We made our first birding outing of the year to Marbury where there had been reports of Hawfinches again but, although we met people who had seen them (or thought they had), we didn’t manage to see the. Our last outing of 2017 was for the same purpose but was similarly disappointing.
Jan 09 2018
Marbury Park 9th January 2017
Dec 31 2017
2017 Annual Summary
2017 Summary
Our birding year got off to a good start with productive trips to North Wales where we got Snow Buntings and Hawfinch. A week later we went to Newchurch Common where we got Red-crested Pochard and Smew.
Less happily we had to go to Portugal for the funeral of a good friend of ours around about the time of my birthday. We had to spend several days there as a result of limited flights in winter, so we consoled ourselves with walks around Lagos where we did some casual birding getting great views of the town’s local White Stork population Continue reading
Dec 28 2017
Marbury Park 28th December 2017
Our last outing for the year was to Marbury Park on the 28th. We had hoped to see both the Hawfinches and the Bittern that had been seen there in recent days. Unfortunately we didn’t see either and nobody else we met had either. Some birders who had seen both knew exactly where to find them but they just weren’t there. Hopefully we can get the Hawfinches there in the New Year. Mosre disappointing was nto seeing the Bittern in the usual reed bed; in part because, incredibly, we had not seen a Bittern this year !. It is hard to imagine how that is possible considering all the places we have been to this year.
Dec 05 2017
Burton Mere Wetlands etc 5th December 2018
On the 5th December the birding group headed up to the Wirral for a high tide of 9.9 metres at 11:55am. We started out with a quick stop at Burton Mere Wetlands where we just looked around the main scrape and walked down to the barn. On the walk we got Great Spotted Woodpecker but there were not the large numbers of winter thrushes we had seen on our last visit.
Nov 28 2017
Burton, Neston and Connah’s Quay 28th November 2017
The birding group day out this week was to Hilbre ISland but we weren’t in the mood for that so we decided that we would go up to the Wirral anyway but go to Burton Mere Wetlands, Denholm Old Quay and then on to Connah’s Quay. We had a pretty good day at Burton getting fifty-one species including a year tick – believe it or not – of a Common Kingfisher !! How could it be the end of October before I saw a KIngfisher this year ? Apart from that tere were good species around, pehaps especially in the field on the way to the barn at BMW.
Nov 24 2017
Neumann’s Flash 21st November 2017
It had been quite a while since we were last at Neumann’s Flash and, although we did not see anything particularly out of the ordinary, it was a good morning with a varied species list including Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel and Buzzard as well as Bullfinch, Goldcrest and a good number of Redwing with singles of Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare thrown in for good measure. The Fieldfare is my first of this autumn.
Nov 14 2017
WWT Martin Mere 14th November 2017
The first birding group visit of November (the previous weeks outing having been cancelled due to bad weather) was to WWT Martin Mere. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any Brambling, the single Great Scaup or the Greenland White-fronted Geese all of which had been reported as having been seen recently; neither did we meet anyone who had. Be that as it may autumn at Martin Mere always had the spectacle of Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans that rarely disappoints.
Nov 08 2017
Caldy Wildfowl Collection
I have been trying for ages to find out where the site referred on the Deeside Birding web site as the Caldy Wildfowl Collection is actually located. I even looked for it specifically recenty going from the east to the west along Column Road and didn’t see it. Recently, driving the opposite way, I located it : Continue reading
Nov 05 2017
High Tide on the Wirral – 5th November 2016
A high tide of 9.9 metres at 11:27am took us up to the Wirral where we dropped in at Hoylake, Rivebank Road, Denhall Old Quay and Burton Mere Wetlands. There haven’t been many high proper tides this year so this was a good chance to see what we could see in the way of waders and sea birds.
Oct 31 2017
October 2017 Summary
October 2017 Summary
UK Species Year List to September: 189
Total UK Species in October: 39 (in UK – 87 in Mallorca)
New “Year Ticks” in October: 0
New “Life Ticks” in October: 0 (1 in Mallorca)