Birding Group Visit to Frodsham Marshes 19th March 2013

Birding Group Visit to Frodsham Marshes 19th March 2013

After missing a couple of weeks of the birding group, due to work being done on our house, we were glad to get back to our mornings out and it was a pleasant day and not too cold or windy. As usual Frodsham was very muddy but we took the high path that runs along the side of the field next to the parking area and walked along there dropping down to the River Weaver near the end of the field. From the parking position we could already hear a lot of Skylarks chirruping in a field nearby and a Buzzard was on a post as usual. As we walked down the side of the field we got up a small flock of Greylag Geese in which we were pleased to see two Barnacle Geese which we caught up with again where they landed on the river a short distance away.Also on the river were a larger number of Canada Geese, some Shelduck and Tufted Ducks and half a dozen Goldeneye. We walked along the riverbank and we turned to watch a Skylark ascend high in the air singing loud and clear; two Curlew flew overhead and a Buzzard was seen over the tanks. In fact we probably saw half a dozen Buzzards overall during the morning – and a possible Marsh Harrier but our glimpse was too brief to be sure. The water on the Weaver was disappointingly high again – we rarely seem to get this right – although there were some shallows where ducks were standing up and a bit of mud on the far side where we saw a few Redshanks.

As we got halfway doen the path, we noticed two unusual ducks amongst the Shelducks and on closer examination these tyrned out to be Ruddy Shelducks – a male and a female. These are probably hybrid ferals and a quick look on the internet later threw up a few mentions of hybrid Ruddy Shelducks. Nevertheless they were lovely to look at and we kept going back to them as we sought to get better light on them.

We walked back down to the cars and justbefore we headed off to the other site we usually visit here, we had time to see a small flock of Redwing in nearby trees. At the other tanks there was very little to see apart from the two Ruddy Shelducks we had seen flying off the Weaver earlier. Apart from that there were only a disappointingly few birds and almost all of these were Shelducks or gulls. As we walked along the path, however, we did see  a Crow bothering a Buzzard – an event that we have seen before at Frodsham. We also had a nice view of a small flock of Goldfinches and with them were two Linnets.

With that we headed back to do some more research on Ruddy Shelducks !  Apart from these our year-list high point was the pair of Barnacle Geese but, in general, it was a pleasant day and a pleasant walk – if a little light on waders.

Bird Sightings : Frodsham Marsh