Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 3rd August 2012

Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 3rd August 2012

The weather has been pretty poor so when it looked like we had a window of opportunity we jumped at it and went out to Moore Nature Reserve for a walk. Often we walk through Rigby’s Wood and on to Middle Moss Wood and Birchwood Pool but this time we walked to the left of the car park up the grassy slope that leads to the high land that overlooks Lapwing Lake. Anne had not walked this route before so it was a different view of Moore from that she is accustomed to. It was a bit late in the season though and lots of the birds were in hiding or just not singing. The land is very overgrown compared to early or late in the year as well and this makes it a bit different. However, there were a couple of nice sightings to be had anyway.

As we walked through this scrubby woodland we could mainly hear Chaffinches. We stopped at the Sedge Hide where we heard at least one Reed Warbler singing. We couldn’t spot it however. On the water were a couple of Little Grebes and pair of Great-crested Grebes, some Mallard, a pair of Tufted Ducks and half a dozen Coots.

We walked on hoping to see some Buzzards but didn’t find them at the Raptor Watch Platform. We continued on to the Moss Side Reserve. Before we got to the path that leads down to this reserve we started to hear Yellowhammers calling and eventually managed to see a couple singing from the telegraph wires. They didn’t hang around for long, though and the main activity was from large numbers of young Swallows dashing around the place.

The Moss Side Reserve is made up of some fields with shrubs leading to a hide that overlooks the intertidal part of the Mersey facing Fiddlers Ferry power station. All the Reed Buntings and Skylarks of earlier in the year (we last went in May) were gone and it was mainly Swallows to be seen. When we got to the hide there wasn’t a great deal to see really. As I observed back in May It is probably not the right time of year for this hide but it is probably great for waders either wintering or on migration.We did see a Buzzard hunting from a perch on an electricity pylon and on the mudflats there were huge numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and some Lapwings as well.

On our way back from this hide to the main path around Moore we started to hear even more Yellowhammers and managed to see one more. I guess that there were at least half a dozen of them singing.  We continued walking along the path past the farms where we saw four Grey Partridges and despite these being the most common Partridge, I had never seen one before so we actually managed to get a life tick on this otherwise unspectacular walk ! As the path veered round to the right we eventually came to the turning back into Moore and this path is just the remote end of the Lapwing Lane.  From there we went to the Feeding Station Hide where a group of people told us they had seen a Treecreeper but there was no food in the feeders and the usual range of wildlife just wasn’t there. Well, apart that is from the mosquitoes which were there is painful abundance. We need to remember the anti-mosquito spray next time !

Bird Sightings : Moore Nature Reserve