March 2012 archive

Mar 29 2012

Morning Visit To Tatton Park 29th March 2012

Morning Visit To Patton Park 29th March 2012

The last few days have been like mid Summer with beautiful clear skies and warm temperatures so I went for a walk through Dog Wood and along Tatton Mere to the new Hide at the far end. As soon as I got out of the car I could hear several Chiffchaffs calling loudly. It only took me a minute or so to get one in my scope ! As I entered Dog Wood the woods were filled with the sound of Woodpeckers drumming and it only took me a further five or perhaps ten minutes before I located a Great Spotted Woodpecker. There were lots of Nuthatches calling as well so, with all the usual birds pitching in, the whole woods resounded with Spring birdsong. An additional advantage was that by 10.30 the morning dog walkers appeared to be largely finished until the fresh batch at lunchtime. I walked for at least half an hour without encountering a single other person which meant that I stood a reasonable chance of some good birding.

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Mar 27 2012

Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 27th March 2012

Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 27th March 2012

We had recently been to Moore Nature Reserve with the birding group and we had seen a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the woods near the Lapwing Lane end of Lapwing Lake (on the path that leads down to Canal Bed Hide. We wondered if we could get a second viewing of this bird but we also wanted to have a wander around the further reaches of the site that the birding group does not usually go to. Since it was a beautiful sunny day it seemed like a good day to do this. We parked up and immediately walked down to where we had seen the Woodpecker. There were some birders and photographers hanging around there but the bird had not been seen yet that day. We thought that we could drop back later to check again so we walked down to the the Canal Bed Hide. The numbers of water birds has dropped off a bit but there were lots of Tufted Ducks and Gulls, Swans and Mallards. We walked back up the path and turned left where we had seen the Woodpecker and walked round that little copse turning left again at Lapwing Lane and dropping in at the  Feeding Station Hide. There were Tits, Reed Buntings and Chaffinches –  few Mallard and lots of Squirrels ! Otherwise it was quite quiet.

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Mar 26 2012

Birding Group Visit to RSPB Burton Mere, Inner Marsh Farm, Parkgate 26th March 2012

Birding Group Visit to RSPB Burton Mere, Inner Marsh Farm, Parkgate 26th March 2012

Our birding group morning out was not marked by any “lifers” or unusual birds (except for at Parkgate – see later) but it was a gloriously warm and sunny day hinting at the arrival of summer, never mind spring ! As if to confirm this we had our first couple of sightings of Chiffchaff. Apart from that, there weren’t even that many birds on the water – with the exception of around 150 Black-tailed Godwits – but all the usual species were there, if in smaller numbers, including Shelduck, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Oystercatchers, Common and Spotted Redshank, Pintail, Wigeon, Gadwall, five Snipe a Ruff and even some Avocets.

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Mar 20 2012

Birding Group Visit To Moore Nature Reserve 20th March 2012

Birding Group Visit To Moore Nature Reserve 20th March 2012

We started off by parking up in the car park where we saw a list of the recent sightings which was promising including, as it did, all the Woodpeckers, Tawny Owl etc. We walked down the path from the car park that takes you into Dog Field, looking all the time to our left to the woods. As soon as we arrived we met a chap who was leaving who said that he had just seen a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on a dead tree stump in the woods there. We all looked but could not see anything except a Jay or two and some Chaffinches and Tits. We turned right at the end and walked down through the field to Birchwood Pool where there were a few Little Grebes and a couple of Great Crested Grebes, a couple of Gadwall and Teal and lots of Great Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed Gulls as well as Canada Geese. We also saw a Buzzard overhead.

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Mar 13 2012

Birding Group Visit To Frodsham Marshes 13th March 2012

Birding Group Visit To Frodsham Marshes 13th March 2012

We started off by parking up and walking down to the River Weaver. We then walked along the “Weaver Bend”. As we did so there was a meadow full of Skylarks chattering away and a few taking to the air singing vigorously. We had several sightings of Kestrel though whether it was one busy one or more than one we couldn’t tell – though some of the group were convinced at at least one male and one female had been seen. The river itself was far more interesting that I had thought it would be and there were many species to be seen.

