2013 Annual Summary

Summary 2013

We had several holidays or breaks where we had an opportunity to see birds we would not normally see or just to get our “year list” up to speed. These included our first guided birding during a visit to Norfolk and Cambridgeshire in March, a visit to Somerset and Dorset in May that enabled us to get to many wetland reserves, short trips in July and August to Angelsey and East Yorkshire and, best of them all, our trip to Scotland in October which took in visits to Montrose Basin, Loch of Strathbeg and environs and on our return a stopover at WWT Caerlaverock. In between we had three great days of birding in the Highlands of which more below. November was largely a birding group month for us as was the first half of December but in the last two weeks of December we went on a splurge of “twitching” that gave us some great year and life ticks.

During 2013 our UK year list ended up at 184 species (UK Life List now stands at 214 )which was only six more than 2012 but still contained some great sightings :

New Life List Bird Sightings : 2013

plus sub-species Siberian Chiffchaff (2) at Burton Marsh

Monthly Summaries

January 2013

We started the year with a birding group visit to Pennington Flash where a Goosander and a Kingfisher were the highlights. The following week we went to Burton Mere Wetlands which was a bit disappointing but the day was transformed when we decided to call an early halt to this visit and head off up to Hoylake for the high tide there. This turned out to be a most amazingly spectacular event involving tens of thousands of birds in a huge wader roost just a few feet from the promenade.
On the 6th of January we went to Moore Nature Reserve where the highlights were a small flock of Waxwings and a lovely Redhead Smew as well as a pair of Goldcrests.

February 2013

On the 1st February we went to Chorlton Ees and the Water Park and on the Ees we got really good views of a small flock of Lesser Redpolls. The following day we went to Wirral Country Park at Thurstaston which we had been meaning to visit for a while. The warden-led trip gave us great views of various Raptors including Peregrine Falcon, Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk as well as good views of a vast number of Oystercatchers and good numbers of other birds including Large numbers of Curlew.

The first birding group visit of February was to Marshside where we had fantastic views of a Merlin and also close – if short – views of a Water Rail.

For our next birding group day we headed off to catch the incoming high tide at Point of Ayr where we had another Merlin and I also saw a rigtail Hen Harrier. Unfortunately we miscalculated the high tide. You need to be there two hours before high tide at Liverpool not one !

On 17th February we had a lovely sunny few hours walking around Etherow Country Park where we got the expected year ticks of Egyptian Goose and Mandarin Duck.

March 2013

During March we had a lot of work being domne on our house and this preoccupied us almost to the exclusion of all birding. As a reward for enduance we awarded ourselves a visit to Norfolk and Cambridgeshire mixing some birding with visiting friends. This was our first “led” birding and, although the weather was mostly snow blizzard, this did net us a couple of species for the life list (Caspian Gull and Goshawk) and 15 more for the year list. Especially interesting was views of two Black Bellied Dippers.

The one birding group visit we could attend during March was to Frodsham Marshes on the 19th, where the highlights were a pair of Ruddy Shelduck and a pair of Barnacle Geese

April 2013

On 9th April the birding group day went to Moore Nature Reserve where we saw a pair of Sand Martins and heard our first Chiffchaff of the year. We also had fantastic views again this year of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

On the 15th the birding group went to Inner Marsh Farm where we saw our first Wheatear of the year and our first Swallow. We went on afterwards to Burton Mere Wetland where we had nice views of a Lesser Redpoll and well as seeing good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit and Avocets.

These were the only birding group dates we made in April as we had arranged to do some birding in Dorset and then went on to visit friends in Somerset, breaking up our journey south by staying a night at the Tudor Arms Hotel in Slimbridge on the night of 22nd April. We arrived with a little time to spare so we had a chance to make a short visit to WWT Slimbridge where the highlight was a view of three Cranes. On the morning of the 23rd we returned to WWT Slimbridge where we again got great views of the Cranes, – this time displaying very interesting behaviour – and also the Arctic Terns, a Little Egret and a Kingfisher as well as a host of other birds.
On the morning of the 24th we went on a guided walk to RSPB Arne where we saw a Curlew and a Whimbrel and also saw some late departing Dark Bellied Brent Geese and a few Sandwich Terns.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to Weymouth to visit the RSPB site at Radipole Lake where we had a good view of a Hooded Merganser and an Egyptian Goose and saw and heard lots of summer migrants.

