Gull Friday

Getting back from a shopping trip for my dad I bumped into this Winter's first big congregation of black-headed gulls on the school playing field, and it really was a big one. More than one hundred and fifty of them in a white mass covering the centre of the field. Most of them were loafing or sleeping, a few at the edges of the crowd were worm-dancing, as were nearly all of the eight herring gulls out there. There were a couple of common gulls, too, but no sign of the lesser black-back that was on the field earlier in the morning.

By midday they were all gone. I've no idea what triggers these daytime crowds, nor what triggers their dispersal. As Winter rolls on I'll start to see progressively bigger flocks of gulls having one last feed and preen before going to roost. It's not often they get to be as big as one hundred and fifty birds, though. It'll be interesting to see if/how often they do.

Pennington Flash

Mallards, coot, Canada goose, black-headed gulls and mute swan

After looking through the list of lates and cancellations on this morning's train schedule I put today's plans on ice and decided I'd stick to the buses and mosey on over to Pennington Flash for an afternoon stroll.

I had to refill the bird feeders again today, the spadgers are going through the seed and fat balls like a dose of salts. As I was pouring a bagful of sunflower seeds into one of the tubes I wondered why the sparrows sitting in the rambling rose were making such a racket, the row usually dies down once they've established I've taken the hint. Then I glanced up. The male sparrowhawk was back and standing at the top of the rose bush. He tried a few passes, all an arm's length away and none successful, then flew into one of the sycamores on the railway embankment to watch and wait. It's scarcely surprising that he should frequent such a busy feeding station. I'd hate for him to take one of the sparrows and I'd hate that he should starve, I'll just have to be content to let nature take its course, which it will do anyway whether I like it or not. It's one of those complex moral puzzles that are best resolved by pretending it's not there.

Mallards, coots, Canada geese and black-headed gull

None of the bus connections worked for me today so it was mid-afternoon by the time I arrived at Pennington Flash. It had turned into a bright but very windy afternoon and nearly all the small birds along the path to the car park were keeping well undercover. The exceptions were a family of long-tailed tits which didn't seem to notice the branches were bouncing about more than they were.

Black-headed gulls, Canada geese and the car park oystercatcher 

There was a concentration of waterfowl and black-headed gulls by the corner of the car park, partly for passing feeders of the ducks but mostly because every time they ventured out into the water the wind blew them back to the bank. Small groups of pochard and tufted ducks fared better in the shelter of the bank at the mouth of the brook opposite.

Lesser black-back 

Walking through the car park against the wind I decided that as far as gullwatching was concerned if it wasn't immediately identifiable I wasn't going to identify it. There were plenty of herring gulls and lesser black-backs out on the flash along with a few common gulls and a handful of great black-backs. It was pure luck that I spotted an adult Mediterranean gull in the waves, luckily they're the only gulls that size and shape that are almost pure white.

Kestrel 

The spit at the Horrocks Hide was almost completely flooded over, just a couple of islands for Canada geese and lapwings to loaf on. The hide's closed because the ramp up to the entrance has rotted. A few cormorants sat on posts at the end of the spit and coots and black-headed gulls congregated in the channel. I only realised there were fifty-odd lapwings when they were spooked by a hunting kestrel and they took flight.

Along the path to the Tom Edmondson Hide 

The path to the Tom Edmondson Hide was very quiet of small birds, just a couple of blue tits and robins. The pools either side were busy with teal, gadwall and shovelers and the sky busy and noisy with black-headed gulls. 

Herons and coot

The pool at the Tom Edmondson Hide was modestly busy with coots, shovelers and mallards while half a dozen herons loafed and lurked on the banks. Every so often one would utter an ear-piercing shriek, take flight, circle the pool and land again amidst a welter of ear-piercing shrieks from its confrères.

At Ramsdales 

Ramsdales was awash, tiny islands marking the highest points of the usual little islands. A pair of goosanders cruised round while a raft of tufted ducks and coots dozed at the entrance of the bight. Further out I spotted the only great-crested grebe of the day, being so low slung and not having a lot of superstructure in Winter they're difficult to spot on choppy water.

At Pengy's 

I was surprised to see there was still bits of ice on the sheltered parts of the pool at Pengy's Hide. There was plenty enough open water for a few mute swans to mingle with the gadwalls, coots and tufties.

