End of Days

With commitments pretty much all weekend, I wasn't able to get out for any birding until Sunday afternoon. Then again as I have previously said, late afternoon and dusk is probably one of my favourite times to be out on the patch at this time of year. The good variety of raptors and owls at the moment, obviously helps with enthusiasm levels given the rather cold conditions.

Starting off at the area around Burnt Mill Farm, I concentrated on the fields on the west side of Carr Lane. About 30 Meadow Pipit were buzzing about, although they would frustratingly dive deep into the cover not allowing me any time to actually look at them properly. A Kestrel was keeping a close eye, and made a few swipes at the Pipits, also flushing out some Linnet, Goldfinch and more surprisingly a Common Snipe. 

Moving along Carr Lane I parked at Marsh Bridge and walked along towards Hale village. The former Ibis Pools held the usual selection of Greenfinch (6), Goldfinch (15+), Linnet (25+) and Reed Bunting. The area has an area of reedmace which seems to be expanding, and looks almost ideal for a Penduline Tit - a Blue Tit did get the pulse racing for a second today! There were again good numbers of Starling (c.250), however despite a good grilling I couldn't find any of their Rosy cousins. Carr Lane Pools held 7 Shelduck, c.90 Eurasian Teal, 3 Shoveler, 2 Mallard and a Redshank, but viewing the pools is still proving difficult.

I headed round to Town Lane and parked on the bridge, flushing 17 Eurasian Teal that were feeding in Ramsbrook, along with a Grey Wagtail. The decoy marsh held 7 Pied Wagtail, but precious little else. The Town Lane floods were not much better, with very few ducks (19 Eurasian Teal and a single Mallard) and next to no Pipits. A single Water Pipit flew over calling, but there were only 3 Meadow Pipit in the area. The 3 Mute Swans were again sat on the winter wheat field....if only they would bring in some winter swans as well.

With plenty of light still available I decided to try a different approach by finding a good vantage point on Within Way, instead of trying to cram in a few different areas in the same time. Finding a good location I scanned Hale Marsh picking up 4 Barnacle Geese among the Canada Geese and Cormorants. A very smart Sparrowhawk landed close to me in the hedge, whilst a Merlin whizzed past towards the end of Within Way. 5 Little Egret were feeding out on the edges of the marsh, whilst I was surrounded by Skylark, Linnets and calling Grey Partridge.

Raptor numbers started to increase with a couple of Kestrel, 5 Common Buzzard and a further Merlin (male) came and went. I was scanning the increasing numbers of gulls moving west along the Mersey when I heard a trumpet above me, looking up I was surprised to see a single Whooper Swan heading towards Town Lane.....and then dropping into the same field as the Mute Swans (what was I saying....just typical I was miles away!!). The ringtail Hen Harrier finally put in an appearance, but again it stayed distant along the path towards the Lighthouse. A female Marsh Harrier looked like it was going to cross the Mersey from Frodsham, but got half way and decided against it.....surely it can't prefer the dark side of the Mersey?!?

The Short-eared Owl also made a brief appearance towards the end of Within Way - it would be nice to finally get some decent views of this mobile bird. Another Merlin (fem/juv) headed west towards the Lighthouse, whilst a Peregrine powered over my head towards Hale Village. The Hen Harrier finally made another appearance, and thankfully this time showed a little better as it headed out onto Hale Marsh. 2 Great White Egret headed towards the decoy, but surprisingly only 7 Little Egret came into the roost tonight (again, well down on recent numbers). The Barn Owls were the next to appear on the edge of Hale Marsh, whilst a Woodcock left the copse behind me and headed out onto Hale Marsh. As the dark closed in further the Little Owl started yelping, and I could just about make out a hunched up figure from one of the oaks.

One of the highlights of the dusk session was the number of Meadow Pipit that were moving west over Within Way. With numerous other distractions I wasn't able to properly count them, but counted a minimum of 180 birds, although I feel that this was an underestimate, with birds constantly calling as they headed over. If only they didn't all feed out in the middle of the marsh....they surely must be something rarer lurking amongst them. 

With darkness almost upon me I decided to pop into Carr Lane for the last embers of light. 2 Water Rail were calling from the former Ibis Pool, whilst again there were good numbers of Common Snipe moving about. Grey Partridge and some Fieldfare going into roost were the only other birds of note, and having finally lost all feeling in my toes and fingers I decided to retreat to the warmth of home. With plenty of decent birds already about, the winter will continue in the same vein as it has begun. 

