Bird Racing across the Universe

When I lived in Suffolk bird races were one of my personal highlights of the year. We would normally do two each year, with one on January 1st and another at the beginning of May. Whereas May was more akin to a marathon (with more available daylight), January was all about tactics and planning. Having not taken part in a bird race in 7 years, I thought I would give it a go at Hale in my patch boundaries (although without the competitive element of having other teams out and about). With up to 110-115 species having been seen on the run-up to the New Year I set myself a rather stretching (but what I thought would be possible to achieve) target of reaching a nice round 100.

Driving along Carr Lane at just after 7am, my first species of the day was one of the local Barn Owls that ghosted across the road as I headed down to the bridge, always a nice start. As I parked up a Water Rail started to squeal away, whilst Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrush and a Mistle Thrush were in full voice. Common Snipe were squelching away, and a Woodcock had a fly around over my head. I could hear Eurasian Teal and Lapwing from towards Carr Lane Pools. As the first embers of daylight appeared the first Wrens of the day burst into life.

I decided to try my luck at Hale Park, although as it was still fairly dark I didn't hold out much hope of seeing many of the woodland species that I would expect. A Tawny Owl was keewik-ing from the entrance to Hale Hall, quite often a tricky species to see or hear at this time of year on patch. The first gulls (Black-headed, Herring and Lesser black-backed) were starting to move over whilst Cormorant and Woodpigeon were quickly added. However as expected there were next to no woodland species, with only the Great Tits starting to wake up.

Moving around to Town Lane I parked up on Marsh Bridge and was immediately rewarded with the Short eared Owl quartering Hale Marsh. A Kestrel was already on the wing and flushed a couple of Water Pipit (with 3 eventually being seen). A check of the Town Lane floods, revealed plenty of Eurasian Teal, 2 Shelduck and a rather smart male Pintail. The Stonechat (3 birds - male, female and 1st year) were already awake and sat on the fenceline in the middle of Carr Lane Pools. A couple of Little Egret were mooching about on Hale Marsh, and I had clearly missed the early morning exodus from the roost (although plenty of Grey Heron and Cormorant were still leaving).

Acutely aware that an early morning visit was required to Pickerings Pasture (to avoid the hordes of walkers, dogs, drones, kids, cyclists etc!) I made my way quickly to the car park. The Ring necked Parakeet was screeching around, whilst the feeders were busy with various tits and Chaffinch. The Common Buzzard that has taken to lingering around the car park gave ridiculously good views. Scanning the Mersey picked up stacks of Canada Geese, whilst 2 Barnacle Geese and a single Greylag Goose tried their best to hide. The Mersey was relatively quiet, but I picked up a couple of the more expected Gulls and Waders to keep the yearlist ticking along. Up to 7 Bullfinch were in the usual hedge and were surprisingly easy to see, and having picked up the expected bits made my way through the Control Meadows to the Scrape.

The Control Meadows were relatively quiet, so the walk to the scrape was quicker than usual. The Kingfisher was feeding directly in front of the screen, whilst the Common Sandpiper was also mooching about. The feeders were heaving with finches and tits, but sadly there was no sign of any of the recent Brambling. Hale Marsh was also relatively quiet, though the Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail flock was still present and included a single Grey Wagtail. The Mersey held at least 7 Great crested Grebe, but was also quiet. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was very vocal, whilst the overwintering Chiffchaff also put in an appearance in front of the screen. Deciding to cut my losses I headed back to the car picking up Coal Tit and Goldcrest on the return. I had reached 60 species by 9.35am, and my confidence of reaching 100 was pretty high.

Returning to Hale Park I walked through the Ice House Woods quickly picking up Nuthatch and Treecreeper, whilst I was pleased to also find 2 Siskin (which have been particularly scarce this winter). I received a WhatsApp message from Dominic about a Merlin in the carrot field west of the Lighthouse, I was probably only about 100m away, but by the time I ambled out I had missed it (which I would later regret). Reaching the Shore I walked the length of tidal channels up to the Lighthouse picking up my first Rock Pipit (my 70th species at 10.40am) but failing to flush a single Snipe of either species. However scanning Frodsham Score and Ince Marshes produced a bonus ringtail Hen Harrier and at least 3 Marsh Harrier, along with plenty of Raven.

Scanning through the ducks at the Lighthouse I quickly picked up a good selection of ducks, including 87 Pintail, 2 Shoveler and a single female Gadwall, among good numbers of Eurasian Teal, Wigeon and Mallard. Continuing along the shore I kicked up a good number of Skylark and at least 6 more Rock Pipit. I had almost given up hope of finding any Snipe when I finally flushed a Jack Snipe from the last patch of shore. Returning towards the Lighthouse I bumped into Rob and Carol Cockbain and stopped to have a quick catch-up, whilst still scanning. I quickly added Great White Egret, Sparrowhawk and Magpie before saying my goodbyes and heading back towards the car to meet up with Iggy.

