A High Tide took us up to the Wirral for the first birding outing of the year. Despite the tide not being particularly impressive, it stopped just as it turned pas the lifeboat station, we still got a good relatively small numbers of birds. Further stops at New Brighton Marine Lake and Denhall Quay added a few more, very desirable birds to our day list and, because it is the first birding trip of the year, lots of year ticks.
At Hoylake we huddled in the shelter on the promenade. Despite it seeming to be a lovely day, there was a biting wind. As the tide came in there were the usual armies of Oystercatchers and there was a very large group of Cormorants (I estimated about 150). The usual Shelducks bobbed on the water and there were also relatively small groups of Dunlin and Sanderling. Pleasingly, we got half a dozen Grey Plovers. As well.
The cold finally drove us up to New Brighton Marine Lake, where the combination of bacon sandwich, tea and toilets was not to be denied. On the pontoon were good numbers of Redshank but I could only see a solitary Dunlin. There were around 40 Turnstone on the pontoon and 7 Purple Sandpipers. The sea was so high that the waves were crashing over the promenade!
From New Brighton we drove down to the Harp Inn at Denhall Quay, Little Neston where we settled in to look for Owls on the marsh. We were disappointed in that, but we got a Marsh Harrier and an adult grey male Hen Harrier showing a little distant but quite well.
It was good to get out after Christmas and New Year and if there was ever a need to blow the cobwebs out Hoylake is the place.
Bird Sightings : Hoylake, 4th January 2022
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Black-headed Gull | 40 |
| Carrion Crow | 6 |
| Common Pheasant | 1 |
| Common Shelduck | 50 |
| Common Starling | 20 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 4 |
| Dunlin | 30 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 2 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 300 |
| Feral Pigeon | 4 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 6 |
| Great Cormorant | 150 |
| Grey Plover | 6 |
| Northern Lapwing | 200 |
| Rook | 4 |
| Sanderling | 6 |
Bird Sightings : New Brighton Marine Lake, 4th January 2022
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Common Redshank | 100 |
| Dunlin | 1 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| Purple Sandpiper | 7 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 40 |
Bird Sightings : Denhall Quay/Harp Inn, 4th January 2022
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 30 |
| Curlew | 1 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Hen Harrier | 1 |
| Kestrel | 1 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Marsh Harrier | 1 |
| Meadow Pipit | 4 |
| Teal | 20 |
| Wigeon | 4 |