March Showers

I was keen to get one last patch visit in before the end of the month, and I was fairly hopeful of a good visit based on the forecast. Unfortunately the weather had other plans, and it was very much a case of sunshine and heavy showers. However at this time of year it is good to be out whatever, with the prospect of migrants starting to arrive.

Arriving at Burnt Mill Farm the light drizzle had turned into slightly more persistent rain. The paddocks were pretty much devoid of life, not especially surprising given the conditions. A few Meadow Pipits, Reed Bunting and Linnet were still moving around. I had a very brief look for the Lapland Bunting, but with fairly poor conditions I didn't spend too long.

Luckily by the time I had driven down Carr Lane the rain had relented and some signs of brightness were slowly starting to come through. The male Garganey was again showing well on the flooded fields, with Little Grebes, Mallard, Shoveler, Gadwall and Lapwing as supporting cast. Moving across the road I picked up my first Little Ringed Plover of the year on the edge of the Pools.

Water Pipit (c/o Mike Roberts)

The summer plumaged Water Pipit was again showing fairly well (although my pics were awful - fortunately Mike Roberts got some good pics the day before). A few hirundines were moving through as well with a group of 12+ Sand Martin, House Martin and Swallow over the back of the Pools. The pools held the usual suspects, but Black-tailed Godwits numbered about 90, a slight increase on recent numbers. Just as I was about to leave another group of c.20 Sand Martin suddenly arrived and starting feeding over the flooded fields, real "active" migration - one of the reasons why I love Spring.

Moving around to Town Lane the Pools didn't reveal much else, but the Ruff was again feeding in the far corner of the pools. 3 Greylag Geese (an increasingly scarce patch bird) had joined the Canada Geese which were spread across the Pools and Town Lane floods. Duck numbers are pretty much the same at present with a single male Wigeon, 46 Eurasian Teal, 24 Shoveler and a handful of Mallard and Gadwall.

Town Lane was fairly dire with Hale Marsh exceedingly quiet. However a rather tatty looking Kestrel gave some nice views, and a few Little Egret were stalking the outer marsh. After the initial optimism from Carr Lane, there seemed to be a real lack of migrants, and even the Meadow Pipit and Skylark numbers seemed to be down. A quick look over the Pools on my return to the car revealed the male Garganey had relocated again.

With the clouds finally starting to break I decided to walk Within Way, with the anticipation of doing the full Hale Head loop via the Lighthouse. However it was so appallingly slow that I rejected the idea, with the sum total of a good mooch around being 2 White Wagtail, 1 Wheatear, 5 Chiffchaff and 2 Sand Martin flying north. The return walk was enlivened slightly with a/the female Merlin dashing through. To make things worse the dark clouds then unleashed a massive downpour....thank god I had decided to leave my waterproofs on!!

With the rain easing again I decided to head to Hale Park (probably the first of many Spring visits) to have a look for any grounded migrants, although given that it was only the end of March I was not too hopeful. Needless to say there were next to no migrants, but it was nice to catch up with plenty of Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest. Scoping across to Frodsham Score and Ince Marshes I picked up a single Great White Egret, 2 Mute Swan and 9 Swan sp. (which through the haze looked likely to be Whooper). The dry weather didn't last long and with heavy rain starting again I decided to call it quits and head home.

Turning the Corner?

With some pleasant Spring-like weather and news of a possible Grey Shrike sp. at Frodsham Marsh, I had thoughts of making the trip over the Mersey again. However the bird had done a bunk, so instead I decided to head to patch to see whether the Shrike had made the short journey across the river. The afternoon was a lot cooler, with the bright weather giving way to cloudier conditions and some light drizzle.

Stopping at Burnt Mill Farm I was pleased to find 2 Stonechat, which appear to be new birds into the area. A couple of Common Buzzard were mewing high up in the air, whilst I could hear a couple of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting in the fields behind me. Good numbers of Meadow Pipit were constantly up and down from the stubble fields behind the paddocks, and with the bright sunshine it didn't feel as though it would be long until the first Wheatears appear.

Moving down to the flooded pool on Carr Lane I was quickly brought down to earth, as the wind had picked up slightly and it felt decidedly cold (i.e. bloody freezing!). A group of c.200 Fieldfare flew over my head chacking away, and landed in the large copse. However other than good numbers of Moorhen and Coot the flood was quiet. Carr Lane Pools looked just as quiet with only a handful of Redshank and Eurasian Teal very little else.

Parking up at the end of Within Way it was good to hear bubbling Nuthatch, and plenty of other birds in full song. As I was making my way along I got a phone call from Iggy to say that there was a female Merlin just below me. It initially was sat up before it went off chasing Linnets, and returning to a rather obscured position....doh! The Little Owl was again showing well in it's favoured tree, whilst two Raven flew over towards Lighthouse Lane cronking away.