Meeting up with Iggy on the back edge of the Ice House Woods, we had some nice views of various woodland species before heading back to the car and deciding to head back to Hale Marsh and Town Lane. After a rather nervy wait a Moorhen (that could have been an embarrassing miss!) finally gave itself up, whilst a Little Egret was feeding in Ramsbrook. A Peregrine put in a brief at the end of the Marsh, surprisingly my first of the day. A quick pit stop at the Co-op to pick up some food (10 doughnuts anyway!) and coffee, and it was straight onto Pickerings again to hopefully look the assembled masses of waders...….

Sadly reaching Pickerings and it was evident that there were not many waders at all! Only 2 Dunlin were present on the expanse of mud/sandflats, whilst a big group of Lapwing and Golden Plover were flying around over Frodsham Score. We bumped into Sean O'Hara and Anne, and enjoyed at least 2 Common Sandpiper that were present, but Gull numbers were very low and didn't contain anything of interest despite a good grilling. Looking through the species still missing I decided to head back to Carr Lane, leaving Iggy to have a scout around Pickerings and the Scrape.

The sunflower strip held good numbers of Linnet and Goldfinch and a couple of Greenfinch, but sadly none of the better species that had been seen over the last couple of weeks. Fortunately I picked up both Redwing and Fieldfare feeding in the fields and then returning to the tops of the trees in Clamley Park Wood. With time (or daylight) quickly slipping away I headed to Within Way, where the Little Owl (90th species at 14.15pm)  was unusually playing ball straight away. I decided to walk to the end of Within Way (hoping that there may be some waders at the end).

Again, there was a lack of any waders at the end of Within Way, other than a handful of Redshank. I was joined by Geoff Bond and his wife, and whilst catching up was fortunate enough to pick up a group of 3 Tufted Duck flying around over the Weaver Estuary. Returning along Within Way I met up with Iggy again, but despite a good scan of the Marsh we couldn't pick up anything new, and again no Merlin! We decided to head round to Hale Lighthouse for the Gull roost.....and having parked up got a message through from Rob and Carol to say that a Merlin was showing well on Hale Marsh......GRRRRRRRRR!!!!! However my first Jay of the day flying towards Hale Park limited the pain momentarily.

Grey Plover and a Ringed Plover (95th species for the day) were added on the Mersey as the Gulls started to flood through. A Peregrine was sat out on the mudbanks, which may have not helped with adding any further waders. There was still plenty of scope for reaching 100, especially given how productive the evening gulling had been recently.....however it wasn't to be. The Gulls were moving through in vast waves at different heights and distances making scanning through them a nightmare. Despite adding 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls, I failed to add any of the better Gulls (Iceland or Yellow Legged) that I had seen on each occasion previously. With the light almost gone and temperatures plummeting I decided to head back to Hale Marsh in one last ditch effort to add Merlin. Another failure, meant that I ended the day on 96.

Although it was a disappointing not to reach my target of 100, I feel that this is more than possible with a little more luck. However 96 species in such a small area is nothing to sniff at, and just goes to show how good the mix of habitat around Hale really is. Roll on May and maybe I'll give a full day effort a go...….
 
      

North Wales Birding

Despite only being a stones throw away from North Wales, I have done next to no real birding in the area since I returned to the north-west. With patch birding being slow (a huge understatement) and the temptation of seeing a number of scarce breeders I thought I would give it a go. I managed to talk Iggy into taking a break from the patch and together we headed into Wales at some ungodly hour.

Arriving at Worlds End at just before sunrise, we slowly drove along patiently awaiting the arrival of the Black Grouse. A couple of calling Red Grouse, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit and a brief Merlin put in a showing, but strangely there was no sign of any Black Grouse?! Retracing the road we finally managed to pick up a very distant lek of c.15 birds....but to say they were distant would be kind! Thankfully we could hear some more birds calling, so carried on a little further until......

The lek must have decided to have a sleep in, as 21 males were sat right by the road. Using the car as a hide we managed to balance scopes and optics through the windows and get some great views. Sadly there were no females on show, but a female Mallard that decided to walk through the lek drew some admiring glances...... Having had our fill of the Grouse we headed back towards civilisation, taking in a much better view of a male Merlin and a few Red Grouse on the way.

We headed towards Clocaenog and along one of the minor roads had some great views of Common Crossbill and Siskin. Both were very much in evidence across the whole of the forest. Pulling over to let a car pass, Iggys car unfortunately dropped into a newly created "gutter" of water and mud. After c.30 minutes and realising that we were well and truly dug in, we managed to find a kind farmer to extract us! Why I forgot to take any pics I will never know!!

A number of stops around the area failed to yield any Goshawk, and the lack of phone reception didn't help in trying to locate the Great Grey Shrike. On the plus side we jammed in on a singing Firecrest, along with the more expected woodland birds including plenty more Common Crossbill and Siskin. A distant raptor certainly looked good, but having stupidly walked down the hill without a scope I wasn't to firm up any ID (note to self - don't walk anywhere without a scope!!).

Driving up towards Llanbedr y Chenin we had a number of stops, and eventually found a smart Dipper along one of the many good looking rivers. Red Kites were very much in evidence with at least 5 birds, and a female Goosander flew over the car. Despite Google Maps attempting to take us to random locations we finally made it to Llanbedr y Chenin in good time (despite the numerous river stops).

