Late post, but I managed to go to see the Red-necked Grebe on return from my Highland Scotland Holiday last week. The bird had appeared whilst I was away & loving summer plumaged birds of this species I was hoping that it would stick. Stick it has with it still there up to the present time and remaining pretty faithful to a short stretch of river. On the evening I was there I was the only birder present, watching it in the sunshine, neck glowing red and the yellow on the beak almost fluorescent. The bird spent equal amounts of time over near the far bank & right up close under the near bank where I managed my best photos. In a couple of hours watching it spent a fair amount of time roosting but a good period fishing too. It was seen to surface with small fish in a pretty high proportion of dives which explains its long stay

As I was leaving I was able to show a couple of visiting Notts birders the grebe through my scope and have a good chat. This was a lifer for them, what a plumage to get your life tick Red-necked Grebe in, well done

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Friday 6th of June 2014 09:48:19 AM

Red necked grebe showed brilliantly this morning before it got disturbed by the great crested grebes then decided to go on to the far bank of the weaver.
Lesser scaup was moving around but still showing well on no 6 tank.
Several buzzards around
2 kestrels
1 Peregrine falcon
1 red legged partridge
Several whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, reed & sedge warblers around.

Nice to meet you again Ollie, also Austin & dawn

-- Edited by steven burke on Sunday 1st of June 2014 11:30:35 PM

Lesser Scaup & Red-necked Grebe showing well today

This afternoon Red-necked Grebe still showing on Weaver Bend and male Lesser Scaup on No. 6.
Also, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Ravens and 2 adult Avocets plus 1 juvenile...etc.etc.etc.

Called in at the marsh on the way home from Merseyside this evening for a look at the summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe which was still present downstream the Weaver bend. Also went up to number six tank where the Lesser Scaup was easily picked out amongst 5 Tufted Ducks.

On the new scrapes in the fields adjacent to the "bend" Avocets with chicks were present

Originally posted by Mark Speight today:

I had a walk round No 6 tank today. Firstly I spotted a Male Marsh Harrier in great condition. Really great views as it glided past on the river side of the tank. There where a lot of Buzzards in the area as usual. Worth the trip I thought. I noticed the male and female Marsh Harriers which were great stuff to see and I carried on my walk. Not much else to see at all from there . Then I got to the model plane area entrance gate. On the path that leads directly away from the gate up to where the wagon is used for advertising within the 1st 30 feet of that path sat on the barbed wire was a female Whinchat. She flitted from one side to the other of the path sitting on the wires and fence posts. I watched for a good hour and it never left. I have never seen one before. So it was a great day for me. I took some digiscope picture but a bit new at this so don't know how to load them. Hope some else gets to see it. Lovely little bird.

All-dayer on Frodsham Marsh, including The Score, 3 Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Whinchat, 1 Wheatear, c700 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Turnstone, 4 Knot, 20 Greylag Geese, 1 Peregrine, 1 Ruff, 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 17 Raven, 2 Common Sandpipers, 7 Pochard, c500 Teal and a funny looking Shelduck hybrid

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 30th of August 2013 08:54:19 PM

Two Winchat and two Yellow Wags along Lordship Marsh, Two Swift over tank 6 and both male and female Marsh Harrier over tank 5.

Great day! More below

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

55 Wheatear were in the ploughed field just over Marsh Lane motorway bridge this afternoon with 6 more in the paddock and another 7 present along Lordship Lane.

Weaver Bends : a bit bleak and desolate.
Birds of note: 2 Buzzards, ~40 Lapwing, large colony of Black Headed Gulls, a Kestrel and a lot of Pipits constantly moving. Couldn't identify as they didn't set down until too far away and out of view.

Drove further round to Frodsham Marsh.
1 Birder (presume its Austin Morley) said he had just seen a Hen Harrier but I missed it, only raptors I saw were 3 Buzzards flying low over the marsh and a male Merlin. More Lapwing, and roughly 20 or so Golden Plovers. A few Raven knocking about and again lots of Pipits on the move but they didn't land anywhere near me so I only got overhead views against the light so I couldn't identify positively but I think they were all Meadow Pipits.

If anyone local to Frodsham knows which Pipit species normally move through there then let me know.
Cheers

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 07:21:49 PM

Cheers Jon,
Much appreciated.
Kev B

Kev,

The Frodsham Birding Blog gives a wealth of information as to what's about ( see link )

http://frodshammarshbirdblog.wordpress.com/


and

http://www.cawos.org/frodshammarsh.htm

has a good link to a map of the marsh.

If you've got a satnav entering Marsh Lane Frodsham should get you there, although the above two sites should give you advise on where best to park

cheers

KEV BROWN wrote:

---

Hi Everyone,
Does anyone have directions and advice please for parking/ access etc for the Frodsham 'Patch'? Haven't been before and want to add it to my growing list of spots to go to at the weekends.

Cheers, KevB

---

-- Edited by Jon Bowen on Tuesday 12th of February 2013 06:17:46 AM

Highlights from my visit here this morning included :-

2 Ruff
3 Sanderling
5 Grey Plover
1 Ringed Plover
100+ Golden Plover
100+ Lapwing
50+ Curlew
10+ Redshank
50+ Dunlin
1 Peregrine

All on or near No. 6 tank.

