to Burton, where it went in to roost??)

Long-eared Owl - 1

Kingfisher - 1

Water Rail - 1

Golden Plover 100+ (with Lapwing flocks)

Lapwing (distant flocks of several thousand)

Pink-footed Goose - 40+

Some distant swans - mostly a mixture of Whooper & Mute.

-- Edited by Sean Sweeney on Monday 18th of January 2016 01:11:42 PM

parkgate... 3 possibly 4 marsh harrier, 2 ringtail hen harrier, 1 great white egret, 2 kestrel,

west Kirby marine lake... 1 great northern diver, 2 red breasted merganser, 1 great crested grebe, 30+ redshank, 1 oystercatcher.

new brighton... got here as the high tide was in hoping for lots of waders on the pontoons & nothing  it was probably due to the boat that was water testing. best I could do was 60+ sanderling, 2 turnstone, 6 oystercatcher around perch rock & 2 teal on the sea.

With High Peak RSPB group from Thurstaston to Heswall 9.15-12.15. 

One member a briefest glimpse of Pallas's Warbler at 11.30 from Target Road in Heswall. With Chiffchaff and Goldcrests. 

Walk along Wirral Way and Dee shoreline produced 10 Little Egret, 100's of Pink Footed Geese,  Lapwing and Oystercatcher,  2 Red Breasted Merganser, many Shellduck and Pintail, single Common Snipe,  7 Skylark, 80 Curlew,  Treecreeper, Lesser Redpoll, Bullfinch and Peregrine Falcon

I saw the pallas's warbler several times between 2:30-3:00 today, but I was the only one who saw it this point. I saw it 3 times in this period in the hedges, but the combination of how active it was and the number of other birds in the area meant that my attempts to get other borders on it were unsuccessful. Following these sightings, there was a quiet period where only chiffchaffs, goldcrests and long tailed tits showed, when finally, the bird appeared again, and this time it was only about 5 metres away, allowing all the birders to get good views, though the sheer dull weather made photography hard. The bird stayed very close to us for about a minute before a goldcrest moved it on.

Dipped on the Pallas's Warbler today. The bird had been seen this morning at 11.15 but, unfortunately, not since. We waited for around two hours from 1.45pm. 'Twas not to be. The timings meant we were then unable to get to Kirby Marine Lake to get some decent shots of the Great Northern Diver.

By 4.00pm we still hadn't had our dinner, so decided to head for Parkgate Old Baths car park and eat it there. We had some consolation in seeing 3 Marsh Harrier and a lovely, in flight Ring tailed Hen Harrier in the fading light.

Will try again next week!

I got there at first light today and had over an hours wait to get good views of the Pallas's Warbler(a lifer), did not see Firecrest though. What time where you there James?.
Cheers Ian