Hoylake, Parkgate & Burton Mere : 29th October 2015

Hoylake, Parkgate & Burton Mere : 29th October 2015

After we got back from our Mallorca holiday, I was checking up on recent sightings closer to home and I ame across the monthly news at the Deeside Birding Website and it showed a high tide of 10m at around 1pm on the 29th so I suggested that we went up there as high tides are not too frequent this year – or, at least, not at a time of day that was feasible for us. A weekday high tide at mid-day couldn’t be better but I thought that 10m was perhaps not quite high enough for Parkgate so I suggested we go to Parkgate. As it happened it turned out to be a better tide and the day took a course I wasn’t expecting, ending up much better than I had expected.

We got to Hoylake with over an hour to spare but, amazingly the tide was nearly all the way in and most of the birds had gone already. Still, we got a pair of Bar-tailed Godwits and some Knot. It became clear, though, that if the tide was this high with an hour still to go, Parkgate may have been a good bet. We decided to be grateful for our 30 minutes of speed-birding and headed down to Parkgate.

Bird Sightings : Hoylake

At Parkgate we managed to park in the best spot at the baths car park and set up the scope. We spoke to some people who had been there for a while and they were surprised that the tide was coming in so much. They said they had already had close views of Short-eared Owl and Peregrine. The wind had dropped by now but it still looked good so we settled down for the last hour of the tide.

Although I didn’t manage to see a Short-eared Owl (the others did when I went to find a toilet) there was plenty of spectacle. The high point wass probably seeing three Great White Egrets all on the marsh at the same time; another great scene was a pair of Great WHite Egrets standing next to a Grey Heron and a Little Egret.

As far as the Little Egrets went it is hard to say how many are there at any given time; I counted at least twenty. Other great sights were a flock of Black-headed Gulls fighting off a pair of Great Black-backed Gulls and a pair of Peregrines perched on an old stump out on the marsh. When they got up they raised flocks of Lapwing and Redshsnk. Sometimes large flocks flew by following some unknown purpose ; this was the case with a flock of around sixty Black-tailed Godwits. All the time large mixed flocks of seed-eaters massed on the flower heads in the reedbeds; these included Goldfich and Linnets but mayhave included a variety of other birds.

All in all, it was a much better tide than we would normally expect at Parkgate at just 11 metres – especially so since the wind had dropped. Nevertheless the water came all the way up to the car park wall, though small mammals were not to be seen. By now it was lunch time so we headed off to The Boathouse and after that we paid a quick visit to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands to see what the tide had done there.

Bird Sightings : Parkgate

The car park at Burton Mere Wetlands was nearly full because of the high tide; everyone who had been at Parkgate had come down here, particularly because there were reports of two Jack Snipe being seen from the screen just between the visitor centre and the Marsh Covert hide. Before we took a look for that, however, we were attracted to the information that a Curlew Sandpiper and a Little Stint were on the main scrape. We did not manage to find the Little Stint but got the Curlew Sandpiper quickly.

Another bird we had been told about in the reception was Brambling which had been seen feeding from the new feeders they have hung next to the bushes by the barn. We took a stroll down there and the feeders were abuzz with all sorts of finches and tits. After quite a long time we managed to get a good view of one Brambling that posed at the end of a branch eventually. This was a “year tick” and we soon got another when someone pointed out that the flock of Linnets in the bushes in fact contained a number of Redpolls. We had spent quite  while looking for the Brambling so, with time running out and the light fading, we went over to thescreen just between the visitor centre and the Marsh Covert hide. The Jack Snipe had been seen quite recently though but we didn’t manage to see them before we had to leave, One incidental benefit of standing at this screen for ages was that we saw a Cetti’s Warbler fly across the opening in the screeen and perch for a short while on a reed, showing well, for twenty seconds or so. A great bonus because you often hear then here but seldom see them.

Bird Sightings : RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands