Eurofighters, Farmers and Bottlewatching

By the time I managed to get out today it had turned into a bit of a scorcher, the thermometer indicating 27 degrees. There was plenty of blue sky, with a few cartoon fluffy white clouds being blown along on the back of a light westerly. I had missed the high tide, although it was only a 7.5m tide so not a major loss.

Pulling up at the flooded field along Carr Lane I was delighted to find the farmer stood by the edge of the water by his 4x4....needless to say there was nothing present! Looking across towards Carr Lane Pools I picked out 6 Common Snipe feeding in a secluded corner, whilst there were 14 Eurasian Teal, 2 Gadwall and a female Shoveler. A single Black Tailed Godwit was wading in the muddy edge, whilst the Canada Goose swarm was continuing to build.

Iggy was already checking out Town Lane and said that it was quiet so I decided to head round to Pickerings to see whether there were any remnants of the high tide roost. The hedge down to the United Utilities compound was full of House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet and Chaffinch, whilst a Grey Partridge was calling from the weedy field just behind it. Making my way towards the scrape a Eurofighter roared over and did a few low circuits over Hale Marsh (not sure about the birds but the noise nearly blew my ear drums out).

Surprisingly the scrape still held a single Dunlin and 15 Redshank, whilst the marsh had a small gaggle of 15 Ringed Plover and 17 Dunlin. However there were no gulls, or any other waders to be speak of. 3 very vocal Common Buzzard drifted south over my head towards Runcorn. I decided to move from the scrape and station myself on the Mersey banks to watch the dropping tide (and hopefully the waders).

A scan of the far bank revealed c.400 Black Tailed Godwit, c.150 Curlew, c.200 Redshank c.300 Lapwing and a good gathering of gulls, but as ever they were all just too distant to give a good grilling. A Little Egret flew up the Mersey and gave a nice flyby, whilst a Peregrine was zooming around under the Runcorn Bridge. An adult Mediterranean Gull in very heavy moult joined the anting flock above my head for a few minutes, but otherwise it was very slow going.

3 Greylag Geese flying up the Mersey were a surprise given their relative rarity in the patch. Despite having some good views of a Lucozade bottle, 4 Coke cans, a possible 7Up and 2 Fanta cans it was slow going and I decided to head back to Town Lane to see whether any waders had been pushed onto the Pools again.

The Egyptian Goose was again showing well by the roadside flood, whilst 3 Little Ringed Plover were feeding a close quarters. A Hobby zoomed through at the back of Great Boar Wood, but didn't stay around for long. Ducks were not present in any great number, with only a handful of Mallard, Eurasian Teal and Gadwall. The heat and boredom had clearly got too much for the Ruff who was struggling to keep it's eyes open as well.

I stopped briefly at the flooded field on Carr Lane, and fortunately peace had returned. A couple of Common Snipe and a single Black Tailed Godwit had returned, whilst the Moorhen and Coot were starting to get a bit more adventurous and come out of their hiding places. A couple of mewing Common Buzzard were clearly enjoying the thermals, whilst a Sparrowhawk joined them briefly. With little moving about I decided to save some of my brownie points and head home. I suppose at least the slow days make you appreciate the good ones!

Evening Spoons

I managed to get a few hours on patch tonight, again my main aim to put some time looking for Crakes on the flooded field. It was another nice bright and mild evening, but as the sun went down and the wind took over it felt quite chilly again. There was a slight respite from the very blustery wind of late, but there was still a moderate westerly blowing.

I bumped into Iggy at the flooded field and we enjoyed some good views of a Green Sandpiper, and the ever increasing numbers of Common Snipe. There were only 6 Black Tailed Godwit present, but contained the metal darvic ringed bird (with me managing to get a partial read of FS). Iggy picked up a Peregrine soaring over Great Boar Wood, whilst a few Common Buzzard were still on the wing. The flooded field was full of Moorhen and Coot, and the Green Sandpiper was having a little paddy when they came too close for comfort.

The main Pool viewed from the gate at Town Lane was again very quiet, other than a few Gadwall, 12 Eurasian Teal, Shoveler and a few Lapwing so I quickly wandered along Town Lane towards the wet fields. A 2cy Peregrine was sat on the edge of the decoy, whilst a further two could be seen sat on the top of the blue topped tower (so a minimum of 3-4 birds present at the moment). Whilst watching the Peregrine I noticed a white heron flying behind it. It turned out to be a 1st year Spoonbill (presumably the same bird that has been seen a few times at the start of the week). 4 Little Egret followed the Spoonbill into the decoy shortly after (I really need to arrange a dusk visit to the decoy soon!).

