Had a really good day out on the Wirral today, including Thurstaston shore where I settled myself on the sailing club slipway and waited for the tide to push everything in and therefore had brilliant views of Oystercatcher, Redshank, Turnstone, Curlew, Knot [which were wheeling around in amazing numbers], a few Dunlin, fly over by a Raven and misc gulls.

Then also had a look at Red Rocks and West Kirby Marine lake for close up views of Knot, Redshank and Dunlin all looking very crisp in the winter sun [when there was some]. Found a spot at the western end of the lake and sat and watched Turnstone feed towards me down the high tide mark until it went about ten feet past the bench I was on! Really good to watch it pulling seeds and other bits from the debris. Down for one last look at the roosting waders at the other end saw the first winter drake Scaup work its way towards the shore alternatively diving and preening as it came.

Would have been quite happy to spend several hours at Kirby but went on to Parkgate and walked right along the marsh back towards Burton, not a lot about but plenty of teal and other duck flying around the marsh, egrets, gulls, Mipits and good views of a Stonechat just north of the Parkgate Baths when I got back to the car.

I did mean to go round the North Wales coast in the afternoon but with so much to watch on the Wirral I never made it!

Was at the high tide today, which despite being the third or fourth over the last few days still produced the goods. I've not been at one this high for probably 6-7 years, so was cracking to witness the bird and mammal mayhem!?

I saw the following from the pub over a hearty breakfast, then the old baths and surrounding area:

Shelduck 300+
Gadwall 5
Shoveller 2
Pintail 800+
Teal 3-4000
RB Merganser 2
Water Rail 1 (think the Herons must have eaten mostof them by now )
Little Grebe 1
Spoonbill (was at Neston Old Quay on wayback)
Little Egret 5 + 35 (35 at Neston Old Quay)
Hen Harrier (3 different birds)
Marsh Harrier 1 female
Kestrel 3
Peregrine 2
Merlin 2
Short-eared Owl (4 different birds)
Redshank 1000+
Dunlin 30+
Lapwing 1000+
Golden Plover 45
Black-tailed Godwit 1000+
Oystercatcher 600+
Common Snipe 50+
Curlew 700+
Green Woodpecker 1
Reed Bunting 4
Stonechat 1
Meadow Pipit 50+
Rock Pipit 3
Water Pipit 1
Skylark 400+
Grey Wagtail 2
Pied Wagtail 4
Fieldfare 30+
Redwing 15+
Linnet 30+
Raven 1

Think that was the most of them!?

Also saw several Water Shrew, Common Shrew, Bank Vole and Short-tailed Vole (great little rustic coloured voles) escaping the flood, although some only made it clear from the water and ended in a Herons, Owls or Ravens mouth etc?!?!

Great days

First time at Parkgate with such a high tide. Saw most of Nick's list but substitute male for female Merlin, 4 Peregrines and 4 ringtail Hen Harriers. The mammal watersports were just amazing! Tried really hard to turn one of the myriad Snipes into just one Jack Snipe, but to no avail. Heard there was a Water Rail runner, but not seen by us. Brilliant few hours.

Nick Isherwood wrote:

---

Great day on the raptor watch today at Parkgate.

---

Nick, We moved on to IMF, but didn't see much. Then a quick call at Shotton paid dividends with great views of 80 - 90 Bewick's and Whooper Swans.

That was some day.

High tide today between Pargate and Heswall produced all that Joey,Karen and Jonathan saw but I didn't get the Peregrine although one was seen near the baths. Smashing view of the Spoonbill, quite close up preening and then in flight. Earlier at West Kirby 2 male, 1 fem. (I confused it witha fem Goosander at first) RB Merganzer.
Dunlin, Redshank, Turnstone and lots of Oystercatchers. There was also great numbers of teal and curlew all over the marsh. There were a lot of people there today but not as many as I expected. I met a very sociable local birder and GM poster Ian Boot, so all in all a good day.
Mike

And to add to Karen's comments . . .

