Author's posts
Apr 22 2016
Red Rocks, Neston Old Quay and Burton Mere Wetlands : 22nd April 2016
Red Rocks, Neston Old Quay and Burton Mere Wetlands : 22nd April 2016
WIth a good day predicted and a 9 metre high tide due at Noon we decided on another visit to the Wirral. Expecting that a, none too impressive, 9 metre tide would’t do much anywhere except Hoylake we decided to go up there. As it happened the tide was mainly a long way out. We had a little bit of a walk around but we decided to try a place we had not been to before, despite its proximity to Hoylake, Red Rocks.
Apr 19 2016
Wigan Flashes : 19th April 2016
Wigan Flashes : 19th April 2016
The last two times the birding group have been scheduled for Wigan Flashes, it has have to be called off due to bad weather. Nothing could have been further from the truth on this day and, with a beautiful blue sky above, the birds were out and Spring had definitely sprung with plenty of Warblers about and singing loudly.
Apr 12 2016
Burton Mere Wetlands : 12th April 2016
Burton Mere Wetlands : 12th April 2016
Our first sighting on the day was four Mistle Thrushes in the car park making a lot of noise. We went on to the reception hide where there we were immediately met with a Hen Harrier showing well. A staff member who was out at the Marsh Covert Hide phoned in an Osprey that had been seen over Burton Point. Unfortunately it didn’t come our way.
Apr 08 2016
Woolston Eyes : 8th April 2016
Woolston Eyes : 8th April 2016
We had a bit of time on our hands after we had left Riverbank Road so we decided to see if we could catch any of the small number of Black-necked Grebes that had recently arrived at their traditional breeding site. We weren’t disppointed and we managed to see three of these lovely birds, albeit they seemed pretty hungry and spent 90% of the time (or more) under the water. We still managed to get satisfactory views, though, so we were happy.
Apr 08 2016
Riverbank Road High Tide : 8th April 2016
Riverbank Road High Tide : 8th April 2016
With a high tide of 10.2 metres due for 11.30am we were once more drawn to Riverbank Road, Heswall instead of Parkgate. Unfortunately I hadn’t checked with the Deeside Birding Web Site for their mentions of monthly highpoints. If I had I would have noticed that, now that we are on British Summer Time, you need to ass an hour to the tide wimes listed in “Laver’s Tide Times” As a result we were at Heswall an hour early – well, actually an hour plus an hour and a half before high tide ! This gave us the excuse to go to Heswall village for tea and toasted teacakes ! When we returned, the tide was looking in a better shape and soem other birders had also arrived.
Apr 05 2016
Moore Nature Reseve : 5th April 2016
Moore Nature Reseve : 5th April 2016
The first birding group morning of the spring term saw a small turnout for a fairly quiet morning. We were all hoping that we would see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and we were not the only people with that idea in mind. Normally we could be fairly hopeful of success at this time of year but apart from probably hearing one drum (soft and brief in length) that was the only evidence despite a lot of looking. Be that as it may, we still managed to get a couple of “year ticks”.
Mar 31 2016
Summary March 2016
Summary March 2016
Species this month = 63
New Species added to 2016 Year List in March= 7
Hen Harrier, Stonechat both at Riveside Road on 11th March, Black-tailed Godwit and Peregrine Falcon at Marshside 15th March, Twite Connah’s Quay 25th March, Chiffchaff at Connah’s Quay on 29th March and Barnacle Goose at Burton Mere Wetlands the same day.
New UK Life List Birds In March= 1
Twite Connah’s Quay 25th March
Running Total for the 2016 UK So Far = 109
Mar 25 2016
