Red-necked Phalarope : Inner Marsh Farm : 9th September 2014

Red-necked Phalarope : Inner Marsh Farm : 9th September 2014

Would you be tempted to drive for an hour in order to see a Cattle Egret, a Red-necked Phalarope, Pectoral and Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshank and Little Stint all on the one scrape ? Well we were tempted because all of these birds were reported to be at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands and, apart from the Cattle Egret, all had been seen from the hide at Inner Marsh Farm.

It had been our plan to go for a walk along the Heswall shore at high tide which was supposed to be 9.8m at 11.57hrs (BST). This is something I had been hoping to do for a while but when I read the above list of birds might be seen at Burton Mere Wetlands, I made a quick xchange of plans

We parked up and went straight into the reception hide where we were told that all the birds that had been over the previous few days were still to be seen somewhere on site. I figured that the hide at Inner Marsh Farm would get busy so we shot down there straight away stopping only to look at Buzzards, at least one Peregrine and perhaps a Hobby and a large flock of Linnets. When we arrived at the hide it was standing room only already and the hide was so hot that I had to remove jacket and jumper and keep the hide door open.

There, right on cue, however and right at the front of the water a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope was bouncing around on the water with a rather frantic demeanour. It was a very small but beautifully elegant bird with a very thin neck and thin bill. It fed and preened and generally kept in just the right place for everyone to get a good view.

Competing for this lifer (for us at least) were many other waders. Over to the right hand side of the scape, out in the water, a small group of Curlew Sandpipers had a couple of tiny Little Stints among them and also a single Pectoral Sandpiper ! A few Ruff and some Greenshank completed this unusual collection of waders. In the background were the usual substantial numbers of Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing.

We decided that it was unfair of us to stay longer because new waves of birders were coming every fifteen minutes. Reluctantly we headed back towards the reception hide. We dropped in at the Marsh Covert Hide but that was completely quiet except for the distant birds of the Inner Marsh Farm scrape. On our way back, near the pond, we saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker flying between trees and there were Tits and Goldfinches around.

As soon as we got to the reception hide we discovered that the Cattle Egret had moved from amongst the cattle and had relocated to one of the islands in front of the hide. It was at the far side of the island so it took a bit of time before we got decent views but eventually we did and when it flew off to rejoin the cattle we got a nice view of the bird flying.

At the reception hide there were very large numbers of Canada and Greylag Geese and also a single Barnacle Goose. At the back of the water there were some Snipe and up at the blind we got further good views of a small flock of Spotted Redshank and a single Ruff. Oddly enough at the scrape I ran into an ex-employee who was a life-long birder – Pete Heinz. I had a little char with him before we checked out the Little Owl. The staff were burning some stuff down at the barn so this had probably put the bird off.

Be that as it may, what a day we had. As for the walk down Heswall shore – well that will have to wait for another day.

Bird Sightings : Inner Marsh Farm

Bird Sightings : RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands Reception Hide

Bird Sightings : RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands Environs