We (Mike Baron and I) thought there were at least two, probably three or more (there were certainly three yesterday evening) rt hen harriers on the marsh today. We also had two adults and at least one 1st winter peregrines. We estimated possibly six se owls in all, and merlins kept popping up all over the place! A few minutes before the peregrine chased the jack snipe towards the crowd, another jack flew over the NW end of the car park. A brown hare ran across the marsh at one point, and we had three foxes - one straight out from the car park and two on the tide's edge to the NW. The sighting of the day for us involved one of these foxes. The marsh harrier floated over and started to mob one of them. The fox took offence to this and continually leaped up and snapped at the harrier each time it swooped down - magical!

At The Harp we had another rt hen harrier and merlin then, after Mike left, I went to Burton Marsh where there were two rt hen harriers (one from The Harp earlier presumably) and a se owl.

Good day eh Joey? I assume from the list that you were at Parkgate marsh and surrounds - is that correct?

I was unknowingly trail-blazing a route it seems!
Nice one with the Barn Owl Sid, must have been a lovely view with the wild marsh as a backdrop.
Henry.

The chance of a trip to Parkgate came along today. Whilst the tide didn't cover the marsh I was pleased to get good views of the Spoonbill, Marsh Harrier (fem), 2 Hen Harriers (ringtails), 1 Merlin, 1 Peregrine, 4 Kestrels, 3 Reed Buntings, 50+ Skylarks, 13 Stock Doves and 2 Black-tailed Godwits.
Down at Shotwick Fields on the border with Wales, the winter swan flock was immedately visible in the nearest field to one of the roundabouts near the Flint bridge. c30 Bewick's and c20 Whoopers were present including the presumed leucistic Whooper and a single Mute Swan hiding in their midst.
It was a day of both fantastic birds and weather, a rarity in itself! Only downside was the sight of a moronic photographer, hundreds of meters out into the marsh, flushing allsorts out of the way in the name of just another mundane shot. Needless to say his camouflage jacket didn't have the intented effect thanks to awful fieldcraft and many birds fled needlessly...

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Saturday 30th of January 2010 05:08:29 PM

Hi Sid,
I have sent you a PM for some advice you may be able to give me.
Cheers
Mike

sid ashton wrote:

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For those who may be interested there are those two 10m high tides next week on Monday at about 12.15 and Tuesday around 13.00.

As per Rigger's and my posts on this thread 5th December last, Parkgate may be the place to be . Especially if there is low pressure and a wind with a bit of westerly in it.

PS remember to get there well before the actual high tide mainly because that's when all of the action takes place but also the Old Baths car park tends to get very busy on "high tide" days.



-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 28th of January 2010 08:18:26 AM

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Yeah very early seeing as though we (the RSPB) will be there and a group is coming from Chester Zoo!

PS Save room for the RSPB vehicle and a safe pedestrian area please

For those who may be interested there are those two 10m high tides next week on Monday at about 12.15 and Tuesday around 13.00.

As per Rigger's and my posts on this thread 5th December last, Parkgate may be the place to be . Especially if there is low pressure and a wind with a bit of westerly in it.

PS remember to get there well before the actual high tide mainly because that's when all of the action takes place but also the Old Baths car park tends to get very busy on "high tide" days.



-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 28th of January 2010 08:18:26 AM

Just got in from a cold Denhall Old Quay where we had splendid veiws of the Richard's Pipit feeding around the frozen pools with a lone redshank!

New bird for me

It was there all the time I was from 2.30 till about 3.30

After Frodsham in the morning, we arrived at the Old Baths Car Park in good time for the roost. As we arrived we were greeted by a friendly Stonechat.

We were not to be disappointed with with the Harriers either with a Ringtail showing almost immediately directly in front of us, this was before we had even got out of the car. It was then fairly quiet raptor wise for a while with the only two or three Kestrels around. Then my dad spotted a Short Eared Owl which was up and down for 15-20 minutes and then gave great views quartering. We decided that in the end we had seen at least six and at least three ringtail Harriers.

There were plenty of Little Egrets about, and a Raven croaked over us.

A smashing day with no rain!

I think standing in the old baths car park watching the SEOs is one of my favourite birding experiences so I'll be on the look out for a good Spring tide next year!

