Visit to Wirral Country Park for Warden-led Walk 2nd February 2013

Visit to Wirral Country Park for RSPB Walk 2nd February 2013

I had seen references to Thurstaston and Wirral Country Park on birding web sites and it was said to be good for wintering birds. I looked up a web site for the country park and I discovered a warden led walk there at the time of high tide. This sounded perfect so we headed off for this. We often drive past the entrance to the country park when we are visiting birding sites on the Wirral. In fact the entrance is off the same roundabout that we often stop off at for lunch at the Cottage Loaf pub. The day was very pleasant and looked good for a nice walk along the beach.

We parked up and went for a cup of tea at the quaint and confusing cafe at the entrance to the site before returning to the visitor centre to meet up with the warden who was to lead the walk. Before we did this we took a quick stroll to the edge of the large grassy area in front of the visitor centre that ends in the low cliffs that are so characteristic of the site. From here we could see hundreds of Oystercatchers and dozens of Pintails as well as a scattering of other birds including Redshank.

We started off the walk by walking down the long flight of steps leading to the beach. As we walked along the beach we stopped occasionally to look at numbers of Shelduck and Black-tailed Godwits. Large flocks of Lapwings wheeled around above and as the tide came in the birds were either moved closer to us or they flew off over our heads to the fields to our left to roost. We had frequent views of small groups of eight or ten Curlews as they lifted off from the sands and headed off for the fields. As we watched one group they started flying in a more erratic fashion and a closer look revealed a Peregrine Falcon hovering just over the cliffs and causing a lot of confusion. We had a good five minutes watching this bird before it headed off and disappeared behind some trees.

We continued on past Tinkers Dell and from there we could then see Parkgate about four miles distant. We climbed back up the steps (many fewer than we came down) and into and across the fields. From this elevated position we could again get good views of the waders and we spent quite some time looking at a single Knot that landed on the beach and seemed entirely unmoved as walkers passed close by it on the beach.

We emerged from the fields and joined the the long track that splits the fields and which looks like it must have been a railway track at one time. As we walked back along this track we started to see a number of woodland birds but the main attraction was a field of large numbers of roosting Curlew. Another field was full of Woodpigeons and we watched as first a female and then a male Sparrowhawk tried to grab one of them. We also saw a Buzzard sitting in a tree quite nearby and a Kestrel gave us a nice collection of Raptors for the day. One of the fields also provided us with nice views of Skylarks, some of them already seemingly starting to display.

We eventually returned to the visitor centre after about three hours but there was so much to see that we could easily have taken more time. All in all it seemed like a really good place to go – especially when the tide is coming in – and may well be a good place to suggest to the birding group as a new addition to the range of habitats we visit.

Bird Sightings : Wirral Country Park