January this year was quite different to last January when most reserves were effectively closed, and the country was in full lockdown as a result of the Covid pandemic. Last year it took us until May to see 76 species; this year it took a month! Total UK Species in December 2022: 76New “Year Ticks”…
A fairly routine visit to Wigan Flashes with the usual suspects, the target bird often being Willow Tit which we found by going over the field to the path that leads t the burn where there is a little feeding table. Usually we would go through the gate to the main feeding station but that…
A cold sunny day took us up to the Wirral on a cold but dry day. We got some good birds and, of course it being January, some good “year ticks” right at the start of the birding year that we hope will be better than the last two Covid dominated years.
The first birding group day of the term was to Pennington Flash. Unusually it was quite still and, although cold, was not as Siberian as it often is. The January year ticks continued with all the ducks that are usually at Pennington. We had some nice passerines in the woods and from the Bunting hide…
A High Tide took us up to the Wirral for the first birding outing of the year. Despite the tide not being particularly impressive, it stopped just as it turned pas the lifeboat station, we still got a good relatively small numbers of birds. Further stops at New Brighton Marine Lake and Denhall Quay added…
Another year of Covid played havoc with our birding routines and with the holidays that usually include a bit of birding. As a result, everything was topsy turvy with the beginning of the year seeing outright travel bans and the closure of bird hides, restaurants, cafes and all the things that make birding easy. Instead…
UK Species Year List to December 2021: 138Total UK Species in December 2021: xxNew “Year Ticks” in December 2021: 1New “Life Ticks” in December2 021: 0
A mixture of bad weather and Covid worries limited our birding in early December so we only got out for one birding group outing and that was to Marbury Park on 14th December. Unfortunately there was a heavy mist all the way there so visibility on the water was poor and limited to just the…
UK Species Year List to November 2021: 137Total UK Species in November 2021: 64New “Year Ticks” in November 2021: 7New “Life Ticks” in November 2021: 0
When we left Burton Mere Wetlands, where we had been birding with the birding group, we decided that because it was a mild day and surprisingly the rain had held off so far, we would drop down top the Harp Inn for a drink and a toastie and look for Short-eared Owls.
