4th January 2016

SE-2/3, overcast , some sunny periods.

At Target Road Heswall the stunning Pallas's Warbler continued to please the crowds. With improved weather conditions and patience much better photographs were obtained of this fantastic little bird.

Once again many congratulations to Steve Hinde - the finder.

Mike Malpass

Mike Malpass

SRW

02 January 2016

SE-02, drizzle and overcast.

At Target road, Heswall a stunning Pallas's Warbler was found by Steve Hinde late afternoon and was still present at dusk. The bird fed amongst the Ivy and Hawthorns actively catching flies in the company of 3 Chiffchaffs and a small Tit flock. 

For those visiting the site tomorrow it is advised to park carefully on the single track road and do not park in the passing places on boundary road. It is likely this bird has over wintered so observers will still see the bird if they park near Shelldrakes Restaurant and walk back to Target Road.


2015 Review of the Year

The first good bird of the year arrived on Jan 4th when a Grey Phalarope was found at Seacombe ferry terminal by Adele and Elliot Montieth. Still present the following day it allowed many to catch up with this usually pelagic species during the winter.

AMC

On February 3rd, news broke via the 'BIS' of a Laughing Gull at New Brighton Marine Lake. As the first locals arrived , sure enough a 1st winter Laughing Gull was perched up on the pontoon. Found by visiting birders  Mike Brown, Heath Green and Mike Rutter, This represents the 3rd Wirral Laughing Gull record -  A great find.

AMC

Hot on the heels of the Laughing Gull came Wirral's second 'Yank' of the week. A fine drake American Wigeon found at BMW by Colin Wells-his seventh, no less, that he's found on the Dee.

AMC

The first late winter / spring Glauc was found on Feb 21st followed by 2nd and 1st winter birds  found at New Brighton both on March 2nd by John Jones and Kenny Dummigan respectively.

AMC

AMC

On March 25th and after several attempts, the Wirral's third American Bird of the year, was located off the East Hoyle Bank, Hoylake. A fine drake Surf Scoter was located by Allan Conlin (AMC)  & Kenny Dummigan. This represents the first county record. Over the following weeks an incredible nine individuals were recorded by the many visiting  birders. The 20,000+ Common Scoter was an incredible sight in itself.

The 5th April saw a Lighthouse mega recorded. Only the 3rd Lighthouse record of Green Woodpecker was found by Jeremy Bradshaw. The bird was present for a couple of weeks although remained elusive for most of its stay.

Spring progressed and we saw big numbers of migrants at the Lighthouse including over 30 Redstarts , 9 Ring Ouzel and unusually two Pied Flycatchers. One was recorded on the 22nd April along with a brief Alpine Swift seen by David Haigh, John Jones & Colin Twist et al. This represents our second Alpine Swift for the Lighthouse area. 

DH

AMC

AMC

On May 3rd, there was the incredible discovery by Mark Turner of a trip of three Dotterel at Meols. What made the discovery most unusual is they were not discovered in any of the hundreds of fields in the area but on the beach just off the promenade flying around with a flock of 1000 Dunlin.

One of the Three Dotterel (AMC)

Curlew Sandpiper 8th May 2015 - Hoyllake Shore (AMC)

Migrants continued to move through during the spring including 4 Ospreys and a Red Kite. On the 15th May, a Turtle Dove was found independently by AMC & Don Maxwell. This is an increasingly rare Wirral bird following the national trend, however 3 of the last 4 North Wirral records have been at or near Lingham Lane paddocks.

Tim Kinch

As expected things began to quiten down during the summer at the Lighthouse however persistence paid off and on June 26th a male Serin was located at 'Hoopoe Hollow' . Discovered by AMC & Eddie Williams the bird associated loosely with other finches and was highly mobile. It was only seen by one other observer after its initial discovery.

AMC

Summer is a great time for rare terns on Wirral and this year was no exception with BMW/IMF  hosting it's third Gull billed Tern in the reserves history. On the 3rd July a bird was found by visiting birders and unlike the previous two records which only stayed briefly, this bird hung around all afternoon and was seen briefly the following morning . A long awaited "pullback" for many a Wirral lister.

AMC

Autumn migration is never quite as exciting as Spring at the Lighthouse however with the east coast seemingly festooned with drift migrants during late August it was surely only a matter of time that one found its way to the Lighthouse. On September 4th one did. A juvenile Red backed Shrike was discovered by AMC along Park Lane, Meols. Surprisingly this was our first record of this species at the Lighthouse despite having a number of Great grey Shrike records.

AMC

Like buses the second North Wirral scarcity of the autumn arrived only a couple of days later when on September 8th a stunning Hoopoe was discovered by Joe Bellis in the dunes at New Brighton. The bird was well watched and appreciated by all who took the time to come and see it.

AMC

On October 23rd our second Firecrest of the year was recorded by the Kenny Dummigan and Eddie Williams and the same observers hearing our only Yellow browed Warbler of the year on the 31st October along the nature trail.

KD

Storm Abigail brought late Leach's Petrels with first being recorded from the Gunsite on 13th November. Six birds battled the storm force winds to head back out into the Irish Sea. 

Tim Kinch

Hoylake Sunset (AMC)

So an eventful year drew to a close with thoughts turning to the prospect of another exciting Wirral year during 2016.  "What next for the Wirral?"  is the question on everyone's lips. Well we are already off to a flyer, with a stunning Pallas's Warbler found at Heswall and its only January 2nd! 

