Summary February 2013

Summary February 2013

Garden

February continued wet and sometimes very windy and still a bit cold. Many of our garden birds seem to be absent though I did see a Wren on several occasions. By the 13th there was more snow and the cold brought our two Mistle Thrushes back into the garden. In fact I hear them quite often even if I cannot always see where they are. Dunnocks are re-appearing. By the last week of the month the sun had gone and the cold returned with the odd flurry of snow. Lots of the Starlings have disappeared and there are only a few Goldfinch around.

We found a dead Robin on our front path with all the signs of cat mauling but the Robin in our back garden seems to have survived. From time to time we see the odd Long-tailed Tit sometimes even on the bird table. A Wren is about and I even caught it by surprise as I went out to the bird table and got very close to it before it saw me and dashed off. By the last few days of the month it was very cold.

Birding Group Days Out

The first birding group visit of the month was on the 5th February to Marshside where we had fantastic views of a Merlin and also close – if short – views of a Water Rail. We also dropped in at Mere Sands Woods but the weather was so poor we didn’t stay too long. Our next day was on 12th February and we headed off to catch the incoming high tide at Point of Ayr where we had another Merlin and I also saw a rigtail Hen Harrier. We also had good views of typical marsh birds, Linnets, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. On the 19th we were supposed to be going to Sandbach Flashes but there has been so much rain that this site has often been awash and not very good for birding. Instead we went to Pennington Flash which was a fine sunny and windless day – a rarity at the normally blustery Flash. Apart from good views of a perched Kingfisher there wasn’t anything to get particularly excited about. Be that as it may, it was a lovely day for it. On the 25th we went to Brockholes Nature Reserve which was a first for both us and the birding group. The highlights were actually on the outskirts of the reserve which is edged on one side by the River Ribble, where we had good views of a Kingfisher, Goldeneye and Goosander. The site itself is still a bit immature but it looks sure to grow into a great reserve.

Walks and Days Out

On the 1st February we went to Chorlton Ees and the Water Park and on the Ees we got really good views of a small flock of Lesser Redpolls. The following day we went to Wirral Country Park at Thurstaston which we had been meaning to visit for a while. The warden-led trip gave us great views of various Raptors including Peregrine Falcon, Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk as well as good views of a vast number of Oystercatchers and good numbers of other birds including Large numbers of Curlew. On 17th February we had a lovely sunny few hours walking around Etherow Country Park where we got the expected year ticks of Egyptian Goose and Mandarin Duck but mainly just had a nice walk on a lovely sunny day with just a minimum of exposure to mud !