Merseyside bumpy bundle

Riders on Hoylake Beach

I wasn't sure how to see out the birdwatching month but after seeing lots of reports of a hoopoe showing well at Ince Blundell, about halfway between Lunt and Hightown, I decided to head that way and then mosey on down to Lunt Meadows for a late afternoon wander. I also noticed that the pallid swift that had haunted Hoylake at the beginning of last week had returned early this morning so I added that to the list. Like as not I wouldn't get to see it but it would only be an hour or two out of my way and the journey from Hoylake to Ince Blundell is uncomplicated, so why not.

I got the West Kirby train from Liverpool Lime Street and headed for Hoylake. I checked the wires for any updates on the swift and found it was moving my way and was hawking over the rooftops near the lifeboat station, just five minutes' walk from Manor Road Station. So I got off and walked down to the promenade. There were lots of starlings — a couple of hundred or more — on the rooftops along the prom, flying hither and dither and often for no apparent reason. Some of them landed on the beach but didn't settle and were soon back on the rooftops. 

One bird flying behind a block of flats didn't look like a starling so I kept an eye out for its reappearance. It came out into the open, speeding low over the rooftops. Blow me down: a swift! I didn't actually say: "Blow me down!" but you get the gist of the exclamation. Any sort of a swift in late October is special but what sort of a swift was it? I had perhaps ten seconds to get an impression of a bird with an extensive pale throat before it disappeared back into the roofscape. I wandered back whence I came, keeping an eye out for it all the time and it wasn't long before it reappeared, giving me a good minute's clear view as it hawked between the chimneys and letting me see that it actually was a pallid swift. That first impression was right: the throat was pale, nearly white at the chin and greyer down the throat, much more extensive than any common swift, even one with a full throat pouch heading back to feed young at the nest. It was also mousey brown, even against the backdrop of an overcast sky, without any of the sooty tones of a common swift. I wasn't sure if the head was slightly lighter than the body or if that was a trick of the light. I also had an idea it was a bit broader in the beam than a common swift but it was difficult to be too sure about it as it flew around. The flight was mostly level with a rise and fall as it looped back and forth. I got a few snapshots of blank grey skies and out-of-focus chimney pots as a record of the encounter. The swift drifted back low behind the flats and I lost it and couldn't pick it up again so I made my way back to Manor Road, keeping an eye out for any sign of the swift down the side streets as I walked down Hoyle Road.

Sea rocket, Hoylake 

The easiest way to get over to Ince Blundell was to get off the train at Moorfields, walk down to the bus station and get the 47 bus to Crossens which stops in the village. I struck lucky with the connection and it was only just over an hour before I was getting off the bus at Ince Blundell. A chap at the bus stop across the road walked over and let on. He remembered me from Marshside last week and confirmed that the hoopoe was still showing and I wouldn't miss the right field as there was a crowd of parked cars in the lane. We wondered if we were the last public transport birdwatchers, I hope not.

I walked out of the village along the dual carriageway. There was a steady passage overhead of pink-footed geese, herring gulls and black-headed gulls and a small flock of pink-feet shared a distant field with a couple of dozen curlews. There's no pavement along this stretch of the road so I kept to the grass verge, having recourse to the road where the roadside bushes got a bit frisky.

It was a hairy walk and I was relieved when I saw a dozen cars and blokes with telescopes a few fields down. As I got closer I saw that they were all pointing towards a far corner of the field I was walking by. They had a field of cabbages between them and their target, I had a nice clear view of a long field of close-cut grass. And I was damned if I could see what they were looking at. A couple of crows drifted across, two cock pheasants wandered over, bits of debris fluttered in the breeze. Then I saw something very briefly, as far away from me as it was possible to get in that field. It was a very brief and exceedingly unsatisfactory glance at a hoopoe as it disappeared into the field margin. I'd established it was still there though, I might have more luck joining the crowd. So I carried on and walked down the lane to where the congregation watched and waited. And had no luck whatever. More black-headed gulls and pink-feet passed by, a flock of lapwings flew over the airfield, woodpigeons and jackdaws drifted by.

