Hilbre Island : 22nd September 2015
The second birding group day out of the new was to Hilbre Island where I had not been for quite some time; I think we must have been on holiday last year when the group went there. The whole thing is about a four mile round trip over the sands to the island. It was a glorious day so perhaps not the best day for birding there but it was a refreshing change not to face an oncoming wind all the way.
There were plenty of Gulls, including one Common Gull, and also Curlew but the best birding was when we got to the main island itself. We had heard that the very first of the pale-bellied Brent Geese of the year had arrived a few days prior and we wondered whether we would be lucky enough to find this one bird. As it happens it had decided to sit just where you would expect to see it – all on its own still. It was literally our very fist Brent Goose of the year !
There were lots and lots of Wheatear gadding about among the rocks and on the cliff edges were both Meadow and Rock Pipits – the latter a first for the year, surprisingly since we would wxpet to see them at the seabird colonies in the summer. Down at the far end of the island we stopped for lunch and as we scanned the waterline we started to see a few Turnstones, a Greenshank and a Bar-tailed Godwit. Small flocks of Linnets also bobbed around the island and there were several Pied Wagtails examining the small pools on the path. A Kestrel hovered over the island before settling on the flagpole.
There was surprisingly little out at sea but the sea was rather rough even if, on land, it was a beautiful calm day. We eventually headed back over the sands stopping briefly to look at the Seal colony – now surely a hundred or more animals ! We got back to the car feeling pretty good that we had managed the fairly long (for us) walk but, of course, by the time we got home we were in need of a lie down !