I guess it gets quite busy so wondered if its worth a spot on the wall of the road leading to the old baths, if the car park area itself is full? Guess it depends just how high the surge is?

Happy belated birthday Sid.

Riggers, I have put my post into English now I think cheers

But to clarify a little further what I made a hash of saying for others who may not be familiar with the "Parkgate High Tide story"

Under the weather conditions forecast today I wasn't expecting to see too much in the way of additional raptor activity. Sometimes on spring tides with the right combinations of wind and atmospheric pressure water levels rise dramatically with the approaching high tide.

When the water breaks over the edge of the marsh, small mammals such as Water Voles, Wood Mice, Brown Rats and Common Shrews attempt to retreat to higher ground.

With all this movement, the opportunist hunters arrive. Herons, Gulls, Kestrels and Marsh Harriers take their share, and on a good day Peregrines, Merlins and Sparrowhawks turn up. The most spectacular hunter though is the Short-eared Owl, quartering the marsh, getting closer and closer as the tide makes its way towards the sea wall.

I have of course seen the Owls both Short eared and Barn in recent weeks as well as the Harriers under "normal" conditons - I was just pointing out that the high tide spectacle at Parkgate depends on factors other than just a high tide and doesn't always happen.

So after all that I'm going to have a bit of my birthday cake and have a lie down

I think you would have been lucky for the tides today. Only a 9.5 metre tide and not a lot of wind.

The difference is amazing when the tide is right (10 metre +) and the winds and pressure systems in the Irish Sea are right

1.30p.m. today high tide at Wallasey Life Boat Station, 7 Purple Sandpiper on rocks just below station amongst approx 20 Turnstone, excellent views
Cheers Ian

Same as below for us today except 1 heron, only 1 poss merlin in the distance and one hen harrier and sadly no barn owl seen! The stonechats were friendly today, as was one kestrel that happily ate it's dinner in full view of us all. Over at the marina was what at first looked like a rb mergansa but on viewing the photo's seems to be a f goosander (maybe). Lots of redshank sunning themselves on the jetty, Single raven from the car traveling through thurstaston, no buzzards though which seems different somehow.
Apparently a spoonbill at parkgate which we failed to spot



-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Sunday 8th of November 2009 08:34:39 PM

Fri 6th Nov

We three + one started at West Kirby
RB Megansa

Red Rocks

Rock Pipits
Loads of Cormoragnts
Thousands of Knott/Dunlin swirling around the sky
Oyster Catchers
Plover
Curlew
and the usual stuff

Burton Marshes

Hen Harrier


Inner Marsh Farm

Water Rail
60+ Little Egret
Ruff
Pintail
The other usual stuff

All in all a good day seeing 45 species.

The golf ball stealing behaviour has been noted several times here before - I have not seen it but I bet a few the local birders are familiar with it - do they think they are eggs?

Quick visit to a couple of Wirral favourites today - Innermarsh farm for the Wood Sand not seen one in late summer previously - very smart little bird plus several Ruff, loads of Lapwing and one Paul Brady

Walked along Cadly Beach with the ebbing tide - lots of Gulls of course and Oycs and a good number of Curlew but not the hoped-for Whimbrel.

Finished up at Parkgate where we had the most amazingly close views of Barn Owl(s) - the bird(s) returning from the marsh were low and directly over our heads in the old baths car park flying inland. This was between 18.30 and 19.30 - just before we left a Marsh Harrier (not adult male) came in apparently to roost.

To finish a really nice Chinese meal at Mr Chows on Parkgate front.

-- Edited by sid ashton on Friday 11th of September 2009 11:35:34 PM

High winds had me making the annual pilgrimage down the M53 in search of Leach's and other goodies.

Stunning adult Sabine's Gull s at Wallasey Coastguards (down to 3m!) and New Brighton (one lingering for well over an hour) plus another adult, a juv, Bonxie, manx Shearwater, probable Sooty, 2 - 6 Leach's made a great day out.

Still finding sand in unusual places though!

If its any consolation, there was nowt at Castleshaw either, just some local idiot