08.00/10.30 cold with  NNW wind blowing through.

Lovely to see the Black-necked Grebes again with twelve being observed. One female Brambling the feeders. Lots of Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

Black- headed Gull in big numbers.

A few Sand Martin around and one Swallow through.

Our first visit in over two years a fabulous reserve.

David Spencer wrote:

---

 

One Red Kite was seen this morning. Initially it was seen flying south, low over No.2 bed and was thought to have flown south. However it reappeared circling high with two Buzzards over the SE corner of No.3 bed. Also present was one female/imm. Marsh Harrier (a different individual to the one seen on Saturday). Two adult Mediterranean Gulls were again seen in the Black-headed Gull colony.  Of interest last weeks colour ringed 1^st summer Mediterranean Gull  (red PRY6) )was ringed in Poland as a nestling on 20^th June 2015. Also last week, the adult summer Mediterranean Gull  with a white darvic ring, E718, is a Dutch bird ringed as a nestling in June 2012. Since then it has been seen in Germany and Ireland; the last report was on 21^st January2016 at Bray Harbour, Wicklow.

Cheers David (with D Bowman, B Lloyd and J Verdon)

-- Edited by David Spencer on Monday 25th of April 2016 02:41:00 PM

---

 I've just been doing some digging around on the internet and it turns out this Mediterranean gull that has turned up at Elton Reservoir this week was first seen here in 2016 .

Managed to get the ring number today PRY6 ..

 

11.30-14.00

*The site is still open for local birders, with Covid protocols in place.

No3 Bed was completely frozen over, as was the old river below the footbridge.

No3 Bed : 1f Marsh Harrier and 1 Buzzard (Aggressively mobbed by an adult Lesser Black Backed Gull).

Feeding Stations : 6 Bullfinches, 1 Song Thrush, 1m Great Spotted Woodpecker and 1 Willow Tit.

4 Robins often fed amiably together below the feeders, with not the slightest sign of aggression, except to

any male Chaffinches that appeared. Singles of Pied Wagtail and Reed Bunting were the old birds seen on the ice.

River Mersey Weir Pool area : 2m Goldeneyes, 2 Shelducks, 1 Little Grebe, 25 Tufted Ducks, 8 Gadwall and 8 Shoveler.

A skein of 80 Greylag Geese circled No3 Bed, before heading off towards the East.

Large numbers of duck were scattered along the ship canal.

Tuesday 18/08/20

Highlights include

8 Little Grebe

1 Kingfisher 

1 Willow Tit on feeders right of Morgan hide

1 Sparrowhawk

28 Lapwing

1 Blackcap

2 Hobby as I walked back towards Weir Lane

 

09.30-13.00

No 3 Bed :

8 Black necked Grebes, 1 Sand Martin, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Little Grebes, 2 Buzzards, 1 Sparrowhawk,

2 Black tailed Godwits and 4 Chiffchaffs.

30 Pochards and 100+ Tufted Ducks were on the Mersey around the weir pool.

Number 3 Bed CBC/BBS with Dave Bowman am...Count included

14 Dunnock

22 Robin

9 Cetti's Warbler

10 Reed Bunting

16 Blackbird

8 Chiffchaff

1 Willow Tit.

Other Sightings of Note

4 Oystercatcher

9 Black-Necked Grebe

15 Mute Swan.

 

 

 

11.30-15.00

River Mersey below Weir Lane, including weir pool.

104 Tufted Ducks, 54 Pochards (Of which only 7 were female), 27 Lesser Black Backed Gulls (All resplendant adults with some vicious territorial

fighting taking place), 2 adult Herring Gulls, 4 Shelducks and 4 Cormorants. A flock of 30 House Sparrows were at the bottom of Weir Lane.

No 3 Bed

45 Pochard, 65 Tufted Ducks, 6 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Buzzards, 3 Lapwings and a group of 3 male Bullfinches.

Also an impressive number of Shoveler and Teal were also seen, and many more appeared to be hiding in the reedbed.

