Birding Group Visit to Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate : 4th March 2014
Birding Group Visit to Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate : 4th March 2014
The first birding group trip of the month was to Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate. This was perhaps a little bit of bad timing because I had already been there two days before but that was just the way it panned out. We started off at Burton Mere whilst we were awaiting the high tide of that day – due to be 9.9 m. In truth there wasn’t anything special there and we didn’t see the Water Rail I had seen a couple of days before. Undaunted we decided to get up to Parkgate which we hoped would not be too busy it being a lower tide that over the weekend when it had been incredibly busy.
We got there and parked easily and we settled down to wait for the tide to come in which it barely did. As often is the case, it still seemed to be coming in a bit an hour after the high tide time but , even then, it was pretty lame. Of course we got lots of Shelduck, Redshanks and Teal and a few Curlew but the action was all too far away and the atmospheric conditions were not really much good, there being a heat haze over the water and a bit of a mist in the air.
The redeeming feature of the day was fantastic views of a Marsh Harrier quartering the marsh right in front of us for a good twenty minutes or so. Later on another bird appeared and we had views of both of them together. There wee also a fantastic number of Little Egrets on the marsh and I counted at least eighteen at the one time and there were probably quite a few more. But that was it for the day and it just reminds you that no two tides are ever the same – you need some luck or at least a tide in excess of ten metres.
ps the chaps that had been trying to get their boat off the marsh where it had become stranded eventually managed to get it off after many attempts. In fact it had been a regular part of our visits there to see how they would do. It was actually quite handy being stuck there because its mast had become a convenient perch for a local Merlin and it could often be seen there surveying the marsh !
Bird Sightings : Burton Mere Wetlands
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 30 |
| Common Shelduck | 12 |
| Eurasian Wigeon | 30 |
| Northern Shoveler | 6 |
| Tufted Duck | 8 |
| Common Coot | 8 |
| Pied Avocet | 1 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 40 |
| Black-headed Gull | 40 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 |
| Carrion Crow | 6 |
Bird Sightings : Parkgate
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Common Shelduck | 20 |
| Common Teal | 30 |
| Great Cormorant | 12 |
| Grey Heron | 4 |
| Little Egret | 18 |
| Eurasian Marsh Harrier | 2 |
| Common Redshank | 80 |
| Eurasian Curlew | 6 |
| Black-headed Gull | 40 |
| Herring Gull | 40 |
| Eurasian Skylark | 6 |