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Dec 04 2018
Birding Group visit to WWT Martin Mere
The birding group outing on the 4th December was to WWT Martin Mere. We wanted to set off early because we were due to have a planning meeting after our morning bird watching. Accordingly we set off about 8:15am instead of our usual 9am. Google maps was showing that the M6 was at a standstill so we took an unorthodox route of carrying along the M56 to the A553 over the Mersey then up past Widnes onto the M57 and then through Maghull. And Aughton before arriving at Burscough, then the reserve. I think it probably saved us half an hour on the motorway and there was a lot of fog so I think we made the right choice.
Dec 02 2018
Great Northern Diver at West Kirby : 2nd December 2018
Although the weather reports for the Wirral were poor, we decided to risk the weather to have a go at finding the Great Northern Diver seen recently on West Kirby Marine Lake. We knew that on a Sunday it might be busy but we had forgotten that the tide was as far out as it could be and people were Sunday-walking their dogs around the perimeter path. On top of that, there were dozens of boats and wind surfers and all sorts of other water-borne vehicles going up and down the lake. It was a surprise that any bird wouldn’t just fly off, especially since some of the dogs were jumping into the water for a swim.
Nov 30 2018
November 2018 Summary
November 2018 : Summary
UK Species Year List to November : 171
Total UK Species in November : 77
New “Year Ticks” in November : 2
New “Life Ticks” in November : 1
Nov 27 2018
Birding Group Burton Mere Wetlands : 27th November 2018
The last birding group outing of November was meant to be a trip down the Welsh coast but the weather was so bad that we changed it to Burton. Even then there were only five of us turned out due to a poor weather forecast which was a shame because we got some good sightings before the rain came down heavily.
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Nov 25 2018
Velvet Scoter at High Rid Reservoir near Bolton 25th November 2018
Anne suggested that we did something the next day, which was a Sunday morning, so I looked at Bird Guides and saw that there had been a Velvet Scoter on High Rid reservoir near Bolton, only about a 20 minute drive away. A quick Google of Pete Hines Youtube channel brought up a video of the bird and so next morning we headed up there. It was a bitterly cold day up there and the wind was arctic. Fortunately we were ont he bird quickly and had good views of it before a combination of her being under the water for long periods and the icy wind sen tus scurrying back to the car, year tick in pocket!
Nov 13 2018
Birding Group Visit to Pennington Flash : 13th November 2018
The birding group day that was set for Frodsham morphed into a day at PEnnington which was pretty good with a nice number of birds but nothing particularly outstanding. As usual for Pennington, though, good numbers of species and a good morning out and about.
Nov 11 2018
Wirral High Tide : 11th November 2018
It was the 11th of the month before we got out birding and that was a trip up to the Wirral where, although the high tide was very modest on paper at 9.7m or thereabouts, the tide seemed to come a long way in and we got some good views of the usual suspects but not the rare Pied Wheatear at Meols that disappeared the night before we got there! We were not as unlucky, though, as the chap we met who had got the train up from London only to miss it.
Oct 31 2018
October 2018 : Summary
October 2018 : Summary
UK Species Year List to October : 168
Total UK Species in October : 71
New “Year Ticks” in October : 1
New “Life Ticks” in October : 1
Oct 30 2018
Birding Group : Sandbach Flashes 30th October 2018
The last birding group outing of October was to Sandbach Flashes. I wasn’t really expecting much but it turned out to be quite a good morning and the weather was a little milder than recently when it has been quite frosty. In total we managed forty-one species, including a couple of birds of prey, some winter thrushes and a wader or two.
Oct 28 2018
Burton Mere Wetlands and Riverbank Road : 28th October 2018
After the excitement of the Rose-coloured Starling at St. Helens, I suppose that Burton was going to be a bit of a let down but we just had an hour so we looked around on the main scrape and down at the barn then we went to the first blind where a Bearded Tit had been seen recently but we didn’t have much luck on that account. That really would have made a special birding day.