Pectoral Sandpiper at Burton Mere Wetlands 31st August 2017
On the last day of the month we decided to go up to the Wirral to look at some sites that we had not previously been to but first we dropped off at Burton Mere Wetlands to see if we could find the Pectoral Sandpiper that we had heard was showing fromthe reception hide. Unfortunately nobody had seen it yet that day but we did get Cattle Egret and Black Swan. There were also some Dunlin and Snipe, which we had not seen at Burton recently.
The annual gathering of the Canada Geese seemed to be underway. It seems that they collect this way annually before leaving en masse at some time they decide is right. It does mean, howver, that it is very hard to see anything else as they just seem to overwhelm the entire site.
We stayed for a bit then decided to go to Banks Road and refresh our memory of the walk along the shoreline and up on to the National Trust Heswall Fields and then return to the Sheldrake Restaurant car park via the Wirral Way. The tide was about as far out as it could be but we were just really making sure we remembered the route. We have often thought that the bird group might be interested in doing this in Spring so this was a bit of a recce. As it happens, though, it always seems to be really muddy and wellies are the order of the day rather than boots. Still we gave it a go. I didn’t take my scope, which was a real shame because we soon caught sight of what might have been a Merlin perched on the mast of a boat but we couldn’t get a clear enough view. It wasn’t possible to get any nearer as it really is very wet indeed there and could get a bit difficult. Anyway, we squelched our way along the coast and eventually found the path up to the NT fields. We crossed over here and walked back along the Wirral way not really seeing anything much except a Buzzard on a post.
In the end we concluded that it probably isn’t a good route for the birding group and a better one would be on a rising tide from Thurstaston Country Park and then up onto the fields and walk back along the Wirral Way tot he car park at Thurstaston. The route we took was 1.7 miles and the route from Thurstaston would be around 2.5 miles. We should try this alternative route ourselves one day.
After this we attempted to find the “Caldy Wildfowl Collection” off Column Road that I frequently read about on the Deeside Birding web site but I couldn’t find where is meant. Perhaps another time we could try by walking along the edge of Stapledon Wood !
We drove on to West Kirby but there wasn’t anything on the Marine Lake so we drove up to Leosowe Lighthouse which was a site we had never been to before and is quite noted for good birds in the migration season. The tide was still well out but there were good numbers of Redshank there and Shelduck and Gulls. There were also plenty of Little Egrets and Starlings, Goldfinches and Linnets in the fields; this is going to be a good place to go to on a highish tide.
We then dropped on for a cup of tea and a bacon butty at the Cafe Creme in New Brighton but there weren’t any birds at all on the raft.
After that we drove back down again to Burton and managed to get the Pectoral Sandpiper this time and reasonable views of it too – if a bit distant. That was a good year tick for us so we were glad that we tried once more instead of just driving home.