Owl Wednesday

Short-eared owl, Neston

Judging by the flurry of weather warnings on my 'phone when I woke up today looked like being the last bit of good weather for a while so I decided to make the most of it. A walk around Neston and Parkgate is always good Winter birdwatching and it might be a chance to get an owl on the year list so I don't spend the next twelve months fretting about it.

The 487 bus schedule changed at the new year so it doesn't often go to Parkgate. The bus I caught last week now goes through to Ness instead. Which was OK because I could get off in Little Neston and walk up along the path that runs along the edge of the marsh.

Short-eared owl, Neston

I got off the bus and walked down to the Harp Inn. I hadn't even got to the car park when I saw the first short-eared owl of the day giving stonking views in the low midday sun. It floated low over the reeds much to the vocal disgust of the redshanks and teals in the pools and the panicked dismay of a few skylarks and starlings. Every so often it would tower high into the sky then float down gently as you please. I love watching short-eared owls. It floated off stage left only to reappear then stoop into the reeds. At which point another short-eared owl rose out of the reeds perhaps ten yards behind and flew away a few yards before settling back into the reeds. The first owl rose and spend the next ten minutes towering and floating down before settling on a low quartering of the reedbeds. The car park was getting a bit busy with birdwatchers by now so I decided to move on.

Short-eared owl, Neston

Short-eared owl, Neston

Short-eared owl, Neston

Short-eared owl, Neston

Short-eared owl, Neston

Walking to Parkgate

I passed through the gate North of the car park and carried on down it. I didn't see the need to join the people out on the saltmarsh paths, I had an excellent view of the marsh from here without disturbing any owls, ducks or waders. 

Short-eared owl and wigeons, Neston

Most of the heads sticking up out of distant reeds were Canada geese, I couldn't see many pink-feet. There were teal in the small pools nearby and small flocks of wigeon were flying about further out. A couple of hundred lapwings and a flock of wigeons were spooked by one of the owls which was doing a very good impersonation of the lazy v-winged flight of a harrier until it was mobbed by a couple of crows and the owl's relatively small size became dead obvious.

There were blue tits and robins in the hedgerow by the path and every large bush had a blackbird in it. A mixed flock of greenfinches and goldfinches were working their way through a bramble patch and they were joined by some linnets that didn't much like the look of the owl.

Walking to Parkgate

The path led to a bridge over a large puddle in the middle of a field. On the bridge was a notice explaining that one of the footpaths had a temporary closure order on it due to the dangerous condition of the path. Luckily I was planning on going down the path to the old quay at Parkgate so wouldn't be inconvenienced.

If this path is the good one God knows what the closed one is like. At first it was just a bit muddy, with the occasional very deep puddle you could squelch past on the bank. I should have taken the hint with the first length of duckboard with no boards. Here and there safe passage could be made by tightrope walking old posts, walking the plank, or in one case using an old door as a stepping stone. And sometimes there was nothing to it but wading  through shin deep and hoping it didn't get any deeper. If the compilers of 20 Really Unpleasant English Footpaths don't include this in their list they are charlatans.

On the plus side, I got up close and personal with a lot of reed buntings and a very feisty Cetti's warbler.

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

It was a bright late afternoon at Parkgate. Teals, little egrets and lapwings were settling down for the night and a couple of marsh harriers were having one last turn around the marsh. The pink-feet were a lot closer in than last week, a couple of groups were only a hundred yards out.

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

I walked down to the car park and spent half an hour scanning the marsh as the sun set below the clouds over North Wales. No barn owl today, but a passing ringtail hen harrier was good to see. On my walk back into Parkgate a third marsh harrier flew in to roost and a couple of great white egrets and a heron flew inland overhead. 

Parkgate Marsh

I walked back into Neston and just managed to work out which was the right bus stop in time for a kindly bus driver to let me on.

I'd only walked four miles. It felt longer. Luckily the scenery, the light and the birdwatching was excellent.

Short-eared owl, Neston