Author's posts
Oct 28 2018
Rose-Coloured Starling Life Tick at St. Helens : 28th October 2018
We had a spare day available to us and thought we would go up to the Wirrall for a slightly high tide to see if we could get any raptors. High tide wasn’t until around 1pm however, so we thought we would take a punt at looking for a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling (or Rosy Starling) in St Helens, about half an hour away, first. The bird was just a juvenile but we had searched long and hard for one in the Highland a while back (29th July 2017 at Embo) and this definitely seemed like an easier prospect. But we still had to locate the bird – seemilngly lurking in some ivy and brambles in a garden at the back of Fryday’s Chip Shop near Baxter’s Lane in St Helens.
Oct 23 2018
Birding Group Visit to Old Moor Nature Reserve : 23rd October 2018
The second birding group outing that I could make in October was the longer trip out over the moors to Old Moor RSPB reserve. The day was very windy and this did for any idea we might see any Bearded Tits. In fact it rather did for seeing any small birds so we were left with a range of ducks instead and a few waders.
Oct 16 2018
Birding Group Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 16th October 2018
We had a lot of work going on in the house during the early part of October so not much birding was done. I got round to resuming on the birding group visit to Moore Nature Reserve on the 16th. Highlights were Kingfisher (very briefly), a single female Goldeneye and a nice flock of Redwing – the first of this winter for me. We also had a tantalising Green Woodpecker, more readily seen than heard at Moore and this was no exception. Beyond that it was a quiet moring but a nice enough walk. Continue reading
Sep 30 2018
September 2018 : Summary
September 2018 : Summary
UK Species Year List to September : 166
Total UK Species in September : 71
New “Year Ticks” in September : 4
New “Life Ticks” in September : 0
Sep 25 2018
Birding Group Visit to Hoylake 25th September 2018
Another Wirral visit was on for the second Bird Group outing of the term, this time to Hoylake on the 25th September. The high tide here was 9.03m at 12:15pm – not so high but someone put it on the schedule.
Sep 25 2018
Birding Group at Hoylake etc. 25th September 2018
The birding group had scheduled the 25th September for Hoylake. I’m not sure how this came about because, with a reltively low high tide of 9.3m at 12:15pm, we were never likely to see a spectacle. What we did have going for us was a beautiful sunny day with no heat haze and possibly the best viewing conditions ever. Not many birds, though.
Sep 18 2018
Birding Group Visit to Burton Mere Wetlands 18th September 2018
The first birding group outing of the year was, of course, to Burton Mere Wetlands which we seem to go to every week on our own account. Be that as it may it was still an interesting day and some nice birds as usual.
Sep 13 2018
Wirral Year Ticks 13th September 2018
Although the high tides had passed for the month, there was still a 9.3 metre tide at 2:30pm and there was also the chance to see the Spotted Crake at Burton Mere Wetlands that had eluded us so far this month. As it turned out, we got three year ticks in one day!
Aug 31 2018
August 2018 : Summary
August 2018 : Summary
UK Species Year List to August : 162
Total UK Species in August : 74
New “Year Ticks” in August : 4
New “Life Ticks” in August : 1