As ever it remains for us to thank all those who contribute to this site with their observations and information and we wish our readers a successful bird filled 2016.

29th November 2015

Weather: W-F9 , squally showers

The high winds and high tides over this weekend have given opportunity for some further Sea Watching. On 28th November an adult Great Northern Diver was discovered in Birkenhead's East Float Dock by (EM). Just reward for some dedicated patch birding.  www.birdinghead.blogspot.co.uk

As winds increased overnight on the 28th so Sea Watchers were out in force. In addition to a reported Pomarine Skua at New Brighton there were also two Bonxies. A Great Northern Diver flew in at great height at Derby Pool and disappeared inland. Perhaps to join the one on the East float ! Other birds recorded battling the stormy seas were Common Scoter (3), Pntail (11), Red breasted Merganser (1) and Great crested Grebe (3)

EM

Storm Force at New Brighton

The New Brighton Lighthouse disappears !!

Adult GND, Birkenhead East Float 

Today's fly  by GND at Wallasey

Sunday 22nd November 2015

Weather; Colder, cloudy becoming sunny later. Wind N F2



A much calmer day than of late. Birds recorded today in the lighthouse area included 2 Short-eared Owls present all afternoon in the area of the old brickworks and golf course on Lingham Lane. They are best viewed from the railway bridge at the top of the lane. The habitat here looks ideal for them and hopefully they will stay to winter. A Peregrine also appeared briefly here and dive-bombed one of the Owls a few times. Other birds along Lingham Lane included 2 Bullfinches, 3 Great spotted Woodpeckers, 4 Goldcrests, 5 Song Thrushes, a Redwing and around 15 Blackbirds. Another 10 Blackbirds were in the Park Lane area.

Short-eared Owl hunting over the old golf course, Lingham Lane.    EW

A flock of 16 Fieldfares alighted briefly near Lingham Lane before continuing west.
2 Snipe and 17 Meadow Pipits were on the common opposite the lighthouse and a single Bullfinch flew north here. , MGT, EW

Fieldfares.    EW

EW

20th November 2015

Weather: N/NW-8, squally showers.

As another Atlantic depression swept into the Irish Sea, so observers turned their attention to sea watching. Today 6 Leach's Petrels were recorded in the Mersey Mouth (Greg Roebuck) were there have been ones and two's during  the recent gales. A number of Bonxies have been recorded from Hoylake shore with at least two over the foreshore this afternoon. 

18th November

A brief sea watch during heavy seas at New Brighton was surprisingly quiet, however an observer were fortunate to catch a brief view of a juv pale phase Long tailed Skua flying out of the river towards Crosby. Although the shot is distant and very heavily cropped the photograph shows a very cold looking overall colour, a very pale, almost white head separated from the pale underparts by a grey/buff collar . One concern observers were conscious of, was the extensive white on the underside of the primaries, however the literature suggests this is within the normal variation of juvenile pale phase Long tailed Skua. Immature Skua's can be tricky so we would welcome any comments on this bird, particularly if you disagree with the identification. amcecological@gmail.com.

  EM

Long tailed Skua (Pale phase juv) EM

14 November 2015

Weather: S-2, overcast with heavy rain later. Very cold

After yesterdays maelstrom of wind it was all calm on North Wirral today.  We had a pleasant morning before the weather closed down in the afternoon, when it became very grey, cold and wet.

High tide at Hoylake was the place to be with good numbers of gulls and waders gathering on the foreshore as the tide flooded. Offshore a couple of wind driven Bonxies continued to loaf amongst the larger Gulls although they were always quite distant.

An adult Med Gull was located preening amongst the 1000's of roosting Gulls and showed well when not obscured by a larger Herring Gull. As observers watched the Med Gull, a female Long tailed Duck found by (EM) flew in and landed for some time in the water at the tide edge. Long tailed Ducks are only occasionally seen let alone photographed from Wirral so it's impressive that any photographs were obtained at all. To end a great day a male Snow Bunting was flushed by (EM) from the cycle track north of Hoopoe Hollow. The bird flew off north and was not relocated. -There's always tomorrow!!

  EM

All Photo's Elliot Montieth

Adult Med Gull

Female Long tailed Duck

Female Long tailed Duck

Tuesday 3rd November 2015

Weather; Dull and misty. Wind SE F2

There was a decent sized flock of over 200 Bar-tailed Godwits on the shore opposite the lighthouse this afternoon. This species seems far less numerous here than it once was. The opposite can be said for Black-tailed Godwit which is now seen regularly commuting over Leasowe on an Northeast-Southwest axis, presumably to and from Gilroy. 3 passed overhead today. 
An interesting combination of a female Mallard and a Tufted Duck floated in together on the flood tide this afternoon. They appeared very much an item.
There was some visible overhead passage this morning with 37 Chaffinches, 18 Siskins and 10 Skylarks moving east. 
A small arrival of Thrushes also took place, mainly in the Park Lane area where 27 Blackbirds, 8 Song Thrushes, 5 Redwing and a Fieldfare were counted. Another Fieldfare was in the paddocks and a further 15 Blackbirds were in the Lingham Lane area. 8 Goldcrests and 3 Chiffchaffs were in the lighthouse area. 2 Stonechats were on Meols common and a Kingfisher, 3 Teal and a Grey Wagtail were along the Birkett. 
24 Meadow Pipits and 2 Common Snipe were on the field in front of the lighthouse. 

KAD, EW

Tufted Duck & Mallard on the sea!! (AMC)

Redwing (EW)