Funtime Friday's

I managed to get away from work a little earlier to get some late afternoon birding in on patch (these dark nights are a killer for getting any midweek birding in). It was still pretty cold, though the easterly breeze had thankfully subsided from the last few days; however it had left a fairly murky low hanging cloud in it's place.

I had a mooch around Burnt Mill Farm and had a good check through the Meadow Pipits that were bouncing between the fields and the paddocks. A Common Buzzard was sat along the fence line, whilst a couple of Kestrel were hunting in the area - probably the reason why there were only small number of Goldfinch and Linnet buzzing around. 

Moving down Carr Lane I checked out the former Ibis Pool where a Sparrowhawk was hunting the sunflower strip. The mixed finch flock of c.50 Linnet, 20 Goldfinch and 12 Greenfinch along with a handful of Reed Bunting didn't want to settle. A Water Pipit flew over and headed back towards Carr Lane Pools, and small groups of Meadow Pipit were moving about. The Pools seemed fairly quiet other than 2 Shelduck and a handful of Eurasian Teal and 4 Shoveler, although viewing is still limited due to the height of some of the weeds.

Moving to Town Lane, I parked up on the bridge and scanned the Decoy Marsh. c.12 Pied Wagtail and a single Meadow Pipit were feeding close in, but there was no sign of any Water Pipit. A single Little Egret and a flyover Grey Wagtail were the only other birds of any note. The 3 Mute Swan were again in the fields on the opposite side of the road. Turning my attention to the Town Lane floods. A single Water Pipit and 2 Common Snipe were feeding on the section closest to the bridge. Walking back towards Hale village I picked up some large groups of Pipits heading my way. As they all dropped into the weedy section of the main pool I counted at least 9 Water Pipit and c.60 Meadow Pipit. I'm not sure whether the murky conditions were getting them to go to roost earlier than normal? A check of the ducks only found Eurasian Teal (c.140) and a single Redshank.

I headed round to Pickerings, planning to check the Gull roost and waders. However as is often the Gulls and waders were present in good numbers but were all far too distant to do much with (mostly all on feeding on no mans land or the section closest to the Runcorn Bridge). c.1000 Golden Plover, c.700 Lapwing and c.2000 Dunlin was about as much as I could pick up in the distance. A Common Sandpiper was again feeding along the rocky edge. A look through the very distant big Gulls didn't produce anything too obvious although the light was terrible. A Common Buzzard was sat on top of the visitors café whilst he hedges were alive with finches and mixed tit flocks. Given the conditions I decided to give up on Pickerings and head back round to Within Way to watch the roost.

I walked along Within Way to view from near to the sharp bend. A good spread of Canada Geese sadly didn't hold anything else. I picked up the ringtail Hen Harrier as it scattered some of the Skylarks and Reed Buntings in the field. Looking back down towards Hale Marsh I had a couple of brief views of the Short eared Owl as it frustratingly kept low over the marsh and just below the reeds. Grey Partridge and Meadow Pipits were a constant background noise by now. I was joined by Paul Long just as a Barn Owl emerged and headed back towards Hale Village, and a Merlin followed shortly after. Surprisingly I didn't see a single Egret entering the decoy roost tonight (the rather unpredictable nature of the decoy roost is both exciting and frustrating in equal measures at the moment). With the light almost gone I decided to head to Carr Lane to have one last check for Woodcock. A pair of Water Rail were squealing away from the former Ibis Pool area, but despite waiting until well after dark I didn't pick up any Woodcock, although there were loads of Eurasian Teal and Common Snipe moving about. Not a bad couple of hours on patch, and a nice end to the week.

Sunday Madness

I'm not a big fan of birding during the day on the patch at the weekends (especially on a Sunday) due to the amount of disturbance and Sunday walkers. However I never turn up the opportunity to get out, so with a brief window I managed to head to the patch for a few hours. Driving along Higher Road I noticed quite a large flock of Starling along Burnt Mill Lane. This is just outside of my Patchwork Challenge area, but is probably somewhere I should give more time.

There are some seriously good looking paddocks (which I have previously checked in passing but not on a regular basis) that I'll have to keep a closer eye on in the future. There were about c.500 Starling spread out feeding in the rough areas, whilst Pied Wagtails, Linnets and Goldfinch made the whole area look alive. Despite my best efforts I couldn't pick out any Rosy Starling, which was hampered further as a very smart male Merlin shot through. A few Common Buzzard, a single Sparrowhawk and Kestrel also probably didn't help the smaller birds to feel at ease!

