Five Great White Egret in the gutter by Old Quay Bridge was a nice site. 13 Grey Heron, one Little Egret. Waders thin on the ground on the estuary just a single Redshank and five Curlew.
River level monitoring survey from early hours. 5:32a.m. Short-eared Owl just under the Gateway Bridge flew towards Astmoor. Couple of Woodcock in flight in similar area.
05:30 Walk from the Old Quay Swing Bridge to the canal by Summit of Randles Tip early this am.
Two Tree Pipits on the wires over the Tip plus one possible further over in flight. Four Reed Buntings on Astmoor Marsh and a juv Yellow Wagtail.
07:00 back to the screen at entrance to Old Quay all five gull species (Black-headed, Common, Herring, Lesser and Great Black) present as the tide dropped. Shed loads mor Gulls though to the West of the old bridge and more Herons and Egrets large and small that way towards Pickering Pasture and Frodsham/Weaver.
One Ruddy Shelduck and 19 Common Shelduck.
Eighteen Cormorants.
Four Redshank, three Common Sandpiper, Two Oystercatcher, 22 Curlew, 41 Black-tailed Godwit and three Bar-tailed Godwit (mantra..... count every Godwit with the Cheshire Hudwit!!!- even though I got to see it at Burton on a lunchbreak this week one the Mersey would be a cool local patch tick), 12 Dunlin, with them two small waders near the Gateway Bridge - looked small against Dunlin but couldn't work out plum/jizz...Sanderlings?
27 Little Egrets, 17 Grey Heron (8 juv) and one Great Egret.
Went to see if there was a Mersey bore with the high tide, small one but not to write home about, more flow seems to be now on the North side channel the sandbanks since the Mersey Gateway was built.
Great White Egret towards the Marsh, 17 Little Egrets along the south channel, two Oystercatcher, one Grey Heron, Black-headed Gulls flying upriver including a couple with full hoods, most large gulls were way off over Spike Island / old Bridge. Two Ravens and three Buzzards on fence posts on Astmoor Marsh as the tide started to flood it and a Kestrel hovering. Skylarks singing away a plenty.
Mondays tide is supposed to be around 30 cm higher so even more could be flushed as the river floods onto the Marsh.
Late morning as the rain came in.............tide at low ebb.
12 Little Egret, one Grey Heron, one Cormorant, two Redshank, 23 Curlew under the bridge, seven Oystercatcher around on the river bars but highlight was 42 Black-tailed Godwit dropping into the south river channel in front of the Information screen.
A scan of the Mersey Banks as tide came in after lunch from the info board.
Shelduck including the Ruddy and 000s of Gulls on the opposite banks too far away for detailed ID. All the Gulls on the Wigg side were Black-headed (72).
Two oystercatcher, 800+ Lapwing, 13 Curlew, seven Redshank, 35 Dunlin (at least) and a Common Sandpiper were all present on the Wigg side of the banks.
Couple Cormorant flew over and Green and Goldfinches were in the trees by the ship Canal.
At least seventeen Little Egret in view along the South shore and one Grey Heron.
-- Edited by Andy Slee on Saturday 22nd of July 2023 04:48:04 PM
A really splendid visit to Runcorn this morning 06.45 - 09.15, the highlights were my first Chiffchaff of the summer, several pairs of Bullfinches around the reserve, a male Reed Bunting collecting nesting material, a pair of amorous Buzzards and finally after a number of attempts, brief but excellent views of a Cetti's Warbler. Heard him singing to start with then very obligingly he sat up in a small bush for me
My thanks to Anno Brandreth of Halton for pointing me in the right direction originally.
Had a couple of hours at Wigg Island today in seach of Cettis Warbler and despite hearing the calls I was unable to pin the rascals down. Still a pleasant afternoon with Merlin and Buzzard on the marsh and loads of gulls on the mud when the tide receded - some of them looked huge - a good place for the "gullers" perhaps
-- Edited by sid ashton on Monday 7th of March 2011 07:12:50 PM
and finally after a number of attempts, brief but excellent views of a Cetti's Warbler. Heard him singing to start with then very obligingly he sat up in a small bush for me 