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Aug 31 2017
Pectoral Sandpiper at Burton Mere Wetlands 31st August 2017
On the last day of the month we decided to go up to the Wirral to look at some sites that we had not previously been to but first we dropped off at Burton Mere Wetlands to see if we could find the Pectoral Sandpiper that we had heard was showing fromthe reception hide. Unfortunately nobody had seen it yet that day but we did get Cattle Egret and Black Swan. There were also some Dunlin and Snipe, which we had not seen at Burton recently.
Aug 24 2017
RSPB Leighton Moss Purple Heron 24th August 2017
The BirdGuides reporting service had been listing a juvenile Purple Heron as being seen regularly from the Grisedale hide at RSPB Leighton Moss so we drove up there hoping it was still there. When we got to the hide photographers were obviously hogging the prime positions and not moving and this was exascerbated by the fact that the bird was only really visible from the left side window wwhich meant that only three people could get seats. Everyone else had to stand behind each other straining for a view ! To add to that, the bird was walking through the reeds and wasn’t easy to see and was heading left and out of sight. However, we did manage to get views of it eventually even though they were restricted to the top part of the body, the neck and head mainly.
Aug 16 2017
Burton Mere Wetlands and Connah’s Quay : 16th August 2017
The first opportunity we had to get out and about birding after our Scotland holiday was a trip to Burton Mere Wetlands on a fine, warm day. Our visit got off to a great start when we were informed that one of the adult Cattle Egrets was standing on one of the islands of the scrape, rght in front of the reception. Additionally, to the left, on the pool right by the hide was a Green Sandpiper showing really well. This latter was a first for the year for us. There were more interesting bird s to follow.
Aug 02 2017
Birding Holiday in Scotland 22nd July – 2nd August 2017
Our Scotland break this year took in visits to all the various branches of my family and covered the Lothians, Fife, Aberdeenshire, the highlands and the islands. Over the period we got ninety species including two”life ticks” and ten other “year ticks” Our trip is described in full below.
Jul 31 2017
July 2017 Summary
July 2017 Summary
UK Species Year List to July: 180
Total UK Species in July: 100
New “Year Ticks” in July: 11
New “Life Ticks” in July: 1
Jul 09 2017
Flint Castle and Connah’s Quay 9th July 2017
After our visit to Gronant beach we decided to go to Connah’s Quay via Flint Castle. As it turned out, the tide was too high at Flint to be of interest though we did get a very nice flyby at head level of a Peregrine Falcon.
Over at Connah’s Quay things were pretty quite but there were, of course, waders and we got a close ciew of a Buzzard we flushed. Not a particularly brilliand day but it filled in a bit of time as we came cack from a successful trip to Gronant Beach.
Jul 09 2017
Gronant Beach Little Tern Colony 9th July 2017
Although the birding group term officially ended last Tuesday a few of us wanted to fit in an earlier trip that had been cancelled due to bad weather; this was to Gronant beach where the Little Tern Colony is. As it happened, it was probably wetter this day than on the day we cancelled despite a reasonable weather forecast. It turned out to be a successful day of birding however so we were not too disappointed.
Jun 30 2017
Summary June 2017
June 2017 Summary
UK Species Year List to June: 168
Total UK Species in June: 58
New “Year Ticks” in June: 5
New “Life Ticks” in June: 0
Jun 07 2017
Birding Group Visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs 7th June 2017
On the second day of our two-day birding group outing, we headed from South Cave up to RSPB Bempton Cliffs. The weather had improved a bit and although it was blowing a gale, it didn’t rain. As ever, it was impsossibly busy but it did what it does – gives you good views of Gannets, Guillemots, Razorbills and Kittiwakes. Additionally there were several Puffins and Fulmars. There were plenty of small birds, too – Linnet, Whitethroat, Skylark, Goldfich etc.
Jun 06 2017
Birding Group Visit to Blacktoft Sands and North Cave 6th June 2017
The first birding group outing of June was an overnight visit to Yorkshire taking in RSPB Blacktoft Sands and North Cave on the 6th and RSPB Benpton Cliffs on the 7th. We mostly stayed overnight in the Travelodge at South Cave but a couple of the group stayed in nearby Beverley. The first day was dominated by some very heavy rain and this made birding hard work. However we had some good birds and even got a year tick.