Reed buntings 

The sun was low enough not to be shining into the feeding station at the Bunting Hide. Half a dozen mallards and moorhens fed in the puddles and pools around the feeders while squirrels scampered about managing to keep their feet dry. A dozen reed buntings were taking cover in the bushes with a couple of chaffinches. They eventually broke cover and started feeding on the fat balls and I confirmed the folly of trying to take photographs of active small birds in light requiring one-fifteenth of a second's exposure. Half a dozen dunnocks crept in for a late supper as did a few robins which ended up spending more time chasing each other off than actually feeding.

Pennington Flash 

I was treated to a splendid sunset on the flash. There was the usual melee of gulls as incomers checked to see if there was anything worth having round the car park before going to roost. I checked them out, just in case. Most were black-headed gulls and a variety of ages of herring gulls and lesser black-backs with a few common gulls, including quite a few first-Winter birds. It was while I was making sure I wouldn't keep confusing myself whenever I see a first-Winter common gull that I spotted a second-Winter yellow-legged gull amongst the crowd. A nice easy spot for once, a chunky gull with a white head, dark grey saddle and clean black tail band.

Pennington Brook

As the sun set over there I wended my way back to St Helens Road for the bus back to Leigh. It had been a very productive couple of hours' wander.

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 

Home thoughts

The morning started with a huge kerfuffle just after daybreak as the local male sparrowhawk made an appearance at the bird feeders. He bounced around making passes and darts through the rambling rose but the spadgers successfully retreated into the evergreens where their shoutings of defiance and panic were misinterpreted by the spadgers across the railway line as come-hither noises and they, too, dived for cover as quickly as they arrived. (I have a Pyracantha growing through the rose and a viburnum just behind.) The sparrowhawk gave up after five minutes or so and headed off for better pickings round the railway station. I muttered rude things throughout as the sun was directly ahead at head height so I had to squint to watch the proceedings and photos were out of the question.

It was a busy old day thereafter so by mid-afternoon I made sure to refill all the feeders, the weather's looking dodgy for tomorrow.

• Black-headed gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blue tit 1
• Collared dove 2
• Feral pigeon 1
• Great tit 2
• House sparrow 16
• Jackdaw 1
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Sparrowhawk 1
• Starling 3
• Woodpigeon 1 

The gulls were out in force on the school playing field. A fox came out to sun itself by the netball pitch but slunk off after ten minutes, fed up of the attentions of magpies and jackdaws.

• Black-headed gull 45
• Common gull 2
• Feral pigeon 1
• Herring gull 7
• Jackdaw 16
• Lesser black-back 4
• Magpie 15
• Rook 3

Christmas

Barton Clough 

I needed a walk today to get the last minute shopping knots out of muscles. I was just about to head out mid-morning when I noticed the garden was unusually full of birds. Both troupes of spadgers were in, the males running the range of cheek colours from gingery beige through sands and greys to the last of the silver-white patriarchs. The blue tits and one of the coal tits nipped in and out at the feeders as best they could while a family of long-tailed tits did a lightning raid on the fat feeders by the rowan tree. A quick glance at the sky from the front door showed me the reason: a filthy black cloud was heading our way at a rate of knots and they were getting some scoff in before the rain hit.

• Blackbird 1
• Blue tit 2
• Coal tit 1
• Collared dove 1
• Dunnock 1
• Herring gull 1 overhead
• House sparrow 22
• Long-tailed tit 3
• Magpie 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 1
• Wren 1

The rain suited the gulls on the school playing field and a few more black-headed gulls flew in to join in with the worm-dancing.

• Black-headed gull 36
• Carrion crow 1
• Common gull 1
• Herring gull 6
• House sparrow 2
• Jackdaw 3
• Lesser black-back 1
• Magpie 8
• Rook 3
• Starling 1 

It became a pleasant sunny lunchtime so I had a quick stroll around the local patch before heading off for a turkey dinner. The park was relatively quiet save for robins and magpies but there was plenty about in the old cornfields.