On the 25th we went over to Brownsea Island where we had a fantastic day, firstly at the Dorset Wildlife Trust site and then generally around the rest of the parts of the island open to the public. The pick of the days sightings were Avocets, Godwits, Turnstones, Common and Sandwich Terns, Snipe and our first view of a Spotted Redshank in summer plumage – almost completely black with shining spots – now we know why they are called Spotted Redshanks.

We left Poole on the morning of 26th and we drove via Studland Bay and RSPB Arne on our way to Montacute where we were to stay with friends. This brief visit to Arne gave us our first Spoonbills of the year but still no Dartford Warbler.

Whilst at Montacute we managed to fit in one day of good birding on the 27th and that was at the RSPB reserves Ham Wall at Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath The highlights here were the Black Winged Stilts and the sounds of booming Bitterns and singing Warblers. Before we left Somerset we managed to fit in another visit to Ham Wall where we got our very first sightings of not one Bittern but three! Additionally we got our first drake Garganey of the year and at Shapwick Heath we got great views of Hobbies and rather more distant views of a Great White Egret flying in and out of the reed beds. We also got our first Little Ringed Plover of the year.

As with our trip down from Manchester, we again broke up our journey back home by staying over at Slimbridge where we had a final chance to see the Cranes again.

It was great to be able to get to all of these sites within a week at this time of year. In total we saw 86 species and added 23 species to our year list and three lifers in Bittern, Hooded Merganser and Black Winged Stilt and discovered the fantastic sits at Arne, Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath – places we simply must go to again. All in all a great months birding !

May 2013

During May our birding was restricted to the birding group but it turned out to be a strange month with the birds apparently confused about whether it was spring or not. We had no real exceptional sightings. One of our regular haunts, Macclesfield Forest did give us the first Redstarts and Pied Flycatcher of the year which is always nice. In general there was quite a bit of bad weather that kept us from getting better sightings in April but we went ourselves to Brockholes Nature Reserve near Preston where we got fantastic views of a Short-eared Owl; by far the closest views of this species we have ever had !

June 2013

June was another month where we largely restricted ourselves to birding group outings. We went to Goyt Valley where, despite birds being a bit hard to come by, we had very good views of Redstarts. On the 11th we went to RSPB Conwy which was fairly quiet but we had a nice walk anyway and saw a single Barnacle Goose. From here we drove on to the North Wales Wildlife Trust site, The Spinnies, Aberogwen the highlights of which were very large numbers of Oystercatchers indeed and smaller but still impressive numbers of roosting Curlew, lots of Little Egrets and Common, Arctic and Sandwich Terns all plunging into the sea to feed.

We missed the visit to Etherow Country Park that was scheduled for the 18th because we had visiting relatives but we did get to Brockholes Nature Reserve on the 25th where we again had two sightings of a Kingfisher (possible two different ones) and great views of a Sedge Warbler. We also saw the Black Swan and had both Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers.. There were no new lifers.
The highlight of the month for us was probably our visit to Woolston Eyes Reserve Open Day on the 30th June. Even though it was the day before we were due to go on holiday to the Azores we felt we had to make time to visit the home of 25% of the UK breeding population of Black-necked Grebes and we had fantastic views of a couple of family groups as well as seeing a Wren close-up at a ringing session and lots of other great birds. It was agreat day out and we resolved to go there again soon when we could take more time going round the reserve.

July 2013

July was a scorching month with record temperatures. were away on holiday in the Azores until the 12th. Whilst there we had fantastic close sea-level views from a RIB of dozens of Cory’s Shearwaters. We also saw Azorean Buzzards, an endemic species.

