New Year Ticks” in March 2023: 10
New “Life Ticks” in March 2023: 0
Total Species for 2023 so far: 92
The first birding we did in March was with the birding group on an outing to RSPB Marshside on the 7th. Our first reaction when we were approaching the reserve was just how much water was flooding the fields; more that I have ever seen, I think. We all met up at the Sandgrouser’s hide where we got some very distant, year tick, Golden Plover. We also got a year tick Kingfisher and some Ruff. The weather was better than usual, but it always seems to be bitterly cold there even when there isn’t much wind. Nel’s Pool was closed after being vandalised so we just did the other blinds and then we decided that since it was early still, we would drop in at WWT Martin Mere which was fairly quiet.
Spring high tides took us to the Wirral on Tuesday 21st and Thursday the 23rd. The former was a little underwhelming but it was a nice day; we also dropped down to Burton Mere Wetlands afterwards but didn’t see the Long-billed Dowitcher – again!
The tide was a little higher on the 25th and we started off at Riverbank Road. Despite the much higher tide (some poor weather added to the height of the tide) we didn’t get much in the way of birds of prey; it has been a poor year for Hen Harriers and Short-eared Owls. Again we dropped down to Burton Mere Wetlands afterwards and the highlight of that was a huge flock of Pink-footed Geese in the field behind the barn, their spectacle enhanced when they suddenly all decided that it was time to return to the marsh and lifted off the field in a huge swirling, noisy, mass.
The last birding group morning of the winter term was to Marbury Country Park on the 28th which was quite spectacular with our first Sand Martins of the year (a huge flock) and our first Chiffchaff as well. In all we got five year ticks there and in the space of half an hour we had very good views of a Cetti’s Warbler, a Kingfisher, a Gey Wagtail, a Goosander, and lots more besides – a quite remarkable couple of hours.
In the garden this month, things are starting to get busier with more House Sparrows appearing and more Starlings on the feeders. The highlight though, as previous years, has been the wintering presence of out two Grey Wagtails who I think are now in their third year of visiting our garden every for a couple of months. This year the first arrived n the 28th February and that bird was joined after a couple of weeks by his/her partner and, as of the end of March, they are still with us. Soon they will disappear for another year. I keep hoping that they might bring some youngsters to our garden but they haven’t yet. It is really nice to see them return each winter – a little bit of colour in the gloom.