Summary : September 2014
Birding Days Out
Our birding month was late in starting but then got off to a cracking start with sightings of two UK life listers in Cattle Egret and Red-necked Phalarope.. Added to this were Curlew and Pectoral Sandpipers, Greenshank and Little Stints. All these from RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands
The visit to Burton Mere Wetlands was a last minute replacement for another plan we had but we took this up a couple of days later on the 11th when we took a walk along Heswall Shore at high tide. We sat at one of the benches that overlook the marsh and sea and watched huge flocks of Redshanks, Curlew and Shelduck shifting with the tide.
Birding Group Days Out
The birding group term started on the 23rd September with a visit to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands which we seem to have visited rather a lot recently. In fact we ran into a few of the group on occasion ourselves at Burton. This time some of the rarites of the previous weeks had gone and the Cattle Egret, Pectoral Sandpiper and the Curlew Sandpipers had all gone. There was still a lovely pair of Little Stints and half a dozen Golden Plovers. Aother sign that Autumn is on its way was the arrival of some Pink-footed Geese and large numbers of Wigeon.
Garden
The weather at the start of the month was very good, largely dry and quite warm. The little flock of Starlings is still around and a couple of Coal Tits have joined the Great and Blue Tits on the feeders. We continue to have a new Robin and our Nuthatch is now regular if fleeting. Towards the end of the month roving flocks of Long-tailed Tits pass through the garden and there are large numbers of Blue Tits. A Coal Tit (or two) are regularly seen in the widow feeder. The days are still warm but the nights start to get a little nippy so, although we have not put the central heating on, we do put the gas fire on for an hour or so in the evening. The mornings are darker and the seasons are turning. We certainly can’t complain about our summer – one of the warmest, sunniest and driest in many years !