Within seconds of arriving we were watching a couple of Hawfinch at the tops of the trees. However getting decent views was a different matter, with the birds very mobile and deciding to sit just the wrong side of branches! There was a minimum of 9 birds, but an accurate count was difficult given how mobile the flock was. We also distantly scoped a group of 5 Goosander and had another 4-5 Red Kite circling around above our heads.

A "posh" toilet stop for Iggy at Conwy RSPB allowed me to pick up a couple of Chiffchaff  in the car park, whilst an adult Mediterranean Gull flew over calling. By now the drizzle was becoming quite heavy, but undeterred we pushed onwards to Llandudno and the Great Orme. After navigating our way to the Mines, we were slightly miffed to find that the clouds were exceedingly low, reducing visibility to near zero.

A drive around and a scan from the Church resulted in a few Red Throated Diver, Shag, Cormorant, Guillemot, Razorbill. A stop by the café along Marine Drive produced my first 2 Wheatear of the year, but the cold wind definitely didn't make it feel much like Spring! Jackdaws were very much in evidence, but we just couldn't locate any Chough. We decided to carry on and have a mooch around the Limestone Pavement.

A wander around the rather windswept top produced very little other than 8-9 Stonechat and plenty of Meadow Pipit. But finally the sounds of Chough filled the air, but sadly views of a pair flying away were far from what was hoped for. The early start was starting to catch up with us both, so we decided to call it a (rather successful) day and head home. The drive home was uneventful, but we picked up the 21 Whooper Swan on the M56 at Frodsham (opposite Helsby Hill). I'll definitely be heading back to North Wales again soon, if nothing else to catch up with the Pied Flycatchers!

Dusk Patching

After two day time visits to the patch I was keen to get out for a dusk session. After a freezing sub-zero overnight frost, I was hopeful that the expected dusk species would be present. I headed out in glorious late afternoon sunshine, and although it was freezing cold it was good to get out in some fairly decent weather.

I decided to head to Pickerings Pasture to try and pick up a few missing birds from the patch yearlist. Up to 9 Bullfinch were again in the hedge leading down to the Mersey, but again they were sat on the wrong side of the hedge to get any decent pics. The feeders were again alive with birds, although there was nothing of great note. Reaching the Mersey the tide was still relatively high, with most waders and gulls still loafing about on no-mans land.

Settling in to have a quick look through the distant waders and gulls, my attention was drawn to two ducks flying towards me from the west. Without raising my binoculars I knew what they were, but it was nice to get a flyby of 2 male Goosander as they headed east towards the Runcorn Bridge. 3 Common Sandpiper were feeding along the shore line, whilst a scan of the distant gulls and waders didn't really reveal anything unexpected. A couple of Raven were "cronk-cronk"ing along the Mersey flying backwards and forwards, always a great sound to hear.

A male Gadwall was hiding amongst Mallards by the bridge on Ditton Brook, amazingly my first on patch this year. A Peregrine was sat up on the Runcorn Bridge, whilst some loud "wink-wink" drew my attention to a group of c.48 Pink footed Geese heading west along the Mersey and over my head. A couple more Bullfinch and a calling Chiffchaff were in Ditton Brook, but with light starting to fade I made my way quickly back to the car.

Driving back along Hale Gate Road towards Hale village I stopped to have a brief scan of the Marsh from by the farm. Although the Marsh was quiet there was a large finch flock which contained c.200 Goldfinch, 8 Siskin and at least 2 Lesser Redpoll with a few Chaffinch thrown in for good measure. Stopping on the bridge on Town Lane proved fruitless with the flood totally frozen over and the marsh still rock solid, resulting in no Pipits; or any other passerines for that matter. However the field at the back of the Pools held c.400 Golden Plover and c.200 Lapwing, always nice to see.

With a few minutes to spare I thought I would head round to Church Lane and have a quick scan over the Mersey and Frodsham Score....surely there would be Swans by now? Nope! The setting sun didn't help with viewing Frodsham Score, but even in poor light there were clearly no Swans of any type. Just as surprising was the fact that there were only a couple of Little Egret and no Great White Egret present. A decent number of Raven were again feeding along the edge of the Score, whilst an immature Marsh Harrier was drifting about Frodsham Marsh.

I headed round to Carr Lane ready for dusk, and after a quick look around again finding the majority of open water frozen I positioned myself on the bridge. The Cetti's Warbler was again calling from Ramsbrook, whilst a few Water Rail were already starting to squeal away. I was joined by Mike Roberts and another local birder for the next hour. A large Fieldfare flock came into roost, and a Woodcock came whizzing out of Great Boar Wood. But the best was probably the hooting Tawny Owl from the top section of Great Boar Wood, an increasingly infrequent sound on patch. A few Common Snipe squelched over, but with light seriously fading fast I had given up hope on the Barn Owl. But at 17.20pm the Barn Owl suddenly emerged from Great Boar Wood and drifted along the field edge and out onto Ramsbrook. By now it was too dark to see, so I gave up on the Short-eared Owl, hopefully it'll wait for the next visit........