Burton Mere Wetlands & Leasowe Lighthouse 9 May 2024
Our idea for this lovely sunny and wind-free day was to stop off at Burton Mere Wetlands briefly before going on to Hoylake for the high tide which was due to be 9.7 metres at 13:39hrs. We felt that, with no wind, we didn’t have to get there too early to catch the tide. How wrong we were. Anyway our visit to Burton was worth doing because it was such a nice day. We even got “year tick” Swallows in the fields just before Burton and lots of House Martins for good measure.
We had hoped to see either the drake Garganey or the female Scaup who were both reported from the bridge hide. We headed out there straight away but they were not to be seen. I imagine that they were viewable from the Centenary hide (or whatever Inner Marsh Farm is called these days) but we didn’t have the time to go all the way down there. We did manage “year tick” Sedge Warbler and got very nice views of half a dozen Ruff, some of them nearly all the way into breeding plumage.
Other than that it was the usual suspects but on a lovely day with the Black Tailed Godwits and Avocets looking wonderful in the sunlight; there was a slight cloud cover very high up in the air but this just enough to take the glare off the sun. Lots of Cetti’s Warblers calling and Reed and Sedge Warblers too. A nice start to the day but not the main event.
I guess we got to Hoylake by about 12:45pm and we hoped that with no wind the tide would just about be coming in. Unfortunately it was all the way in all along what used to be the beach but is now rapidly becoming a sand dune/marsh kind of area and all the birds you might imagine had gone already.
Undeterred, we went on to Leosowe Lighthouse which had been part of the plan all along as it is good at this time of year. We stopped to look in the paddocks first and eventually found a Whinchat – a bird I love to see and which has been hard for us over the years. I looked up my records and the last time I saw one was at WWT Slimbridge back in September of 2029. Before that, I had two sightings at NWT Holmes Dune back in 2017 and then at South Stack, Anglesey on 29 May 2012! So a bit more that a “year tick” – more a “5-year tick”
As we approached the Lighthouse I saw a Kestrel fly to the top of the lighthouse where it could survey the whole area with ease. On the water there were Great Black-backed Gulls (also a “year tick” oddly) and among the scattered gulls out on the water near the windfarms were three Gannets – definitely “year ticks” only really visible because it was such a beautiful day and they stood out from the crowd with their much bigger size, golden heads and long, black-tipped wings. This was an especially surprising sighting and the first time I think I have seen them on the estuary.
We finished off the afternoon with lunch in the beer garden of the Seven Stars at Thornton Hough where there was a cheerful welcome and a pint of Otter which went down so well, there had to be a second one. I tried, unsuccessfully, to stay awake as Anne drove us back. A lovely day out with five good “year ticks” and lots of sunshine.
Bird Sightings : Burton Mere Wetlands 9 May 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Avocet | 60 |
| Black-headed Gull | 40 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 50 |
| Blue Tit | 4 |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Canada Goose | 30 |
| Cetti's Warbler | 4 |
| Chiffchaff | 1 |
| Coot | 3 |
| Great Tit | 4 |
| Greylag Goose | 20 |
| House Martin | 8 |
| Jackdaw | 8 |
| Lapwing | 15 |
| Little Egret | 2 |
| Moorhen | 1 |
| Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Pheasant | 1 |
| Pintail | 1 |
| Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Rook | 10 |
| Ruff | 6 |
| Sedge Warbler | 1 |
| Shelduck | 4 |
| Shoveler | 6 |
| Stonechat | 1 |
| Swallow | 4 |
| Tufted Duck | 8 |
Bird Sightings : Leosowe Lighthouse 9 May 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Black-headed Gull | 100 |
| Blackbird | 4 |
| Canada Goose | 20 |
| Gannet | 3 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 6 |
| Kestrel | 1 |
| Oystercatcher | 60 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon | 10 |
| Starling | 20 |
| Whinchat | 1 |
| Woodpigeon | 8 |
| Wren | 2 |