High Tide at Parkgate : 23rd March 2015

High Tide at Parkgate : 23rd March 2015

Another chance for a high tide at Parkgate wasn’t to be missed and at 10.2 at 12.20pm the height and timing could not have been better. The problem was that it was a beautiful windless and very sunny day – not always what you want at Parkgate where a lot of low pressure and a bit of wind always helps to draw the water in. It being a Sunday we weren’t sure whether we would get a parking place near the RSPB car park where we normally view the marsh from. On the plus side, it was the third high tide day so the marsh had been soaking up water for a couple of days already. What would we find then ?

Well, because we had got there a couple of hours before high tide we got lucky with the parking and got a nice spot right in the main park of the car park. We set up scope and waited in the sun, battling against the heat haze in the distance. It took quite some time before any water seemed to come in and it was about twenty minutes before high tide before we saw any movement where the River Dee meets the marsh. Lots of Gulls were obviously finding good eating opportunities and then flocks of Curlew and Cormorants started to fly in. A roost of Knot started to build up giving a nice, if distant, display against the sky as they wheeled and turned over.

Bit by bit the Redshank numbers increased; more Grey Herons appeared and, of course, there were lots of Little Egrets. A Buzzard gave us good views overhead but still no Harriers. As the pools started to fill up more Shelduck appeared and there were plenty of Teal. A few Black-tailed Godwit were also to be found. Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were plentiful and there were also a few Stonechat.

By half past twelve we would have been forgiven for thinking that that was it for the day but to our great surprise the water started to come in further and further and at least an hour after we had expected the maximum tide level it still seemed to be coming in. Now things were starting to pick up and we got great views of two (or some people saw three) Short-eared Owls generally being harassed by Gulls but,a s usual, they persevered . A remarkable skein of around one thousand Pink-footed Geese flew from the south over the edge of the marsh and onwards to the north.

One of the high points of the afternoon was the appearance of a Water Rail struggling to find some dry ground among the floating wrack. After swimming from patch to patch it gave up and gave us a fantastic show taking off from our right and flying straight past us and off into the left distance. This was the first time I had seen a Water Rail flying and listening to the comments of others around us it was clear that this was the firs time lots of people there had seen this, flight-resistant, bird on the wing.

We started to see mammal life in the water by the car park (apparently the best place to look is just where the wall starts at the left of the car park) and eventually spotted four or five Short-tailed Field Voles although it is also supposed to be very good for Harvest Mice. The ones we saw seemed to be destined to survive but further out the feeding frenzy was going on as is usual at high tide. A Kestrel flew very low over the edge of the car park looking for lunch and pleasing a lot of the visitors of which there were lots, mixed in with Sunday dog walkers.

Again we had chances to see the Short-eared Owls flying across the marsh but when the action died out a little we decided to take the footpath that goes north along the coast from the car park. We hadn’t gone that far before we spotted in the distance a couple of brown roundish things on the marsh. We got a bit closer and got good views of two of the Owls resting and preening low on the marsh.

We had been fours hours standing in the blazing sun and it felt like the right time for a little light refreshment at the Boathouse before returning home. On the journey back I managed to pick up the Radio Merseyside commentary on the Liverpool vs Manchester United game which ended in a 2-1 win to United – the day couldn’t really get much better.

Incidentally I overheard a RSPB warden saying that the best height for a tide at Hoylake was around 9.5m – just enough to bring the birds in but not so much that they all have to fly off. I should bear this in mind for the future. It might make a good day to do that and then move on to New Brighton and places in between.

Bird Sightings : Parkgate