On our second day on Lanzarote we chilled out a bit and took advantage of the improved weather, even getting a bit of balcony sunbathing in. We did just squeeze in a walk down the promenade which gave us a view of four or five Turnstone on the rocks and a pair of diving Sandwich Terns. There were, of course, the ubiquitous Yellow legged Gulls
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Feb 09 2015
Lanzarote : 9th February 2015
Feb 08 2015
Lanzarote : 8th February 2015
We arrived on Lanzarote late afternoon of the 7th February and by the time we got to our hotel and settled in there was just time to find a restaurant, eat and get a fairly early night before our planned day of birding with Carmen from LanzaroteActiveClubs. The plan was to drive up to the El Jable desert near Soo looking for desert birds and then drive back down south to the Salinas de Janubio for a chance of interesting waders.
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Feb 03 2015
RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands : 3rd February 2015
RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands : 3rd February 2015
The first birding group outing of February was to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands and like our last visit to this site 20th December 2014 there was a lot of frozen water on the site. The main pool in front of the Reception Hide was not as totally frozen as before so there were some Mallards, Wigeon and Teal looking very cold on the water/ice and also a couple of Black-tailed Godwit adding a little interest. Broadly speaking, however, it wasn’t heaving with birds. Our main aim this visit was, however, to go to the newly opened at Burton Point and this was very interesting indeed.
Jan 31 2015
Summary : January 2015
Summary : January 2015
New Species added to 2015 Year List in January= 82
Running Total for the 2015 UK So Far = 82
New UK Life List Birds In January = 0
Our Garden
The weather is very mixed. There have been some very light snow falls and some very cold days but the bird bath has seldom been frozen more than three mornings in a row so there has been no prolonged cold spell, although there were a couple of days at the end of the month where it snowed quite heavily. This soon disappeared though – at least in the suburbs.
Jan 27 2015
Tatton Park : 27th January 2015
Tatton Park : 27th January 2015
The last birding group morning of January was to Tatton Park. We started off, as usual, at the Dog Wood entrance. There are dramatic changes there with what looks to be around one third of the trees in Dog Wood having been cut down. There was plenty of plant there but no one to ask what the works were about. It looks to be much more than routine thinning however. Thee felling had obviously disturbed the birds so there were virtually no birds on Tatton Mere – at least until the Melchet Mere end – and few in the woods themselves. A break in the felling did give us a chance to spot some Goldcrest and Treecreepers, however.
Jan 24 2015
New Brighton Marine Lake 24th January 2015
New Brighton Marine Lake 24th January 2015
After we left Riverbank Road we went on to New Brighton to find the Purple Sandpipers again as Anne had missed them. A note to myself, NEVER go there on a weekend; parking is impossible ! Would we have a bit more luck that we had had on the birding group visit a few days prior ? Well the answer was a limited yes.
Jan 24 2015
High Tide at Riverbank Road, Heswall 24th January 2015
High Tide at Riverbank Road, Heswall 24th January 2015
This was a ranger-led high-tide watch. The tide was 9.9 metres at 1.46pm and the meeting time was 11.30am. We got there in plenty of time after being at Shotwick Lane first. It was a sedentary affair with a row of people lined up on the edge of the car park that fronts the marsh. It is a good elevated position and in one direction you can see the marsh at Parkgate and on the other side you can see the boat yard by the Sheldrake Restaurant and further on to Thurstaston. We stood here and waited for what the tide would bring; it brought at least one huge surprise and a nice year tick.
Jan 24 2015
Shotwick Boating Lake 24th January 2014
Shotwick Boating Lake 24th January 2014
I had been reading on the Dee Estuary Birding web site that there were Black-necked Grebes wintering on Shotwick boating lake. I was quite keen to see these but I was actually more taken with the report for the 17th January when someone had seen four species of Swan in the nearby fields. I was particularly keen to the Bewick’s swans that winter on the estuary every year so we started our day with a quick recce visit before going on to our main site of the day which was at Riverbank Road in Heswall for a high tide watch.
Jan 20 2015
RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands 20th January 2015
RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands 20th January 2015
We finished up our birding group day on the Wirral with a visit to Burton Mere where we were in for a bit of a surprise as almost every body of water was frozen and there were very few birds there at all and what was there was to be seen in the woods. Accordingly the highlights were Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Song thrush and a nice flock of Redwing. We also saw a single Kestrel but I missed the Marsh Harrier others managed to get before I arrived at the hide – I was too busy looking for Green Woodpecker on a a stump in the fields behind the car park.
Jan 20 2015
New Brighton Marine Lake 20th January 2015
New Brighton Marine Lake 20th January 2015
Our birding group day out on the Wirral had started at Hoylake for the high tide. After we had seen what we could see there we moved on to New Brighton. I had seen Purple Sandpipers there on the 23rd December and got some nice video which the birding group had seen. Quite a few of the group had not seen this bird in the flesh so we thought we would try our luck.