The second birding group outing that I could make in October was the longer trip out over the moors to Old Moor RSPB reserve. The day was very windy and this did for any idea we might see any Bearded Tits. In fact it rather did for seeing any small birds so we were left…
We had a lot of work going on in the house during the early part of October so not much birding was done. I got round to resuming on the birding group visit to Moore Nature Reserve on the 16th. Highlights were Kingfisher (very briefly), a single female Goldeneye and a nice flock of Redwing…
Another Wirral visit was on for the second Bird Group outing of the term, this time to Hoylake on the 25th September. The high tide here was 9.03m at 12:15pm – not so high but someone put it on the schedule.
The birding group had scheduled the 25th September for Hoylake. I’m not sure how this came about because, with a reltively low high tide of 9.3m at 12:15pm, we were never likely to see a spectacle. What we did have going for us was a beautiful sunny day with no heat haze and possibly the…
The first birding group outing of the year was, of course, to Burton Mere Wetlands which we seem to go to every week on our own account. Be that as it may it was still an interesting day and some nice birds as usual.
Although the high tides had passed for the month, there was still a 9.3 metre tide at 2:30pm and there was also the chance to see the Spotted Crake at Burton Mere Wetlands that had eluded us so far this month. As it turned out, we got three year ticks in one day!
We had hoped to get our first Spoonbills of the year with this quick return to Burton but we were out of luck with the birds already gone. On the other hand we were to early for the Osprey (which would also have been a UK first for the year.
Short of good ideas for a birding day out, given a mixed weather forecast, we opted for a return to Burton Mere Wetlands despite having been there recently. As it happened, we had a great day out getting forty-eight species including a couple of year ticks – and unlikely ones at that.
After a long break away from birding, taking in all of July and the first half of August, we at last managed a day out to the Wirral for a high tide. We got a good range of birds including two year ticks and even a life tick!
