March Showers

I was keen to get one last patch visit in before the end of the month, and I was fairly hopeful of a good visit based on the forecast. Unfortunately the weather had other plans, and it was very much a case of sunshine and heavy showers. However at this time of year it is good to be out whatever, with the prospect of migrants starting to arrive.

Arriving at Burnt Mill Farm the light drizzle had turned into slightly more persistent rain. The paddocks were pretty much devoid of life, not especially surprising given the conditions. A few Meadow Pipits, Reed Bunting and Linnet were still moving around. I had a very brief look for the Lapland Bunting, but with fairly poor conditions I didn't spend too long.

Luckily by the time I had driven down Carr Lane the rain had relented and some signs of brightness were slowly starting to come through. The male Garganey was again showing well on the flooded fields, with Little Grebes, Mallard, Shoveler, Gadwall and Lapwing as supporting cast. Moving across the road I picked up my first Little Ringed Plover of the year on the edge of the Pools.

Water Pipit (c/o Mike Roberts)

The summer plumaged Water Pipit was again showing fairly well (although my pics were awful - fortunately Mike Roberts got some good pics the day before). A few hirundines were moving through as well with a group of 12+ Sand Martin, House Martin and Swallow over the back of the Pools. The pools held the usual suspects, but Black-tailed Godwits numbered about 90, a slight increase on recent numbers. Just as I was about to leave another group of c.20 Sand Martin suddenly arrived and starting feeding over the flooded fields, real "active" migration - one of the reasons why I love Spring.

Moving around to Town Lane the Pools didn't reveal much else, but the Ruff was again feeding in the far corner of the pools. 3 Greylag Geese (an increasingly scarce patch bird) had joined the Canada Geese which were spread across the Pools and Town Lane floods. Duck numbers are pretty much the same at present with a single male Wigeon, 46 Eurasian Teal, 24 Shoveler and a handful of Mallard and Gadwall.

Town Lane was fairly dire with Hale Marsh exceedingly quiet. However a rather tatty looking Kestrel gave some nice views, and a few Little Egret were stalking the outer marsh. After the initial optimism from Carr Lane, there seemed to be a real lack of migrants, and even the Meadow Pipit and Skylark numbers seemed to be down. A quick look over the Pools on my return to the car revealed the male Garganey had relocated again.

With the clouds finally starting to break I decided to walk Within Way, with the anticipation of doing the full Hale Head loop via the Lighthouse. However it was so appallingly slow that I rejected the idea, with the sum total of a good mooch around being 2 White Wagtail, 1 Wheatear, 5 Chiffchaff and 2 Sand Martin flying north. The return walk was enlivened slightly with a/the female Merlin dashing through. To make things worse the dark clouds then unleashed a massive downpour....thank god I had decided to leave my waterproofs on!!

With the rain easing again I decided to head to Hale Park (probably the first of many Spring visits) to have a look for any grounded migrants, although given that it was only the end of March I was not too hopeful. Needless to say there were next to no migrants, but it was nice to catch up with plenty of Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest. Scoping across to Frodsham Score and Ince Marshes I picked up a single Great White Egret, 2 Mute Swan and 9 Swan sp. (which through the haze looked likely to be Whooper). The dry weather didn't last long and with heavy rain starting again I decided to call it quits and head home.

Lapping It Up - Cattle Style

I received a twitter message from Luke Ozsanlav-Harris after my visit on Thursday to say that he had found a Lapland Bunting near Burnt Mill Farm. Needless to say I was keen to get out after work to have a look around to see whether it had stayed put. The weather was more late-Spring than early, with bright blue skies, WARM sunshine and only a light breeze.

Parking up on the sharp bend past Burnt Mill Farm, I could hear a number of Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammers, and a single Corn Bunting jangling away. Seconds later I could hear the distinctive "prrrt" of a Lapland Bunting, and quickly picked it up in flight. It landed close to the hedge opposite the farm, so I made my way round to the public footpath. Amazingly I picked it up on the deck, and although the heat haze was fairly bad I got some good pics and video (sadly I have managed to delete everything other than those that I posted on Twitter somehow!!?!?! - Grrrrrr!). I enjoyed prolonged views of what is only my second record on the patch, and got a few other local birders onto it before I headed off towards Carr Lane.

Great Boar Wood was again alive with singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap, and it surely won't be too long now before they are joined by some of the other regular migrants. The flooded field was fairly dead, but 2 Little Grebe were whinnying from their hiding place. Common Buzzard seemed to be absolutely everywhere, whilst Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were on the wing. The male Garganey had moved out onto the main Pools whilst a single Water Pipit was again showing well in the wet horse paddock.

I again moved round to Town Lane where the single Ruff was feeding in pretty much the same location. Duck numbers are pretty static at the moment with 24 Shoveler, 29 Eurasian Teal, 2 Gadwall and a single Wigeon. Walking along Town Lane I could see a white dot sat at the top of the trees, which I expected to be a Little Egret. I was amazed when it turned out to be a Cattle Egret, a patch lifer and patch first! Although their rarity status has been somewhat devalued, and it was an "expected" addition to the patch list it was still a bit of a rush!

Cattle Egret (pics c/o Mike Roberts)

I was joined by Mike Roberts and Paul Lees on the bridge, but within seconds of Mike setting up his camera the Cattle Egret took off to the east! Fortunately it pitched down in the horse fields, and Mike was able to get some distant shots of the bird feeding. Sadly the patch stalwarts Rob, Carol and Iggy were all away in different parts of the UK, so it is frustrating that despite the bird going to roost in the decoy it has not been relocated since.

Hale Marsh was fairly productive with a single Swallow flying through east. A couple of Little Egret were feeding in the longer grassy areas. A female Merlin was zooming about at the back of the marsh, whilst a Peregrine towered over before heading off towards Frodsham. With my available time running out I headed back to Burnt Mill Farm briefly, where a couple of local birders were having no luck in relocating the Lapland Bunting. 

After a couple of very poor months, it is great to see the patch finally returning to form. Cattle Egret also took my patch life list to 201, not bad for a quiet little corner in the north-west!!