Trip over to Hoylake for a good sized high tide.

Undouted star bird Semipalmated Sandpiper just after high tide in with a mixed flock of Dunlin and Sanderling.

Also good numbers of
Dunlin
Sanderling
Oystercatcher
Bar-tailed Godwit
Swallow

Lesser numbers of
Curlew
Knot

Vernon, you missed it by 15 mins


-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 21st of September 2013 04:02:41 PM

Arrived at Leasowe gunsite just before noon as the tide was begining to ebb with a reported force 6 West Northwestly wind blowing and visibility good.

In the two hours that I was there I picked up a minimum of 7 Leach's Petrel as they battled their way into the wind. Three of the birds came inside the yellow marker buoy giving great views and two of the others landed on the sea before continuing west.

Had a full morning down at the end if the Wirral today for a bit of sea watching with John Barber and Dave Hugston. I arrived at Perch Rock at about 8.20 but it appeared that the majority of Leaches Petrels had already left the Mersey mouth so we decided to relocate to Leasowe Gunsite. Within a few minutes of arriving here I had a distant Leaches Petrel which unfortunately turned out to be my only one of the day. At least a dozen Manx Shearwaters passed through while we were there but best of all were three Brent Geese that flew past over the promenade right in front of us.

Just after high tide we relocated again to Hoylake were viewing was distant. More Manx Shearwaters were seen down here plus a passing Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Common Scoters. Good numbers of Grey Plover, Curlew, Sanderling, Knot, Dunlin and a few Bar tailed Godwits were on the sand here but still a bit distant to sift through with the scope. I did another short stint back at the Gunsite after this before calling it a day.

In retrospect I think going to Hilbre would have been better as the Petrels, etc seem to have been further out as the wind turned to a south westerly while I was there and also dropped.

High tide at Hoylake.

Close views of a Little Stint in amongst a small mixed flock of Dunlin Sanderling and Ringed Plover,
8 Curlew Sandpiper loosely dispersed amongst feeding Dunlin gave good comparison,

Dunlin 2000+
Ringed Plover 200+
Sanderling 200+
Oystercatcher 500+
Knot 50+

walk along the beach from west Kirby to hoylake at high tide.

4 species of terns on the beach just before red rocks...

sandwich terns were in majority
several common terns
at least 6 arctic terns
at least 12 little terns
4 wheatears
1 skylark
1 kestrel, mobbing a crow
8 gannets (distant, from red rocks)
1 red breasted merganser (flyby)

waders inc..

oystercatchers
ringed plovers
redshanks
dunlins
sanderlings
grey plovers

A quick to to West Kirby came up trumps with an adult winter Med Gull on the marina lake and a huge number of gulls and Sandwich Terns along the shore line, while walking back to the car I was also treated to a great but failed hunting attempt from an adult peregrine falcon.

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

Burton marsh - Denhall lane to Burton point. : Female Marsh Harrier sat on a branch between sheep dips and the point for a good half hour. 8 Sedge warbler. 2 Grasshopper warbler. Raven. 1 Reed warbler near sheep dips. Family of Reed bunting. 2 Buzzard. On the way back I got brilliant view of 2 young stoats playing then stalking a rabbit on the track. They would dive for cover when a cyclist came by, then dash back out. Incidentally the two wheel traffic seems to have increased along here, at one point resembled the tour de france.!! You would struggle to find a grumpier set of folk too, not even getting a good morning reply off them.

Dawn at Burton marsh for a couple of hours. Denhall lane and the old quay around neston sewage works. 3 Reed warbler. 7 Sedge warbler. 3 Chiffchaff. 4 Whitethroat. Ringtail Hen harrier around old quay. 2 Great spotted woodpecker. 2 Nuthatch. Plenty Swift, Swallow and House Martin around sewage works also Buzzard. Tawny owl with 2 juveniles giving great views sat on a branch. Reed bunting. Grasshopper warbler at Denhall lane. 2 Curlew and 2 Oystercatcher over.

Thought I'd nip over to Hoylake and pick up a few hundred of yesterday's reported Manx Shearwaters!!!!!

Arrived on the front 90 minutes before high tide, in a wind of similar strength and direction to yesterday and although it wasn't raining the temperature was about the same. The only thing different was yesterday 5000+ birds were estimated in the Hoylake/Hilbre area - today, not a one

Manxies are brilliant when they are around but from experience, a tad unpredictable

JOHN TYMON wrote:

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Craig Higson wrote:

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Bardsey Bird Obs reporting 2500 birds per hour this morning. Amazing movement of birds. Must be 100s of 1000s in the Irish Sea.

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Another pointer to something not being right somewhere, shouldn't these be nesting now, not moving south? they must be searching food out or decided not to breed, or failed wherever they come from ,I am sure this is not good news for the shearwaters, the world seems to be turning upside down to me, weather today like a bad Novembers day in June :( I went to penny expecting a Skua instead of warblers. :(

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John take a look at the article about Manx Shearwaters on the Dee Estuary web site - go to Site index, Species Spotlight, Manx Shearwater (Jun07). It shows that although the numbers today were high it's not unusual for the Shearwaters to be around our coastline at this time of the year.

Bardsey Bird Obs reporting 2500 birds per hour this morning. Amazing movement of birds. Must be 100s of 1000s in the Irish Sea.

Hoylake today. Very windy, and viewing even from the car was quite difficult due to a) being constantly buffeted by the wind and b) having to clear water off the scope every few mins from spray or rain but....in the two hours I was there, there were a large number of shearwaters moving. I hesitate to say a number because of the above facts and because the sea was so rough at the distance they were passing at, you could easily miss lots. I frequently had 5 or so in the scope at a time, and on one occasion had 10 past in less than a minute. I'd not like to say whether there were any sooties or any other species, again distance and conditions made it tricky. Most went down as shearwater spp, with the assumption they were all Manx. Only about every 10th bird was identifiable as a Manx so there could easily have been a sooty in there somewhere. Had a couple really close in too, probably the best view I've had of a Manx Shearwater in quite some time.

A pleasant walk this evening from Denhall Lane to Decca Pools. A Hobby was perched on a branch way out on the marsh, a female Marsh Harrier flushed all the Black-tailed Godwits from the pools. Three Peregrines were perched up on various posts and driftwood, an adult pair and, distantly, what looked like a small, lightly built 2nd CY male - an odd-looking bird. A Short-eared Owl was quartering the marsh by the time I returned to my car, apparently up to three have been seen there recently. Minimum of three Grasshopper Warblers heard, two of which were seen, including a very showy bird at Denhall Lane.

Leasowe Lighhouse area from 08:00:

Whinchat, male, along the path from the car park
Sedge Warbler x 2
Reed Warbler (heard only)
Grasshopper Warbler (heard only)
Whitethroat x 3 all males

Ian.
There have been loads of Razorbills and fewer Guillemots off the N Wirral coast and Hilbre. They were all displaced during the severe storms a week or so ago.

13.30 - 16.00 rain the whole time

A bit tame after Seaforth but obviously the persistant rain didn't help. Of interest Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff around the reeds, pond and river. Wheaters and Swallows in the horse paddocks. On the beach with the tide well out; Redshanks, Curlew and Whimbrel and a smart looking Turnstone.

Interesting documentation of the aftermath of the Parkgate fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsOafxWdsjY&feature=player_embedded

Stunning views of Short eared owl this evening at Parkgate Old baths. A second one joined it on a couple of occasions. Also Kestrel flying overhead then two Buzzard sat atop telegraph poles on Chester high road on way back.

Nick Isherwood wrote:

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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.

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Sorry, didn't make it clear, I know where Denhall Quay is, just don't know what was meant by 'away from Harp Inn'

Nick, Denhall Quay is at the very end of Marshlands Road...see dee estuary website for directions. Not sure if that's what you meant, it is fairly close to IMF and BMW

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

---

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!

---

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:

---

Tanmay Dixit wrote:

---

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

Haven't heard anything else

---

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!

---

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