Costa Del Leasowe - 20 April 2013

I chose a great day for the short hop across the Mersey (or under it to be precise) for a birding day at Leasowe, North Wirral.

My diary notes for the day included the heavily underlined phrase " The first really warm day of the year" and it was glorious. So good that I almost gave up on the birding idea in favour of one of my favourite walks, a 10 mile round trip coastal walk to West Kirby. I compromised and with camera and bin's set off along the coast towards Hoylake.

The tide was out, which at Leasowe leaves a narrow channel about 25 meters wide and  running adjacent to the sea wall. On the far side of the channel, 40 Redshank were busy feeding along with a few Dunlin and a Curlew. I took a few shots and moved on but only managed about 50 meters before a frenzy of alarm calls stopped me in my tracks. Turning back to see what the fuss was, I was amazed to see a number of Redshank mobbing a Curlew! Strange, I thought, as I was quite used to seeing both species coexisting in almost perfect harmony at my local Mersey Estuary patch. I walked back and the penny dropped... it was a Whimbrel and my first this year. I bagged a few shots for the records, before giving myself a mental beating for initially mistaking the bird for a Curlew at such a relatively short distance. But exoneration came later that evening when reviewing the photo's and seeing that the first bird was indeed a Curlew and the Whimbrel must have arrived after I had walked away.

I am still a lttle curious as to why the Redshank - often wary but generally at ease in the presence of Curlew - should react so aggressively to the arrival of a Whimbrel! They obviously have no trouble telling them apart and (in this area at least) must see the Whimbrel as an uncommon visitor and thus a threat.

A little further on, I found a dozen Turnstone, a couple of Wheatear and a sudden abundance of Swallows. Whilst the expansive sands that stretched out to my right were dotted with small pockets of gulls, mostly Herring and Lesser Black-backed, plus the odd Great Black-backed and one Black-headed.

On the walk back I took a detour down Park Lane for a look at the meadows, where notable finds were Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. Reaching the end of the lane, I continued along the footpath for a look at the horse paddocks and found 20+ Wheatear had dropped in, plus a couple of White Wagtails,  Reed Bunting, Goldfinch, Skylark and a small flock of Linnet.

I had clocked up 30 species but added a wonderful 31^st near to the old café where a male Common Redstart flew across my windscreen and into the left-hand bushes. I needed to be certain so I parked up and slowly edged behind the bushes where I tracked it down for confirmation of another UK year √ before it flew off over the new café (burger van).

I had a great day but I have to admit to spending the evening nursing a badly sunburned neck!

Whimbrel at Leasowe - keeping its distance from the Redshank...

... and the Curlew photographed 5 minutes earlier

One of the Turnstone in typically rocky pose

Herring Gulls prepare for take-off on Costa Del Leasowe runway

New Brighton in Colour - 4 March 2013

A morning visit to Burton Mere Wetlands was foreshortened due to work on the electric fencing. It was not a wasted trip though, as I did see the resident Water Rail adjacent to the visitor centre and the feeders gave me my first Siskin of the the year. A quick stop at Parkgate Donkey Stand gave me 200 Blacked-headed and a few Herring Gulls, plus 6 Little Egret and 4 Curlew.

By now it was approaching high tide so I decided on a short detour to New Brighton on the way home. Situated at the western tip of the Mersey Estuary, New Brighton has seen significant regeneration recently in the Kings Parade area, west of the marine lake. It seems to have paid off too as it's always fairly busy. I recalled a recent visit; taking advantage of the increased visitor numbers, I wandered around shooting in black & white, trying to capture images resembling what it may have looked like in its heyday as a small but popular resort, complete with an open air swimming pool.

Today was a complete contrast to that last visit and the colourful theme dawned on me during a walk around the marine lake. First up, a group of roosting waders, within which two Purple Sandpiper with their distinct short mustard-yellow legs were an easy spot amongst the vivid orange legged Redshank (32) and Turnstone (21). The roost was soon disturbed when a passing Peregrine flushed everything up and away.

Most striking in the afternoon sun were the Starlings. A common black bird often ignored, but what a magnificent sight with their iridescent plumage of blues and greens, white spots, golden-brown tinged coverts, bright yellow bills and vivid red legs.

The south side was awash with the deep red legs and bills of Black-headed Gulls, mostly airborne and enjoying the fruits of the local food-pass hobby, viz. throwing the remains of lunch into the air for the acrobatic scavengers.

The lake held a single Herring Gull, looking majestic in super-clean white and grey plumage and glowing yellow bill with vibrant orange spot.

Monochrome has its place, but not in my world.

Purple Sandpiper taking a breather from the huddle

Iridescent star lingered for a pose

BHG no doubt resting after a fish & chips dinner

Hoylake High Tide (Almost) - 1 October 2012

Another morning rain-dodging led me to Hoylake for a midday high tide and a look at the many waders that gather here at high water. First to arrive (gulls apart) was a 500 strong parcel of Ostercatchers, a magnificent sight as they dropped – domino fashion – in a long line across the shoreline.

Next in, were 20+ Curlew and a few Cormorants. Then came the amazing spectacle of large flocks of waders flying in, some landing immediately, others circling in tight flocks before landing. These flocks were mainly Dunlin and Sanderling, and one big flock of Knot. The number of birds landing within a 10 minute spell totalled well over 2000. Scanning through them, I found a few Ringed Plover, 16 Grey Plover with one bird still in moult from its black breeding plumage, and 15 Bar-tailed Godwit. Out at sea were 5 Shelduck and a few passing Cormorant.

I must admit that I got this wrong today, as I did not check the high tide height and it was not big enough to bring the birds further up the shore. In fact they were so far away that a number of dogs on the beach did not flush any of the birds.

2000 Waders - out there somewhere! 

Parkgate - 8 April 2012

Dee Estuary spring high tide day and arriving at Parkgate with PK three hours early was a good call on number of counts. A good parking spot allowed us to set up the gear and then hide in the car from the miserable weather. We watched in amazement as the RSPB crew achieved what seemed impossible and actually got their shelters up. And we were all rewarded when the Spoonbill made an appearance to the pool directly in front of us, fed for quite some time and then disappeared far out into the salt marsh again before most birders arrived.

The pool also held a few Shelduck and a dozen or so flighty Redshank were up and down from their grassy shelter, no doubt sensing the drama of the day! Not far from the pool were a few groups of Little Egret (I counted 12 but there were probably more).

We had a strong north-westerly blowing and the tide forecast was a little under 10 metres, so the pointers were good for fully flooding the marsh and bringing in the raptors attracted by fleeing reptiles, small mammals and birds including Water Rails.

As the tide continued to rise, backing increasingly further up the marsh, a Hen Harrier appeared from the south and swooped fairly low over the marsh, before going down in the grasses to the north-west of us. We had some really good views of this bird over the next hour. And also a Merlin flying low along the river line and often perching way out on a part buried branch.

Next up was a pair of Peregrines flying from the Welsh bank of the estuary directly toward and over us at some speed! Followed by a flock of 28 Pink-footed Geese flying across us from the south. Followed shortly after by a Raven from the same direction.

Then came the days highlight as a Short-eared owl appeared from out on the flooded marsh and almost unnoticed landed on a some driftwood in front of us. After 5 minutes it was up in the air, gliding around majestically in front of for a while before landing in the dry to the north-west. It was soon up again though, gliding around in front of us in a 'one for the cameras' finale before disappearing again.

In truth, the tide never quite fully flooded the marsh up to the wall but who cares? A quality morning and we even forgot about the miserable weather for a while.

Spoonbill feeding at Parkgate

Short-eared Owl over the flooded marsh