Apr 20 2014
The last day of the birding group “term” was at Marbury where it was decided that because Easter had been so early this year, that there wasn’t any point in having a break between “terms” so it was decided to start of the “new term” the following Tuesday. The following schedule was drawn up.
Apr 13 2014
After trying to get there for quite some time, we eventually got to Woolston Eyes where we hoped to see some Black-necked Grebes. AS we crossed the bridge there were lots of Wrens int he brambles under the bridge and on the water there were a few Tufted Ducks. Chiffchaffs were singing away. On the water of number three bed we saw at least six Black-necked Grebes but there were probably more there as they were constantly diving down to feed and popping up elsewhere. There was also a single Little Grebe and at least four Great Crested Grebes. Gulls included a pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. We also got what we are pretty sure was a Marsh Harrier but it soon disappeared. We also saw a Buzzard later. Over the water there was a fairly large flock of Sand Martins and I am pretty sure that there wee a couple of Swallows in there too but they were swooping around at a fair rate. There were Greenfinches on the feeders
Apr 08 2014
We parked by the school as usual and walked down the path towards the bird feeding station by the reed beds which seems to have been abandoned and as a result there were no birds to be seen there. We continued on to the bridge and, staying on the car park side, we walked down the side of the canal onto Scotsman’s Flash where we could already see a large mixed flock of Sand Martins and (a first for the year) House Martins. There were mainly Tufted Ducks on the water with a few Great Crested Grebes. Looking over to the canal we got views of a pair of Red-crested Pochards – a male and a female.
Apr 02 2014
The first birding group day of the month was to Point of Ayr where there was to be a 9.9 metre high tide at 12.45pm. We estimated that we would need to be at the hide approximately two hours before and as we all arrived at the car park by 10.30am we were in a good position to take advantage of this tide. Unfortunately some of the group had the idea that we had time to take a walk over the dunes first rather than after the tide with very unfortunate results.
Mar 31 2014
With the weather being changeable so was the garden birding. On colder days nothing much was about but on the warmer, sunnier days, we had quite a few visitors. On the 13th we had pairs each of Goldfinch, Blue and Great Tits, Dunnock, House Sparrows, Blackbirds and even Mistle Thrushes. A single Starling also seems to be hanging around. The inevitable return of the Woodpigeons has also taken place. Towards the end of the month the birds were starting to think that spring was in sight and the garden started to fill with displaying Dunnocks and contending Blackbirds. A Blue Tit checked out the nest box on our chimney and a day or so later it started working on it. It seemed content with the box itself but kept pecking at the hole and trying _ I believe – to smooth it out. It continued doing this until the very end of the month when it then disappeared for a day. What would April bring ?
Mar 25 2014
On another wet Tuesday the birding group’s planned visit to Frosdsham Marsh was rescheduled and we went – again – to Pennington Flash. The highlights were my first Sand Martins of the year, good numbers of Goosander and, although we did not manage to see it, we had prolonged singing from a Cetti’s Warbler – just near the Tom Edmundson Hide. It was loud and clear and totally unmistakable.
Mar 18 2014
The birding group visit to Marshside was hopefully going to be a chance to get a year-tick on the first winter drake Long-tailed Duck although I am pretty sure that the Ross’s Goose has already gone. Additionally, it is usually a good time to see Golden Plover at Marshide.
Mar 11 2014
At this time of year Moore is well known for its Lesser Spotted Woodpecker/s and it is also good for Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Green Woodpeckers so a big hope of mine was to get the holy grail of the hat-trick of all three in the one site in one day. The question was – would we get lucky ?
Mar 09 2014
Ruff in Breeding Plumage, Martin Mere
On a lovely Sunday morning we decided to drive up to WWT Martin Mere. I had been reading lately that there was a male Ruff there in nearly full breeding plumage and I really wanted to this quite rare event – rare especially in the north of England. We had an early and pleasant truck-less drive up there and were ready for our cup of tea before setting out for the hides. As it happened they had lost all their electricity and the place was plunged into darkness. Well at least the hides didn’t depend on electricity so we immediately went out in search of our Ruff.
We popped in to the In Focus shop and asked Andy Bunting where the best spot was to look for it and he said that it was quite often on the Mere and could be seen from either the Swanlink hide or the Raines Observatory. On the grounds that we usually see the Ruffs quite closely from Raines we headed off there first.
Mar 04 2014
The first birding group trip of the month was to Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate. This was perhaps a little bit of bad timing because I had already been there two days before but that was just the way it panned out. We started off at Burton Mere whilst we were awaiting the high tide of that day – due to be 9.9 m. In truth there wasn’t anything special there and we didn’t see the Water Rail I had seen a couple of days before. Undaunted we decided to get up to Parkgate which we hoped would not be too busy it being a lower tide that over the weekend when it had been incredibly busy.