It's definitely brightening up !

Welcoming bench

Hi All,

Another brisk cold day out on the banks of the Dee at Parkgate in readiness for the second 10.1 meter high tide. Saying that, the tide was pushed in further today helped by a stronger wind and came right up to the golf coarse footpath wall.

SE Owl

There were more birds to see today and actually saw three pairs of Short Eared Owls flying around ... the first one had been spotted around 11 o'clock going to ground and stayed there for two hours watching me, watching him .... then the rising water pushed him off the tuft of grass that he was hiding next to, then to join the others.

Merlin

A Merlin appeared on a post and stayed there surveying the area before being evicted by a crow ...

Kes

Kestrel

 

A kestrel joined the watchers in a near by bush alongside the footpath and vantage point over the marsh and gave us all a nice under wing display before darting off across the marsh looking for scrambling voles etc.

BH gull and unfortuante

It was quite noticeable that the gulls were picking up more voles than the birds of prey.

I didn't see any Water Rails this time at all and only one Hen Harrier was spotted east of the swimming pool car park .

Soggy Hare doggy paddle

Just as i was leaving I spotted a Hare making its way across the flooded marsh ... kind of a doggie paddle really ... towards the footpath wall but on reaching it, obviously couldn't jump or climb it as it was far too high. So just had to follow the wall along its base until it reached a lower section then to escape the icy cold bath for the more friendlier green fields of the golf course.

I was glad to get back to my car even though I had a spectacular day and to get out of that biting cold wind and more so to get the car heater working at full blast to get my blood flowing and feeling back into my fingers again ...

 

The watcher

                                      Cheers Neil .............

All images Neil prendergast

A tale of two Tides

 

Deceased Water Rail -Neil P

Parkgate – Thursday, 5^th 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 – 7^th 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