I had a few stops along Carr Lane before heading down to the former Ibis Pool to catch up with Iggy. We kept a close eye on the sunflower patch, which held c.50 Linnet, c.20 Greenfinch and c.15 Goldfinch. Reed Bunting were constantly flying around, whilst it was a surprise to see 2 Water Pipit fly out - which gave Iggy some good flightshot practice on his new camera (pretty impressive as well!). A female Stonechat was sat on the fencing around Carr Lane Pools. With limited time I said goodbye to Iggy and headed round to Town Lane.

There was no sign of any Water Pipit around Town Lane or the Decoy Marsh today, but the Pools were full of c.110 Eurasian Teal, 10 Wigeon and 17 Common Snipe. 5 Mute Swan were sat out in the wheat fields, whilst a Sparrowhawk soared overhead. The Marsh held at least 4 Little Egret, and a couple of Common Buzzard were hunting the outer edges. Another check of the Decoy Marsh revealed a few Pied Wagtail, a Kingfisher zooming away along Ramsbrook and a flyover Grey Wagtail but still no Water Pipit.

I decided to have a quick look at Pickerings, although fully aware it would probably be heaving with people and dogs......sadly I was right. Despite this there were good numbers of waders spread out across the mud with c.1000 Dunlin, c.500 Lapwing, 36 Golden Plover, 75 Curlew and loads of Redshank. A Common Sandpiper was feeding along the rocks towards the bridge. 2 Peregrine (full marks if you can pick it out in the dodgy pic!) were sat up on the Runcorn Bridge, whilst a Common Buzzard was eating an Eel on one of the sandbars. The Gulls were all too distant to do much with in the time I had available, although there seems to have been a big increase in "big" Gulls, so hopefully it won't be too long before our first white wingers start to materialise.

Strolling back to the car I picked up at least 4 Bullfinch in the hedge by the car park, along with good numbers of Goldfinch. A single Goldcrest was calling amongst the large tit flock...I would have liked to have stayed longer to check the flock out, but I had run out of available time. 

Haw-esome Vizmigging

Due to a number of reasons I haven't been able to do as much vizmigging at Hale this year as I would have liked. However the last day of forecasted SE'lies (before a switch to much colder E and NE'lies) and with some pretty impressive numbers moving during the week, I made sure that I got an early start. As is normal I arrived at Hale well before first light so had a stop along Carr Lane, however it was fairly quiet with not a peep out of any of the Water Rails from last night.

Arriving at the end of Church Lane I parked up and put on an extra 20 layers of clothes (I always forget how cold it is just standing about!!). The wind felt more ESE rather than the forecast SE, and there was a thick cloud cover. I was joined by Rob Cockbain and we watched 3 Great White Egret heading out towards Ince Marshes (presumably having left the decoy at pretty much first light). It was fairly evident that it was going to be fairly slow going though, with next to nothing moving as Clare Gower joined us.

Thankfully things did start to pick up as the first flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare started to move through. A nice group of Pink footed Geese (having been roosting on the Mersey) flew up and over our heads and headed north (to return back south again not long after). Finches seemed be in pretty short supply with only a trickle of Chaffinch, many u-turning as they got half way down Lighthouse Lane. A couple of Sparrowhawk and Kestrel kept the migrants on their toes, whilst a Merlin hammered through west.

Finally as the clouds started to break and the sun started to break through migration started to pick up. With some impressive (for this late in November) movement of Woodpigeon. A Hawfinch was heard uttering its "pix" call as it headed south, but we were unable to pick it up. We were joined by Mike Roberts as migration continued to pick up with an increase in finches evident from around 9am. A Bullfinch was a surprise as was a Water Pipit that flew around over our heads. A Tree Sparrow headed south (quite a late record for Hale), whilst the first few Brambling of the day were picked up in small Chaffinch flocks.

The cloud had disappeared by 10am and had left behind a stunning bright blue sky. Chaffinch, Fieldfare and Redwing numbers continued to increase as the winds dropped and the sun started to feel warmer. I was about to leave when I picked up a big bulky finch....a Hawfinch. Getting Clare onto the bird, I explained it was just being joined by 4 more finches and it was the front bird, but suddenly realising that they were ALL Hawfinch! Pretty good going, and a few more attempts of leaving site were further delayed as a few more waves of Redwing and Fieldfare moved through.....I finally decided to declare at about 10.30. Full details can be found on trektellen.

Before heading home I decided to pop into Town Lane and pulled up on the bridge. I immediately picked up 2 Water Pipit feeding amongst good numbers of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and a few Goldfinch and Linnet. They showed remarkably well and were soon joined by a 3rd bird. Further out on the Marsh there were a couple of Little Egret, whilst Common Buzzard and Kestrel sat on posts watching on. Crossing the road I picked up the 3 Mute Swan sat in the wheat field, whilst the Town Lane floods were covered in Eurasian Teal and a handful of Common Snipe.

As I scanned the open water in front of me I picked up another 4 Water Pipit having a wash. All 4 birds showed remarkably well....even if the dodgy phonescope pictures don't show it! A minimum of 7 Water Pipit is the highest count of the winter, and quickly turning Hale into the best location in Cheshire for this species. With time running out I finally headed home after a pretty successful mornings birding.

The Dusk Sessions

With the clocks going back, trying to get any midweek birding in is an absolute nightmare at this time of year. However I managed a brief post work visit to the patch on Friday arriving just before 4pm (which didn't really give me a great deal of time, but just enough to get a birding fix). Dusk is one of my favourite times to visit the patch, especially in the winter months with the prospect of roosting raptors, owls and egrets.

In the rapidly deteriorating light I decided to head to Town Lane bridge, rather than my normal (preferred) option of Within Way. I could immediately hear a Water Pipit buzzing around with a couple of Meadow Pipit. A Kingfisher buzzed along Ramsbrook, whilst the fields along Within Way held at least 300 Fieldfare. Scanning the Marsh I picked up 2 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and 3 Common Buzzard (including the very pale morph bird).

The Town Lane flood held a few Eurasian Teal and a single Common Snipe, whilst the fields held 3 Mute Swan (surprisingly still a relatively scarce patch bird). Turning my attentions swiftly back to Hale Marsh I picked up a smart female Merlin. 10's of Cormorants continued to head towards the decoy roost, but amazingly I didn't see a single Egret?! Continuing to scan the Marsh I eventually picked out a distant Short Eared Owl. However by now the light was pretty bad and with the street lights coming on it made scanning the Marsh close to impossible. 

Heading round to Carr Lane for the last embers of light I was almost decapitated by a Woodcock as I stepped out of the car. It did 2 loops around my head before it headed out onto the wet areas around Carr Lane Pools. A Barn Owl was hunting the rough area before the first house, whilst at least 2 Water Rail screeched from the remnants of the Ibis Pool. A couple of late Reed Buntings dropped into the reeds, and a few Common Snipe came squelching out of Carr Lane Pools. Before heading home I decided to drop into Within Way, where the Little Owl was yelping away and a few more Common Snipe could be heard in the darkness. My final detour took in Hale Park where a Tawny Owl was hooting away......maybe with a few more carrots I'll be able to stay out all night! All in all, not a bad dusk session and with colder weather on the way hopefully we may get a few more goodies to add to the regulars.   

2017 - A Year of Patchbirding

So on to my third year in the Patchwork Challenge, and after a couple of very good years the bar was set pretty high for 2017. 

A house move towards the end of the year scuppered the last few months of the year and a slight increase in off-patch birding reduced the number of visits to 111, but I still managed to see 186 species (beating my previous year by 1, although the assigned scoring system actually meant I finished on a lower "score" than 2016). In all I managed to add 6 new patch lifers, largely helped by the big north-westerly winds that battered the UK in September (one of the few times it is actually a benefit to live in the North West!!).

January

Patch visits - 12

Patch lifers - 1 (Waxwing)

Patch Yearlist - 120 (139 points)

 Water Pipit - Carr Lane (Pic (c) Mike Roberts)

 Meadow Pipit - Carr Lane

Kestrel - Carr Lane

A virus that had ended 2016 prematurely kept me from getting an early start to the new year, but thankfully by the 3rd I was up and ready to go again. Brambling, Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Water Pipit, Merlin were quickly added to the new list. Having spent hours driving around Hale at the end of 2016, it was rather typical that 7 Waxwing flew over my car as I was driving along, a long overdue Patch tick. The rest of the day was spent catching up with the more expected species including Jack Snipe and Little Owl, ending the day on an impressive 85 species. The 4th provided only my 2nd record of Bean Goose as three flew north over Carr Lane. A couple of Goosander at Pickerings Pasture on the 5th, were joined by a nice dusk selection of Barn Owl, Woodcock and Tawny Owl along Carr Lane. A Short-eared Owl at Hale Shore on the 13th was nice to see, whilst a Common Scoter on the 14th was a good early winter record. A herd of 35 Whooper Swan and 1 Bewick's flying over the Mersey on the 20th was a nice surprise, and a 1st winter Glaucous Gull was a good record given the poor numbers of big Gulls up to that point. A Blackcap on the 21st at Pickerings was a relatively good winter record for the area. The 28th produced 3 Red-breasted Merganser on the Mersey from Hale Lighthouse, whilst the same location the following day was on fire with an adult Iceland Gull and Goldeneye. Overall this was my most successful January to date, with a really good mix of species.....the only down side is that it can make the remaining winter months painfully slow!    

February

Patch visits - 7

Patch lifers - 0

Patch Yearlist - 125 (144 points)

 Great White Egret - Hale Marsh

 Great Crested Grebe - Hale Lighthouse

Eurasian Curlew - Lighthouse Lane

After a successful January I was able to spend more time focusing on grilling flocks and targeting specific species. The 4th produced Tree Sparrow (an increasingly rare bird on patch other than on autumn migration), and waiting and scanning the Weaver Bend resulted in Pochard, Tufted Duck and some more Goldeneye. A twitching roadtrip (to take in Pine Bunting, Pacific Diver, Eastern Black Redstart etc) with best mate Nick Crouch meant that I was away from the patch for a little while, but I was back out again on the 18th where I caught up with Red-legged Partridge near to Burnt Mill Farm. The rest of the month was fairly slow going only adding Ruff on the 24th, and failing to connect with the Brent Goose that was present on Hale Marsh on the 25th. However even "slow" times on the patch produced a number of Great White Egret, Merlin, Water Pipits...so not all bad.

March

Patch visits - 10

Patch lifers - 1 (Cattle Egret)

Patch Yealist - 139 (171 points)

White Wagtail - Carr Lane Pools (Pic (c) Mike Roberts)

 Cattle Egret - Hale Marsh & Decoy (Pic (c) Mike Roberts)

 Lapland Bunting - Burnt Mill Farm

Garganey - Ibis Pool, Carr Lane

The month started well with a Red Kite high north west over Carr Lane on the 1st. The 4th produced 2 Pale Bellied Brent Goose which landed with the Goose and Swan herds on Frodsham Score and a flythrough ringtail Hen Harrier. But after a number of lacklustre visits, I decided to try a bit of off-patch birding (seeing some nice local specialities along the way). I finally found my way back to the patch on the 23rd, a male Garganey on the Ibis Pool, a Ring Ouzel over Town Lane and the first couple of returning migrants including Wheatear and Avocet helped to give me the push to concentrate on the patch again. A message from Luke Ozsanlav-Harris had me making an early dart from work on the 24th to catch up with only my 2nd patch Lapland Bunting, which stayed until at least the 26th. To top off the evening I found a Cattle Egret roosting on Hale Decoy (a first for the patch recording area). The remainder of the month saw a slow trickle of summer migrants including Little Ringed Plover, Swallow, Sand Martin and White Wagtails. 

April

Patch visits - 15

Patch lifers - 0

Patch Yearlist - 160 (204 points)

 Redstart - Carr Lane Pools

 Sedge Warbler - Ibis Pools, Carr Lane

"Channel" Wagtail - Burnt Mill Farm

April was a mixture of Spring like warmth and bitterly cold north-westerlies and the flow of migrants reflected the blocking conditions. The 9th produced a Tree Pipit (which turned out to be my only record of the year) in the paddocks by Burnt Mill Farm. The 10th saw my first returning Yellow Wagtail, but with the cold conditions it wasn't too surprising to still see a number of winter species including Whooper Swan, Lesser Redpoll and Siskin still moving around. The 13th saw a slight upturn in migrants and a smart male Common Redstart appeared on Town Lane. The 15th saw another push of migrants with upwards of 29 Wheatear by Burnt Mill Farm, along with a couple of the more expected mid-April returners; Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler. More surprising was a group of 4 Cattle Egret roosting on Hale Decoy (presumably a wandering family party), along with an Arctic Tern that flew along the Mersey. The 17th saw more migrant arrivals including another Common Redstart, Grasshopper Warbler and Greenshank. The 18th saw the first returning "Channel" Wagtails on Carr Lane Pools, but best of all an Osprey which flew west along the Mersey. The 27th produced the first returning Whinchat and Swift around Carr Lane Pools. Some big spring tides failed to produce much of note, but the 28th saw my first "proper" Blue-headed Wagtail on patch in 2 years. A couple of Crossbills moving west on the 29th was an unusual date, before some rather cold conditions returned on the 30th resulting in a good number of summer plumaged arctic waders on the move (Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Knot) and my first Little Gull of the year. However finding some sheltered spots still produced the odd migrant with a female Pied Flycatcher staying for a few days in the control meadows at Pickerings Pasture. Although a good month for a mixture of migrants, it just lacked a few more scarce species to make it feel like a good start to the Spring. 

May

Patch visits - 14

Patch lifers - 0

Patch Yearlist - 166 (212 points)

 Marsh Harrier - Within Way (Pic (c) Mike Roberts)

 Grasshopper Warbler - Hale Park

Avocet - Hale Shore

Compared to last year, May 2017 was a struggle, with a lack of scarce species in stark contrast to 2016; although (hopefully) it wasn't down to a lack of effort. A poorly timed family trip to Tatton Park (during a big movement of Black Terns) meant that I wasn't able to get out until late afternoon. Fortunately 4 Black Tern performed, along with another Little Gull and Arctic Tern....phew! Sadly that was about as good as May got! A colour ringed Avocet at Hale Shore on the 6th was interesting, whilst my only Cuckoo of the year was seen over Carr Lane. I spent a lot of the month grilling the roosting waders at Hale Lighthouse and searching all of the quiet areas of the patch for migrants with no joy. However it was still nice to see plenty of more expected species such as Garganey, Channel Wagtails and Grasshopper Warblers. The 13th saw a big arrival of Spotted Flycatcher, with at least 6 seen around the patch - a very good number for a normally scarce patch species. The 17th was probably my most depressing day of the year, with the local landowners deciding to drain the "Ibis" Pool on Carr Lane to return the area to crop producing land. Clearly no thought had been put into the timing of this with many breeders having to dessert young and nests and the worst part is that up until me writing the area has been left as rough ground. The 26th produced a nice Wood Sandpiper along Town Lane, which showed really well. The 28th saw a good movement of raptors through the patch, including a Red Kite, while a Spoonbill flew over Frodsham Score. The last couple of days of the month were fairly miserable weather wise, and unsurprisingly failed to produce much of note. 

June

Patch visits - 7

Patch lifers - 

Patch Yearlist - 169 (217 points)

 Ruff - Town Lane, Hale

 Black-tailed Godwit - Town Lane, Hale

Common Tern - Hale Marsh

A bit of off-patch twitching, a break away to Porto and lots of travel for work meant that I wasn't out on patch as much as normal this month. Although it probably wouldn't have made much difference given the lack of birds about still. The 3rd produced a singing Quail along Carr Lane, but sadly no birds turned up along Within Way this year. The majority of visits were spent between checking Carr Lane Pools (checking for colour rings on the Black-tailed Godwit flock) and Pickerings Pasture for the high tide roost on Hale Marsh. The 29th finally produced a few decent birds with a pair of Common Scoter on the Mersey, whilst the high tide roost finally produced some terns with both a Sandwich Tern and Common Tern. Rob Cockbain turned up a Willow Tit at the end of the month, but despite searching I failed to connect.

July

Patch visits - 14

Patch lifers - 1 (Stone Curlew)

Patch Yearlist - 170 (219 points)

 Stone Curlew - Hale Marsh (Pic (c) Mike Roberts)

 Wood Sandpiper - Town Lane, Hale

Common Whitethroat - Town Lane, Hale

The month started well with a (the?) singing Quail along Carr Lane again. The 7th saw the first wave of returning waders with a couple of Common Sandpiper and Little-ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit numbers picking up. I finally managed to connect with the Willow Tit on the 14th along the United Utilities pathway to Pickerings Pasture. This is the third year running that Willow Tit has turned up in June/July and raises the question of whether they are dispersing post-breeders from Moore or maybe a relic population closer by? The 15th produced a patch high count of 4 Common Tern, whilst the 21st onwards saw an increase in returning waders (Common and Green Sandpiper) and the first couple of post breeding dispersal of summer migrants (Common Redstart and Wheatear). The 25th produced the highlight of the patchbirding year, although I probably wasn't expecting it after a very poor visit earlier in the day. A check of my phone after putting the kids to bed, cooking tea and washing up found multiple missed calls and messages from a rather excited Iggy telling me to get down to Town Lane. A VERY quick (but safe) drive down to Hale in the slowly gathering darkness found me watching a Stone Curlew walking around on Hale Marsh which had been found by Mike Roberts! Amazingly it was a ringed bird, which had only been rung this year as a nestling in Wiltshire - clearly it hadn't worked out how to navigate just yet. Only about 15 locals managed to connect with the bird, and I'm just glad that I had checked my phone before pouring myself a bottle of whiskey, especially as it had done a bunk by the following morning. The rest of the month sort of tailed off, with Common Scoter on the Mersey on the 30th being the only bird of real note.   

August

Patch visits - 15

Patch lifers - 0

Patch Yearlist - 173 (225 points)

 Dunlin - Hale Lighthouse

 Ringed Plover - Hale Lighthouse

Common Sandpiper - Hale Lighthouse

August was again a rather slow month on patch, with plenty of time spent searching through the wader and gull roosts on patch with little success. Yet another Cattle Egret roosting with 37 Little Egret on Hale Shore on the 10th provided some entertainment. The Egyptian Goose finally returned to the patch from the 11th and stayed for the majority of the remaining summer and autumn months. From the 15th saw an increase in the number of migrant passerines, with a couple of Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher and a good selection of sylvias. After a run of fairly poor wader roosts, the 18th saw numbers finally start to pick up off Pickerings - which included 17 Sanderling and 2 Curlew Sandpiper. Great White Egret numbers started to pick up as well, with up to 4 birds regularly seen along the Mersey around Hale Lighthouse. With some big spring tides up to 8500 waders started to roost on the fields along Lighthouse Lane which made for an impressive sight, but sadly despite some thorough searching it didn't yield anything better than an odd Sanderling or Little Stint. The 27th produced a surprise juvenile Caspian Gull off Pickerings Pasture, only my second patch record. The rest of the month meandered on with the same fare, but the local Hobby put on good displays throughout. The 30th ended with a distant Osprey circling over Frodsham, before I jumped on a plane to Majorca for a family holiday.

September

Patch visits - 9

Patch lifers - 2 (Leaches Petrel, Razorbill)

Patch Yearlist - 181 (244 points)

 Pale-Bellied Brent Goose - Hale Shore

 Mediterranean Gull - Pickerings Pasture

Egyptian Goose - Carr Lane Pools

Where autumn 2016 was all about the east coast, this year it was about the westerly airflow and north-westerly gales. Returning from Majorca I found that little had changed, although it was nice to find that many of the waders were still continuing to roost on the fields along Lighthouse Lane. From the 10th the winds swung round to increasingly gusty westerlies. However the only highlight of my first "seawatch" of the autumn was a bizarre male Mandarin flying east along the Mersey. With storm warnings and winds swinging round to NNW I had limited time in the evenings, resorting to popping to Otterspool (which produced a number of good seabirds including Grey Phalarope, Sabine's Gull and Leach's Petrel). It wasn't until the 13th that I was able to get out onto patch (and even that was delayed after my car was broken into). However an adult Gannet was a nice surprise as was an immature Kittiwake....but still not quite the return I had hoped for. The 14th however finally delivered with 3 Leach's Petrel, Razorbill, Guillemot, 3 Eider and 2 Pale-Bellied Brent Geese (all either "new" for the patch or megas in their own right). The 16th produced yet more Cattle Egret, with 2 joining the Egret roost at Hale Decoy. A Firecrest at Pickerings Pasture on the 23rd was a nice discovery, but probably not quite to the level I had hoped for despite the hours of searching. I finally connected with a very vocal Yellow-browed Warbler in Hale park on 28th, although it was a far cry from last years deluge. A mixture of regular returning waders (Wood and Green Sandpiper) and passerines kept the interest just about going, although with a westerly airflow it never really felt as though a mega was waiting to be discovered.

October

Patch visits - 4

Patch lifers - 1 (Arctic Skua)

Patch Yearlist - 184 (249 points)

 Green Sandpiper - Carr Lane Pools

 Spotted Flycatcher - Pickerings Pasture

Stonechat - Hale Shore

The return of some gale force north-westerlies at the start of the month produced both Great and Arctic Skua on the 2nd off Hale Lighthouse. Work and a bit more off-patch birding meant that I wasn't back on patch until the 20th, by which time there were plenty of signs of winter with Jack Snipe, Merlin, Redwing and Fieldfare. The 28th produced yet more returning winter visitors including Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese but sadly not a sniff of the Hawfinch invasion that was going on everywhere around me. Thankfully that all changed on the 29th with winds easing off to a light south-easterly. 5 Hawfinch were the undoubted highlight of the mornings vizmig, but the 5878 Woodpigeon moving south was an impressive sight too. In other news I finally managed to exchange contracts to buy a new house, which would sadly mean that the rest of the year on patch would pretty much be a write-off. For what is ordinarily one of the most exciting months of the year, it felt like somewhat of a damp squib (even with a few off-patch sorties). Fingers crossed for a mix of north-west gales and monster easterlies for 2018!

November

Patch visits - 1

Patch lifers - 0

Patch Yearlist - 184 (249 points)

 Peregrine Falcon - Hale Decoy

 Black-headed Gull - Pickerings Pasture

Little Egret - Pickerings Pasture

Between the impending house move, associated packing and work I was limited to just the one patch visit all month on the 24th. Even that was a last ditch two hour pre-dusk visit. However it still produced the regular wintering species including Water Pipit, Merlin, Peregrine, Kingfisher, Barn Owl and Water Rails. It turned out to be my only blank month for new additions on patch all year.

December

Patch visits - 3

Patch lifers - 0

Patch Yearlist - 185 (251 points)

Brambling - United Utilities, Halebank

 Raven - Hale Lighthouse

Little Owl - Within Way

December proved nearly as bad for visits to patch; the house sale and purchase went through fairly smoothly at the start of the month, but sadly the resultant work required on the new house meant that I would end up staying in Maghull for just over 2 months, and any chance of making "quick" patch visits was near impossible. The month started well on the 3rd with a 1st winter Shag at Pickerings Pasture, which would ultimately be my final new species on patch for the year. As always birding around the patch was fun with plenty of good winter species around including Brambling, Water Pipit, Merlin, Peregrine. The only slightly unexpected species was a Green Sandpiper on the 14th. The biggest disappointment was the downturn of Carr Lane as a dusk venue, following the draining of the Ibis Pool.....fingers crossed for some torrential rain to bring it back to its former glory.    

2017 Summary

Ooooooo flashy charts this year!!

 Number of Species (cumulative) Comparison Chart for 2015-2017

 Overall Points Comparison Chart for 2015-2017

Points Per Bird Comparison Chart for 2015-2017

So what did I miss? Fortunately I didn't miss out on any megas, but I still failed to connect with some quality birds - Bittern, Green-winged Teal, Little Tern, Twite, Mealy Redpoll, Siberian Chiffchaff and Rough-legged Buzzard. There seems to be trend of species that I just never seem to catch up with on patch.....hopefully 2018 will finally put some of them to rest!

Losses on 2016 - White-fronted Goose, Green-winged Teal, Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Honey-buzzard, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Temminck's Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper, Little Tern, Turtle Dove. A pretty impressive list and unsurprisingly impacting on my "score".

Despite seeing the highest number of species on patch in the three years that I have been in the Patchwork Challenge, it was fairly evident that the "quality" in other years was slightly higher. Then again, species such as Stone Curlew are only "worth" 2 points despite being only the 10th Cheshire record.

Although 2017 was a successful year in the number of species seen on patch, it was relatively poor in both numbers and scarcity. Both Spring and Autumn were disappointing, although it was not too surprising given the generally poor year Nationally (albeit with some absolutely mind-blowing one offs - the Siberian Blue Robin springs to mind). However the biggest plus for me, both on and off patch was finally seeing some decent north-westerly winds at the right time of year. September and October will be remembered for some excellent seabirds on patch.....even if it was slightly frustrating that I saw an additional 5 species just a few miles further upriver at Otterspool which would have been patch lifers. 

So on to 2018, and despite a house to renovate I am looking forward to getting back out onto patch, and keeping every possible limb crossed for some decent Spring and Autumn migration.

As always a massive thanks to the Hale regulars - Rob and Carol Cockbain, Ian Igglesden, Mike Roberts, Sean O'Hara - for all of the information/texts/messages through the year......and sometimes the odd kick up the behind to get me back out on patch!