Gatewarth
8.00pm ish No Grasshopper warblers reeling, several Reed Warblers singing.

V close views of a Short Eared Owl hunting over the old tip area (right by entrance to reserve/small wooden bridge.) Kept low, perched up on the fence too. Right over my head, giving great chance to watch it. Picked it up again about an hour later on far bank of River perched up on post.

Pair Grey Partridge.

Gatewarth 21/04/13 8.30pm
1st Grasshopper Warbler heard reeling this year. From reedbeds / thick cover in field sloping down to the Ferry pub.

Gatewarth
4.30
1st swallow of the year, single over old tip near canal

Masses of gulls on River, a juv Glaucous Gull was present.

Three jack snipe amongst common snipe on the south end of Norton Marsh yesterday.

Two Black-tailed Godwit yesterday on the Mersey west of Norton Marsh, also 5 Redshank and 78 Shelduck.

Gatewarth

A male Stonechat was present this afternoon and two Oystercatchers were on the river mud opposite the Pumping Station.



-- Edited by Brian Baird on Thursday 7th of March 2013 08:08:16 PM

Fiddlers Ferry
9 Redshank and 2 Oystercatchers on the River in front of FF pub.

Spent an hour or so at HWH this morning - mainly looking for a Brent Goose that had been found late sunday afternoon. Just about to head home when a Brent goose suddenly appeared, initially flying around the S/E corner of Norton Marsh it then joined a small flock of Canada Geese on the S/E corner of Fiddlers Ferry. A patch first for me (cheers Den and Mal!!).

Cheshire has had it's first confirmed record of genuinely wild Barnacle Goose, on the Mersey Estuary in 2011

2 adult (colour ringed) and 3 juvenile Barnacle Geese were present on Hale Marsh on 28th November 2011, the birds were ringed as part of a programme in Svalbard archipelago (Norway)

Info courtesy of Bill Morton & Tony Broome

http://frodshammarshbirdblog.wordpress.com/

Gatewarth
Sodden and muddy this morning. Not much moving.

Fields on the other side of the railway, around Penketh Old Hall/ Riding Stables flooded. Ducks swimming around here inc a pair of Shoveler. Single female Grey Wagtail here.

Gatewarth

Early light frost made GW look almost picturesque this morning.
Single Fieldfare with finches (green and gold mainly) in bushes. 2 more over.
A Fox cantered by, along River, near-side. Semed to have prey in mouth,poss mouse. As it ran it put up Redshank and a single Snipe from reedy edge of River.

Thanks Ian, from about three miles distant I momentarily thought the gulls were the starling flocks there were so many! Pete

As well as the starlings displaying nicely at the bridge this evening there was an amazing stream of gulls heading out of the river and over the bridge - must have been several thousand in the five minutes or so I was queuing. I regularly see small and large parties of gulls there but these were remarkable for their numbers - guess the tide was coming in...

Pickerings Pasture
Single Fieldfare gorging on berries with Blackbirds on bushes right in front of screen.

M. Kestrel flying over River mobbed by a Herring Gull.

Mixed flock of Lapwing and Golden Plover on sandbank, maybe 100 birds.

WIDNES WARTH

2 meadow pipit
Grey Heron
poss. Redwing
Mallard
Gulls

The field facing the wooden walkway that has recently been used to graze the Longhorn is now much less sparsely grassed than last year. 2 Mippits flew over it today , compared with last year 50+ M.pipit,50+chaffinch,30+linnet along with pied wagtail,goldfinch,starling and possibly skylark.
If the fields higher up facing the start of the Widnes Warth NR trail are utilised for these, then i can see some long term benefits of attempting to add bio-diversity from grazing. They don't seem to be at the moment though.

Gatewarth :

Site tick for me today with a Green Woodpecker calling , heard from old tip area as I walked on to reserve. Eventually tracked the bird down to a Willow tree close to the Wind Pump. Called briefly then flew down into trees closer to the River ,quick view. Prob juv bird.

Long Tailed Tits, Jays, Kestrel.

Good nos of Gulls on River Bank being disturbed deliberately (for some reason?) by a couple in a small red sailed boat.

WIDNES WARTH - 12-2pm
close in
14 Redshank
25 Shelduck
Black-headed Gull
Lesser black-backed Gull
Cormorant
Carrion crow
1 Raven (tumbling)

further out towards Norton marsh
few hundred Lapwing
Herring Gull
Common Gull
Greater black-backed Gull
another 20+ Shelduck

surrounds
3 Jay (1 looked white capped poss.glandarius)
2 parties Long-tailed tit
50-100 Starling
6 Mistle Thrush (3 looked very small for missies)
2 Meadow pipit
Goldfinch
Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Kestrel

West of Norton Marsh / HWH

On the mudflats this morning :-

251 Golden Plover
750+ Lapwing
2 Dunlin
4 Snipe
3 Cormorant
1 Grey Heron

Gatewarth

A Kingfisher was perched on the dead tree branch on the riverbank after high tide this afternoon. Also noted were
Kestrel 1
Buzzard 1
Cormorant 2
Grey Heron 4
Lapwing 38
Mute Swan 4 (juveniles)
Canada Goose 1

A dog Fox was seen in the fields south of the river.

Cheers Brian

Gatewarth
At least one Chiffchaff in mixed flock of passerines, mainly goldfince and long tailed tits in hedges along top of RiverBank.

West of Norton Marsh

300+ Lapwing on the mudflats this morning with 2 Common Gulls, 200+ mixed Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, incl. many juveniles, 10 Greylag Geese, 60 Canada Geese, 3 Cormorants,1 Grey Heron (juv) and 10 Sand Martins.

Whimbrel on the mudflats west of Norton Marsh today with a few Curlew and a single Black-tailed Godwit (possibly of the race islandica).

Checked the Mersey mudflats from HWH mid evening yesterday - 1 adult Med gull amongst 2500 BHG, 1000+ LBBG, a couple of GBBG, 1 adult YLG and a yellow legged Argenteus Herring Gull.
Lapwing flock now 1000+ also 243 Curlew, and singles of Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank.
Earlier in the day en route to HWH came across a 'new' Purple Hairstreak tree - a relatively small tree and had excellent views in the sunshine, also 2 Commas.

John,

We found at least nine Bee Orchids along the canal towpath on Friday, mainly concentrated by the bridge at the end of Hall Nook, we also found a mole on the towpath by the Ferry tavern, eating a worm, before moving into the grass, only the second time we have ever seen a live one!

Dave Riley