Photos
Adult Sabine's Gull, Heysham
5th September
Early morning visit to HGF. A covey of 38 Grey Partridges was on the lawn in the south field. A single Meadow Pipit also in the south field and the Teal is still present. One Kestrel and two Buzzards also seen.
6th September
An evening visit to HGF yielded little. The only thing new was a couple of Canada Geese. The covey of four Grey Partridges were hanging around near the feeding station in Waterworks Lane.
7th September
After work with the recent strong winds I decided to give Leasowe Gunsite another go. Jonathan and Ste were already there but hadn’t seen much. After around a quarter of an hour I noticed a skua-like bird which seemed to emerge from the cloud front which was blowing over the bay. It quickly disappeared in the general direction of the Mersey. A few minutes later and same again. Then two birds emerged together and briefly tangled – the views they gave confirmed Arctic Skua but again they were blown over towards the Mersey and disappeared.
After that it was a little disappointing with the main interest provided by a flock of 8 Guillemots which flew past pretty close in followed by singles of first Arctic Tern and then Common Tern. Further out at least 10 Sandwich Terns passed through and then in the distance a juvenile Gannet which was clearly struggling. On the beach a sprinkling of Sanderlings passed by. Later three distant Manx Shearwaters also passed through.
After I while of not a lot I headed off to Fort Perch Rock to view the Mersey mouth. Shortly after pulling up I spotted a Leach’s Petrel battling out of the river directly opposite. It appeared to ditch onto the river surface – around ten minutes later presumably the same bird flew up again and headed out. Shortly after I found a Storm Petrel which was in the same line as the Leach’s but much closer to shore and gave some really good views. Another twenty minutes passed without anything else appearing and the light started to fade rapidly so I went home.
8th September
Early morning I visited Frodsham Marsh as I happened to be in the area. When I rolled up at No. 6 tank I noticed two flocks of waders in the air. One, comprising 101 Black-tailed Godwits, landed in the water. The other disappeared. Upon scanning the far side of the tank I found a third party of waders – 34 Curlew Sandpipers!!! As I stood watching the waders I became aware of a few Yellow Wagtails flying overhead and calling constantly. This went on for around 10-15 minutes and I initially assumed it was the same few. I then followed a couple through the bins and watched them descend onto the flat. Suddenly some more appeared on the mud and some more from behind clumps of vegetation. A very conservative estimate was 38 Yellow Wagtails! Suddenly a juvenile Peregrine appeared and flushed everything – it chased a Curlew Sandpiper which became isolated from the flock. The wader escaped and the falcon departed, however so did the Yellow Wags.
A trip to HGF today produced nothing new other than a drake Pochard.
Late afternoon I was lucky enough to be in N Lancs and headed off to Heysham to see if the Sabine’s Gull was still around. On the way to the outflows I met several other birders who gave me the bad news. “Left twenty minutes ago”! “Flew fast and low over the sand and out of sight”! Great stuff! I decided to head over there anyway and met some more birders who also told me the gull had done one.
I plonked myself down by outflow two and spent half an hour or so watching the various terns here. There were at least four Sandwich Terns, the same number of Arctic Terns and two Common Terns and also the usual two Little Gulls. It was very entertaining watching these birds and trying to separate the commic terns. Suddenly the Sabs Gull turned up again and gave some spectacular views for the next half an hour or so. Stunning bird! Shortly after the Sab ‘s went off to follow a ferry in and disappeared. A Peregrine flew over.
Early morning visit to HGF. A covey of 38 Grey Partridges was on the lawn in the south field. A single Meadow Pipit also in the south field and the Teal is still present. One Kestrel and two Buzzards also seen.
6th September
An evening visit to HGF yielded little. The only thing new was a couple of Canada Geese. The covey of four Grey Partridges were hanging around near the feeding station in Waterworks Lane.
7th September
After work with the recent strong winds I decided to give Leasowe Gunsite another go. Jonathan and Ste were already there but hadn’t seen much. After around a quarter of an hour I noticed a skua-like bird which seemed to emerge from the cloud front which was blowing over the bay. It quickly disappeared in the general direction of the Mersey. A few minutes later and same again. Then two birds emerged together and briefly tangled – the views they gave confirmed Arctic Skua but again they were blown over towards the Mersey and disappeared.
After that it was a little disappointing with the main interest provided by a flock of 8 Guillemots which flew past pretty close in followed by singles of first Arctic Tern and then Common Tern. Further out at least 10 Sandwich Terns passed through and then in the distance a juvenile Gannet which was clearly struggling. On the beach a sprinkling of Sanderlings passed by. Later three distant Manx Shearwaters also passed through.
After I while of not a lot I headed off to Fort Perch Rock to view the Mersey mouth. Shortly after pulling up I spotted a Leach’s Petrel battling out of the river directly opposite. It appeared to ditch onto the river surface – around ten minutes later presumably the same bird flew up again and headed out. Shortly after I found a Storm Petrel which was in the same line as the Leach’s but much closer to shore and gave some really good views. Another twenty minutes passed without anything else appearing and the light started to fade rapidly so I went home.
8th September
Early morning I visited Frodsham Marsh as I happened to be in the area. When I rolled up at No. 6 tank I noticed two flocks of waders in the air. One, comprising 101 Black-tailed Godwits, landed in the water. The other disappeared. Upon scanning the far side of the tank I found a third party of waders – 34 Curlew Sandpipers!!! As I stood watching the waders I became aware of a few Yellow Wagtails flying overhead and calling constantly. This went on for around 10-15 minutes and I initially assumed it was the same few. I then followed a couple through the bins and watched them descend onto the flat. Suddenly some more appeared on the mud and some more from behind clumps of vegetation. A very conservative estimate was 38 Yellow Wagtails! Suddenly a juvenile Peregrine appeared and flushed everything – it chased a Curlew Sandpiper which became isolated from the flock. The wader escaped and the falcon departed, however so did the Yellow Wags.
A trip to HGF today produced nothing new other than a drake Pochard.
Late afternoon I was lucky enough to be in N Lancs and headed off to Heysham to see if the Sabine’s Gull was still around. On the way to the outflows I met several other birders who gave me the bad news. “Left twenty minutes ago”! “Flew fast and low over the sand and out of sight”! Great stuff! I decided to head over there anyway and met some more birders who also told me the gull had done one.
I plonked myself down by outflow two and spent half an hour or so watching the various terns here. There were at least four Sandwich Terns, the same number of Arctic Terns and two Common Terns and also the usual two Little Gulls. It was very entertaining watching these birds and trying to separate the commic terns. Suddenly the Sabs Gull turned up again and gave some spectacular views for the next half an hour or so. Stunning bird! Shortly after the Sab ‘s went off to follow a ferry in and disappeared. A Peregrine flew over.
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