Turning my attention briefly to the wet fields I picked up the Egyptian Goose which was again showing well. A single Ruff, 6 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Snipe were enjoying the freedom of the pool, without any interruptions from the Godwits. There were a good selection of ducks with the female Tufted Duck, 9 Eurasian Teal, 17 Mallard and 2 Gadwall. A Kingfisher appeared briefly on one of the hawthorns at the back of the field, but sadly didn't sit still long enough for a picture.

Turning my attentions back to Hale Marsh and the decoy I picked up a distant Wheatear along the fenceline, whilst a few Skylark and Meadow Pipits were still moving around. I was joined by Iggy again and we watched the decoy for a while as the sun edged its way down. A further 5 Little Egret came into the roost, whilst the roosting Cormorants continued to increase. The Stock Doves got more and more courageous and started to settle next to the Peregrine! A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over the marsh heading towards Within Way, whilst I had a brief (very distant) view of the Little Owl bouncing between the branches of the tree on Within Way. With the light fading, I left Iggy and headed back to the flooded field on Carr Lane.

I spent the remaining daylight scanning the flood. Common Snipe numbers increased to c.25 birds, whilst the Black Tailed Godwit numbers were down to 5. A single Eurasian Teal and Shoveler were mixing it up with the Mallards, whilst Coot and Moorhen creeping in and out of the rushes and reeds kept me on my toes. A few Sedge and Reed Warbler were surprisingly still awake and feeding in the lower parts of the reeds. Sadly there was again no sign of any Crakes, and there was not a peep out of any Water Rail.

A really enjoyable evening on patch (even with another Crake failure), but it won't be long until the late evening patch visits will have to wait until next year. Make Crakes whilst the sun is shining, or something like that......

High Noon (Tide)

It's always nice to get a spot of midweek patch birding in, especially because the patch isn't overrun with walkers, dogs, runners and the like. There were heavy clouds for the majority of the visit, with a few brighter intervals. But the main feature today was the wind, a very strong Westerly, gusting at 35-40mph. The wind combined with a decent high tide (7.8m) and I was convinced something would turn up.....  

I again started at the flooded fields along Carr Lane. There was a good gathering of 36 Black Tailed Godwit feeding close to the road, and on closer inspection I found that two of the birds had rings. One had a single metal darvic on the right leg (sadly I couldn't make out any numbers/letters), but presumably not part of the normal colour ringing programme? The second bird was GN-WWW (which looks like it may be part of the Irish ringing programme).

The rest of the flood was fairly quiet with only a single Snipe, and a couple of Coot and Moorhen. A Sparrowhawk shot across pushed along by the strong wind. Scanning across towards the main Pool the Egyptian Goose was mixing it up with 12 Eurasian Teal, 2 Gadwall and a single Shoveler. A Little Egret flew over from Hale Decoy, whilst I picked up a single Greylag Goose among the Canada Geese. 2 Snipe were feeding along the back edge, but there were very few other waders.

Moving round to the gate on Town Lane revealed just how quiet the main Pool was. A couple of Lapwing were mooching about, but otherwise there was nothing else visible from this angle. Fortunately the flooded fields along Town Lane looked a lot more promising with c.350 Black Tailed Godwits present.

I spent quite some time looking for colour rings among the Godwit without success and it was amazing how well the group concealed other waders. I eventually picked up a single Common Sandpiper, 2 Dunlin and a Ruff. Three Little Ringed Plover were again showing well, whilst 2 Snipe were sneaking along the back edge. The best was a Wood Sandpiper that flew in from Hale Marsh and pitched down in the back corner of the main Pool (just out of sight from where I was stood).

I was quite excited to get to the high tide roost at Pickerings, especially in light of the decent wader groups feeding on the Mersey recently pre/post high tide. The scrape held 2 Dunlin and 39 Redshank, whilst a Kingfisher whizzed by towards the Sewage Works. The high tide roost was disappointing in the end with c.200 Dunlin, 97 Lapwing, 25 Curlew, 17 Oystercatcher and 8 Ringed Plover.  The gull roost was also unproductive with the c.400 gulls being made up of mostly Black Headed, with a couple of Lesser Black Backed and Herring.

As the tide started to drop I had a quick scan of the Mersey towards Runcorn where I picked up two Sanderling (why couldn't they have come into the roost!?!). Other than good numbers of Redshank there were no other waders, so I'm not too sure where the recent gatherings have all gone to roost. The walk back to the car produced a decent sized tit flock, made up of mostly Long Tailed and Blue. Sadly despite a good search I couldn't find anything lurking within it.

