Wirral

Siberian chiffchaff, Leasowe Lighthouse

It was another lovely early March morning in January so I set out early for a seaside walk. I wasn't sure whether to head to Southport to look for twites in the salt marsh by the pier then go up to Crossens Marsh for a wild goose chase, or have another visit to the Wirral to try and catch up on waders. The first hundred on the year list is a sprint, the second hundred a marathon so I need to keep it ticking over while I may. News of a Siberian chiffchaff by Leasowe Lighthouse decided it for me.

I got off the train at Moreton and walked down to Kerr's Field.  The new housing estate's resident mallards dozed in the sun and the herring gulls called raucously from the roofs of the industrial estate. 

Oystercatchers

The hedgerows by Kerr's Field were fairly quiet, a couple of singing robins, a small charm of goldfinches muttering to themselves and three greenfinches chunnering loudly before flying off into somebody's back garden. The fields weren't quiet. A couple of dozen oystercatchers loafed about, a few poked at the ground just for something to do. Half a dozen lapwings and a couple of curlews wandered around them. One of the puddles was big enough for a couple of pairs of shovelers to share with half a dozen teal. The horses looked like they wanted their field back and were just dying for the tide to ebb.

Leasowe Lighthouse from Kerr's Field 

The hedgerows behind the lighthouse were very busy, mostly with house sparrows and greenfinches. A couple of chaffinches passed through, goldfinches twittered their way along the brambles, blue tits and great tits flitted in and out and a dunnock sang from a hawthorn bush. I watched and listened a while but wasn't hearing anything like a chiffchaff of any flavour so I decided I'd move on and have another go later.

Siberian chiffchaff

I crossed Lingham Road joined the muddy footpath that runs along the margin of Leasowe Common. If I'm looking for warblers this is a good place to look, in Summer this thin stretch of woodland is stiff with chiffchaffs and blackcaps. My eye was caught by a family of long-tailed tits bouncing through the willows then I saw something pale fidgeting towards me in the trees. Rather to my surprise the Siberian chiffchaff was coming to me rather than me going to look for it. Even by the standards of Siberian chiffs it had a grey, washed-out look about it and there was no hint of yellow about it at all. I had a panicky moment where I realised I wouldn't have the first idea if I'd bumped into some other pale, rare leaf warbler by accident and was only reassured of the ID when I heard a short, sad sigh of a call. I don't know why I was second-guessing myself, when you look in the books Siberian chiffchaffs look like this.

Siberian chiffchaff

It was a busy little bird, not still for a moment. Even so I managed to get a few photos before retreating back to the road and taking the main route through the common. Just because the bird didn't seem much fussed by me didn't mean it was eager for my company.

Siberian chiffchaff

Leasowe Common 

Walking past the pool i could hear but not see a coot in the reeds. More titmice bounced through the trees, robins sang in gorse bushes and wrens heckled me on my way. At the first opportunity I walked up the rise and joined the revetment to see what was out on the beach.

Lapwings, knots and redshanks

The tide was on the ebb and retreating rapidly. There were hundreds of oystercatchers out on the emerging mud and scores of herring gulls. Black-headed gulls and redshanks busied about the water margins, curlews stalked the mud and way out on the tideline cormorants and great black-backs looked out to sea.

I hadn't walked far when a flock of lapwings flew out to join the oystercatchers. A flock of a hundred or so knots billowed onto the mud followed by smaller numbers of dunlins. Further beyond a dozen sanderlings headed out to the retreating tide. As I approached the groyne a grey plover flew by and a greenshank flew in to join the black-headed gulls feeding in the pools.

Greenshank

The retreating tide 

The groyne

My joints weren't being user-friendly despite the bright, mild weather. I can only think we must be due some wet and murky weather. I didn't want to walk into Meols because inevitably I'd end up walking into Hoylake and I really didn't have the legs for that. I walked a few hundred yards beyond the groyne, far enough for me to get closer views of the knots and redshanks and find my first turnstones of the year at the base of the revetment. I was feeling greedy and kept hoping a snow bunting might be about but it was pied wagtails keeping me company along the way.

Knots

Turnstone

Knots

Self portrait with Wirral Coastal Path
The little wall on the left is the top of the revetment. 

Leasowe Lighthouse 

My decision not to take the inland route round to the lighthouse turned out to be a good one. That line of water is the path.

I turned back and joined the Wirral Coastal Path, which was as busy as you'd expect on a sunny Saturday lunchtime. Robins and a stonechat bobbed up onto lookout posts to watch the dogs go by. (The dogs were very well-behaved, as indeed we're their people.) I could still hear an invisible coot on the pool and it was joined by an invisible water rail. Titmice, goldfinches and greenfinches bounced about in the hedgerows and there were a lot of blackbirds in the fields beyond.

Shoveler

All the waders bar one curlew had left the horses to Kerr's Field though the ducks stayed behind to keep them company.

On the way back to Liverpool I debated going on to another site but kept coming back to the need to sit with a hot water bottle on my knees for an hour or so. We must be in for some bloody awful weather.