Birding Group Visit To Hilbre Island 22nd October 2012

Birding Group Visit To Hilbre Island 22nd October 2012

Usually when we go to Hibre Island we have to brave a lot of wind and usually some rain as well. Today was completely different and the day was warm and completely windless. This mean that a t-shirt would have been the best attire because after a brisk walk across the sands we got pretty warm. We were surprised to see three  Mergansers on the sailing lake although it wasn’t too clear what they could find to eat there. As we walked across the sand we started to see Curlew which were scattered about the place and getting more frequent as we neared the island. We could also hear the eerie “singing” of a large number of Common Seals relaxing on a sand bar.

Near the island we saw a pair of Little Egrets amongst a bunch of gulls and as we got on to the island we started to see the first of a number of Brent Geese (I believe these are Pale-bellied Brent Geese) that increased as we got to the far side of the island and there were lots of Oystercatchers. We also saw a number of Turnstones  and Redshanks. In the gorse and by the dry stone walls we saw Meadow Pipit, Wren, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch and Robin.

Although this does not seem like a lot of birds we still felt that we had had a good morning and it was particularly pleasant to do the walk over to the island and back in good weather so we were happy enough.

We did have a little more time left after this so we dropped in at Burton Mere Wetlands but we had just missed a Hen Harrier and, other than that, it was very quiet so we didn’t stay long.

Bird Sightings : Hilbre Island