a trip out with phil Kelly, first stop new brighton...

at least 8 purple sandpipers
1 Mediterranean gull
a few rafts of common scoters on the sea
turnstones, redshanks, curlews, oystercatchers.

parkgate...

2-3 hen harriers
2 peregrine falcons
1 merlin
1 kestrel
plenty of little egrets
hundreds of pink footed geese
plus usuals around.

thanks again phil

Spent a few hours down at New Brighton, not particularly birding, however always have bins and camera with me. Just as well. Not far from the Derby pool pub on the embankment was a single Purple sandpiper giving super close views in the sun. A first for me. :)

Wallasey Coastal path 9.45 - 10.45am

Trip over to Wallasey to see if I could locate the Snow Bunting which has been reported recently. It didn't disappoint, 600m west of the Derby Pool Harvester Pub on the coastal path, Extremely tame confiding 1st winter bird with views down to 1 metre
Also
Large mixed flock of Linnet and Goldfinch

Super close views of Wheatear and Snow Bunting at Wallasey shore around the Harvester pub. Snow bunting down to just a few feet.!

Agree with regards to the dog walker, & had to laugh when a gentleman walked up to me (pre the SP Sandpiper being spotted) & asked why we were all there watching.
When i explained that it was a high tide, he said that he'd been wondering whether we were all waiting for a special bird to arrive !

Half an hour later, the SPS was picked up.

Hi

This is my first post on the forum, be gentle!

I was at Hoylake yesterday and saw the semipalmated sandpiper through some very kind gents' scopes, John T below and Jonathan Platt. The dog-walking woman knew what she was doing in my view...

My first taste of a big pack of birders and it was great to meet some guys with loads of experience, people really helped me out as I am new to the pastime. So I saw in addition to the below posts:
Peregrine Juvenile hunting: swooped in and took a Dunlin in front of everyone. Spectacular!
60-70 Ringed Plover
2 Common Tern

Also a Caspian Gull was identified, another visitor to UK I believe?

Normally I am around the Mersey through Heaton Mersey and Didsbury so that will be mostly where I post for I guess

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:

---

Craig Higson wrote:

---

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

---

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. :(

---

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.