Exploring the Cheshire Badlands

With a day off work I was keen to get out birding again, but I really am struggling to get back onto the patch at the moment. So with a decent forecast, which for once was pretty much spot on I decided to have a bit of a wander around Cheshire. March is a great month to find displaying resident species, and with that in mind I decided to head off into deepest, darkest east Cheshire.

Reaching the site at just before 9am I was delighted to see and hear all three Woodpecker species within minutes of arriving. The whole area was buzzing with Treecreeper, Nuthatch and the other expected woodland species. Up to 5 Mandarin were also in the area, always nice to see and hear. Great Spotted Woodpecker seemed to be everywhere, whilst Green Woodpecker were constantly laughing away in the background. But the star birds were the pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that performed brilliantly.

At least 2 birds were in the area, with possibly another present. It was great to finally catch up with them again, having not seen one since I moved back to the North-West. Not wanting to disturb them, I left them in peace and returned to the car with a rather large Cheshire Cat Smile.

I decided to head to Newchurch Common to catch up with the Red Crested Pochard that had been present for ages. However I wasn't entirely sure where I was going, but after a few non-starters I eventually found the area, parking up and walking along the track to view the lakes. The whole area was alive with the calls of Chiffchaff and a couple of Blackcap, and the weather certainly made it feel like Spring.

I eventually picked up the Red Crested Pochard in the west bay. The lake also held 2 Wigeon and stacks of Tufted Duck. There were also good numbers of gulls present, and on closer examination I managed to pick out 4 adult Mediterranean Gulls, one of which was very vocal and displaying. Continuing to scan the lake I was surprised to pick up the female Smew hiding under the overhanging willows on the east side of the lake. I'm not aware of any reports recently, so maybe it has been hiding elsewhere in the mean time?

I decided to head to Kelsall where there had been a flock of c.150 Waxwing earlier in the day. However despite my best attempts I was unable to locate them, with no sight nor sound of the flock. However the orchards still held good numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing and Blackbirds. The air was full of raptors with loads of Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. But with no sign of the Waxwing I decided to head on towards Gowy Tip.

Reaching Gowy Tip I was disappointed to find that the Gulls were all wheeling around the site, and not settling. I spent a while grilling the masses of gulls over the tip and eventually picked out a juvenile Glaucous Gull and a juvenile (1st or 2nd winter) Iceland Gull. However throughout my stay the birds didn't land for longer than a few seconds, and the "wash" pools were looking decidedly dry. With many gulls drifting off towards the Mersey I decided to call it quits.

I had a brief stop at Moore, but annoyingly had managed to kill my phone storage with photos from earlier! A Green Woodpecker was calling away, whilst there were again good numbers of Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker. A look at the feeding station was productive with at least 2 Willow Tit calling and feeding in the area, whilst the feeders still held plenty of the expected species. I had planned to stop via the patch on the return home, but other than a quick scan from Town Lane I decided to head home and put my feet up.

Mid-patch Crisis

After a fairly poor run on patch, I finally decided to try my luck elsewhere. With the closure of Arpley Tip having a huge effect on patch Gulling, I decided to give Gowy Landfill a go, even talking fellow patch masochist Iggy into joining me. The weather set fair (pretty much the best day of the week) with relatively bright conditions, although it still felt rather cold.

Having dug out my passport and navigated my way through the chaos of the Runcorn Bridge I made my way to Picton Lane, taking in the Whooper Swan herd from the M56. Stopping briefly I picked up a 1st winter Glaucous Gull almost immediately flying around over the Landfill, among the mass of Gulls. Iggy had already arrived, but was further up the road, so I headed off to meet him, keeping a close eye on where the best area for viewing may be. Iggy had found a small flood, where a decent gathering of small Gulls (mostly Black-headed and Common) were having a wash, however I had found a better area to view from further back with a better turnout of "large" Gulls.

Returning to the area that I had located we bumped into Mark Garner, who had just located a 2nd winter Iceland Gull. We spent the next couple of hours grilling the assembled Gulls finally digging out at least 3 Glaucous Gulls (all juveniles - including a rather small looking bird and an absolute monster) and 2 Iceland Gulls (a 2nd winter with missing primaries and a 1st winter). Mark had to head off, but Iggy and I continued and had some fun looking through plenty of argentatus and argenteus Herring Gull. We eventually dug out a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull, but sadly it was lost almost as soon as it was found.

It wasn't ALL about the Gulls though, with a few Common Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk on the wing, getting no end of grief from the local Gulls. The area also held good numbers of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting, whilst finches were constantly moving over. A Fox was walking around at the lower edges of the Landfill, keeping everything on their toes. I had planned to spend the rest of the day birding on the South side of the Mersey, however that went sideways as a WhatsApp message from a local Liverpool birder had me heading straight back to patch!

Paul Kurs had been watching a couple of Water Pipits along Carr Lane when another interesting Pipit sp. flew in and joined them. It had piqued my interest enough for me to head straight back, but despite a good look I was unable to find it. However a single Water Pipit was still present although it was always distant, a Meadow Pipit came and went but there was . 3 Stonechat were feeding along the fenceline, whilst the Pools held 29 Black-tailed Godwit among the more expected species.

Raptors were everywhere today, clearly making the most of the nice bright conditions. A minimum of 20 Common Buzzard were on the wing, many displaying high up. A couple of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and a Peregrine were also moving around. My attention was drawn to a high flying raptor, and even the height it was easy to make out a nice deep forked tail - a Red Kite (my first of the year). A few Siskin were moving overhead, whilst I could make out a few Yellowhammer distantly flying around over the fields towards Burnt Mill Farm.

I headed around to Within Way to again put myself through the torture of dipping the Brent Goose. However the Little Owl was awake and showing well again. I had also timed my visit quite well as high-tide was just peaking and it was a bit of a monster engulfing the Marsh. The pre-high tide roost of waders included a single Golden Plover (in near summer plumage), 19 Turnstone, 2 Knot, 200 Dunlin and good numbers of Oystercatcher, Shelduck and Eurasian Teal. However despite watching as the tide pushed everything out of it's hiding spot I failed to find anything rarer.

I headed back to Carr Lane for a little longer, but by now all Pipits had done a bunk, so with plenty of things to do at home I thought I best head off. So despite plans of a full day of non-patching, I still ended up on patch. Maybe I'm just going through a mid-patch crisis, and I'll be back on form come Spring.....or maybe I'll just have to buy a Ferrari and do some more dirty twitching......

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.