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. 

Slim Pickerings

After a fun evening on patch yesterday I was hoping that today would bring more of the same. However the cold, grey and very murky conditions didn't really inspire much confidence. I managed to get out for a few hours from late morning, and decided to head to Hale Lighthouse to check out the shore for rare finches, buntings, arctic ducks, divers and yank waders......

Walking down Lighthouse Lane I was ecstatic to see lots of walkers in brightly coloured jackets, dogs having a great time running across the fields, and a group of kids on bikes screaming their heads off.......I wonder why I'm not a big fan of weekend birding on patch?! Despite that I pressed on, but unsurprisingly seeing very little on the walk down to the Lighthouse. I decided to attempt walking the shore to the east and west of the Lighthouse, where at least there was less human interference.

The section to the east of the Lighthouse at least produced a few birds, including 2 Jack Snipe that waited until the last second before flying up and dropping almost immediately back down into the reedbed. There were at least 4 Rock Pipit also feeding along the edges of the Shore, whilst 9+ Meadow Pipit and a few small groups of Linnet and Goldfinch gave me cause to stop to double check for nothing rarer.

The walk to the west of the Lighthouse was less productive, with next to nothing around. A single Common Sandpiper was feeding along the shore line, whilst I only managed to kick out a single Common Snipe. A Common Buzzard gave a low pass over my head, but even the presence of a raptor failed to frighten anything out of it's hiding spot. The visibility was so poor I didn't even bother scanning Frodsham Score or Ince Marshes, and although I could see plenty of activity out on the Mersey mudflats I didn't waste any time trying to peer through the murk.

A brisk walk back to the car to warm myself up was only interrupted by a brief stop to look at the Grey Partridges. Moving round to the bridge on Town Lane I was thoroughly depressed to see next to nothing. Carr Lane Pools was dead, and the Marsh was not much better. A single Common Buzzard sat on the fenceposts, and 2 Little Egret were the best of not much at all.

Parking up at the entrance to Pickerings Pasture I finally caught up with the male Blackcap which was coming to the feeders by the gate to the control meadows. Up to 8 Bullfinch were again feeding in the hedgerow on the way down to the Mersey. Reaching the river I was again exposed to the freezing cold wind, but at least there were some good wader numbers spread out and relatively close.

Among the c.600 Lapwing were c.70 Golden Plover (I'm not sure where the rest had gone), c.50 Curlew, c.400 Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Redshank and a handful of Black-tailed Godwit. The Peregrine was sat up on the Runcorn Bridge, whilst a second bird was sat up on the higher section of the road bridge. I walked up to Ditton Brook, having an unsuccessful scan through the small numbers of large Gulls that were gathered on the sandbar. I trudged back to the car thinking that I would head straight home, but had second thoughts so decided to pop to Carr Lane.......

.......in hindsight I probably should have just headed home. Having thoroughly depressed myself with finding nothing I finally headed home. Where have all of the good birds gone from early January?!

  

Sealed with a Glauc

After a long week at work I decided to leave off a little earlier and head to the patch for some late afternoon birding, specifically to check out the Gulls (or potentially lack of, following the closure of Arpley Tip). It was a gorgeous winter afternoon with bright sunshine and a deep blue sky, which hid quite how cold it felt!

Stopping at Carr Lane there were a handful of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer feeding along Ramsbrook. However the flooded field was devoid of life, and again there was no sign of the Cetti's Warbler (hopefully the cold spell hasn't killed it off). One of the local Kestrel had caught a mouse, and quickly dropped down to the floor where it spent a while demolishing it. The Pools were quiet with a few Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Eurasian Teal, Shoveler but little else.

Parking up at the entrance to Pickerings Pasture I wandered along the track down to the Mersey, spending a while with c.9 Bullfinch that were on show, the males looking very gaudy in the late afternoon sunshine. A few Chaffinch and a small tit flock containing a few Goldcrest moved through whilst I watched the Bullfinch, but sadly no sign of the pale Chiffchaff that Rob had a few days earlier.

The tide was relatively low and still on it's way out, but there were good numbers of mixed waders and gulls present. Sadly despite a good grilling I didn't pick out anything of great interest, but there were again good numbers of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Dunlin with the odd Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit thrown in for good measure. One of the local Peregrine was enjoying the afternoon sunshine on the Runcorn Bridge, whilst Cormorants seemed to be everywhere. Numbers of small gulls were good (but despite my best efforts I couldn't even pick out a Mediterranean), but "big" Gulls were again in short supply.

Grey Seal (pics c/o and copyright Mike Roberts)

Scanning down towards the Hide I picked up the Grey Seal that had been seen for a while, but I somehow had failed to catch up with. It was actively feeding close to the shore during my visit, but being bone idle I couldn't be bothered to walk up to get closer views - thankfully Mike Roberts did and got some great shots (above).

A brief stop at the bridge on Town Lane was a bit of a waste, with no sign of any Water Pipits again, and very little else. A single Little Egret was feeding in front of the decoy, whilst a small group of Eurasian Teal were sadly not hiding anything better. Even raptors seemed in short supply with only 2 Common Buzzard and a single Kestrel - where have all the Merlin gone?!

Heading round to Lighthouse Lane I was treated to some amazing late afternoon colours in the sky, even if the walk down to Hale Shore was quiet. The exposed mud held a good number of Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Turnstone. Whilst a scan of Frodsham Score picked up a Marsh Harrier, stacks of Ravens, but surprisingly only a handful of Little Egret (and no Great White Egret?!). The Mersey was covered in small Gulls, but again the "big" Gulls seemed in short supply. However my attention was drawn to large numbers of Gulls heading in from the south-east (presumably from Gowy?) which sadly headed further west from my position.

On the plus side I did pick up a large flock of Whooper Swan which also contained a single Bewick's Swan (almost certainly the group from Chelford that had departed west about 45 minutes earlier). As the sun started to drop further Gull numbers started to pick up, but were (in comparison to last year) still low, with only c.1500 moving west compared to 20-30,000 last year. I had almost given up when I suddenly picked up a monster of a 1st winter Glaucous Gull flying west. Although light was still okay for Scoping, any pics were a blurry mess; What's the difference? I hear you say!

As the sun set below the hills I scanned further west and could see c.8-9000 large Gulls gathered on the exposed mud c.1 mile away - so possibly not all is lost for Gulling on the Mersey following the closure of Arpley Tip, although it may require a different strategy. It will be interesting to see whether a better tide may bring the birds closer to the Lighthouse again - we will wait and see. I made my way back to the car enjoying the sounds of calling Grey Partridge and singing Mistle Thrush (clearly the cold weather hasn't put them off just yet).

I called in briefly at Carr Lane on the way home, bumping into Sean O'Hara and Geoff Bond who were both waiting for the Owls to show up. At least 2 Water Rails were calling, but sadly I couldn't hang around for long, so despite the temptation of watching Owls again made me consider using the "held up in traffic" excuse I headed home.