Looking for a hoopoe

I gave it up after forty minutes. I'd already knocked on the head my original plan to walk back into Ince Blundell and thence on to Lunt Meadows, I didn't fancy having the mid-afternoon traffic up my backside as I walked back. I noticed that there was enough time for me to walk down North End Lane and get the 206 just outside Hightown with five minutes to spare so I headed that way. The alternative was a long drag into Formby for the 47 to Southport.

More gulls and pink-feet flew over. A couple of fields held ridiculous numbers of cock pheasants, a field by Alt Road had a few dozen jackdaws bustling carrion crows and pheasants away from a prime feeding patch. I paid a silent requiem to the mortal remains of a wren on the footpath by a farmhouse.

North End Lane 

I didn't have long to wait for the bus, most of which was wasted looking for a nonexistent bus stop (this stretch is hail and ride I think, anyway I hailed and rode) and got off at Hall Road, connecting nicely with a train to Southport and thence back home. 

It had been a game of two halves and disappointed though I was with the sighting of the hoopoe I'd managed to see a very unlikely lifer in the pallid swift.

Home thoughts

The last day of British Summer Time was appropriately grim and gloomy even when it wasn't raining. I put a block on any of the possible walks I had planned for the day, let the cat back in from her latrine and went back to bed to catch up with the week's sleep.

Suitably refreshed I was surprised to see a male great spotted woodpecker in the back garden feeding on one of the fat-filled pine cones hanging from the rowan tree. I was going out to get more bird food anyway so I added pine cones to the shopping list. They're also favoured by coal tits and goldcrests and don't get disintegrated by the attentions of spadgers and starlings so they're a good investment.

A mistle thrush rattling from the top of the magpies' pear tree across the road was another harbinger of Winter.

Wirral

Sanderlings, Meols

I thought I'd best get over for a look at the waders on the North Wirral coast before the weather broke. I got the train to Liverpool and got myself an all areas Saveaway and bobbed over to Moreton. For all that there was an Autumnal feel to the mostly sunny day and enough leaf fall to be able to see through the trees I didn't see many birds along the way and woodpigeons were conspicuously thin on the ground.

Curlew, Kerr's Field

It's getting late for passage migrants though with the southerly winds and warm days lately the season's getting nicely stretched out and instinctively I kept looking about for swallows or martins despite the time of year. I had no real expectations of either so wasn't disappointed not to see any. The flock of half a dozen mistle thrushes feeding with the black-headed gulls and curlews in Kerr's Field was more typical of late October.

The frog that hopped across my path wasn't.

Common frog, Kerr's Field

I wandered along the path in the trees on Leasowe Common hoping to hear or see some warblers but only getting robins, blackbirds and wrens until I got to the pond where a Cetti's warbler was proclaiming territorial rights. Commas and red admirals fed on the last of the Michaelmas daisies on the verges.

Red admiral, Leasowe Common

The industrial sounds I was hearing from over the embankment turned out to be the tide coming in on a strong wind. I had a bit of a seawatch as I walked the revetment. It was thin going, just a trickle of herring gulls and lesser black-backs flying across with the occasional great black-back or black-headed gull. A juvenile kittiwake flew by about half a mile out, luckily the light was good and the black W across its wings stood out nicely. Objects bobbed about way out in the water, nearly all of which were certainly bits of flotsam or buoys adrift from their anchors. I'd dismissed one long black object as a log or something until it split into three and one of them decided to stretch its wings, a not untypical sighting of common scoters in choppy water.

A couple of flocks of ringed plovers flew over to the groyne then back out and off into the distance while a mixed flock of turnstones, sanderlings and ringed plovers settled down thataway. 

The groyne was covered in waders and with just enough water between it and the revetment to stop anyone going over for a clamber. The nearest, lowest section was white with sanderlings. A few still had their Summer browns about them but most were ghostly white and grey. A few dunlins were with them but most were higher up on the leeward side of the groyne away from the waves and spray, as were the ringed plovers. The highest, furthest part of the groyne was occupied by knots and redshanks though they had to budge up a lot when a lesser black-back flew in to rest. I spent a while scanning through the flock to see if anything else was about, my confidence in finding anything rather dented by my having to remind myself that knots have yellow-green legs. It was worth looking, though, as a purple sandpiper was sleeping low down on the leeward side amongst the dunlins.

Sanderlings, dunlins, ringed plover and redshank, Meols

Sanderlings, dunlins, ringed plover and redshank, Meols

Sanderlings, dunlins and ringed plover, Meols

Knots, dunlins, ringed plover and redshank, Meols

Sanderlings and ringed plover, Meols

Sanderlings and ringed plover, Meols

I wondered where the turnstones were, there were none on the groyne. They were further along on the revetment, trying and failing to settle down on the slope and being very twitchy of passersby. There was a definite passage of red admirals flying inland from the sea, one or two every hundred yards as I walked down to Meols.

The waves were still bashing the base of the revetment when the first waves of waders started flying out to the sandbanks. Curlews were first, wading shin-deep to feed, followed by oystercatchers then redshanks as the tide ebbed.

Oystercatchers, Meols

Shelduck, Meols

Redshanks, Meols

By the time I reached the promenade at Meols there was enough exposed mud for shelducks to join the feeding dunlins and redshanks.

I carried on walking halfway down to Hoylake then decided to call it quits and went for the train at Manor Road. Any ideas of having a late afternoon nosy somewhere on the Sefton Coast was knocked on the head by problems on the Northern Line caused by an incident — not a fatal one, I hope — at Liverpool Central so I got the train home.

Meols Beach 

Pennington Flash

Mistle thrush

Another warm Autumn day when whatever you choose to wear will be wrong because the weather changes every twenty minutes. I keep having to remind myself that despite the weather it's gone half-past October and as far as daylight's concerned it's mid-February, I keep making plans then realising it'll be dark by then.

A week's really bad sleep even by my standards is catching up with me and today I really didn't feel like doing anything. Then I got into a maungy mood as I looked at the shovelfuls of rarities being reported from the Northern Isles and the Scillies and from the East coast of Yorkshire. The North West has been getting a bit of a share of the excitement with scattered reports of yellow-browed warblers and pallid swifts.  And I've been dipping on all sorts of stuff. Then I reminded myself that this Autumn I've seen my first red-footed falcon and my first Lapland bunting, my second purple heron and lesser yellowlegs, and my first turtle dove in decades and I need to give my head a wobble. So I sent myself off for a toddle round Pennington Flash where a fair bit can be found with pretty minimal effort, which was about my mark today.

Pennington Flash 

The car park Canada geese and black-headed gulls were busy cadging half-term scraps from passing children. There seemed to be even more coots out on the flash than last time, with a few more tufted ducks about too. The large gulls were mostly lesser black-backs, a couple of subadults had slightly paler grey saddles that made me look twice, reminding me that the baffling gullwatching season is nearly upon us. One of them was making a tidy living stealing freshwater mussels from coots as they bobbed up from underwater. A third bird had an even paler grey saddle, only slightly darker than a common gull, and a butter knife bill and it eventually dawned on me I was looking at a yellow-legged gull. I understand a couple of Caspian gulls joined the roost late afternoon. I think I may have seen one of them but I'm really not convinced of the identification. The head was rounded and the bill long, the saddle was common gull grey but it looked very front-heavy without seeming to have long wings. So not convinced.

Yellow-legged gull 

Yellow-legged gull 

Yellow-legged gull 

Everything at the Horrocks Hide was at the end of the spit. A couple of dozen black-headed gulls floated in the channel while half a dozen herring gulls, a few cormorants and lapwings and the car park oystercatcher loafed on the tip of the spit.

Gadwall and coot

A few pairs of gadwall dabbled and preened on the pool at the Tom Edmondson Hide with a few teal and shovelers. A couple of migrant hawkers patrolled the sward in front of the hide.

I wondered which species of duck had this combination of features…

…then I realised it was a gadwall and a shoveler standing side by side to preen

Ramsdales was relatively quiet: all was teals but there were plenty of them. The drakes have already started courting the females, a lot of head-bobbing dances were going on on the pool.

Coming away from Ramsdales I bumped into a large mixed tit flock including a couple of dozen long-tailed tits with great tits, blue tits and goldcrests tagging along. I spotted a greyish warbler in the canopy with a couple of great tits. I expected to find perhaps the last of the Autumn chiffchaffs, instead I found the first blackcap of Winter and a fine-looking male at that. While I was watching it the Cetti's warbler made its usual brief appearance in the brambles before diving into deep cover to start singing. Walking down to the Bunting Hide every tit flock seemed to have a goldcrest or two.

