Garden
All the garden birds seem to feel that Spring is springing with the Dunnocks in particular spending a lot of time singing and gadding about. On the 9th, 13th, 14th and 15th we had a male and a female Bullfinch on the ground under the feeder which is a real rarity for us though others who live nearer the Mersey say they have them in their gardens more regularly. On 14th we had a Wren bobbing around the garden furniture looking for bugs. As the month went on the weather got much better and became quite spring-like – sunny and dry and the 27th – 29th were gloriously sunny and warm – more like Summer than Spring. A Chaffinch was seen on the feeder on 29th and 30th which is unusual ; they normally prefer the ground.
Walks and Days Out
We started off the month with a two-day birding programme. We went to RSPB Leighton Moss on the 1st. where we managed to add three “life ticks” to a generally good set of general sightings – a “redhead” Smew, a Snow Goose and a Glossy Ibis ! We went on to stay overnight in Kendal in order to get to Sizergh Castle for 8am on the 2nd for the Hawfinch spotting session organised by the RSPB. We saw seven Hawfinch all feeding on the ground and had great views of them all morning to-ing and fro-ing. On our way back from there to Manchester we also dropped in at WWT Martin Mere where we also “ticked off” a number of species so, by the end of the two-day period we had seen sixty-six species including three “life list ticks” and our year list now stood at eighty-nine – so a very satisfactory couple of days.
The following weekend we went to Parkgate for the high tides on the 9th and 10th of March and whilst the high tide didn’t really produce one of the “spectaculars” the journey was not wasted as we got very good showings of “ringtail” Hen Harriers on both days and we saw our first Merlin and Short-eared Owl – though it has to say they were a little bit far away and tantalising. Another high point was being able to see a Spoonbill from our bedroom window at the Ship Hotel in Parkgate where we stayed overnight! Not many people in Britain can say that. We also drove up to Hoylake on the afternoon of the first day of high tide at Parkgate but by the time we got there the tide was well out and so were the birds. On the second day at Parkgate we stayed until around half part one before heading off to Burton Mere Wetlands where we had a great couple of hours. It really is quite a good site now. We overheard at Parkgate that they have increasing sightings of Lesser-spotted Woodpecker there now so we paid particular attention but to no avail ! Of particular interest at Burton Mere was the presence of a single Barnacle Goose among the Canadians and, again, fantastic views of a “ringtail” Hen Harrier.
The latter half of the month we were largely restricted to just the birding group outings (see below) but on the 27th we had a good day out at Moore Nature Reserve and on 29th I spent a lovely late morning/lunchtime at Tatton Park .
Birding Group
The first March date of the birding group was at Wigan Flashes on 6th but it was a very foggy day and the sun just couldn’t get through so we didn’t see any raptors and even scanning the various flashes was difficult when they were covered in mist. The second on the 13th was at Frodsham Marshes where we were much luckier with the weather and where we saw a flock of Curlew flying overhead and the meadow was full of Skylarks rising into the air singing. We also saw a very large mixed roost of Lapwing and Dunlin. At Moore Nature Reserve on 20th we had another great day most notably spending twenty minutes or so watching a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker making a nest hole ! The following week we went to Burton Mere Wetlands on the Monday. The reason for this was that they do maintenance work at Inner Marsh Farm (opposite) on Tuesdays which can cause disruption to the birds. We took in the RSPB reserve at Burton Mere and also drove round to Inner Marsh farm where we caught sight of the first Chiffchaffs of the year. A few of us then went on to Parkgate to see if the Spoonbill was still there – which it was. This was the last birding group trip for the month and the next meeting is at Marbury where there is lunch and a meeting to plan the next session, although I think quite a few people will be missing with other commitments.
Summary
The combination of a good range of birding group outings plus our own outings to Leighton Moss, Sizergh Castle, Martin Mere, Parkgate, Moore and Tatton Park meant that our UK “life list” now stood at 170 birds and our “year list” was 100 species, 88 of which we saw in March. New “life ticks” for us in March were Snow Goose, Smew, Glossy Ibis, Short-eared Owl, Merlin and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker !