It was “Wader Weekend” on the Wirral this weekend and although there were various events on, we opted to go to Hoylake hoping for a good show of waders. It was a Sunday so – despite the new, large, display board on the prom that explains what is happeneing with wader migration and the importance of disturbances caused by horse riding and dog walking, there were plenty of people with dogs off the leash and running at the birds. There were also a couple of horse riders !!
We still managed to get some good views, though.
The tide was only 9.2 metres (at 2:30pm) but lots of the birds were forced quite close to the shore. There were huge numbers of Gulls and Oystercatchers and fair numbers of Curlew but the main attraction was a mixed flock of Dunlin, Sanderling and Ringed Plover. Out at the water’s edge there were a very few Knot, a dozen Bar-tailed GOdwits and a single Grey Plover. Rather annoyingly, we did not manage to see the four Curlew Sandpipers that had apparently been around for a few days ont he beach. Another notable bird was a single Kittiwake !
We did go over to New Brighton but there was nothing on the pontoon and the cafe had run out of bacon sandwiches and it was pouring with rain – very disappointing ! We were going to drop in to Burton Mere Wetlands on the way back but it was too wet and too late !
Bird Sightings : Hoylake
| Common Shelduck | 5 |
| Great Cormorant | 40 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 500 |
| Grey Plover | 1 |
| Common Ringed Plover | 30 |
| Eurasian Curlew | 40 |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 12 |
| Red Knot | 4 |
| Sanderling | 12 |
| Dunlin | 200 |
| Black-legged Kittiwake | 1 |
| Black-headed Gull | 100 |
| Mew Gull | 40 |
| Herring Gull | 60 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 6 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 4 |