In the second half of the month we managed another trip to Woolston Eyes Reserve and on the 18th and 19th we went to Wales. We drove from Manchester to Conwy where we stopped at RSPB Conwy for a cup of tea and a bite to eat before heading off to RSPB South Stack. at Anglesey where we at last got a chance to catch up on some of the seabirds that we had so far missed this year. We didn’t see any Kittiwakes, Fulmars or Choughs but we did see some Puffins and plenty of Guillemots and Razorbills. We even managed to see a small group of Black Guillemots at the Fish Dock at Holyhead. From there we went to Cemlyn Bay to see the Tern Colony and had a great time watching Arctic Terns feed their young just a few feet from us on the shingle at the waters edge. We stayed overnight at Bulkely Arms Hotel in Beaumaris and the following day we went to the Spinnies at Abergowen near Tal-y-Bont where we saw a nice flock of Goosanders and lots of Oystercatchers and a couple of dozen Little Egrets. We rounded off our trip with a visit to RSPB Conwy where we had a spot of lunch and spent quite some time looking for a Green Sandpiper that we just could not find.

In the Sandpiper department we had a lot more luck on the 26th July when we went out for the day to Burton Mere Wetlands where we saw not one but four – Green Sandpipers and also a Single Wood Sandpiper – two year ticks. We also had fabulous views of a Sedge Warbler singing loudly from a Cow Parley stem.

August 2013

August saw more mixed weather with some rain as well as some sunny days. The birding group doesn’t have dates in August so we had days out on our own to Moore Nature Reserve where we managed to at least hear Yellowhammers even if we could not see them. We also had an amusing encounter with a bird that I hoped for the briefest of moments might have been a Parrot Crossbill. Closer examination proved me very wrong however and later consultation with the Cheshire County Recorder turned up its probable identity ! Other than that our only day out was on the 23rd when we went for a day out around the Wirral for some high tide bird watching We stopped off at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands and also at Hoylake where we got great views of large numbers of Terns and also incredibly large numbers of Ringed Plovers and Dunlins.

Some of our better birding for the month took place on longer visits away from home. We went over to the West Yorkshire coast to visit the seabird colonies there and this year we decided to repeat this but to add on a couple of new sites – at least new to us. The first of these was the RSPB site at Blacktoft Sands where we had fantastic views of several Marsh Harriers and also clocked up a number of good waders including Green and Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank and Common and Spotted Redshank. We went from there to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Site at North Cave where we saw a Kingfisher, Black Swans and some Common Terns. We stayed overnight in Hull before heading off the next day for Spurn Head where we spent the morning before driving up to Flamborough where we were staying and then on to RSPB Bempton Cliffs where we got great views of Gannets, Kittiwakes and somewhat distant Puffins.The following morning we had an early walk along Flamborough Cliffs where we got a fantastic view of two Peregrine Falcons having an aerial battle and also saw a few Puffins. After that we returned to RSPB Bempton Cliffs where I left my scope behind and instead took my 500mm lens to try to get some good views at the Jubilee Corner where the Gannets and Kittiwakes were close to the viewing platform. This time we managed to see a couple of Fulmars but still no Skuas ! We headed off from there and dropped in at the site that had been recommended to us at Spurn, Filey Dams Wetlands where we saw a pair of Green Sandpipers and a few other waders. Over the two days we had been to six different birding sites and had seen sixty one bird, four of them year ticks.

We also went down to Oxfordshire on 20th August to visit a relative but we took the opportunity to see the many Red Kites near Aston Rowant NNR . – the site of the very first re-introduction programme for these birds. They are now the most common large bird in the sky in that area.

September 2013

September was mixed weather-wise but some days towards the end of the month were quite balmy. The garden started to see more of the birds we usually expect to see.
On 4th we went to Sandbach Flashes where we were fortunate to eventually get some reasonable views of a Stilt Sandpipier – a relatively rare visitor to Britain. On the 5th we continued our Sandpiper theme at RSPB Leighton Moss where, although we did not see any Marsh Harriers, we did get great views of Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Ruff and even a pair of Kingfishers !

