Redhead Smew at Newchurch Common : 15th February 2016 I had read about a red-headed Smew wintering on one of the fishing lakes at Newchurch Common and, as it had been there for quite a while, I reckoned we had a fair chance of seeing it. I had only seen a Smew twice before (each…
High Tide on the Wirral : 12th February 2016 A second chance for a high tide on the Wirral arose on Friday the 12th. We thought that we would give Riverbank Road a go first instead of Parkgate, which we would normally go to. The tide wasn’t particularly high at 9.9m at 1.45pm but we…
Starling Murmuration at Neumann’s Flash : 10th February 2016
High Tide on the Wirral : 9th February 2016 The birding group morning on the 9th February landed on a moderately high tide of 9.7m at 11.33 GMT (Liverpool) so it was decided to go to a number of Wirral sites. We started at Hoylake where, even 90 minutes before the official high tide, the…
Chorlton Water Park : 7th February 2016 I wanted to go back to Chorlton Water Park to try to get some decent photos of the Scaup that has been there in recent days. I went round to the far end of the island but it was reluctant to come out from the safety of the…
Neumann’s Flash : 2nd February 2016 The first birding group morning was to Neumann’s Flash. The weather was good to us considering the recent heavy rain and we had a nice enough walk althouhg we did not see much special. The highlight of an otherwise unremarkable morning was watching two Great Spotter Woodpeckers obviously starting…
Tatton Park : 26th January 2016 The birding group morning this week was to Tatton Park which turned out to be a total waste of time and quite exhausting. Due to the threated (but not materialising) high winds the authorities had decided to close Dog Wood which was a shame beacause my only reason for…
WWT Martin Mere 24th January 2016 I wanted to add to my 2016 list by going to Martin Mere where I was guaranteed to get Whooper Swan, Pink-footed Geese and Marsh Harrier. An additional advantage was that we managed to get a, very obscured, view of one of the roosting Tawny Owls and a bonus…
Grand Tour of The Wirral : 22nd January 2016 Although there had been a high tide on the Dee Estuary, it wasn’t particularly high (8.8m) and it had been at 9.48am and we didn’t get to our first stop until around 10.30am. Be that as it may we wanted a day out and I suggested…
Burton Mere Wetlands 19th January 2016 The second birding group outing of the term, and the year, was to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands where I hoped to add a fair number of species to my 2016 year list. I wasn’t to be disappointed and, although we did not see the Long-eared Owl that has been…
