Birding Group Visit to Leosowe Lighthouse and Parkgate 30 Apr 2025
On the penultimate day of April we had intended to go to Parkgate for a high-ish tide of 9.9m at 1:10pm but with some time to spare beforehand we suggested that we go to Leowowe Lighthouse beforehand as there had been some Whinchat and Ring Ousel seen there in recent days. Since noone of the rest of the group had ever been there it was something new for them and we went to parts of the site that we hadn’t been to ourselves so we got a better idea of the site ourselves.
We were a bit early so I had a look at the sea but there wasn’t much there apart from Gulls, a couple of great Crested Grebes, a couple of Oystercatcher and a Curlew. I had hoped to perhaps see some Gannets offshore but it was probably too nice a day. In fact the weather was splendidly sunny and warm and gave us an entirely different experience of Leosowe than we had had before!
I has a mooch around the paddocks by the lighthouse and there were lots of singing birds; Blackcaps, Robins, Blackbirds, Chiffchaff and even a year-tick Whitethroat. I ran into quite a few regular birders there and picked their brains about what had been seen and where. We were told to look in the paddocks on the other side of the car park for Whinchat, so we headed off there. I hadn’t been to that part of the site before, so it was very interesting to me and entirely new to the rest of the group.
We walked a fair way along the path going past a small reed bed where a Reed Warbler was singing and onto a kissing gate. We went through that and walked the path down the side of the horse paddocks. We eventually we got to the paddock where the Whinchats were seen earlier but there was no sign of them now. We did get a year-tick Wheatear though.
Although we didn’t get the birds we hoped ofr, it was still a fine morning for birding and we did get two year-ticks. Eventually we headed off for Parkgate but the tide was so low and the weather so good that we didn’t get much of a high tide. We stayed there for a bit then headed off to Denhall Quay for lunch at the Harp Inn. Half a dozen of the group went there so we all sat at the one big bench and had a lovely hour in the sun having a drink and snacks. A great day out in the middle of what has been a seally sunny and warm spell – unusual for April!
Bird Sightings : Leosowe Lighthouse 29 April 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Blackcap | 2 |
| Blue Tit | 2 |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Carrion Crow | 4 |
| Cetti's Warbler | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 2 |
| Curlew | 1 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Goldfinch | 4 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 10 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 2 |
| Great Tit | 2 |
| Greenfinch | 4 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Herring Gull | 20 |
| House Sparrow | 6 |
| Kestrel | 1 |
| Moorhen | 1 |
| Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon | 6 |
| Song Thrush | 1 |
| Swallow | 4 |
| Wheatear | 1 |
| Whitethroat | 1 |
| Woodpigeon | 3 |
Bird Sightings : Parkgate 29 April 2025
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Avocet | 2 |
| Great White Egret | 1 |
| Little Egret | 2 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Marsh Harrier | 1 |
| Meadow Pipit | 2 |
| Pheasant | 1 |
| Shelduck | 10 |
| Starling | 8 |
| Stonechat | 1 |