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...….
 
      

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. 

Everything's Not Lost

Well the weathermen clearly got the weather forecast wrong........with mainly dry conditions for the majority of the day on Sunday. I managed to grab a few hours in the late afternoon, although rather annoyingly the weather did finally start to turn as I headed towards patch. The last remaining hours of light were generally light to moderate drizzle with a north-easterly breeze.

I called in briefly at Pickerings Pasture where the tide was still relatively high. 2 Common Sandpiper were feeding along the rocky edges up towards Hale Marsh, whilst a Peregrine was sat in it's usual position on the Runcorn Bridge. There were good numbers of waders on no mans land, but Gull numbers as had been the trend of late were poor. Walking back to the car I picked up 5 Bullfinch, whilst 2 Lesser Redpoll (or should that just be "Redpoll" now!) flew over calling.

I headed to Hale Shore to watch the Gull roost, not really expecting too much following the closure of Arpley Tip and the historical trend of Sunday being a "poor" Gulling day. However reaching the Lighthouse I was pleasantly surprised to see good numbers of Gulls heading west past my position (just underneath the Lighthouse walls). Not only were there good numbers of smaller Gulls (Common and Black Headed), there were also good numbers of larger Gulls (predominantly Lesser Black Backed and Herring).

Continuing to scan through the Gulls pouring through I managed to pick up a stunning adult Iceland Gull (although the pics clearly don't do it justice!). This was quickly followed by 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls. Over the next hour I picked up a further 1st winter Iceland Gull, 3 Yellow Legged Gulls and 3 more Mediterranean Gulls (adult, 2nd winter and 1st winter). I estimated that roughly 15,000 large Gulls passed west, not far off the numbers of last winter/spring. Where they have come from I really don't know; although clearly there are still feeding areas further up the Mersey. So after my doom and gloom of fearing the end of Gull watching on the Mersey, maybe I spoke too soon, and I can't wait to get back down to check the roosts......maybe that Ivory or Ross's will finally turn up!!

Apart from the Gulls the Mersey was quite productive with a single male Goldeneye flying east past the Lighthouse (my 120th patch tick of the year). A Great White Egret was padding around on Ince Marshes, and up to 12 Little Egret were constantly flying around. A few Great crested Grebe were again feeding on the Mersey, whilst duck numbers were fairly impressive with some good Wigeon and Eurasian Teal flocks.

So not a bad last patch visit of the month, with two new additions leaving me on 120 for the year. Not a bad start, although the rest of the winter period may be hard work.........

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?!

  

Owl be out later

After what seemed like very long first week back at work I managed to get a very brief visit to the patch in on Friday night. Although sunset is still early (hopefully it won't be too long until the lighter evenings are back), there are clearly benefits of being able to get to a number of areas via car. It was a relatively bright evening it was still bitterly cold, with a strong north-westerly.

I decided to head to Pickerings Pasture to check out the Gulls, however it was very disappointing, with only c.40 "large" Gulls sat out on the exposed mud. A quick look through them revealed nothing of great interest. A Common Sandpiper was again feeding along the shore, but with limited exposed mud there were not great numbers of waders, with only a handful of Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin. With not much time to play with I decided to call it quits and head to Town Lane.

Town Lane bridge produced a single Water Pipit flying around calling, whilst a Merlin (possibly a male) was sat distantly out on the fenceline. 3 Little Egret were feeding across the Marsh, whilst the decoy was starting to fill up with roosting Stock Dove, Woodpigeon and Cormorant. The flooded fields on the opposite side of the road held c.80 Eurasian Teal, 6 Shoveler  and a few Mallard, but otherwise it was fairly quiet.

Heading round to Lighthouse Lane I regretted not having headed here first, with decent numbers of Gulls starting to build on the exposed sandbars and mud. However there still seemed to be very few "large" Gulls coming into roost, almost certainly due to the closure of Arpley Tip. Prior to the closure of the Tip I had been optimisitic that numbers may not be affected too drastically, however it looks like this may not be the case. Scanning across the Mersey towards Garston I picked up a Short-eared Owl heading north towards Garston (possibly one of the birds regularly seen feeding along the reserve in the evenings?). A scan of Frodsham Score and Ince Marshes surprisingly revealed very little other than a good number of Raven.

With the light almost gone I headed back to Carr Lane, where the Water Rail were a little more vocal. The wind made hearing anything difficult, but a small party of c.50 Fieldfare flew over and landed in the willows. The Barn Owl was out surprisingly early, and showed well as it fed along Ramsbrook, even coming close to within c.30 feet to investigate the strange squeaking I was making. The wind was clearly having an effect though, and little else decided to put in a showing before the light went. Having lost feeling in pretty much the whole of my body I decided to retreat to the car and head home.