A Little Stint was also found, unfortunately after I had left.

Many thanks to the other observers for sharing their sightings.

Cheers Brian

Managed an hour or so at Frodsham this afternoon - the four Ruddy Shelduck were still present on no.6 along with Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Shoveler, Teal and big numbers of Pied Wagtails taking insects. Also present was a Black Swan looking very much at home and apparently feeding well.

On no. 5 tank there was a big flock of low-flying Swallows and two Buzzards on the ground.

Hi Doc

I'll try and get down to Frodders today...........but if I can't............I'll text the lads there to put the word out regarding the Red Rumped Swallow,and hopefully someone will be able to relocate it.



Cheers Denzil

No luck with the reported Aquatic Warbler at Red Rocks so a very quick stop at Frodsham to check number 6 tank on way home.

A Little Stint and a Curlew Sandpiper showed well in the same 'scope view amongst the many Dunlin, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwits and Ring Plovers also present.

A cancellation to my plans for today left me at a loose end this morning. A quick text to fellow birder John Barber and we decided to head for Frodsham marsh as there'd been quite a few good birds down there recently.

I met up with John on No. 6 tank at 9.00am and we started sifting through the large numbers of Black tailed Godwits and Dunlins on show in front of us. John soon picked out a Sanderling while I managed a Curlew Sandpiper just before the heavens opened and we had to retreat to the car for thirty minutes while it 'bounced down'.

After the deluge we resumed scoping but all the Dunlin had relocated further away so a scope of the other areas began. John at this point went for walkies with another local birder (Paul Crawley) while I and another birder (didn't get his name) continued scoping. A summer plumage Turnstone was then pointed to me while I found five juvenile Yellow Wagtails. At this point around a hundred Dunlin came swooping back in just beyond the Godwits. I quickly put my scope onto them and immediately picked out a Curlew Sandpiper. I then noticed a different bird that wandered into view. Hells Bells!! I shouted, or words to that effect. Its the Buff Breasted Sandpiper. A quick direction from me soon put the other birder onto it as I waved my arms frantically to get Johns attention. Fortunately he saw me and was able to get a view of the bird before it started making off left for cover. We actually only managed to view it for about ten minutes before it disappeared once more into the scrub.

Its general direction was then pointed out to other birders present but then what looked to be a sub adult female Peregrine burst onto the scene sending everything scattering. Further checking for another hour or so proved fruitless but all in all some good birds were seen this morning.

1 Buff Breasted Sandpiper
1 Sanderling
1 Turnstone
2 Curlew Sandpiper
c150 Dunlin
c250 Black Tailed Godwit
c40 Curlew
c10 Ringed Plover
6 Avocet
5 Yellow Wagtails
1 Peregrine
2 Raven
c150 Black Headed Gulls
c25 Shelduck

buff-breasted sandpiper still present around 5pm

300 Dunlin
400 Black tailed godwit
12 Curlew
6 Ringed plover
all on no.6 tank

2 Water rail calling in south east corner of no.4 tank near metal gate.
1 Peregrine falcon over factory at end of Lordship lane.
family of Whitethroat on path at side of no.6 tank. Plenty pied wagtail with young but no yellow wagtail today.

Have to check through my Godwit pics now.! just took some to get an estimate of numbers. any distinguishing features.? i noticed one pale greenshank coloured bird. it must be there somewhere as i met Paul Crawley arriving as i was leaving.! must have forgotten to tell him about Hudsonian godwit.! just as well someone knows what they are looking at.!!

15/07/2012 - a tense wait until dark this evening for the probable Hudsonian Godwit with Jason Atkinson, Phil Owen et al. The bird was photographed earlier in the day on tank6. A mere 489 Black-tailed Godwits in the roost by darkness so a large number of the total flock must have remained out on the Mersey and it was a no show from the Hud-wit. Other stuff seen on tank6:

2 Pochards
100+ Dunlins
1 Avocet
1 Whimbrel
3 Common Gulls
4 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Grasshopper Warbler

Tour round tank no 6 and walk length of Lordship lane in wet and very muddy conditions.: 2 Grasshopper warbler. Reed bunting. Reed warbler. Sedge warbler. Blackcap. Pochard. Tufted duck. Black-tailed godwit. Shelduck. 4 Yellow wagtail. Ringed plover. Large flocks of Goldfinch + Starling. Skylark. Redshank. Dunlin. Sand martin. Swift. Swallow. Whitethroat. Curlew. Bullfinch. Chiffchaff. Kestrel. Buzzard. Sparrowhawk.

A very pleasant couple of hours this afternoon on the marsh with Mr Barber, in the sunshine, around number 6 tank.

100's of Black-tailed Godwit, several Redshank and Dunlin, 2 Ruff and one each of Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. 3 juvenile and one adult Avocet and one Spotted Redshank.

Ian McKerchar wrote
No idea what you're on about Steve...

The wonders of editing

It's just like Stalin removing all evidence of Trotsky from photos of the Russian revolution Not that I'd ever compare our beloved website owner to Stalin...

Steve