Dee Estuary

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

Each time I've visited Parkgate I've seen the 22 bus go by to West Kirby or Chester and I've wondered if it might be an option to get there via Chester instead of Liverpool, the attraction being that it would be five pounds cheaper on the train, though Liverpool's a lot more convenient for me. So I gave it a go and it works really well, I'd definitely do it again.

The way the rail connections work if I'm going to Chester via the Mid-Cheshire line through Northwich it's best if I catch the train at Altrincham rather than Manchester Piccadilly. (I'd hoped the timetable changes might have made a difference, instead they've beggared the connection for the slightly faster North Wales train.) I left the cat to her birdwatching from the living room window (the spadgers were out in force and the woodpigeons and squirrels were striking provocative poses on the garden fence) and walked down to get the 245 to Altrincham in the pouring rain. The weather forecast promised more of the same locally but just light drizzle on the coast. 

The train was on time and rather busy but I nabbed a window seat when half the passengers got off at Knutsford and I watched a procession of fields with occasional carrion crows and woodpigeons, a few fields with small flocks of rooks or jackdaws or black-headed gulls, and a flock of more than a couple of hundred pink-footed geese in a field somewhere between Plemstall and Mickle Trafford.

At Chester I walked down the canal to the bus station, passing a pile of black-headed gulls, pigeons and mallards and a couple of moorhens. I didn't have long to wait for the 22 and I got a return to Parkgate. As we passed through Mollington, Woodbank and Two Mills the weather cleared up a lot so I decided to get off in Little Neston and joined the marsh at the Harp Inn.

Neston Marsh 

Neston Marsh was bleak, like any marsh in December. I'd arrived at lunchtime so there were plenty of people out walking their dogs and testing their wellingtons. Almost the first bird I saw in the middle distance, besides the hordes of black-headed gulls and carrion crows that were a feature of the afternoon, was a great white egret with its neck stretched out above the reeds as it kept an eye on a couple of frisky spaniels. I could hear redshanks, teal and curlews but had no luck finding them until a labrador went for a swim in a nearby pool. I'd been looking too far out for them. Further out, in the marsh proper, parties of wigeon flew in to join the ones already whistling in the small pools. The first of today's many marsh harriers floated in and spooked  flocks of a hundred or more each of lapwings and starlings and set a small flock of linnets flying inland to settle in the hawthorns by the path. I looked in vain for any short-eared owls, it was gloomy enough for them to be out and about but there were too many dog walkers.

Little egret, Neston

I headed North on the footpath, all the while keeping an eye on the marsh. I hadn't gone far before I started to find grazing flocks of geese. Most of the big groups near by were Canada geese, though a couple of dozen pink-feet were the closest of the lot, just the other side of a thin bed of reeds. A few greylags flew in and disappeared into the long grass in the distance. Another marsh harrier appeared, spooking a couple of pintails and shovelers as well as a lot of teal. A cloud of lapwings included a few redshanks and half a dozen golden plovers. A third harrier floated by in the distance, shadowed the while by a raven. I had it marked down as another marsh harrier until it did a flying swivel over a pool of wigeons and I could see the pale brown belly and dark tail markings of a ring-tail hen harrier.

Neston Marsh 

Neston Marsh
From the same position, looking South down the footpath

The path along the margins of the reedbeds was interesting. The old doors placed over some of the trickier patches aren't as effective as they used to be and the wobbly bits of the boardwalk are pretty much seesaws these days. There are notices either end explaining that the anticlockwise footpath into Neston is suspended until further notice due to the state it's in. Given how dodgy the recommended clockwise path's in I was almost tempted to go and have a look. As I got onto Manorial Road the wind got up and started giving the trees a good shaking. I looked at the black cloud being propelled across the Dee and thought to myself: "Aye, lad, you're in for it now!" Then it miraculously became sunny.

Parkgate 

I had a sit down when I got to the parade at Parkgate and had a scan round. At one point I counted ten marsh harriers, an embarrassment of riches. If the waders, ducks and starlings weren't being spooked by marsh harriers they were being made very nervous by great black-backs. A large, pale bird rose from the reeds halfway out. Another hen harrier, I wondered. A bittern, actually, and a very nice surprise too. There were plenty of little egrets and great white egrets dotted across the marsh, as well as many hundreds more pink-feet, teals and wigeon. 

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

Marsh harriers, Parkgate

Marsh harrier, Parkgate

As I walked past the Ship Inn a small flock of snipe were flushed by yet another marsh harrier. There were so many carrion crows about I almost missed the pair of ravens cronking at each other over the marsh grass. There were crowds of teal and lapwings in the pools near the parade, a pair of shelduck feeding in the nearest pool with a bunch of mallards and a couple of pintails. A male kestrel that had been hovering over the marsh's edge had a rush of blood to its head and it had a go at grabbing a teal. He missed his lunge and found himself having to negotiate his way through a panicked crowd of teal and lapwings as they rose as one and madly circled the pool.

Lapwings, Parkgate

Great white egret, Parkgate

I was running out of steam by the time I got to The Boathouse. I noticed the next 22 bus back to Chester was due in quarter of an hour. It's an hourly service, I debated carrying on a while and getting the next bus but to be honest I didn't have another hour and a quarter's birdwatching left in me, especially given there was only twenty-five minutes' sunlight left. I'd had a very good walk and some excellent birds, there was no need to spoil it by being greedy. I got the bus to Chester, strolled over to the station and struck lucky with the train back to Manchester. It's nice when it works that way.

