Summary February 2026
New “Year Ticks” in February 2026: 67
New “Life Ticks” in February 2026: 1
Total Species for Year so far: 67
The first birding group morning out in February was a visit to Hoylake, New Brighton and Parkgate on 3rd February 2026 for a high tide of 9.7 metres at 12:06. The conditions were such that as soon as we got to Meols, we could tell from the masses of Knot and other waders that the tide was going to come in early. By the time we got to Hoylake, the tide was well in and the show had already started.
The best features of quite a splendid display – if not quite what it used to be numbers-wise – ware a small flock of Light-bellied Brent Geese, good numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey Plovers, quite a few Ringed Plovers and around a hundred Sanderling. There were good mini-murmurations of mixed waders – but mainly Knot and Dunlin. Out on the water there were some Common Scoter, so, all in all, a really good morning. After, we went on to New Brighton where we got a solitary Purple Sandpiper on the marine lake pontoon. Parkgate got us Kestrel and Marsh Harrier so a fine end to a good morning of birding.
We missed the birding group visit to Wigan Flashes on 10th February as a result of some domestic survey work we were having done and I am not sure if anyone went at all – probably due to rain, of which there has been quite a lot of recently.
There wasn’t much of a turnout by the birding group for our visit to Parkgate, Riverbank Road and Neston Old Quay on the 17th February 2026. Parkgate was quite quiet; nine metres isn’t very high so we weren’t expecting too much and rather wondered why it had been referred to as high tide in the schedule. Anyway, it was a nice day and we had a very good view of a male Merlin perched on a post. When it took off, we were still able to follow it a long way in our bins before it fell down on some unfortunate bird – probably a Meadow Pipit though there diet also sometimes includes small rodents, so a vole isn’t out of the question.
There were dramatic displays of skeins of Lapwings – possible several hundreds – wheeling about in the sky. Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Great and Little Egrets and good numbers of Pink Footed Geese added to the mix and there were good displays of Starlings. There were plenty of Stonechats too. We moved on to Riverbank Road which was not very inundated so a little unimpressive. We finished off at the Harp Inn where we sat outside watching large flocks of Lapwings and skeins of Pink Footed Geese. A small flock of Linnets was a nice addition.
The following week the birding group outing was to RSPB Marshside on 24 Feb 2026, though we also went on afterwards to WWT Martin Mere. Unusually for Marshside, it was a lovely, mainly wind-free, sunny day. There wasn’t a lot unusual at Marshside, though we did get good numbers of very hyperactive Ruff. The best of our birding was when the two of us moved on to WWT Martin Mere where we eventually got a life-tick Ring-necked Duck and the year-tick Glossy Ibis and Barnacle Geese. Also of interest was a group of about thirty Cattle Egret in with the cows at the Ron Barker hide area. We got a lot of other, more common, birds as well so we had a great time at Martin Mere on a lovely sunny day.
In our garden we are starting to see signs of life with a pair of Robins and a singing Dunnock. Coal Tits have joined the others at the feeders and we have had a maximum of about a dozen House Sparrows feeding off the meal worms. The Ring-necked Parakeets seem to have dropped off a bit – perhaps because we were away for a lot of January – so we only had two. The Goldfinches are regular though in much smaller numbers than of old.
Life and Year Ticks to Feb 2026
Becasue we didn’t realy do any birding in the UK in January, I have added everything to the February records becasue that was where anything of significance happened.
Life Ticks in February 2026
| Species | Location |
|---|---|
| Ring-necked Duck | WWT Martin Mere 24 Feb 2026 |
Year Ticks in February 2026
| Species | Location |
|---|---|
| 1 | Barnacle Goose |
| 2 | Bar-tailed Godwit |
| 3 | Blackbird |
| 4 | Black-headed Gull |
| 5 | Black-tailed Godwit |
| 6 | Blue Tit |
| 7 | Brent Goose |
| 8 | Buzzard |
| 9 | Canada Goose |
| 10 | Carrion Crow |
| 11 | Coal Tit |
| 12 | Collared Dove |
| 13 | Common Scoter |
| 14 | Coot |
| 15 | Cormorant |
| 16 | Curlew |
| 17 | Dunlin |
| 18 | Dunnock |
| 19 | Glossy Ibis |
| 20 | Goldfinch |
| 21 | Great Black-backed Gull |
| 22 | Great Tit |
| 23 | Great White Egret |
| 24 | Grey Heron |
| 25 | Grey Plover |
| 26 | Greylag Goose |
| 27 | Herring Gull |
| 28 | House Sparrow |
| 29 | Jackdaw |
| 30 | Kestrel |
| 31 | Knot |
| 32 | Lapwing |
| 33 | Lesser Black-backed Gull |
| 34 | Linnet |
| 35 | Little Egret |
| 36 | Little Grebe |
| 37 | Magpie |
| 38 | Mallard |
| 39 | Marsh Harrier |
| 40 | Merlin |
| 41 | Moorhen |
| 42 | Mute Swan |
| 43 | Oystercatcher |
| 44 | Pink-footed Goose |
| 45 | Pintail |
| 46 | Pochard |
| 47 | Purple Sandpiper |
| 48 | Redshank |
| 49 | Ringed Plover |
| 50 | Ring-necked Duck |
| 51 | Ring-necked Parakeet |
| 52 | Robin |
| 53 | Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon |
| 54 | Rook |
| 55 | Ruff |
| 56 | Sanderling |
| 57 | Shelduck |
| 58 | Shoveler |
| 59 | Starling |
| 60 | Stonechat |
| 61 | Teal |
| 62 | Tufted Duck |
| 63 | Turnstone |
| 64 | Whooper Swan |
| 65 | Wigeon |
| 66 | Woodpigeon |
| 67 | Wren |