JOHN TYMON wrote:

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Tanmay Dixit wrote:

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Tanmay Dixit wrote:

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According to dee estuary birding, an american wigeon present at Denhall Quay!

Haven't heard anything else

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Confirmed Drake present today apparently on the side of the quay away from the Harp Inn, not sure where this is but hopefully someone knows!

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No one could find it this afternoon when I was there-apparently it had been on one of the many pools earlier to the east of the Harp inn. The Harp Inn is in between Denhall ln and Parkgate-at Neston ,I called in to see the Black Redstart ,which was also missing today :(

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 31st of March 2013 08:06:06 PM

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Denhall Quay is at the bottom of Denhall Lane isn't it? Near to Inner Marsh Farm. It's where you can park up and look out over the marsh. There are often pools on the field there.

Of course, I could be wrong.

According to dee estuary birding, an american wigeon present at Denhall Quay!

Haven't heard anything else

Tanmay Dixit wrote:

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Tanmay Dixit wrote:

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According to dee estuary birding, an american wigeon present at Denhall Quay!

Haven't heard anything else

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Confirmed Drake present today apparently on the side of the quay away from the Harp Inn, not sure where this is but hopefully someone knows!

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No one could find it this afternoon when I was there-apparently it had been on one of the many pools earlier to the east of the Harp inn. The Harp Inn is in between Denhall ln and Parkgate-at Neston ,I called in to see the Black Redstart ,which was also missing today :(

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Sunday 31st of March 2013 08:06:06 PM

A slightly unexpected high-tide visit to hoylake today, from around 12-2.30pm
Large numbers of knot, grey plover, sanderling and dunlin, with only 1 grey plover in summer plumage, and only seen briefly. also c.5 ringed plover, 5 bar-tailed godwits (inclu. one moulting into s/pl) and nothing unusual amongst the gulls. 1 curlew, 1 teal and some shelduck on the sea.

Extremely galling was the amount of disturbance on the beach, from photographers (who, largely, were taking photos from the promenade- good on you- but some were tramping right up to the waders), dog-walkers, parents who couldn't control their children etc. Blatant disturbance, in many cases purposeful. I'm not so much bothered that it prevented birders like myself on the promenade getting good views, but the disturbance uses up vital energy of the birds (it's immoral, frankly) and it seems that conservation faces an uphill battle, albeit, only using the evidence of today. To be honest, I was disgusted. I know there is a protective presence on the estuary (wirral rangers) and they do a very good job, but unfortunately there was no place for the waders to settle for more than 5 min today. Absolutely selfish, unthoughtful and to be honest, arrogant and spiteful behaviour from many...I'm not a fan of profanity, but perhaps there are times when it is the only way to describe a situation.

Anyway, rant over and sorry, but I had to get it off my chest!
Couldn't get any counts of the commoner species due to disturbance.

Also, a bit of a last-minute decision, decided to go to Little Neston (Harp Inn) where the black redstart showed fairly well, breif obscured views mostly but very nice to see this female bird. Lots of kind birders around willing to point stuff out and show others the bird...great to see given what I had seen at Hoylake. all in all, a good few hrs birding...if anyone knows if anything can be done about disturbance, now would be a great time to let it be known

-- Edited by Tanmay Dixit on Saturday 30th of March 2013 05:03:33 PM

Black redstart was busy around the old quay near the Harp Inn, also a lovely wheatear and many pipits. Pair of redshanks in the snow were great. Also a chiffchaff in the bushes near the path down to the quay. Very quiet there just myself and Dave B. Bit dodgy underfoot with ice, so be careful.