In fact we saw Curlew Sandpipers at a number of different sites this year and have become quite familiar with them.

The new birding group Sschedule started a little later this year with the first day being a visit to Pennington Flash which was a little disappointing especially since we were really hoping to see the Lesser Scaup that was supposed to be off Ramsdale Ruck.

October 2013

October kicked off with our much anticipated Scottish holiday took in a quick stopover at Montrose Basin, a visit to Loch of Strathbeg and environs and on our return a stopover at WWT Caerlaverock. In between we had three great days of birding in the Highlands based at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey and led by John Poyner of Highland Nature. Amazingly we ended up with him to ourselves so we spent three days around Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty and Moray looking for birds in a very varied series of habitats from mountain tops, through glens and inland freshwater lochs, sea lochs and forests. Over all the sites we saw a minimum of 84 species of bird as well as Common Seal, Red and Roe Deer, Red and Grey Squirrels and Stoat. This gave us three more birds for our life list, Crested Tit, Capercaillie and Scaup. We also added thirteen birds to our UK year list. For a summary see here

On Our return from Scotland we had the chace to rejoin the birding group for visits to Neumann’s Flash on the 15th October, RSPB Leighton Moss on 22nd October where we got a really good view of a Bittern both flying and perched, and Pennington Flash on 29th October where we had nice views of a Kingfisher. On the 20th we had taken a second trip out to Bolton to see – successfully this time – four Glossy Ibises in a field at the back of a pub in Doffcocker. We got great views of them feeding and flying and I managed to get some very acceptable photos.

November 2013

November, for us, was largely given over to birding group days out. The first birding group day of the month was to Burton Mere Wetlands but we left there – it was rather quiet – to catch the high tide at Parkgate which turned out to be one of the best we have seen yet and although there were no raptors the sight was still spectacular. Other group days were to Sandbach Flashes which turned out to be a very pleasant morning and also a longer day out to WWT Martin Mere where we saw a wide range of birds and had good views of some raptors and very close views of male and female Ruffs. The last group day of the month saw us at Frodsham Marsh where we also saw a nice variety of birds, if in small quantities, but the stars of the day were the winter thrushes with very high numbers of Fieldfares giving us great views.

December 2013

Our first birding group outing of the month was to Burton Mere Wetlands where we had a good number of species but nothing exceptional. We decided that we would go up to Hoylake on our own for the high tide on the 5th of December but wisely thought better of it as gales and high tides flooded much of the Wirral coast and although at Parkgate the water was well up to the promenade, it also meant that it flooded the car park at the old baths. West Kirby was inundated and the local supermarket car park was flooded to the point where onloy the tops of the cars were visible !

By the 7th there was till a bit of a high tide so we went up to Hoylake and got another fantastic display of Dunlin and even a Peregrine hunting over the sands that went on for quite some time. Hoylake at high tide is rarely disappointing. We dropped in at Parkgate for a spot of late lunch and this gave us the benefit of seeing a Great White Egret on the marsh there.

The last birding group day of the month – and year – was at Dunham Massey which was surprisingly lacking in birds but a lot of the group seemed consoled by their Christmas lunch there as we made a provisional schedule for next years birding.

We ended the month with a little spell of twitching which involved us going to Marshside on the 12th where we were looking for the Baikal Teal that had been there for a couple of weeks. We “dipped” on that one but did see a Ross’ Goose and a Long-tailed Duck. On the 14th we went to Broomhead Reservoir where we “connected” with Two-barred and Common Crossbill and on the 22nd we went to Pensarn where we eventually managed to see the Hoopoe that had been there for weeks. We rounded off our twitching fortnight with a visit to Burton Marsh on the 28th where we saw two Siberian Chiffchaffs and an American Buff-bellied Pipit. Quite a twitchy spell for us but a great end to the birding year for us.

 2013 Year List