2 adult Lesser Black Backed Gulls seemed to have taken a liking to one of the rafts positioned for their smaller Black Headed cousins to nest on.

From adjoining rafts the Black Heads viewed the bigger gulls with a kind of mistrust, obviously giving them a wide berth, battle will commence

when nesting starts.

11.00-14.30

R.Mersey (Weir Pool & at the bottom of Weir Lane) : 70 Tufted Ducks, 2m Goldeneyes,

3m+3f Pochard, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Great Crested Grebe and 1 adult Herring Gull.

Old River : 11 Shovelers and 2 Little Grebes. Ship Canal : Single group of 58 Tufted Ducks.

No.3 Bed : 1f Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 1 Snipe, 1 Little Grebe and 1 Great Crested Grebe.

Raven heard only. The Sparrowhawk was mobbed by a pair of Carrion Crows near the Morgan hide, which

turned into quite a drama. I could not confirm if the hawk was a male or female due to bad light, but it was

noticeably smaller than the crows. However the corvids clearly chose the wrong raptor to intimidate, within

seconds the hawk manoeuvred into a position behind one of the crows and grabbed it's tail. The crow then

made a noise that I have not heard any corvid scream before, but it then managed to escape and make a

quick exit across the bed. The remaining crow then began a dogfight with the hawk, but clearly the raptor

had the edge and the corvid fortunately escaped to the safety of nearby tree. For a moment it really looked

like the Sparrowhawk would bring down a crow, the bullies may think it wise to give this raptor a wide berth

from now on.

Some Highlights 0730-1215

11 Pochard

2 Raven

1 Goldeneye

1 Kingfisher

3 Snipe

45 Tufted Duck.

0730-1215

Highlights

8 Wigeon

2 Chiffchaff

170 Redwing

9 Pochard

2 Goldeneye

2 Willow Tit

170 Redwing.

10.30-14.00

In additon to Dave's records.

No.3 Bed : 2 Lesser Redpolls with Goldfinches on alders, 1 (Possibly 2) female Sparrowhawks,

2 Kestrels, 2m Great Spotted Woodpeckers in territorial dispute, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Fieldfares (Lots of Redwings

in small groups moving around the bed) and an impressive 16 Reed Buntings (4m together on the feeders

by the Sybel Hogg hide and 9m+3f in bushes by the meadow). A fox was also seen near the meadow which

may explain why 12 Reed Buntings sought the safety of the bushes.

Old River : A group of 55 Shoveler, 13 Gadwall, 4 Cormorants and 3 Grey Herons.

Mersey Weir Pool : 3 Little Grebes, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1m Pochard, 38 Tufted Ducks, 1 Grey Wagtail,

1f Goldeneye, 1 Shelduck and an impressive 80 Black Headed Gulls.

6 Tufted Ducks were on the ship canal.

Visible Migration watch from the eastern edge of the Reserve..with Dave Bowman..Les Jones..Dave Spencer..Alan Warford..Helen Allen...0630-1200...Highlights

610 Fieldfare

170 Redwing

1 Woodcock

3 Tawny Owl

2 Goldeneye

194 Pink-Footed Geese

9 Siskin

8 Lesser Redpoll

29 Teal

950 Lapwing.

09.30-13.00

2 Bearded Tits flew across the open area in front of the F.Linley around 11am,

what was probably the same 2 were seen moments later in front of the Morgan hide.

Pretty quiet otherwise. A Buzzard perched overlooking the NE corner of the bed really

upset large numbers of Teal and Shoveler, they barely settled throughout my stay.

Also seen on No 3 Bed : 2m Pochards, 1 Shelduck, 1 Little Grebe, 4 Wigeon, 4 Lapwings

and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker.

A single Great Crested Grebe was on the ship canal, whilst 45 Tufted Ducks were on the Mersey

above the weir.

N03 Bed 0730-1145 Rain Throughout

Highlights...

