February 2016 archive

Feb 09 2016

High Tide on the Wirral : 9th February 2016

High Tide on the Wirral : 9th February 2016

The birding group morning on the 9th February landed on a moderately high tide of  9.7m at 11.33 GMT (Liverpool) so it was decided to go to a number of Wirral sites. We started at Hoylake where, even 90 minutes before the official high tide, the sea was already up to the boat scultpture at the bowling green. Be that as it may we still got smallish numbers of Dunlin and a few Knot. There were also a few Curlew and Redshank but the Gulls were best represented with Great and Lesser Black-backed, Herring, Black-headed and Common Gulls also present in large numbers.

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Feb 07 2016

Chorlton Water Park : 7th February 2016

Chorlton Water Park : 7th February 2016

I wanted to go back to Chorlton Water Park to try to get some decent photos of the Scaup that has been there in recent days. I went round to the far end of the island but it was reluctant to come out from the safety of the overhanging tree braches. I did get some photos but none of them very good.

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Feb 05 2016

Chorlton Water Park : 5th February 2016

Chorlton Water Park : 5th February 2016

I had seen reports of a Greater Scaup on Chorlton Water Park and at the first chance of dry weather – at least for a couple of hours – I walked from the car park down to the edge of the water and it didn’t take long before another birder was able to point me in the direction of the bird. It was on the smaller of the two islands (near the car park) and I walked round until I came to the set of steps that lead down to an angling platform. From here, looking straight forward I located the bird hanging around with a bunch of Pochards. It was drifting around from the front of the branches that dip into the water to the back. I got good views in the scope but eventually it disappeared so I walked around to the other side of the island.

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Feb 02 2016

Neumann’s Flash : 2nd February 2016

Neumann’s Flash : 2nd February 2016

The first birding group morning was to Neumann’s Flash. The weather was good to us considering the recent heavy rain and we had a nice enough walk althouhg we did not see much special. The highlight of an otherwise unremarkable morning was watching two Great Spotter Woodpeckers obviously starting to feel the effects of an anticipated Spring. We got good, prolonged, views of these and a nice view of a Buzzard but that was about it.

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