Phil

Decided to stay in today to do some 'gourmet' cooking with smoked salmon brought back from Scotland, but news of a Black Redstart on the Wirral had me making the short journey to Neston Old Quay. On arrival I met my mate Mark Payne who whilst waiting for me at the end of Marshlands Road had seen the bird in the vicinity of the garden of the house called Marshlands. Everyone else was looking around the Harp Inn where the bird had been seen earlier so we couldn't alert them at all, so Mark popped it on the RBA Pager to try to contact at least 1 of them. I connected shortly afterwards as the Black Redstart, a female-type bird, was chased in the garden by a Robin. Later it showed down to a few metres on the floor before heading off into adjacent gardens. A few other folk were alerted and at least 3 other birders got onto the bird.

Down on the rocks below the Harp Inn a male Wheatear showed nicely whilst Meadow Pipits seemed oblivious to humans as they desperately searched for food on the frozen marsh, although a couple of birds found time out to indulge in courtship display.

Update on my Parkgate photos/video from Saturday...

The 2 Gulls that almost all of us ID'd as Yellow Legged (1 of which was devouring the Eels) were infact Lesser Black-Backed, it must've been the camera angle with the light making them appear lighter, but their is a point where the proper grey hue is seen.

The Godwit with the upturned bill that appeared to be lacking the black tail (which seemed to indicate Bar-tailed Godwit) has infact been confirmed as a Black-Tailed Godwit, so all 5 birds seen on that marsh pool were Black-Tailed Godwits,
still...I'm not disappointed, always a good bird to see!

Thanks to Ian McKerchar for the ID info.

Parkgate, Yesterday 1.35 ish - 4pm

1 Shelduck, 2 Snipe, 4 Black Tailed Godwits, Little Egrets dotted around the marsh,
1 Peregrinne and 1 Short Eared Owl seen at distance through a kind birder's scope.
A flock of finch like birds with black and white wing and tail plumage kept popping up but quickly went to ground, could've been Snow Buntings but I haven't got photo or video evidence as I missed them surface again.

Photos and video sent to Ian McKerchar for confirmation or rejection of a single Bar-Tailed Godwit and 2 Yellow Legged Gulls, 1 of them catching its second Eel within half hour. Fingers crossed!!!

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Sunday 17th of March 2013 12:53:09 PM

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Sunday 17th of March 2013 12:54:05 PM

Must of kept passing each other pal, you did well to go to Parkgate later, we went at 2 for the high tide, nothing happened, literally, the tide time affected nothing and it was a none event, we did have a great Male Hen harrier and also M+F Merlin but pretty quiet, Great numbers of Purple Sandpipers at new Brighton though,
BMW had Water rail showing really well near Visitors center with a few Pintail and also a single flyover Golden Plover, Siskins and Nuthatch on the feeders

Cheers Dennis

Started the day at Burton Mere wetlands
Siskin
Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Nuthatch
Bullfinch M+F
Goldfinch
Teal (only saw small numbers)
Grey Heron
Coot
Moorhen
Canada Geese
Lapwing
Golden Plover

Burton Point
Flock of Reed Bunting
Lapwing

Parkgate (think they call this the Old Baths)
2 Short Eared Owl
1 Barn Owl
also seen through a friendly guys scope a Peregrine and Male Hen Harrier. The guy also identified a Raven sharing a log with a Short Eared Owl.

Absolutely made up with today the Barn Owl just topped the day also chatted to lots of lovely people

-- Edited by Collette Collier on Friday 1st of March 2013 08:27:02 PM

-- Edited by Collette Collier on Saturday 2nd of March 2013 08:13:05 AM

From 15.00 - 16.00ish after BMW, from the Old Baths car park - 2 Short eared Owls, one a real show off and a male Merlin sitting up on a post. Didn't find any Hen Harriers at Parkgate but saw a ring tail at Burton marsh off the point earlier as well as the big flock of Pink footed Geese seen by Vicky.

Two quick visits after work this weekend to neston old quay/sewage works.highlights included:
Water pipit showing really well on first filtration bed railings(first picked up by mark turner on the deck)but only stayed for a few minutes.
Chiffchaff feeding with long tailed tits both days
2 goldcrest(1 in song)
2 grey wagtail
1 meadow pipit
5 pied wagtail
1 buzzard worrying the crows

On/around the marsh

Barn owl
Peregrine
2 rock pipit
Stonechat
Hen harrier(m)

Mark also had a single twite and a cetti's warbler.