• Black-headed gull 5
• Blackbird 4
• Blue tit 3
• Bullfinch 1
• Carrion crow 3
• Chaffinch 1
• Feral pigeon 4
• Goldfinch 9
• Great tit 4
• Herring gull 3
• House sparrow 2
• Lesser black-back 2
• Long-tailed tit 1
• Magpie 21
• Redwing 10
• Robin 9
• Song thrush 1
• Starling 2
• Woodpigeon 5
• Wren 1

Lostock Park 

Etherow Country Park

Mandarin ducks, Etherow Country Park

I looked at the weather forecast and realised that Plans A and B were off the table as both depended on it's not being misty or foggy. So I grabbed an early lunch and nipped over to Stockport, there getting the 383 bus into Compstall for a wander round Etherow Country Park.

Etherow Country Park, with black-headed gulls 

There was a fair old mist rising up from the river and the boating lake, I spent a lot of the time this visit trying and failing to get romantic moody photos of misty woodland (the camera on my 'phone automatically sharpens the picture when it gets too fuzzy and the big camera's got a 150 - 500 lens on it which doesn't always lend itself to landscape photography). The light was pretty grim for big lens photography even though it was still only late lunchtime though this didn't stop me pushing my luck trying to take photos of ducks.

The boating lake was heaving with black-headed gulls and mallards. The farmyard geese nearly outnumbered the Canada geese. In part it could be that the latter haven't returned yet after last week's big freeze. I suspect avian flu could be a factor, too, I spotted two corpses in the pool. I had a chat with a lady in biohazard gear who was heading out to bag and bin them, she told me that DEFRA confirmed the flu outbreak here yesterday. We both hoped that it wouldn't be as bad as the outbreak at Sale Water Park where she'd also been tidying up to try to contain the epidemic. She was particularly worried about the family of mute swans that swam up to see if she had any food on her, apparently the matriarch had had the flu last year and got over it but lost a couple of cygnets to it. Grim stuff and I can't see any end in sight from the reports I've been reading.

Etherow Country Park 

Unlike last time, and despite the murky light, there were still a couple of mandarins on the little canal and more flew in to roost in the trees in the mill pool at the top near the weir. I had a scan of the river at the weir, the usual big white goose was on her usual big flat rock, honking at passing woodpigeons. The river was fast and high after the snow and rain. A movement in the slightly slower eddies amongst the rocks at the side of the river raised my hopes of seeing a dipper but turned out to be the top of the head of a foraging moorhen. I'd also had hopes for a grey wagtail or two, they'd been frozen out of their usual haunts on the Mersey last week. It looks like they were here, too, and haven't come back yet. I expect they're all with the hooligans on the sewage farms.

Keg Wood 

I had a brief wander around Keg Wood, I was feeling too stiff and achy in the cold and damp for a full circuit. Constant waves of jackdaws passed overhead, each making a racket on its way. There wasn't a lot to be seen, everything except the woodpigeons and squirrels were keeping under cover, and most of the undercover rustling came from raindrops dropping onto holly leaves. A few blue tits bounced through the beech saplings by the path while robins, wrens and blackbirds could be heard rummaging about in the undergrowth. 

Keg Wood 

I'd had a nice couple of hours' wander in the mizzle. The birdwatching wasn't hectic but a leisurely potter about before the festive hostilities is no bad thing.

Southport

Wigeon, teal, redshank, black-tailed godwit and lapwing, Crossens Inner Marsh

I'm still getting my head around the new train timetables, for the first time in nearly a decade there have been so many changes I'm having to learn from scratch again. The change in times for the trains into Manchester looked to work in my favour now for the Southport train, less so for the Barrow train connection so I decided on a day out in Southport.

The train journey behaved as it should. The snow had cleared but the canals in Bolton and Wigan were still frozen over, only starting to clear once we'd passed Gathurst. The usual common gull was in the paddock by Hoscar Station as we passed. It's unlikely to be being kept as a pet, it's probably just a rolling coincidence.  The rooks were nest-building at Burscough Bridge and some of the jackdaws were billing and cooing. I'll have to have a visit to Martin Mere via New Lane before the year's out, there were scores of black-headed gulls on the water treatment works today.

