May 2023 Summary

New “Year Ticks” in May 2023: 18
New “Life Ticks” in May 2023: 0
Total Species for 2023 so far: 131

The first birding day out of the month was on the 2nd May when we went to the Woolston Eyes reserve for our annual view of Black-necked Grebes. We had a great morning out and got year tick Reed and Sedge Warblers as well as the Black-necked Grebes and also ticked off the first Whitethroat of the year which we saw on the new part of the reserve – the bed 4 Loop. We didn’t have time to do this bit of the site but we returned to Woolston Eyes on 8th May to check it out. It was quite a warm day and we didn’t really see that much but it was itneresting.

The birding group had a visit to Burton Mere Wetlands on 9th May and we managed to get a year-tick Green Sandpiper. On the 16th May we went to Leosowe, Parkgate and Neston where we had a nice day even if we didn’t see anything spectacular. On the 23rd May we went to the Upper Goyt Valley and added a total of eight year ticks ! These included Cuckoo (heard at close range), lots of Pied Flycatchers, a couple of Redstarts, a Tree Pipit and Mandarin Duck. When we moved on to Danebower Quarry we added Ring Ouzel (the first for at least a couple of years) and Hen Harrier and Wheatear.

The last birding group outing of the month was to Wigan Flashes on 30th May where we added a coupleof year ticks – the first Common tern and the first House Martin!

In the garden May saw the departure of our resident Grey Wagtails – presumably off to the Mersey to nest. A new cat has been attacking Pigeons in the garden. We got our first Swifts of the year on 26th May when a couple flew over the house. In general the massive amount of mealworm consumption had dropped off now that all the young for the year have fledged. This means that the number of birds in the garden has dropped off quite a lot but we still have the usual suspects from time to time each day.

Our Hedgehog visits daily – sometimes two and on one occasion, three!

Year Ticks