From yesterday - sorry it's late!

Neston sewage works

single Water Pipit still present, along with a single Grey Wagtail, a pair of Pied Wagtail and a pair of Meadow Pipit amongst the many Carrion Crow

From the path along the marsh and back to the car park, lots of large mixed finch/bunting flocks that included Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest and Reed Bunting. Also, 2 Song Thrush in full song, a flock of Redwing in the trees, around 10 Curlew in the adjacent field, 2 bedraggled Buzzard sat next to each other on the same branch.

Out on the marsh itself, multiple flocks of Teal, 5 Little Egret, 3 Grey Heron (one stood on the path and didn't fly off until I was about 10 feet away!), 3 Pheasant, several Redshank.

A nice morning, despite the weather.

Today at Parkgate with John Parkinson. Weather fine and sunny.
Six hours up to 4pm. Nearly all our time at the old baths except for an alfresco fish and chip lunch on the old quay.

Great White Egret..1 Showed well in the morning in front of the chippy.
Hen Harrier ..1 male
Short-eared Owl..1 Superb views down to 40 yards in front of the ''baths''. constantly hunting down in the vegetation but not coming up with a catch.

Peregrine..2
Merlin..2
Kestrel..1
Buzzard..2
Grey Heron..12 plus
Little Egret..20 plus
Pink-footed Geese..c650 plus a fly away skein of 200
Lapwing..c500
Shelduck..20
Cormorant..2
Skylark..6
Meadow Pipits..4
Goldfinch..45
Oystercatcher..4
Redshank..15
Common Snipe..2
Mallard..c 25
Black-tailed Godwit..7
Teal.. ..6
Curlew..3
Starlings..c60
Wren..1
Black-headed Gulls ..c 400
Lesser Black-backed Gulls..2
Pheasant..1
Carrion Crows/Wood Pigeons.

Bit of a tour this morning in the sunshine

at Neston (inc Sewage Works)
Water Pipit,
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
3 Little Egret

Hoylake for High Tide. First time I've actually made it there and great to see so many waders in roost and in flight, hopefully got some good shots
Good number of
Knot
Sanderling
Grey Plover
single Bar Tailed Godwit

Burton Mere Wetlands
Plenty of waders and wildfowl though highlight was Hen Harrier

Great to see the thermometer nearly at double figures although the wind certainly kept it chilly

Originally posted by Tanmay Dixit today:

Just a quickie, does anybody have directions to Neston Sewage Works/Neston Old Quay...wherever's best for water pipits?Planning to go tomorrow but not entirely sure where it is...any help would be much appreciated. If anyone has a map or similar I can PM my email address this evening if that helps.

Thanks
TD

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Slightly off topic I know, but the most recent study on Chiffchaffs seems to indicate that the 'paler' unusual individuals we sometimes see and attribute to abietinus actually aren't at all! They're collybita, pale and unusual maybe but collybita nevertheless. Furthermore it seems (and apparently its not a recent theory either) abietinus are practically inseparable from collybita on plumage

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Hi Ian.

May I ask what's the source of this recent study on Chiffchaffs you refer to?

I ask as i've been reading into the issue of the whole collybita complex having seen a few questionable birds this last autumn, and a recent paper published in Dutch Birding (volume 34, 2012, no.6) using a genetic study on birds caught and rung throughout the netherlands concluded nearly all samples of what we used to refer to as 'abietinus' types were in fact good tristis and known field characters for abietinus are still lacking (to seperate from tristis and collybita).

Thanks.
Henry.

Doc Brewster wrote:

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On Sunday the Water Pipit showed well on the sewage beds through the fence and three Chiffchaffs also fed on the beds, all standard collybita Chiffies rather than abietinus or tristis forms.

