Birding Group Visit to Frodsham Marsh : 26th November 2013

Birding Group Visit to Frodsham Marsh : 26th November 2013

We were driving up the lane leading to the parking place at Frodsham and as we drove along a Kestrel flew parallel to the car for a while giving us really close views. As it peeled off and flew into the distance we started to see a mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare feeding on the berries on the bushes and trees that line the lane. As we parked up we could see a classic “Buzzard on a post” and we heard the unmistakable call of a Curlew. We looked up and there we saw the bird fly towards the river. We followed it down to the river along the low path at the edge of a marshy strip which was mercifully drier than usual. At the river there were a wide variety of birds to be seen. As well as Tufted Ducks there was a small flock of Goldeneye and at the end of the pier in the distance was a small number of Pochard and some Mallards. Nearer to the shore there were a few Little Grebes and on the shore a few Cormorants; a Grey Heron flew over

.

In the fields to the right we could hear lots of Robins and Wrens and probably also Reed Buntings and as we walked along the river bank we could see Fieldfares and Redwings in the bushes and eventually also a first for the year for me – a Stonechat ! Ordinarily this would not be such a good sighting but for some reason they have eluded me this year so far so I was very pleased to add this “year tick” .

Up the river near the bend we first heard and then saw a few Redshanks arriving. In the middle of the water there was a large number of Teal but at least two, possibly three, Pintails were also roosting amongst them. A single Black-tailed (?) Godwit was mooching around among the scattered Redshanks. Here there were even more Little Grebes – perhaps seven or eight.

We walked back along the river to the parking place and headed off to the tanks along the other fork of the lane that leads to the river path. We usually expect to see quite a lot of birds there but the mud was empty. On the water were some Shovelers and rather more numbers of Shelduck. On a tree near the lane opposite the tanks we saw a huge Buzzard sitting watching us. It eventually flew off but it soon became clear that there were at least two and perhaps more Buzzards. Closer examination of a field of sheep showed a flock of perhaps a thousand Lapwing and mixed in were some Starlings and around sixty Curlews.

This wasn’t the best, though, By far the highlight of the day was the fantastic showing of Fieldfares; there must have been a couple of hundred of them flying about and as we stood watching, part of this flock landed on a tree not too far away and we got lovely scoped views. The way the birds had arranged themselves it seemed like they had decided to display every possible viewpoint in case we should have any doubt about how to distinguish them from their smaller  brethren,  Redwings. In the past I have always seen Redwings more frequently but today the table was turned and whilst there were some of the smaller winter thrushes mixed in with the flock, by far the dominant species was the significantly larger Fieldfare.

We eventually dragged ourselves away from this splendid show and headed off for lunch at the Bear’s Paw in Frodham village.

Bird Sightings : Frodsham Marsh