Returning to Town Lane I parked up on the bridge to scan the flooded fields. The Black Tailed Godwit numbers had swelled to c.700 birds, but again despite a decent look I couldn't find any colour ringed birds. However c.23 Dunlin had joined the Godwit, and there were now 5 Little Ringed Plover spread around. I had a thorough look through the Godwits but there was nothing else hiding amongst them, so I decided to head round to the Lighthouse.

Arriving at the end garden along Lighthouse Lane I attempted to scan the Mersey and the Score. However the wind and heat haze had picked up and made viewing difficult. There were again good numbers of Yellow Wagtail moving around, whilst the end garden held a couple of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff (is it Autumn already?!). Despite the conditions I picked up good numbers of Raven on the Score and a Peregrine bombing around at the back. With time running out and the prospects of finding anything remote I decided to head home.

Crakewatch Challenge

I managed a quick evening visit to the patch to inspect the pruning of the vegetation in front of the flooded field along Carr Lane. It was a mild evening, with heavy cloud which often looked like it would threaten rain. Fortunately the rain held off, but the blustery NW wind made conditions a little more difficult.

Arriving at the flooded field I met Sean and Bruce (two local birders) who had also come down to inspect the fine work by Iggy. Sadly there wasn't actually much to see tonight, a single Snipe and a few Moorhen, Coot and Mallard being the only bits. A Tree Sparrow flew south over the fields calling (only my 3rd of the year and probably the first of the autumn post-breeding dispersal). A quick look across to Carr Lane Pools revealed very little - a single Black Tailed Godwit, 3 Teal, Shoveler and Gadwall the only birds of note.

Moving round to the gate on Town Lane revealed just how quiet the main Pool was, with only a few Lapwing, 4 Eurasian Teal and a few eclipse Mallard and Shoveler. However I did pick up the Peregrine at a distance on top of the blue topped chimney (even from a distance it is easy to pick out!). The flooded fields along Town Lane looked very quiet but I thought I would check them out to be on the safe side.

The Egyptian Goose was again showing well with the Canada Geese, whilst I managed to pick out a new Ruff. There was an increase in ducks with up to 9 Eurasian Teal, 4 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall and a female Tufted Duck. Wader numbers (and in particular Godwit numbers) were well down than of late with only 2 Black Tailed Godwit, 3 Little Ringed Plover and a further Snipe present.

With little else showing I decided to move round to Hale Lighthouse. The tide was pretty much fully out, but the walk down to the Lighthouse with vast numbers of Yellow/Flava type Wagtails. At one point I counted a minimum of 15 birds sat on top of the Barley (the majority being juvenile birds). There were also good numbers of Reed Bunting, Linnet and Goldfinch up and down into the Barley.

Reaching the Lighthouse I had a scan of the Mersey. Gull numbers are really starting to pick up with tonnes of Lesser Black Backed, Black Headed and smaller numbers of Herring, Common and Great Black Backed. There were good numbers of waders on the far shore (but again far too distant to positively ID), but it was marginally easier to pick out c.700 Black Tailed Godwit and c.100 Curlew. Walking round to the east side of the Lighthouse I flushed a VERY yellow (the photos don't do it justice) looking phyllosc. Fortunately it perched up on the fence along the track and allowed me to ID it as a Chiffchaff. However on first views it had my pulse racing.

  

Scanning the Score and marshes towards Frodsham and Ince produced loads of Canada Geese, but also good numbers of Raven, a single Marsh Harrier and single Peregrine. Sean joined me again, and we had a nice flyby of 2 Little Egrets. Shortly after I picked up a Great White Egret, flying east over Frodsham. We watched it for a long time as it headed towards Hale Decoy presumably to roost. With the light failing I decided to have a quick look along Within Way to see what else might come to roost in the decoy.

The Little Owl was in a very un-photogenic mood, and was happier to be bouncing around the tree than sticking around for a photo tonight. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from the copse by the church, but the majority of passerines appeared to already have disappeared. The decoy roost failed to reveal much other than the Cormorants as usual. I'm not sure where the Egrets must roost (presumably on the decoy lake), as I never seem to have much success in seeing them roosting in the trees. 

So it was back to the flooded field on Carr Lane for last light. I managed to flush 5 Snipe as soon as I got out of my car, and I was hopeful that there may be a few more waders. Sadly it wasn't to be. There were still good numbers of Coot, Moorhen and Mallard and 5 Eurasian Teal had joined them. As the last embers of light disappeared I heard a Water Rail squealing from somewhere in the reeds, but sadly there were no Crakes or big Purple Chickens! I am still positive that a Crake will turn up here, so it's just a case of putting in the hours.....fingers crossed!