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)