Birding Group Visit To Moore Nature Reserve 20th March 2012
Birding Group Visit To Moore Nature Reserve 20th March 2012
We started off by parking up in the car park where we saw a list of the recent sightings which was promising including, as it did, all the Woodpeckers, Tawny Owl etc. We walked down the path from the car park that takes you into Dog Field, looking all the time to our left to the woods. As soon as we arrived we met a chap who was leaving who said that he had just seen a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on a dead tree stump in the woods there. We all looked but could not see anything except a Jay or two and some Chaffinches and Tits. We turned right at the end and walked down through the field to Birchwood Pool where there were a few Little Grebes and a couple of Great Crested Grebes, a couple of Gadwall and Teal and lots of Great Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed Gulls as well as Canada Geese. We also saw a Buzzard overhead.
We then walked through Birch Wood where we saw a Treecreeper and a couple of Bullfinches and a Wren and came back via the bird feeder station. When we arrived there a chap asked us if we could look at a nest box with our scopes. The box was at the very far end of the pond and was attached to a dead-ish tree trunk. The box was marked with some blue paint on the top. He was convinced that there was a Tawny Owl roosting inside it and sure enough when we got our scopes on it there was a brownish, striped looking patch inside the box. We all looked and for the life of us none of us could say if it was an Owl or not. The pattern looked very convincing but it was inside the box and it didn’t seem to move at all while we were there. It could have been old leaves or fungus – we just could not see it moving so we had to write it off eventually. Also at the feeder station there were Reed Buntings and Chaffinches; we also had good views of a Wren calling and wing quivering just a few feet from us.
As we walked back from the feeder station we ran into some photographers that we had seen earlier and they had seen a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker a bit earlier but they hadn’t seen it for a while since then. We hung around for a short time and were just about to leave when there was a hubbub and there it was, low on an ivy covered tree rooting around. It was rather obscured but some of us got good views. I eventually got a passable view of my first ever Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but was a little unhappy that it hadn’t shown for longer. Anyway we waited for a few minutes longer to see if it would reappear but it seemed like the moment had gone and some of the photographers wandered down the path a bit. We decided that we weren’t going to get another view any time soon so we headed off again but one of our number lagged back a little and drew our attention to a renewed flurry of interest from the assembled photographers. We all trooped back and in open view on a tall dead tree stump there was the bird again – this time hammering away excavating a nest for itself. It was clear that it had already tried a little lower down and a bit to the left already but had abandoned this hole. However this one looked good and we stood and watched for what seemed to be around 20 minutes while it set about its business. So in the end it was the perfect first sighting of the bird for me and a treat even for those for whom it was not a “life tick”. I even had a bit of time to get some rough and ready video of the bird – not very wonderful footage but a reminder of a memorable sighting for me.
As a postscript we were driving back along the M56 when we saw a total of five Buzzards all within a minute or so, all gliding around above the motorway !
Bird Sightings : Moore Nature Reserve
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 20 |
| Gadwall | 2 |
| Teal | 2 |
| Mallard | 10 |
| Tufted Duck | 8 |
| Little Grebe | 2 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 2 |
| Buzzard | 2 |
| Moorhen | 2 |
| Coot | 10 |
| Black-headed Gull | 20 |
| Herring Gull | 8 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 12 |
| Lesser Spotted Woodpecker | 1 |
| Jay | 2 |
| Long-tailed Tit | 2 |
| Treecreeper | 1 |
| Wren | 2 |
| Chaffinch | 6 |
| Bullfinch | 2 |
| Reed Bunting | 6 |
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
How To Get There
Getting there is simple. You get onto the M56 and come off at Junction 11, take the last exit off the roundabout onto the A56 (Chester Road) in the direction of Warrington. After a few miles you turn left onto Hobb Lane, then right onto Runcorn Road, the left onto Moore Lane (there is a sign for the recycling plant and Moore). You go over the canal and there is a car park straight ahead.