The goldcrests were all for having a nosy to see what I was up to but not for having their photos taken

The feeders at the Bunting Hide were busy with squirrels, which didn't stop the great tits and chaffinches getting in there whenever the opportunity arose. Every so often the squirrels would get preoccupied with chasing each other round the place and more small birds would get in, mostly blue tits and more great tits and chaffinches with a couple of dunnocks and coal tits and a short cameo appearance by a willow tit. I've noticed that unlike marsh tits willow tits never seem comfortable in mixed tit flocks and tend to wait for the others to move on before coming to feeders. I've certainly never seen them tag along with the crowd as it moves through the trees.

I had a very brief look at the Teal Hide. A couple of guys had all their photographic equipment laid out on all the benches and I didn't want to intrude on their privacy. I clocked the half dozen goosanders with the gadwalls and shovelers and moved on.

Pennington Flash 

I decided it was time to make tracks as I was getting bleary-eyed so another large mixed tit flock bounced across the path with half a dozen goldcrests and a couple of treecreepers.

I walked over the golf course to get the bus back to Leigh from the Sports Village, trying not to disturb the mallards, moorhens and mistle thrushes as I passed by.

A couple of hours' bleary-eyed dawdling had picked up forty-odd species of birds, which shows what a productive site this can be.

From the Horrocks Hide 

Pootling

Black-headed gulls, Alexandra Park 

I didn't feel like doing much but thought I should make an effort while the sun was shining so I put my boots on ready for going for a wander round Chat Moss, looked out of the window and watched the heavens open. It absolutely teemed down for half an hour then the sun played peek-a-boo for an hour.

Turned out nice again

It's half term so the gulls on the school playing field have been a mite confused. The usual couple of dozen black-headed gulls milled about all morning dancing for worms, the large gulls (three herrings, two lesser black-backs and a common today) flew in for their share of the lunchtime spoils and had to make do with worms, taking some of their spite out on passing jackdaws before departing for Trafford Park.

I felt I should still make some sort of effort so today's random jaunt was a trip out to Oldham (train to Ashton-under-Lyne and the 409 up to Hathershaw, the area just South of Oldham town centre) to see if the wood duck was back on the pond at Alexandra Park. Sadly no sign today but the sun came out and I had a nice walk round checking that all the black-headed gulls were black-headed gulls and all the tufted ducks tufties. I thought I saw the wood duck in a group of mallards loafing on the other side of the pond just where I'd get the light in my eyes. I walked round and wasn't sure whether to laugh or blush at its being a drake mallard swimming backwards (why? God knows).

Alexandra Park 

There were bus problems in Oldham so I got back into Manchester in time for the usual Piccadilly Gardens gridlock. No matter, the pottering about's the thing.

Chorlton

Magpie, Jackson's Boat

After yesterday's efforts I decided to have an afternoon's dawdle closer to home, getting the bus into Chorlton then walking down into Ivy Green and thence on to Chorlton Water Park.

Oak tree, Ivy Green 

I've been very conscious that I've not heard or seen any nuthatches or great spotted woodpeckers this month despite doing a few woodland walks so it came as a bit of a relief that the first bird I saw at Ivy Green was a nuthatch singing from the top of a tree. It was definitely autumnal and there was enough leaf fall to give me a fighting chance of spotting the wrens, robins and titmice in the undergrowth. The moorhen in deep cover in the brook was quite a different matter. The parakeets gave me trouble until they flew out over towards Turn Moss. Over in the treetops on the other side of the brook a small flock of redwings mingled with a charm of goldfinches before moving on deeper into Chorlton Ees.

Chorlton Ees 

The beeches and cherries were putting on a good show of Autumn colour in Chorlton Ees. Small flocks of chaffinches and goldfinches bounced around in the canopy, the goldfinches particularly favouring the cones at the top of a stand of spruces. A coal tit had to shout to get my attention while I was trying to pin down a surprisingly elusive great spotted woodpecker. The usual buzzard floated overhead with a pair of carrion crows flying interference.

Jackson's Boat 

Arriving at the riverbank I just managed to catch a male kestrel as it flew down river. Half a dozen mallards loafed by the water and the apple trees by the path were busy with magpies. I forget that magpies eat as much fruit as any blackbird. Half a dozen parakeets were screeching like banshees as they chased each other round Jackson's Boat. It was fairly quiet as I walked up the river, there were plenty of titmice and goldfinches in the hedgerows and mallards on the water but even the jays went about their business collecting and stashing acorns without a lot of fuss.

Barlow Tip 

On a whim I cut into Barlow Tip at the gap in the hedge near the golf course. Autumn and early Winter are the best times for this route, in the Summer it's too densely covered to see much and in late Winter and Spring it's atrociously muddy underfoot. Most of the paths around this end are the kind only known by kids and cats and may require limbo dancing skills at awkward points, nearly all of which involve a permanent mud bath. 

It was only Tuesday so I didn't get to meet the owner

More by luck that judgement I negotiated an easy sequence of paths taking me eventually to the main track used by the environmental inspectors when they're doing their methane testing. The titmice were in family flocks rather than mixed flocks, a flock of fifteen long-tailed tits drifting over a clearing was particularly conspicuous. A bullfinch was feeding in the rowans by the main track and a song thrush shot through the bracken as I passed the bamboo thicket.

Black-headed gulls, Chorlton Water Park

I could hear the black-headed gulls and coots as I walked down to Chorlton Water Park. There were plenty of both on the water together with a lot of mallards and a dozen or so tufted ducks. Mute swans and Canada geese were surprisingly thin in the ground and I could only see one great crested grebe. I was surprised not to see any gadwall. There was a phenomenal racket from the parakeets but most of them were feeding in the hawthorns by the river.

Ring-necked parakeet, Chorlton Water Park

I skirted the margins of Kenworthy Wood, a dozen kids on track bikes had rattled over the bridge as I was crossing it and spent the next twenty minutes making more noise than the parakeets. Mallards loafed on the river while a juvenile dabchick was busy feeding midstream by the bridge and a couple of redhead goosanders drifted down the river. More goldfinches and long-tailed tits bounced about in the trees and great tits called from the hawthorns.

Goosander, River Mersey by Kenworthy Woods

I walked upriver to Princess Parkway then headed off to Southern Cemetery for the bus home. For all that I'd only walked less than five miles it felt like a good afternoon's exercise and I'd managed to see forty-odd species of birds along the way.

Chorlton Water Park 

Merseyside bumper bundle

Lesser yellowlegs, Crossens Inner Marsh

The early start was necessitated by the day's cancellations, I wanted to be beyond Manchester by lunchtime. And so it was I was at Marshside mid-morning. The plan was to get armed with an old man's explorer ticket and an all areas Saveaway and have a wander round Marshside and Crossens, see if the weekend's lesser yellowlegs was around, then have a wader watch at Hightown Dunes and anything after that would depend on remaining time and energy.

I got off the 44 bus at Marshside School and walked up the cut to the bund at the back of the marsh. The geese were noisy, the pink-feet mostly flying in skeins overhead, the greylags feeding on the marsh. Mallards, wigeons and teal dabbled in the pools near the bund; golden plovers, lapwings, curlews and black-tailed godwits further out on the marsh. Gulls congregated on the larger pools, a hundred or so black-headed gulls on one, groups of a couple of dozen or so herring gulls on the others.

Wigeons and black-tailed godwit, Marshside

Crossens Inner Marsh was reassuringly damp, the path on the bund less reassuring as it, too, was very damp. A flock of house sparrows fossicked about noisily in the brambles. There were more teal and wigeons in the pools, more greylags, godwits and lapwings on the marsh (no golden plovers, though, they weren't on either of the Crossens marshes). I thought I'd best scan the pools by the bund to get my eye in for when I got to the end where the yellowlegs was last reported. It was the first bird I saw. It was great to see it so close, a lovely little thing. The overall jizz of the bird was more like wood sandpiper than redshank, quietly snapping up insects from the surface of the mud and puddles (there were plenty of midges about).

Lesser yellowlegs, Crossens Inner Marsh

Lesser yellowlegs, Crossens Inner Marsh

Lesser yellowlegs and pied wagtail, Crossens Inner Marsh

Lesser yellowlegs, Crossens Inner Marsh

Juvenile pied wagtail, Crossens Inner Marsh

Elsewhere on the marsh there were small groups of shovelers and mallards and a lone whooper made a cameo appearance, flying at head height across the marsh and calling all the way.

Wigeon, Crossens Inner Marsh

Teal, a drake coming out of eclipse, Crossens Inner Marsh

I crossed over Marine Drive to have a look at the outer marsh which turned out to be relatively quiet despite it approaching high tide. Most of the geese on the marsh were Canada geese and they were all half a mile out. A couple of pink-feet and a few greylags were closer to hand. Shovelers and lapwings loafed by the pools while wigeon grazed and teal dabbled. There were a few little egrets about and one great white egret out with the Canada geese. I watched it fly in but wasn't sure of the scale until it stood behind some of the geese. A kestrel hunted over the long grass and was largely ignored by the flocks of skylarks, starlings and linnets. It was quite another matter when a marsh harrier floated by.

Shovelers and lapwings, Crossens Outer Marsh

Marsh harrier, Crossens Outer Marsh

Marsh harrier, Crossens Outer Marsh

I crossed back over to walk over to Sandgrounders. There was a pleasing abundance of greenfinches in the hedgerow. The marsh harrier floated over to Marshside Outer and put up more flocks of skylarks, starlings and linnets as well as all the mallards, wigeons and little egrets on the pools. 

Snipe, Marshside

It was fairly busy at Sandgrounders but not uncomfortable. There were plenty of birds about, including dabchicks, gadwalls shelduck and tufted ducks on the pools. The scaup had been reported again today but I had no luck with it. I had more luck with the flock of snipe in front of the hide, primarily because every time they settled, before they got the chance to blend into the scenery they'd be chased by a lapwing.

Dabchick, Marshside

Pintail. a drake nearly out of eclipse, Marshside

I walked down to the Junction Pool, passing a Cetti's warbler by the main drain. The pool was busy with ducks, mostly pintails and shovelers with mallards and teal round the margins. Walking up Marshside Road for the bus I passed a male stonechat playing king of the castle on the top of a privet bush. It had been a cloudy day with patches of brilliant sunshine. Halfway down the road the clouds rolled in and it started pouring down.

I got the Hunt's Cross train at Southport, thinking if the rain continued to be bad I'd call it quits and head home. It started to clear up at Formby so I got off at Hightown and headed off for the dunes.

Alt Estuary, Hightown 

It became a sunny but ferociously windy afternoon. The tide had receded, leaving behind plenty of mud for the shelducks, curlews and oystercatchers. The banks of the Alt just in front of the sailing club looked busy with birds so I sat down and spent half an hour checking out what was what. There were dozens of mallards on the river, mostly in groups of half a dozen or so, dabbling in the river or mudlarking on the banks. There were similar numbers of redshanks and dunlins though it took me a while to get my eye in on the dunlins with the wind buffeting my binoculars so much. A little egret was an easier spot, as were the crowds of black-headed gulls on the beach. A grey plover made itself unusually conspicuous as it foraged on the brow of the bank. Try as I may (and I did try very hard) I couldn't make any of the dunlins into anything other than dunlins.

Grey plover, Hightown

Little egret, Hightown

I was walking back to the station when I noticed the 206 bus was due. This goes up Alt Road to the junction with North End Lane then turns and heads off to Little Crosby. I caught it to get an idea of the route, it could come in useful on a wild goose chase this Winter.

I got off at Hall Road Station and wandered down to enjoy the starlings at Burbo Point. 

First-Winter starling, Burbo Point

Starling, Burbo Point
Singing for all he was worth

Starlings bathing in the car park, Burbo Point

I got the train into Liverpool from Hall Road, looked at the cancelled trains to Manchester, gave up on trying to get onto the train to Preston which was half short (with all the cancellations you wouldn't think there weren't enough carriages available to run services normally), so I got the Wigan train where my train to Oxford Road was cancelled. I got home ridiculously late and had to apologise profusely to the cat. But it had been a damned good day's birdwatching.

Alt Estuary, Hightown