Dec 30 2016
Last week I happened to mention to Merynn that I was on 197 species in the UK for the year and that I would really like to get three more to get to the 200 mark by the end of the year. She volunteered that she would like to drive Anne and me over to Wales for the day which is where I thought I had the best chance. For some strange reason Merynn loves driving long distances !
Dec 16 2016
Waxwing St Asaph
Dec 10 2016
We tried Woolston Eyes despite it being a Saturday. We were hoping to see the Green-winged Teal that had been seen there on a daily basis.
Dec 06 2016
The last birding group day of the year was a visit to WWT Martin Mere which turned out to be a little disappointing but at least featured a glimpse of the Tawny Owl that sometimes roosts near the Kingfisher Hide.
Nov 30 2016
Bewick Swan at Burton Mere Wetlands on the 15th November
Nov 22 2016
THe birding group visit this week was to Pennington Flash (because of the weather). It turned out to be a fine day and we did get one of our two target birds. We didn’t see the female Scaup, which had presumably flown, but we did manage good views, on arrival and departure, of a Long-tailed Duck which was a nice local spot although I had seen lots of them in Scotland recently.
Nov 15 2016
A high tide of 10.1 metres at 11:10am took us to the Wirral again on a birding group morning out. We started out at Riverbank Road which was moderately busy but we managed to get a parking place facing on to the marsh. As it happened we did not need it as the weather managed to stay fairly dry for most of the time. The tide, however, was a bit of a disappointment. It did come in but not all the way. We still got some good birds though.
Nov 13 2016
The annual North West Bird Fair was held at Martin Mere on the 12th and 13th of November. I knew that John Poyner, my guide when I am birding in the highlands, would be there representing the Bird Watching and Wildlife Club based at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey so we thought we would combine a visit to see the Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese with saying hello to him. It was a fine day so we were looking forward to a good days birding.
Nov 01 2016
A high-ish tide on the Wirral took the birding group up there for the first session of November. At 9.2m at 11.48am it wasn’t ever going to be a great high tide but we thought it would be good enough for Hoylake and then we thought that we go to the Harp Inn at Neston Old Quay and then finish up at Burton Mere Wetlands. The end result of this plan, if you were one of the ones who stuck with it all the way, was a great array of birds and especially birds of prey.