With a high tide of 10.2 metres due for 11.30am we were once more drawn to Riverbank Road, Heswall<\/a> instead of Parkgate. Unfortunately I hadn’t checked with the Deeside Birding Web Site<\/a> for their mentions of monthly highpoints. If I had I would have noticed that, now that we are on British Summer Time, you need to ass an hour to the tide wimes listed in “Laver’s Tide Times” As a result we were at Heswall an hour early – well, actually an hour plus an hour and a half before high tide ! This gave us the excuse to go to Heswall village for tea and toasted teacakes ! When we returned, the tide was looking in a better shape and soem other birders had also arrived.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are starting to recognise a few familiar gfaces and they are starting to remember us so other birders are happy to talk to us and point out birds. The first of these was a (now expected) Merlin sitting on it’s usual post. Later on it was seen to be eating a rat or a vole. There were all the usual suspects there but there high points were two Short-eared Owls as well as a “year tick” in the shape of a few Wheatear. Other “year ticks” were a pair of Eider that were swimming across one of the “drains” and a small group of Brent Geese. There waw also a large flock of Pink-footed Geese (I would have thought that they would all have left by now but obviously not !)<\/p>\n All in all another good high tide at Riverbank Road; the only disappointment was no Harriers ! Still, you can’t complain with SE Owls and a Merlin and a few “life ticks”<\/p>\nBird Sightings : Riverbank Road<\/h4>\n
| Species<\/th>\n | Count<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|
| Pink-footed Goose<\/td>\n | 18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Brent Goose<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Canada Goose<\/td>\n | 100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Shelduck<\/td>\n | 200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mallard<\/td>\n | 20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Teal<\/td>\n | 20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Eider<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Red-breasted Merganser<\/td>\n | 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Great Cormorant<\/td>\n | 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Grey Heron<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Little Egret<\/td>\n | 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Buzzard<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher<\/td>\n | 150<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Redshank<\/td>\n | 2000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Curlew<\/td>\n | 200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Black-headed Gull<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Great Black-backed Gull<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Wood Pigeon<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Short-eared Owl<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Merlin<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Jackdaw<\/td>\n | 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Carrion Crow<\/td>\n | 20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| European Robin<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Northern Wheatear<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Blackbird<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Meadow Pipit<\/td>\n | 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Chaffinch<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Riverbank Road High Tide : 8th April 2016 With a high tide of 10.2 metres due for 11.30am we were once more drawn to Riverbank Road, Heswall instead of Parkgate. Unfortunately I hadn’t checked with the Deeside Birding Web Site for their mentions of monthly highpoints. If I had I would have noticed that, now … <\/p>\n |