BIg Garden Birdwatch result 2008

Well 'You could knock me over with a feather'

The Goldfinch top of the tree in Merseyside.

I'm lucky to see a couple in my garden throughout the year! ...O.K. own up whose being greedy keeping all the Goldies to themselves.

Full results for Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire on our website:

http://www.rspbliverpool.org.uk/bigwatchresult.htm

Laura

Stone the Crows ...What have they done to Sefton Park

It’s not a pretty sight, and it’s really quite sad to see the Coot’s making their nesting rafts in the mud, but were told by the council that the Sefton Park restoration will be wonderful. Something hard to imagine when you see just how many mature trees have succumbed to the chainsaw - selective thinning apparently. Yes I can understand a good de-silt (and the removal of hundreds bottles, cans, house bricks and other unidentifiable objects) will certainly benefit the wildlife in the long term: fish, shellfish and birds and there is some water remaining in the the middle of the lake, but it just seems they’ve started it a bit late, I guess the ducks will have to find somewhere else to breed this year. (Maybe it’s just as well as I noticed the part of the fencing was down around the lake and of course unleashed doggies were having a great time chasing the Mallards that were left on the mud)

So why are they doing it : The idea is that the park should to be returned to its Victorian appearance (great if we can restore the structures i.e. the bandstand, aviary café etc and keep the vandals off) but surely their intention with time was that the park would grow and mature into the vistas we see today, or should I say yesterday.... still the council state they are replanting new trees, providing alternative temporary nesting sites, refilling each lake as it completed and consulting with ecologists through out the year …I’m sure we’ll find out if they don’t, as this is certainly generating great debate on Merseyside.

By the way don't really stone the crows, it's much more fun feeding them peanuts instead!

Laura

A taste of the Med in north Wales

Sewatching off Llanfairfechan prom saw the group catching up with the usual coastal suspects - a single Great Northern Diver was the highlight for those who managed to pick it up on the choppy sea, with a supporting cast of at least 30 Red-throated Divers and 3 Razorbills - but it was the final bird of the day that added the most colour to the trip. A Hoopoe, an early spring overshoot from Spain, had somehow managed to end up on a windswept hillside southwest of Llanrwst. It showed well for the group in a hail shower, not the sort of weather the bird would be used to!

Photo © Stephen Menzie

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside....

Sunday 9 th March is Liverpool RSPB’S annual day out at the seaside. Lovely Llanfairfechan near to RSPB Conwy in North Wales.

The promenade at Llanfairfechan is fast getting the reputation of the place to be to see Divers, Grebes and Scoters on the North Wales coast. In 2006 the group's trip produced excellent views of great northern diver, red throated diver,and a single male black scoter. Dependant on time and the weather our itinerary usually involves a spell seawatching, looking for all manner of Seabirds, Waders and Waterfowl, in a howling gale who knows!
Then an incursion to the sewage works ! Lovely, an excellent spot for Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail and if were really lucky the spectacular Firecrest. The Llandulas Breakwater, Conwy... Llanddulas is known for thousands of gulls that congregate at the river mouth following a gorging session at the local dump. A possible look-see at the excellent Madryn reserve on the shore of Traeth Lafan, home of Cormorants, Lapwing, Snipe, Grebes and Greenshanks . And for the finale, a rush for steaming Coffee and retail therapy at RSPB Conwy, oh and a little saunter around the reserve of course, 200 species of Waders and wildfowl have been recorded at this exciting reserve…. you may just might catch sight of that elusive Water Rail..
Trip details click:

http://www.rspbliverpool.org.uk/group%20meetings2008.htm

By the way Llanfairfechan means "The Little (or Lesser) Church of St. Mary". Well you just might need that snippet in the pub quiz.

The biofuels campaign

Can wildlife survive the biofuels surge?

The current rush to biofuels is causing nothing short of disaster for wildlife habitat across the world.
In some areas, extensively farmed lands with wildlife-friendly features are being converted to more intensive farming for biofuel crops. In other areas, valuable natural ecosystems such as forests, peatlands and grasslands are being cleared, drained and ploughed up to grow biofuels.
Wonderful places for wildlife are being made into wastelands for wildlife.

Don't put wildlife in your tank

Read about it here:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/biofuels/

Laura

Mere Sands Wood Outing

Mere Sands has always been a favourite of mine for a quiet walk around and see a good number of birds in a short amount of time. Last Sunday, 24th Feb. I lead the group walk around this wonderful Lancashire Wildlife trust site. We all watched the goings on at the various feeding stations. Good numbers of reed buntings, chaffinch, blackbirds there is 3 in this picture, tree sparrows, nuthatch and lots more, kept us all amused for awhile. We were informed that the water rail shows quite well at the Lancaster hide but we had missed it and there was no food out.

Some of the action at the feeding the stations was being photographed by Laura. A pair of siskins joined the rest of the birds and that helped highlight some of the differences of the finch family.

A stroll around the mere and the hides between the rain shows helped to really increase our list for the day including treecreeper and lots of ducks such as gadwall, teal, wigeon and a female pochard.

We had lunch back at the Lancaster hide and the feeding table had been filled, and so out popped the water rail. When you look at it's toes they look like worms are escaping over the wood!!

The only downside to the day or not was seeing a dead tawny owl in the visitor centre that had been found on the reserve.

It was a good day out for all 25 of us.

Keep birding.

Chris

Monday night talk

Monday 18th February, Stephen Murphy, who works for Natural England, will giving the group talk on his work with Hen Harriers in the North West. Doors open at 7p.m. and Stephen's talk starts at 7.30p.m. Laura will be there with a vast amount of bird food and feeders.
See you there.