18 Greylag Geese

2 Kingfisher

1 Water Rail

1 Cetti's Warbler (call only)

40 + Shoveler

200 Lapwing 

1 Grey Wagtail

4 Little Grebe

1 Shelduck

50 Grennfinch.

 

10.30-13.30

No 3 Bed :

3 Grey Wagtails, 1f Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 1 Snipe, 1 Black tailed Godwit,

1 Water Rail, 3 Cormorants, 1 Little Grebe and 4 Jays.

A Black Tern had been seen before I arrived.

No. 3 Bed 09.30-12.00

2 Green Sandpipers, 10 Cormorants (A group of 9 were fishing for Sticklebacks together, and catching

mouthfuls on each dive), 1 Swift, 1 juvenile Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 1 Water Rail, 3 Little Grebes

and 1 juvenile Shelduck. Also, a Reed Warbler was showing really well below the Tower Hide, the

bird flitted around the top of the reeds and was seen to eat several orange insects that looked like soldier beetles.

3 Chiffchaffs were calling, and seen together in a willow bush.

15.00-19.00

No.3 Bed

1 adult + 1 Juvenile Black Necked Grebes, 6 Little Grebes, 1 Green Sandpiper,

1 Black tailed Godwit, 1 Buzzard and 10 Lapwings.

3 adult Great Crested Grebes were on the ship canal opposite the car park.

09.00-12.00

No.3 Bed :

2 Black Tailed Godwits, 7 Black Necked Grebes, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 10m+3f Pochards, 6 Lapwings, 1f Sparrowhawk, 1 Little Grebe

and 2 Buzzards. There was a trickle of House Martins, Swallows and Swifts passing through.

River Mersey & Weir Pool :

25 adult Lesser Black Backed and 1 adult Great Black Backed Gulls. 37 Tufted Ducks, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Cormorants and 1 Shelduck.

4 House Sparrows, 2m Blackcaps, 1m Bullfinch and 2 Common Whitethroats were by the footpath along the edge of No.2 Bed.

2 Buzzards soared high above Weir Lane, and 23 Tufted Ducks were on the ship canal.

Thanks Eric and Ian for your responses. I'll look into it and hopefully get myself along there one day soon.

Hi Curt, I think they do have group visits, with people shown around, so a bit of Googling may reveal something you could join in with. In fact, I've just done that and found this link:-

 

https://woolstoneyes.com/workspace/surveys/wecg-2019-booked-group-visits-5c9df46e91d02.pdf

John, or indeed anybody in the know, can the general, wider public access Woolston Eyes or do you need to be a permit holder? Would love to see the black necked grebes but couldn't ever see myself going more than once due to work, time constraints.

A pair of unringed Mediterranean Gulls were on the scrape before flying low towards the weir, with plenty of posturing between the two birds. 2 Sand Martins moved west before a group of 11 descended over the bed feeding infront of the John Morgan Hide. At least 7 Chiffchaff were singing around No.3 bed, a female Merlin headed east and 4 Black-necked Grebes. Whilst a minimum of 7 Bramblings were feeding on the left-hand feeders

10.00-14.30

River Mersey & Weir Pool : 48 Tufted Ducks, 2m+2f Pochard, 2 Shelducks, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 1m+1f Gadwall and 8 Cormorants.

No 3 Bed : 1 Goldcrest, 3 Lesser Redpolls (On alders near Tower Hide), 6 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzards and 2 Jays.

1m+2f Bramblings were with Chaffinches feeding beneath the feeders.

A singing Chiffchaff by the Rotary Hide turned out to be just a tape to lure the first wave of summer migrants in for ringing.

Made up for my Starling dip by a visit to Woolston.

Marsh Harrier 2
Whooper Swan 3 adults.
Cetti's Warbler 1
Black-tailed Godwit 20
Buzzard 1
Kestrel 1 male.
Sparrowhawk 1
Teal 100+
Gadwall 6m 3f.
Wigeon 3m 5f.
Lapwing 11
Shoveler 50+
Pintail 2f
Shelduck 6
Little Grebe 2
Water Rail 1 heard.
Redwing 5+
etc.