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Mar 10 2012

Visit to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands 10th March 2012

Visit to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands 10th March 2012

After our second morning at Parkgate we returned to Manchester via Burton Mere Wetlands reserve which is just down the road from Parkgate and partly overlooks the same bit of estuary. The newly built reception and hides is very good and the site is very mature already. They have not as yet built the walkways that may eventually join up the two hides they have with the hide on the opposite side of the marsh which is, of course, Inner Marsh Farm. When we were there that hide still seemed to be full of people so it obviously hasn’t been abandoned in favour of Burton Mere Wetlands. It does have the advantage that there is no charge to visit the Inner Marsh Farm site and there is at Burton Mere.

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Mar 10 2012

Spring High Tide at Parkgate 9 & 10 March 2012

Spring High Tide at Parkgate 9 & 10 March 2012

We went  to Parkgate on the Wirral estuary  for the spring high tide which we hoped would be one of the spectacular ones. The RSPB web site says of Parkgate  “The marshes of Parkgate and the surrounding areas hold masses of small mammals and bird life.  Will this year’s tides flood the entire marsh and cause the wildlife spectacle hundreds of people travel miles to see?”

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Mar 06 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wigan Flashes 6th March 2012

Birding Group Visit to Wigan Flashes 6th March 2012

Our visit to Wigan Flashes, which had been postponed previously, turned out to be something of a let-down due to the heavy mist over all the water. Although it was a gloriously sunny morning when we left Manchester by the time we got to the motorway the mist started to appear and that was pretty much the case all morning, only starting to clear up towards afternoon just as we left Wigan. The birding was pretty much as usual. It was too misty to expect – or see – raptors so it was a case of scanning the misty water for anything interesting there. Large numbers of Great-crested Grebes, several Goldeneye and a couple of Gadwall were all that could pass as “highlights”.

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Mar 02 2012

Day Out to WWT Martin Mere 2nd March 2012

Day Out to WWT Martin Mere 2nd March 2012

After our visit to Sizergh Castle we headed to Martin Mere hoping to add a good number of species to our two-day list. On our drive there we saw a Kestrel hovering overhead which was a nice addition to our list. At Martin Mere we didn’t go to all the hides but we visited what we consider to be the main ones starting, as often, at the Ron Barker hide where there were around three hundred Pink-footed Geese in the far field to the right of the hide. There were also large numbers of Starlings on the ground mixed in with the other birds.  By far the dominant bird numerically, however, were the Wigeon; there must have been at least five hundred. There were also a few Whooper Swans and lots of Shelduck and Teal but the highlight was the newly arrived flock of Avocets. At first when we looked there seemed to be only around a dozen but soon enough more flew in and we managed to count around 120. As we went around the site, however, there seemed to be more of them dispersed here and there. There was also a flock of around 150 Lapwing, a small flock of Dunlin; a few Black-tailed Godwit; a Ruff and a couple of RInged Plovers.

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Mar 02 2012

Hawfinches at Sizergh Castle 2 March 2012

Hawfinches at Sizergh Castle 2 March 2012

Our two-day birding trip had already given us a great day out at RSPB Leighton Moss where we saw lots of species with the bonus of three fantastic “life ticks” – a “redhead” Smew, a Snow Goose and a Glossy Ibis – but this second day was the main purpose of our trip and that was to see the Hawfinches that feed off the Hornbeam and Beech trees in the gardens of Sizergh Castle. So as not to have to start off from Manchester at 6am we decided that we would go to Leighton Moss the day before and then drive up to Kendal for an overnight stay, which we did at the Riverside Hotel. We were up early – as were the three Goosanders on the river outside our bedroom window –  for the 15 minute drive from the centre of Kendal to Sizergh Castle where we all met up with the  National Trust ranger who was leading the event (Rob Pocklington) which started at 8am. When I say that the Hawfinches were in the gardens at Sizergh castle, in fact they were actually in the car park and children’s play area that we saw them.
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