Wirral

Stonechat. West Kirby

It was a nice sunny day so I decided to go to the seaside for fresh air and fun and headed off for the Wirral. It's still a bit early to be hoping for Leach's petrels at New Brighton so I opted for a walk between Leasowe and Hoylake to see what the high tide would bring in.

Kerr's Field

Kerr's Field was quiet, a few woodpigeons on the paddocks and goldfinches and whitethroats quietly flitting between the hedges. This time of year there's always the possibility of a passage migrant or two here but the Autumn migration's a more leisurely affair than Spring so they pass through in dribs and drabs rather than crowd scenes. Anyway, that's my excuse for not finding any.

The area round Leasowe Lighthouse was similarly quiet with a handful of swallows swooping round the open area.

I went directly onto the seawall and walked down towards Meols. The tide was high but the weather was too pleasant to hope for any waders on the seawall or the groyne. I can't moan about people going for a walk here when I was doing precisely the same thing myself.

Looking back at Leasowe Lighthouse

Out on the water there were rafts of herring gulls and lesser black-backs pretty far out with small groups of black-headed gulls nearer shore. A couple of great black-backs loafed on the water well away from the other gulls. A couple of shelduck flew low over the water heading towards Hilbre. Ones and twos of Sandwich terns flew past towards Crosby.

I spent a while scanning the passersby far out by the wind turbines. More gulls and Sandwich terns and a few cormorants. A few front-heavy looking dark birds turned out to be juvenile lesser black-backs flying in at at angle. One bird stood out, it looked stockier and had more deliberate flight but it was too far out to be sure what it may have been.

It felt that there was a passage of swallows going on. Waves of a dozen or two birds twitted their way inland.

The tide starting to ebb at Meols

By the time I'd got to the boat landing at Meols I was starting to think I should have tried my luck at New Brighton. It had been a couple of hours of disappointing birdwatching. Then I told myself to give my head a wobble. I'd had a very agreeable walk at the seaside in nice weather with the sun on my back and the breeze in my face and if I imagined that was a hardship I was a pillock.

I carried on past the tiny lido. The tide was fast receding and black-headed gulls were loafing on newly emerged banks of wet sand. Waders started to fly in. Curlews, oystercatchers and redshanks congregated out in the distance beyond the gulls, dunlins and ringed plovers came in to feed a couple of hundred yards out. A flurry of white and gingery brown at the water's edge beyond the oystercatchers added a flock of sanderlings to the year list.

Gulls, ringed plovers and dunlin, Hoylake

Closer — much, much closer — to hand were the couple of dozen pied wagtails and a few linnets feeding in the marram grass and sea plantains near the seawall. A flock of starlings came and a bustled between rummaging in the stranded seaweed and bathing in the puddles.

Starling bathtime, Hoylake

Approaching Hoylake the sea asters, samphires and plantains of the relatively dry foreshore gave ample cover and feeding opportunities for more small flocks of linnets.

A raven flew past and headed over to Hilbre. It came back about ten minutes later then headed back over to Hilbre. On its fourth pass over it noticed me trying and failing to take its picture so it came and circled low over so I could get some photos. (Or more likely it was making sure I wasn't a threat.) Anyway, I got rather a lot of photos and I felt sorry I didn't have a bag of sheep's eyes to repay it with.

Raven, Hoylake

Raven, Hoylake

I got to Red Rocks and looked out towards Hilbre. Gulls, cormorants and Sandwich terns were but distant silhouettes.

Hilbre from Red Rocks

I took the boardwalk through the nature reserve, supplementing my diet with a few sea buckthorn berries and dewberries along the way. The first dragonfly of the day was a migrant hawker patrolling a clump of phlox escaped from a neighbouring garden. I looked at it carefully to be on the safe side, there have been reports of a southern migrant hawker at Hilbre this week. (As if I'd have been able to safely identify one!)

Female ruddy darter (I think), West Kirby

I could hear but not see the moorhens in the pond entirely hidden by reeds. The linnets and swallows overhead were rather easier to spot. A few ruddy darters, mostly female, sunned themselves on the boardwalk. There have been repairs to the boardwalk since my last visit but it's still disconcertingly bouncy along some stretches.

As I got to West Kirby I bumped into a couple of common darters as they darted to and from from their perches in a hawthorn. They came over to have a look at me then went back to their work. As I was looking at them I noticed a small dark bird amongst the goldfinches feeding in the bushes higher up the slope. A rather fine male stonechat kindly posed for the camera.

Stonechat, West Kirby