Arriving at Southport, I walked down to the marine lake. Herds of mute swans lorded it on the lake with flotillas of greylag geese. There weren't many mallards and tufted ducks were notable by their absence. The usual hordes of black-headed gulls and herring gulls lurked along the railings and lampposts and congregated anywhere it might be likely people may come to feed the ducks. Three cormorants were fishing for eels, with constant interference from a great black-back that knew an easy meal when he saw it struggling in the beak of a cormorant. One caught a whopper, almost the length of its neck, and spent an uncomfortable five minutes before it managed to get its meal down it.

Herring gulls, Southport

Snow bunting, Southport

Snow bunting, Southport

I walked down to Marine Drive and South of the pier to see if there were any snow buntings about. It was lowish tide and the wet sand was littered with redshanks and dunlins. Further out, shelducks dabbled in lingering puddles. A conversation with a passing birdwatcher confirmed there was a snow bunting a bit further down, in return I put him onto the best places to look for twite North of the pier. Looking at a picture of a snow bunting you would think they're very conspicuous but when you see where they're usually found in Winter you can see how well they blend in with wet sand and wrecked shellfish. I was lucky, the bunting was feeding on the sand between a pile of broken razor shells and a long line of puddles so it was easy to spot by eye. It spent a while rummaging and tugging at the debris before a dog walker came along. The bunting flew all of three feet the other side of the puddles to wait for the dog to pass by before going back to its beachcombing. They're quite blasé about people but they're not fond of dogs.

Pink-footed geese, Southport

Pink-footed geese, Southport

I took my own advice and went to look for the twite. I was in luck: thirty of them flew up from the sailing club car park and flew over the road where they disappeared into the salt marsh. I spent a while trying, and failing, to find them in the long grass. The skylarks, little egrets and pink-footed geese were far more accommodating, family parties of geese were grazing very close in to the footpath.

The 40 bus was due from Southport Links so I caught it into Marshside and walked up the cut onto the bund at the boundary between Marshside and Crossens Inner Marsh.

Wigeon, Marshside

The marshes had thawed completely and were more than half-flooded. There were wigeons and teals by the hundreds. I scanned them all on the off-chance I could sneak a last-minute addition to the year list but the teals were teals and the wigeons wigeons. I was surprised by how many of the wigeons were still in ginger eclipse this late in the year. As I walked along the bund the background noise was the whistles of the wigeons, squabbling black-tailed godwits and the chomp, chomp chomp of grazing waterfowl. Something spooked a large flock of starlings, which spooked the lapwings, which spooked the ducks. I looked for the culprit and while I was looking round a female sparrowhawk shot across the bund at knee height a few yards ahead of me.

Pink-footed geese and Canada geese. Crossens Outer Marsh

Crossens Outer Marsh was a lot quieter at first, mostly because it was so much drier than the inner marsh. The geese, mostly Canada geese with a few pink-feet, were way out on the marsh. Closer by were a family of greylags and a few shelducks, wigeons and teals. I'd got as far as the wildfowlers' pull-in when waves of Canada geese started to come over the marsh and over into the inner marsh. It took me a while to find the cause, a buzzard hunting over the marsh. I like and respect buzzards but I struggle to imagine one of them taking a Canada goose. A pink-footed goose would be another matter, they're distinctly smaller birds. More geese came over and started to loaf and graze near by on the outer marsh. Some of the pink-feet caught my eye as their feet glowed orange in the late afternoon sun but they were all pink-feet when I took another look. There were a few little egrets about. A large egret over by the far fence turned out to be two little egrets enjoying connubial bliss. 

Crossens Inner Marsh 

I crossed the road and walked down the path into Marshside. Marshside inner was very quiet, a few wigeon, teal and mallards with a pair of great black-backs on Polly's Pool. There were more mallards on the outer marsh, together with a dozen black-headed gulls. A great white egret popped its head up in the distance when the passing low overhead of a dozen herring gulls for some reason spooked skylarks and pink-feet alike. As the sun set Sandgrounders was even quieter than the rest of the inner marsh.

I had a look at the Junction Pool with no high hopes in the waning light and was rewarded by a crowd of pintails and teal dozing in the drowned grass and a dozen shovelers having a twilight feed.

As I walked down Marshside Road for the bus lapwings dozed, godwits squabbled and parties of little egrets and curlews passed overhead to roost. It hadn't been a bad outing.

Marshside sunset