Birding Group Visit to Parkgate and Hoylake 5th November 2013

Birding Group Visit to Parkgate and Hoylake 5th November 2013

We have been to Parkgate a few times now, usually for the high tides, and this was our reason again today. Often we go for the Spring high tides but this was rather different. It was  a 9.8 metre tide, which we have had before but the wind had added to the effect to give us one of the most splendid wildlife displayswe have had there. The only disappointment was the lack of raptors but at least a couple of the group did see a single Short-Eared Owl. That apart, however, the whole event was a a spectacular affair. The tide came in almost up to the stand at the RSPB Parkgate car park. The high winds had undoubtedly whipped it up quite a bit but the downside was that it was hard to hear other people so everyone was working on their own really. That apart, the sight was amazing as flocks of Redshank and Curlew flew backwards and forwards as if not knowing quite what to do and apparently excited by the high winds and rolling and tumbling with them. If we were disappointed with the lack of raptors there was plenty of feeding activity and no matter where you looked there were Great Black-backed and Black-headed gulls lifting water voles out of the incoming tide at their leisure. Even the Little Egrets were in on the action although from one we watched for a long time seemed to struggle to swallow such big prey. We had heard of these occasional feasts but this was the first time we had actually seen the feeding frenzy in action – and frenzy is the right word for it.

There were plenty of other birds also taking advantage including Carrion Crows and Rooks and one of the most unexpected sights was the mass evacuation of Skylarks from the, usually dry, marsh. They too seemed excited by the winds and fluttered about ascending high up to into the sky as if displaying. There were small flocks of Starlings too-ing and fro-ing as well and Shelduck, Mallards and Teal all tried to roost on whatever small strips of land still remained obove water. Numbers of Cormorants also looked for feeding opportunities although we could not see if that ran to water voles.

The whole event was one of the most fantastic bird displays and the overall atmosphere was of wild winds and a constant stream of various bides flying in all directions, all seemingly as excited as the observers. The whole car park was full of birders despite it being a weekday and after a an hour or so the whole promenade was bussy to. All in all a fantastic experience and one that, frankly, restored out faith in Parkgate. Although the tide did not come in all the way to the sea walls, it was much further than we had ever seen before and encouraged us to go back there again at the next high tide.

We eventually decided to leave and head off to Hoylake but it seems obvious that the tide comes in there before Parkgate because we could see that the tide was already going out and had left fresh seaweed stranded right by the prom. Even then there were large numbers of Knot and Dunlin and smaller numbers of Oystercatchers. I think that the next time we got to Parkgate we should go to Hoylake first and then follow the tide down to Parkgate.

Bird Sightings : Parkgate

Bird Sightings : Hoylake