Overnight Stay at Parkgate for High Tide on the Wirral 21-22 February 2019

Short-eared Owl, Parkgate

We have been planning an overnight visit to Parkgate so we could get the chance to see the birds of prey coming into the overnight roost at Neston. WIth a high tide of 10.12 metres at 12:20pm we thought that if we stayed over we could get two high tides at Parkgate and the evening roost so this is what we decided to do, staying at the Ship Hotel overnight.

We were a bit early for the high tide at Parkgate so we stopped off at Burton Mere Wetlands for an hour. Egyptian Goose was a year first but the arrival of the Avocets for the year was the top bird for the reserve staff as wella s another year tick for us . Otherwise there were the usual suspects but also an odd Barnacle Goose. We passed a pleasant hour on a very nice , sunny, day before heading off to Parkgate.

When we got there the place was rammed with people. Partly because it was the first warm, sunny day for a while and it was also school holidays (I always forget – !!!) On top of that it was the first of the announced raptor watches at Parkgate so even though we got there 90 minutes before the high tide, the parking was all gone and the cars were end to end from the baths down the ramp and all along the promenade.

We decided on plan B which was to go to RIverbank Road but even this was rammed with people with lots of children running up and down and sreaming ! As it happened it was pretty poor there and although we saw both adult (grey) male and ringtail, that was about it apart from a single Stonechat.

We stayed there for a couple of hours and then we thought that we should head over to Connah’s Quay to try for Twite – it being high tide they are much more likely to show there. Apart from a near disaster with the padlock , which ended up with us having to go to the powere station security for help, we had a good visit getting good numbers of Twite – also a year tick. The water was much further in that we have seen before at this site so, what birds there were, were all on the small amount of land left.

We decided to return to Parkgate and to check in at the Ship Hotel and have a drink. Then we headed back to Parkgate where we got a good parking spot and we awaited the evening roost. For some reason this never hapened but we still got Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Kestrel and both grey adult Hen Harrier and a rigtail as well. Out on the marsh there was a little group of two Great Egrets and three Grey Herons and they appeared to be jockeying for a bit of territory in a chess-like game of brinksmanship.

Also on the marsh were lots of Skylarks displaying and good numbers of Meadow Pipits as well. As we stood there, we noticed that a couple of Short-eared Owls were tangling with each other in the distance towards Heswall Golf Course so we headed down to the path along the edge of the marsh and ended up with very good views.

When we looked back towards Parkgate we saw another so, wary that the car park might close, we headed back towards the Old Baths car park getting increasingly better views of the Shorty as we neared Parkgate. In the end the bird landed on a twig just off the promenade but nobody seemed to be aware that it was perched just a few feet in front of them – too busy eating ice creams !!

A bit disappointed that the roost did not show itself to us, we headed back to the hotel and got cleaned up before eating at Chow’s – the Chinese restaurant on the promenade. It is a bit posh and quite expensive but we had a good meal and had so much we had to get a whole dish boxed to go – we had it for dinner the next night.

We reurned to the Old Baths car park after dinner at around 8:30pm but we never did see the Barn Owl that is supposed to be seen every night there !

We dropped in at the Red Lion for a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel where we had a relatively early night, quite tired with standing for hours all day.

The next morning wewere back a the Old Baths car park around 10am so we did get a good spot. As we parked I could see an adult grey Hen Harrier flying across the marsh and we got out in good time for pretty good views. A good start to the day. Oddly enough, though, it was more a day of Marsh Harriers, of which we saw plenty, and not of Short-eared Owls which we didn’t see at all. They must have been full from the day before and roosting to digest.

We were going to take a walk along the marsh but instead we stood in the sun just taking in the marsh for the next four hours watching the continuing Grey Heron/Great White Egret fued and watching the Meadow Pipits and Skylarks doing their thing. A lot of the birds think Spring has sprung. Later in the day we got a ringtail HEn Harrier and a Kestrel perched on a stick close to us. Behind us was a huge roost of Woodpigeons and whilst looking through them, I discovered a small group of Redwing. In the trees at the back edge of the car park there were Greenfinch calling and a single Long-tailed Tit. There were lots of Pink-footed Geese and Curlew, edging closer as the tide came in but, whereas yesterday the water had come in pools all the way up to the car park, this tide was rather underwhelming. The weather was probably just too good !!

Before we returned home we tried to have a look at the Harp Inn at Denhall Quay but the place was rammed with cyclists and dog walkers, ramblers and families all lunching in the sun on the edge of the marsh. Put off by the sheer numbers of people we drove off and headed to Burton Mere Wetlands where we did manage to park. We walked down to the Marsh Covert Hide looking for the reported Spotted Redshank but I think they must have all flown off to Inner Marsh Farm

We had a look around and basically there were the same species we had seen yesterday so we eventually decided to go home and try to avoid Friday night rush hour. It was always going to be a bit hard to match our bird of prey extravaganza of the 19th of February but we did have apretty good couple of days birding getting fifty-nine species and a couple of good year ticks. The weather perhaps didn’t do us any favours – it was so pleasant half the world was out on the Wirral – bring on some bad weather !!

Bird Sightings Burton Mere Wetlands 21 February 2019

Bird Sightings Riverbank Road 21 February 2019

Bird Sightings Connah’s Quay 21 February 2019

Bird Sightings Parkgate 21 February 2019

Bird SIghtings Parkgate 22nd February 2019

Bird Sightings Burton Mere Wetlands 22nd February 2019

Total Birds Seen on Dee Estuary 21st – 22nd February 2019