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Tuesday 22nd of January 2013 09:31:00 PM

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Slightly off topic I know, but the most recent study on Chiffchaffs seems to indicate that the 'paler' unusual individuals we sometimes see and attribute to abietinus actually aren't at all! They're collybita, pale and unusual maybe but collybita nevertheless. Furthermore it seems (and apparently its not a recent theory either) abietinus are practically inseparable from collybita on plumage

All interesting stuff, if you like that sort of thing...

Jonathan Platt wrote:

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Water Pipit at the Old Quay at Neston, two Brambling in a finch flock just through the style on the footpath where Marshlands Road meets Quayside and a Green Sandpiper in the same area - in the ditch just out from the tiny parking area here (one heard at the Old Quay may have been same bird). Earlier four Hen Harriers (2m, 2 ring-tailed) from Burton Point plus Peregrine and Merlin.

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Hi jonathan (again), worth sending the green sandpiper record to Colin Wells as well ... the more record we have the better :)

Thanks

Oh same for the waxwing please at Burton Point Collette

Decided to avoid the crowds & try Riverbank Road, Heswll for the high tide today. The car park was virtually empty and between 4 and 8 birders were present at different times.

Birds seen (a couple before I arrived) were a Great White Egret, a male Hen Harrier (these 2 species I missed due to a bit later arrival than planned), 3 Merlins, a Short-eared Owl, a Peregrine, a female Sparrowhawk (flew throughthe car park!!), c.8 Brent Geese, over a thousand Pink-footed Geese, large flocks of Knot, Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatchers, a few Dunlin & several Black-tailed Godwits, a single Water Rail, c.20 Snipe, over 40 Pintail, and plenty of passerines perching around the car park as the waters rose. The marsh was very well covered by the tide and the array of species kind of combined the best of both worlds of Parkgate & Hoylake

First Wirral visit of the year this afternoon in lovely weather although something did seem to be missing or perhaps it was the presence of sunshine that was unusual

Not a birding day as such but on a walk from Parkgate Old Baths to Riverbank Road, Gayton was lucky enough to have several good views of a ring tail Hen Harrier, Buzzard, Merlin, Peregrine and Kestrel as well as a couple of noisy Ravens and just as darkness was falling a Barn Owl around the back of the Boathouse pub.

Finished the day with a meal at Mr Chows Chinese Eating House - just the job.

Collette Collier wrote:

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Thanks Paul, your photos are amazing.

I've added you as a contact so I can have a nosy at your pics from time to time. Hope you don't mind.

My Flickr user name is Dopeycc :0)

I just would like to find a closer location than an hours drive. But will be returning to Burton mere and have seen the short eared owls on the estuary close to the harp inn, not sure of the name of the road. Came back on 21st and saw them again but wasnt close enough for photos :0(

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Thanks Collette high praise indeed. Yeah we'll do our best to move closer!

Bird sighting today at RSPB "BMW" - kingfisher, hen harrier, water rail

Walk to Burton point and back saw one Hen Harrier [male], Sparrowhawk mobbing a Buzzard over the sheep fields, Fieldfare, Kestrel, Little Egrets but too windy for Short Eared Owls I think.

Collette Collier wrote:

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Does any one no a spot any closer to manchester where owls or even kestrels are regular visitors. It's a 2 hour round trip for me and sometimes don't see much in the way of good photo subjects. Would appreciate if anyone no's a closer spot. :0)

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The kestrels are pretty well behaved at both RSPB Parkgate and RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, plus both places hold short-eared owls, RSPB Burton Marsh (Denhall Lane and surrounds) is good too.

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/56438958@N05/6802704607/in/photostream for an example of a kestrel taking right outside reception building of RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands. Many other have been taken too just have a look at the Flickr group "RSPB Dee Estuary Nature Reserve"

PS SIghtings from Burton Mere today:
male hen harrier
2 short eared owls
merlin
1000 teal
raven