No photos as I accidentally deleted them all from my camera!
7th October
After the strong NW winds of the last day or so, early morning found me parked up at Fort Perch Rock. Within five minutes I found a Leach’s Petrel trying to battle its way out of the river. In reality the poor bird would make perhaps a hundred yards and then be blown backwards only to start the forward progress again. I watched this single bird do this several times when suddenly a gull flying past caught my eye. I quickly followed it and realised it was a juvenile Sabine’s Gull. I tracked it for a short time and then a shearwater flashed past so I briefly diverted onto this. It was a Manxie so I tracked back but couldn’t re-find the Sabs.
A Great Crested Grebe ended up in the same straits as the Leach’s – it tried to fly out and ended up going backwards before giving up and settling on the river. An adult Little Gull flew past and then a 2cy Mediterranean Gull, 4 Arctic Terns, a Fulmar and a further 4 Leach’s Petrels. Finally 2 Red-throated Divers flew past and then I ran out of time. Good start to the day though. I did however manage to somehow miss every Skua that passed out of the river during that period – apparently there were a few!
A visit to HGF yielded little today. The ringed juvenile Mute Swan was still keeping its distance, the Wigeon flock had increased to 4 and a covey of 7 Grey Partridges was near the kennels. Three Buzzards were also seen.
At the feeding station in Waterworks Lane the mixed sparrow flock comprised 19 Tree and 37 House with 5 Grey Partridges also there. While stood in the garden late morning a Swallow flew overhead – first one for a while.
Late afternoon I visited Rixton. Five Wheatears in a ploughed field off Holly Bush Lane were a nice treat. A flock of 90+ Linnets was buzzing around and on the pool at the base of the tip was a Green Sandpiper. A Little Grebe was present on Moat Lane pool 1 and a Sparrowhawk circled overhead. A late evening walk down Barrow Lane with Bill yielded nothing other than 20+ Tree Sparrows.
8th October.
I thought I would spend a Saturday morning at Leasowe Gunsite this morning. The wind of the last few days was just as strong, however the direction had veered off and it was relatively quiet. I saw a distant Leach’s Petrel pass through but little else. After a while I noticed a gang of around a dozen juvenile Herring Gulls showing a keen interest in something on the water surface quite close in. That something turned out to be a knackered Guillemot and for the next half an hour they repeatedly harried it while their unfortunate victim repeatedly dived to try and get away.
The Guillemot earned an unexpected reprieve when a second and very knackered looking Leach’s Petrel flew through the gang of tormentors and the gulls subsequently left the Guillemot and set off in pursuit of their new target. What followed was a master class in evasion. Even looking half dead the Leach’s seemed to just side slip and ease away each time a gull got near and even with a dozen birds after it, they never looked like laying a feather on the petrel. Amazing to watch.
I then headed off to Parkgate. A large Peregrine was causing havoc and chased a Curlew over the salt marsh – not sure if it caught it. A Greenshank was on one of the pools while a couple of Ravens were out on the marsh. 15 Little Egrets were also in the vicinity and a Swallow flew through.
In the afternoon, back home, the weather deteriorated with rain adding to the wind. I made quick visits to HGF (a pair of Mute Swans were new) and the feeding station (15 Tree Sparrows seen) and then an evening visit to Barrow Lane with Bill. Earlier Jonathan had seen some Golden Plovers – I eventually found two, way out in the field past Parkside Farm. A few Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Grey Partridges were also around.
9th October
After eventually clambering out of bed this morning I decided to head back over to the Wirral for a bit. I turned up at the Donkey Stand Flash, Parkgate and just sat on a bench watching the marsh. A few waders were around including 18 Dunlin and 6 Ringed Plovers. 11 Swallows flew through. At one point, around high tide, a hidden channel seemed to be attracting interest and around a dozen Little Egrets plus herons and various other species descended upon this area. Eventually I also spotted a Great White Egret, way out on the marsh. Jonathan and Ste then turned up and I had a natter before heading off to Burton Marsh. This was disappointing – a fly through Swallow and another couple of Ravens were the only birds of note.
16 Tree Sparrows were seen at the feeding station today. A stroll down Barrow Lane late evening produced the two Golden Plovers from yesterday still present and a large gull flock comprising around 280 LBBG’s. A Linnet flock (90+) and 27 Skylarks were also seen.
10th October
No birding.
11th October
No birding again.
12th October.
Late evening visit to HGF in the drizzle. The Wigeon flock has increased to 5. A covey of 14 Grey Partridges was in Waterworks Lane. In more drizzle I walked Bill down Barrow Lane and saw nothing. I did bump into David Bowman, a fellow birder who lives just a few doors down from me. He has lived there since Feb and this is the first time I have seen him! On the way back down the lane I saw a flock of 27 Tree Sparrows perched on the top of a small hedge in the middle of the field.
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