The "beast" (hybrid Ruddy x Common) was looking rather frisky, and was making amorous advances towards some of the Common Shelduck. The rest of Hale Marsh was relatively quiet, although there appeared to be good numbers of Wagtails and Pipits towards the hide at Pickerings Pasture....sadly a little too distant to do much with! I spent a little time scanning the hedges for the Shrike, but any hopes were soon dashed as the "possible" became a definite Great Grey Shrike, and a very smart one at that.

I resisted the temptation to dessert patch and instead headed to Church Lane to watch over the Mersey ahead of the incoming high tide; and it turned out to be an inspired choice. No sooner had I set up than I picked up a group of c.300 Pink-footed Geese flying in from the west, and even better the flock contained at least 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese. The flock pitched down on Ince Marshes, but almost disappeared into the Marsh. However there were c.200 further Pink-footed Geese spread across the Marsh (and I'm fairly certain they contained other "Grey Geese" however they remained too distant to do much with).

Ince Marsh and Frodsham Score were very productive with at least 3 Great White Egret, 18 Little Egret, 2 Mute Swan and an immature Whooper Swan spread across the length. A female/immature Marsh Harrier was hunting the back edge of Frodsham Score, whilst a Peregrine swept through causing chaos amongst the roosting waders. I was about to head off when I picked up a distant harrier approaching from the west of Ince Marshes, as it got closer I was delighted to see that it was a ringtail Hen Harrier. This is only my 3rd record in the last 3 years of a bird that is depressingly becoming a very rare sight along the Mersey. As the rain started to pelt down I decided to call it a day on the patch, and it certainly felt as though things were finally starting to get better on patch. Then again, roll on the Spring and the incoming migrants.

Swanning about on the Mersey

The forecast was fairly grim for the weekend, so I decided to try and risk getting out on Saturday to avoid the impending "torrential" rain on Sunday (which never materialised!!). It was still a fairly grotty day, with low cloud, heavy rain and light drizzle, whilst it still felt relatively cold. Fortunately visibility was marginally better, and with a reasonable high tide (7.8m) I decided to head down to Hale Lighthouse.

I decided to park up at the end of Church Lane to scan the Mersey from a higher vantage point, which turned out to be an inspired idea. I immediately picked up 3 Red-breasted Merganser on the far side of the Mersey feeding just off Ince Marshes. They were quickly followed by my first Mute Swan of the year (a rather grotty looking juvenile) floating along in front of Frodsham Score. A Great White Egret and c.8 Little Egret were on Ince Marshes, but unfortunately the Geese were all a little too distant to have a proper look through. The covey of Grey Partridge had increased to 28 birds, although they looked fairly miserable in the wet conditions.

The walk down to the Lighthouse was quiet with only a few Reed Bunting and Skylark (where are all of the Finch and Bunting flocks from last year!?). A couple of Raven cronked over, always a joy to see on this side of the Mersey (despite seeing massive groups on the Frodsham side). I spent the next hour or so scanning the Mersey with little luck, only managing 9 Great crested Grebe, but nothing rarer. Hale Shore held 2 Rock Pipit, 7 Turnstone, 2 Grey Plover and a few small groups of Linnet and Goldfinch, but was otherwise quiet.

With the rain becoming heavier and more persistent I found a slightly more sheltered spot by the Lighthouse and had a good scan through the Canada Goose flock that has taken up residence on the fields. However there was nothing hidden amongst their number on this occasion. Loosing patience with the weather I headed back to the car, enjoying the Ravens that had come down onto the fields, and were cronking away to each other.

Moving round to Within Way I had a brief wander along to catch up with the Little Owl, but the fields were otherwise dead (probably not helped by the endless shooting going on in the background). A scan of Hale Marsh revealed one of the pale Common Buzzard, Peregrine, a couple of Little Egret but little else and again no Merlin.

I decided to check Carr Lane Pools from the Town Lane gate. A male Stonechat was feeding and sitting up on the fence posts, whilst a couple of Common Buzzard were also sat around. The pools held c.400 Lapwing, c.150 Eurasian Teal, 3 Common Snipe and 2 Shoveler. A Little Egret flew in and fed at the back of the Pools, but otherwise it was rather disappointing. Hopefully the rain will at least raise the water levels a little in time for Spring.

The sun finally did manage to put in an appearance, so I spent the next hour searching for Bunting and Finch flocks along Carr Lane - sadly without much success. A flock of 18 Yellowhammer, c.7 Reed Bunting were the best, with a Sparrowhawk causing chaos among a group of Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Goldfinch hiding in the stubble field. The flooded field though seems to be going through a quiet patch with no sign of the Cetti's Warbler (again!) or any Water Rail. By now although I had pretty much dried out I was feeling quite cold and tired, so I decided to head home.