Surely it has to get better....

I managed a brief visit to the patch after work today, and with a more positive feel of late I was hopeful that the patch may find start delivering.......in reality I should probably have just gone home and caught up on some sleep! A rather grey and overcast afternoon, with fairly poor light and not much about.

I started at Burnt Mill Farm, hopeful that the southerly winds may have brought in an early Wheatear. The paddocks were full of Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Starling and Pied Wagtails, which was at least more productive than of late. A Corn Bunting was singing from an unseen vantage point, but I suspect it was hidden in the fields at the back. A thorough search of the area produced little else, but a Kestrel and a few Common Buzzard displaying above my head made it feel a bit more like Spring.

Carr Lane was pretty much devoid of birds. The flooded "Ibis" field held a couple of calling Little Grebe and masses of Moorhen and Coot but little else. A scan over towards the Pools produced no Pipits, and only a handful of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit feeding in the shallows. A few Eurasian Teal, Shoveler and Mallard were tucked up towards Town Lane, which at least gave me hope that something may be hidden amongst them.

Moving round to the gate on Town Lane, and I could scan through the assembled ducks properly. 67 Eurasian Teal, 19 Shoveler, 2 Wigeon, and 14 Mallard were the best of it though. Hopefully it won't be too long until the first Garganey may appear....Spring really can't come quick enough at the moment. A single male Stonechat was along the fenceline at the back of the Pools, and a couple more Common Buzzard were displaying over the top of Great Boar Wood, but otherwise it was very quiet.

I decided to try my luck and scan from the end of Church Lane again. A Great White Egret was stalking about on Ince Marshes, but there was no sign of any Swans on this occasion. There were c.300 Pink-footed Geese again on Frodsham Score, but sadly they again were too distant to do much with - however nothing really stood out on this occasion. A female Marsh Harrier was quartering the back edges of the Score, and Raven numbers are really starting to build (in line with the lambs). The clouds had been building whilst I was scanning the river and eventually I could feel the first rather heavy spots of rain. With the whole area seeming rather lifeless I decided not to waste my brownie points and headed home.

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........

We go again....

A new year, a new challenge. Not only that, but the new weather was a shock to the system with a ground frost and a biting cold SE wind making a change to the milder conditions of late. Starting off at Burnt Mill Farm on Carr Lane, I quickly added a number of year ticks, the best being a lingering Corn Bunting (unusual for this time of year as they have normally dispersed into the feeding flocks elsewhere). Grey Wagtail and a number of commoner birds got the list ticking over nicely.

Driving along Carr Lane I stopped by the bridge at the corner of Carr Lane Pools, adding a few specialities including Jack Snipe and 7 Grey Partridge. A Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were the first raptors seen for the year, on a day where raptors were in short supply. Carr Lane Pools were quiet, but a single Little Egret was nice to see.

I met Ian Igglesden here and we decided to give the patch a good grilling, moving onto Hale Park to complete a full loop of the eastern half of the patch. Hale Park was relatively quiet producing the expected woodland birds including Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Siskin. Moving onto Hale Shore we had a good scan of the river and Frodsham Score, picking up our first Great White Egret and Whooper Swans of the year. A Rook picked out on the Frodsham side saved the embarrassment of having to wait three months for my first one of the year like 2015. Walking along the shore we kicked up at least 12 Common Snipe and 1 Jack Snipe. We flushed one rather intruiging looking Snipe with dusky underwings, but sadly were unable to relocate it.....one that got away? A male Stonechat sat on the reed fringes briefly but quickly disappeared, probably blown away by the strengthening winds. Reaching the lighthouse we tried to find a more sheltered spot to scan the river and Frdosham Score again, picking out a flock of 39 Pink Footed Geese, a smart adult Yellow Legged Gull and a few expected yearticks.

Continuing along towards Within Way a Merlin bombed across the back fields, and Ian somehow picked out one of the Peregrines roosting on the Runcorn Bridge. There was no sign of the Shag today, but there were at least 3 sinensis Cormorants roosting on the sandbars.

Hale Marsh was unproductive, but a Peregrine sat out on the Marsh looking fairly miserable in the biting cold wind....to be fair Ian and I didn't probably look much happier! A small flock of Fieldfares with smaller numbers of Redwing were feeding in the fields, but the rest of the walk up Within Way was uneventful. Walking back through Hale Village past the Childe of Hale a few feeding stations in the gardens of Church Road caught our eye. A male Blackcap and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were nice additions to the yearlist as a result. Adding a detour around the fields of Hale Park we picked up a single Lesser Redpoll in the Linnet flock, whilst the Buzzards looked particularly miffed at the stiff breeze.

Stopping at Carr Lane Pools on the way to Pickerings Pasture we had a few call only records of the Water Pipit (last reported on the 29/12 but clearly still lingering and getting even more elusive!), and our only Shoveler of the day. By the time we had reached Pickerings the tide had rather quickly covered most of the mud (schoolboy errors once again), but we added a few new year birds before I had to head off. Bypassing Carr Lane on the drive home I was able to add a squealing Water Rail and one of the local Kingfishers zoomed past, a nice end to the day. Although the birding was hard going today I was pleased to have seen or heard 86 species....only 97 to go to beat last years score!