 |
| Deceased Water Rail -Neil P |
Parkgate – Thursday, 5th
November, 2013
Peaty Jen, Linda Rees and I
rather foolhardily decided to go to Parkgate to watch the high tide. On arrival we could barely stand up and
decided to watch as much as possible from the confines of a very small but dry
and warm car!! We watched as thousands
of birds took off from the encroaching water, it was too murky to see what they
were, we knew we saw geese, think they were Canada and Pink Foot. Lots of Cormorants battling but getting
nowhere. Ducks, Little Egrets, Waders
all taking to the skies at once.
Wonderful to see, not good for them.
The small birds like Redwing, Linnet and Skylark were really struggling.
We got out of the car, and
immediately saw two Short Eared Owls. We
thought that perhaps the tide would not get to the wall. Wrong! It overtook the wall causing untold
devastation to the small mammals which were neither quick nor strong enough to
get out of its way! We saw lots of dead
voles, shrews and other small things.
 |
| Parkgate Rails- Rhodie B |
As
the tide continued to railroad in the Water Rail were flushed, we saw them being
buffeted against the wall, and I have since heard that at least two have been
found dead. Such a sad sight. A man decided to take a picture of a fox
which was trying to get up the harbour wall, it was so distressed, it was last
seen trying to swim out to sea away from him.
Another person lifted a little vole out of the water, took a picture,
then put the vole back!! Wish I had seen
him, he would have joined the vole. Cars
were still driving along the coast road, and ran over the little creatures that
had managed to escape the water until a very sensible motorist blocked the road
and helped save numerous other mammals.
A wonderful spectacle in the sky, but a very different story on the
ground.
Hoylake – 7th
December, 2013
Another day, another high tide
and a very different outcome. Hoylake on
Saturday was very benign. No rushing
waters, just gentle rolling wavelets, but the birds were very skittish,
possibly from the two days they had endured earlier! I saw lots of Knot, Oystercatchers, Dunlin,
Redshank, Curlew, Grey Plover and, the usual assortment of Gulls.
As most people were looking out
to sea a Sparrowhawk flew over our heads, and a good view was had by some of us,
including me!
 |
| Peregrine on shore - Rhodie B |
Then the spectacle of the day was
seeing a Peregrine Falcon sitting on a huge tree, near the edge of the
water. I watched it preen, it then took
off and gave chase up the beach. It
didn’t catch anything so came back and hunkered down on a grassy mound in the
sands. The next thing it was off, flying
low, at a tremendous rate across the beach.
It saw the Knot, the Knot saw it and started their wonderful
synchronised flight. The Peregrine
singled one out and the chase was on.
They swooped, they rose higher and higher. I think it was the luckiest Knot alive that
day, it escaped. I then walked back to
the station, and home to a hot cuppa!
Rhodie
