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| Fox lox stranded on Parkgate Marsh |
If the recent weather had anything to do with it, our Wirral
wander was about to be a gale lashed wash out, never believe the weather
forecast, fortunately for our group the day dawned cold, bright and gustier rather
than gale force.
Our first stop on our wander was the Leasowe lighthouse area. A
terrific area offering mixed habitats, shoreline, marshy reed beds and fields.
From our vantage point of the sea wall we observed the birds dashing on the
tideline, small groups of curlew, shelduck and oystercatchers amongst the
bigger flocks, the gulls were squabbling and pecking at some puzzling
unfortunate on the shore. The welcome voices of Skylarks sang over head as we walked
along the sea wall, we were accompanied by a solitary turnstone busy foraging
for things only he could see.
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| Mixed waders on the Leasowe groyne |
Eventually we
reached a point along the wall were a rocky groyne had been constructed out
from the wall towards the sea. This proved to be great place to stop as this
was were our waders escaping the incoming tide took refuge; dunlin, redshank oystercatchers,
lapwing, turnstones and a solitary sanderling sat huddled together.
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| Lapwings |
Fidgeting,
jostling then taking flight, a wonderful aerial ballet, a shimmering silvery cloud
of dunlin wheeling and whirling in unison, a spectacle to put the Snettisham
knot to shame.
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| Wheeling waders |
Time was tight today as we had planned to get to Parkgate marsh for
the high tide after midday, so we dragged ourselves away from our waders to
investigate the paddocks and reed bed area behind the seawall. No rarities and strangely
no visiting winter thrushes today, sparrows, finches, meadow pipits, song
thrushes and tits were the order of the day; even the wagtails were the more
usual black and white.
The morning pressed on, we just had time to make a dash
to New Brighton’s marine lake where we were assured to see Purple sandpipers.
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| New Brighton Sea wall |
Boy was it busy when we arrived, the windy weather
combined with the expected high tide, made the sea heave and swell, crashing
against and above the sea wall, here the Sunday walkers had been joined by
ranks of excited onlookers, there to witness the crashing sea.
Arriving at the lake we were not disappointed, we found our
sandpipers 16 in total clustered alongside yet more redshank, turnstones and
dunlin. 4 cormorants stood on the pontoon corners, as if on guard over the
restless flock, one of these guards displayed an attractive white, crested head
plumage, which identified it as continental fellow, very striking. An unexpected bonus was a solitary red
breasted merganser preening and fishing on the lake, an eye catching stunning
individual.
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| Red breasted Merganser R Blythe |
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| Continental cormorant |
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| Mixed waders on the pontoon |
Leaving the lake we rushed to Parkgate, anticipation was high as the
previous days high tide had brought in all manner of raptors eager to feast, short
eared owls, Kestrel, peregrine falcon and hen Harriers.
Good grief from one football
crowd to another, the promenade and sea wall was packed with spectators. We made our way
along the path away from the boathouse and promenade. The tide was already on its
way in, flushing birds up into the air above the marsh. The Marsh was alive
with a multitude of skylarks, pipits and linnets.
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| The wirral wanderers at parkgate |
One forlorn, dejected fox sat on a marshy clump stuck between the tidal
water and the massed ranks of humans on the seawall, a sad sight an unhappy
soul unable to find the courage to make a break for it, to the safety of the fields
behind, and here he stayed for how long we don’t know, still crouched on his
soggy island as we left.
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| Short eared owl R Blythe |
Shortly after arriving we saw our first ‘shortie’ quartering along
the shoreline, deep languid beats, a most splendid owl. Our second was a kestrel
hovering over the marsh, searching for an unfortunate mammal trying to escape
the waters. Exploring the waters lapping against the sea wall we were surprised
not to see more stranded creatures, a sign perhaps that the previous day’s high
tide may have flushed most out already, a thought certainly indicted by a
fellow members account of watching a kestrel
take 6 mice or voles from her shop windowsill vantage point the previous day!
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| Kestrel and mouse. N Prendergast |
A second and third sighting of short eared
owls was too follow, one being an owl
sitting on the marsh, mobbed by skylarks but content to sit and digest his dinner.
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| Twite |
We were due
to leave when a small bird fluttered down along the path in front of
us, fevered scrutiny through the binoculars confirmed this to be a twite, a welcome sighting for many.
We left the RSPB stand and the retreating spectators and headed
for our last destination of the day, a remarkably busy RSPB Burton Mere wetlands,
other birders had obviously had the same idea. The scrapes seemed less busy than
our December visit; the usual geese and ducks were there but hidden amongst them
was a charming bar headed goose and a single godwit. A black swan was feeding
with the whoopers on the reserve perimeter fields, noticeably smaller than his
fellow swans. No sign of the water rail, little stint or golden plover, a
single little egret briefly dropped into the waters by marsh covert hide.
A gt spotted woodpecker high in a tree was the last bird to be
seen as we wearily left for home. It had been a long day, a busy day, but a
great day and to cap it all on the way home five travellers were treated to a wake
of seven buzzards hopping round a field edge, on the hunt for a wormy dinner no
doubt!
Laura
