Oct 28 2014
The birding group day out this week was supposed to be to RSPB Conwy and Llanfairfechan but a combination of a poor weather forecast, school mid-term and some flu meant that we were reduced to a group of five and we decided to just have a morning at Marbury Park. It wasn’t a particularly outstanding morning but the weather held and it was quite warm and there was a nice feel of autumn in the air and there were some nice birds.
Oct 14 2014
The first birding group day our after our return from Mallorca was to RSPB Leighton Moss where we were hoping – as usual – that we might get views of Bearded Tits at the grit trays. On the plus side, October is the best month for this it seems, but on the negative side we have said that every time we have been there. I, personally, have only previously seen one pair there and that was in 2009 from the Public Hide; this despite many visits. So when we arrived around 10.15am we were, of course, thinking that we were a little late in the day to be lucky. How wrong we were !
Oct 13 2014
We flew out to Mallorca on the 29th September arriving in Palma where we stayed for four days. We didn’t do any birding there but some friends drove us north from Palma over the mountains and down to Port de Pollenca and during this drive we had great sightings of Black Vultures (Aegypius monachus) in the vicinity of Lluc Monastery high in the mountains. This is apparently the hot spot for this species.
Our hotel in Port de Pollenca was the Hoposa Uyal Hotel. which had the advantage of being only a couple of miles from S’Alufereta nature reserve which was our first birding opportunity there.
Sep 30 2014
Our birding month was late in starting but then got off to a cracking start with sightings of two UK life listers in Cattle Egret and Red-necked Phalarope.. Added to this were Curlew and Pectoral Sandpipers, Greenshank and Little Stints. All these from RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands
The visit to Burton Mere Wetlands was a last minute replacement for another plan we had but we took this up a couple of days later on the 11th when we took a walk along Heswall Shore at high tide. We sat at one of the benches that overlook the marsh and sea and watched huge flocks of Redshanks, Curlew and Shelduck shifting with the tide.
Sep 24 2014
The birding group started up towards the end of September and as luck would have it the first date was to Burton Mere Wetlands. We had been there a couple of times recently and we knew that others in the birding group had as well because we met them there. Anyway, we were happy to go again just to see if any of the rarities were left there.
Sep 11 2014
We had planned to do this walk from the car park at Banks Road, Heswall along the shore to Thurstston Country Park, at high tide. The high tide was due to be at 13.24hrs (BST) with a height of 9.9m. We were a bit early so we thought we would drop in to Burton Mere Wetlands first. We actually ran into a couple of our birding group members but also got to speaking with some locals who informed us that if we wanted to catch the tide before it was too late we would have to get there three hours earlier than high tide not two, so we raced off down there straight away.
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Sep 09 2014
Would you be tempted to drive for an hour in order to see a Cattle Egret, a Red-necked Phalarope, Pectoral and Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshank and Little Stint all on the one scrape ? Well we were tempted because all of these birds were reported to be at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands and, apart from the Cattle Egret, all had been seen from the hide at Inner Marsh Farm.
Aug 31 2014
On the 8th August we drove up to WWT Martin Mere where we managed to see a nice pair of Wood Sandpipers. On the 12th we went up to Hoylake for a high tide (13.01hrs (BST), 9.8m) where we had close views of large numbers of Dunlin, Ringed Plovers and Sandwich Terns. A Visit to Woolston Eyes was less sepctacular but still a nice day out.
On the 26th August we we stayed overnight at Arnside which gave us the chance to have a long visit to RSPB Leighton Moss where we had good views of Greenshank, Spotted Redshanks, Water Rails and Great White Egrets. We stayed overnight and went back to the reserve on the following day.
Aug 27 2014
Some nice recent sitings at Leighton Moss tempted us up there but it’s quite a long drive and we wanted to have a full day there so we decided to take advantage of the high tide by staying overnight and having two shots as the RSPB reserve as well as having a bit of an away day. We stayed at Ye Old Fighting Cocks at Arnside which was pretty cheap, had reasonable food and beer and was nicely situated so some of the rooms overlook “the lake” that is to say the Kent Channel which feeds into Morecambe Bay, itself quite an interesting place for birds at the right time of year and tide. But our interest mainly lay in what we could see at RSPB Leighton Moss.
Aug 19 2014
A day out to Woolston Eyes seemed overdue, so as it was a nice day we ventured out. As it happens it wasn’t a very special birding day but it was a lovely day and we enjoyed our walk around the site. Apparently there is still one Balck-necked Grebe juvenile still there but the rest have all dispersed so there wasn’t anything special to see. It is, of course, a bit between the seasons but there were still a fair number of Hirundines still around and it is always a pleasure to see the large numbers of Greenfinch still thriving on the feeders there.