Parkgate 

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

Parkgate

Barn owl

It occurred to me that what with one thing and another it's been a few years since I last visited Parkgate. I was checking the train times and connections to Neston when I noticed there's a regular 487 bus service through to Parkgate from Liverpool. It worked out at four pounds cheaper, arriving at Neston ten minutes later than the train (assuming both connections worked) and at Parkgate about ten minutes before I would have had I walked. So I got the train to Liverpool and got the bus to Parkgate.

The journey into Liverpool was dead quiet up to Warrington (and standing room only from Widnes because it had been cut to two coaches). There were lots of woodpigeons in the trees all the way along the line. As we passed by the landscaped tip near Rixton the train disturbed a buzzard perched by the track, which disturbed a flock of chaffinches and a hovering kestrel as it flew off. There were more gulls than last time I did this journey with a distinct transition from mainly black-headed gulls up to Hough Green with mainly herring gulls on into Liverpool.

The bus journey was a rare treat and took just under an hour. Past Bebington I was the only passenger, we picked a couple more up at Thornton Hall.

Parkgate Marsh

It had been sunny when I left Manchester but raining in Liverpool. I needn't have worried though, it was overcast but dry at Parkgate. The Met Office reckoned it was 7°C but I wasn't convinced and the keening wind didn't back up the Met Office's argument any. Excellent walking weather.

The first bird I saw as I got off the bus was a male kestrel hovering over reedbed by the promenade. Looking out I could see a few mallards and teal on one of the pools and the first of a bumper bundle of marsh harriers. 

Marsh harrier

The promenade was very busy. As I walked down I'd have to hop onto the wall every so often for a scan of the marsh. More mallard and teal, a few distant wigeon, a lot of distant pink-feet. And more marsh harriers. At one point I had four in my field of view, floating over the marsh and putting up flocks of teal, redshanks and lapwings. The first egret of the day was a great white that was spooked by a male hen harrier that had flown in close to terrorise the teal in one of the pools. It was ten minutes after that I saw the first little egret.

Great white egret

Approaching The Boathouse there was another couple of great white egrets in the reeds with a couple of herons and rather a lot of woodpigeons. The "woodpigeons" feeding on a small rise a little further out turned out to be half a dozen stock doves.

I stopped for a few minutes at the car park and added a few meadow pipits and linnets to the tally.

The Boathouse

I walked down the path between the marsh and the golf course. More of the same but I was getting better views of the passing redshanks and curlews. A bunch of carrion crows were larking about on some fenceposts until a couple of the marsh harriers came too close. They were only slightly less jumpy when a raven cronked past.

The birdwatching was great but I wasn't enjoying the walk, it was far too busy (my own fault for choosing to do it this week). The light was starting to dim so I made my way back to the car park and propped myself up against the wall for a twilight vigil.

Another raven flew overhead. Hundreds of distant pink-feet flew in from the estuary. More mallards and teal flew into the reedbeds and small flocks of lapwings and starlings started to fly in to roost. The great white egrets were still out there, half a dozen herons lurked in the reeds by the car park and a few little egrets settled into distant pools.

Barn owl: first sighting

I'm not sure how I managed to stay socially-distanced against the wall but I did. The crowd that had built up suddenly went quiet. We'd all spotted it at the same moment. A barn owl slowly floated low over the reeds like so much tissue paper in the breeze. It came in close, less than fifty yards. Judging by the length of time it was down on the ground a couple of pounces were successful. After a quarter of an hour's sheer delight it flew off into the distance.

Barn owl

After one last look towards the owl I turned back to find myself watching a male hen harrier just over a hundred yards away making one last pass to make sure the lapwings and starlings knew he was there. They took the hint and took flight, together with flocks of a few dozen each of meadow pipits and linnets and a couple of skylarks.

Calm returned as the harrier moved on. Then not ten minutes later the barn owl was back, quartering the reedbeds in front of the car park wall. The light was pretty poor by now, so I was having to set the camera shutter speed manually, and getting better results as a consequence. I don't know why I keep forgetting to do this when I'm taking pictures at twilight.

Barn owl

Barn owl

Barn owl

Barn owl

Barn owl

The owl moved on and I decided I best had, too, I was starting to feel the cold. I'd let myself miss the half four bus from Neston to Liverpool so I'd have to wait for the half five from Parkgate and it was probably a good idea to walk down and have one last scan of the marsh from the benches before the last of the light.

Along the way I marvelled that the female kestrel hovering by the beer garden at the Boathouse could see anything on the ground given all the background light. It didn't seem to bother her, she managed to catch something smaller than a vole and flew off to enjoy its meal on one of the old fenceposts in the reeds.

A lot of disgruntled quacking alerted me to a female marsh harrier quartering the reeds a couple of hundred yards out from the bus stop. 

Parkgate

I had a while to wait yet so I decided to get the week's shop done in Neston. As I walked over in the dark a couple of flocks of pink-feet flew low overhead.

Got the bus at Neston, into Liverpool in time for the train to Irlam and a short wait for the train home. A very excellent afternoon.