CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 3RD NOVEMBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Whooper Swans x9 field Back Of Wet Grassland 
Cattle Egret x2 Main Scrape 
Dunlin x17 Main Scrape 
Ruff Main Scrape 
Peregrine Over Main Scrape 
Sparrowhawk Over Reception Pool 
Pintail x10 Bridge Pool 
Curlew x2 Bridge Screen 
Linnets 30+ By Railway Bridge 
Great White Egret x2 Burton Marsh From Point 
Marsh Harrier Burton Marsh From Point 
Cetti's Warbler IMF 
Stonechat x2 IMF 
Jack Snipe IMF 
Golden Plover x9 IMF 
Water Pipit Marsh Covert Hide 
Water Rail Reception Pool

Heswall Riverbank
Marsh Harrier(Male),Merlin(Female),Peregrine Falcon,2 Hen harrier(Male & Female),2 Great White Egret,Short-eared Owl and 4 Raven which flew south.


West Kirby Marine Lake
3 Goosander (Female) and a Scaup.


Burton Point
Hen Harrier (Immature ringtail),Merlin,Marsh Harrier,Peregrine Falcon,Raven and a Great White Egret.

Neston Marsh
2 Hen Harrier (Ringtail and an Adult male),7+ Marsh Harrier,Peregrine Falcon and 6+ Great White Egret.

Heswall Shore
415 Pink-footed Geese,190 Pintail,270 Teal,65 Little Egret,3600 Oystercatcher,94 Golden Plover,530 Lapwing,3000 Knot,375 Dunlin,865 Redshank,450 Black-tailed Godwit,870 Curlew and 4 Raven.

Hilbre Island
5 Purple Sandpiper,Shag and 368 Redshank along the gutter.

CHESHIRE
Hale
Water Pipit-Two in flight around marsh late afternoon,also a Short Eared Owl and 7 Great White Egret.A Cattle Egret-Flew northeast over Within Way and Hen Harrier(Ringtail) quartering at end of Within Way.

Astbury Mere
Brambling-Over and 2 Goosander.

Lawton Lake
36 Mandarin Duck.

CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 2ND NOVEMBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Great Egret Burton Marsh From Point 
Linnets x8 Railway Bridge 
Water Rail In Copse To IMF 
Dunlin x28 IMF
Water Pipit IMF Left Side of Hide
Pintail x8 Bridge Pool
Meadow Pipit Marsh Covert Hide
Sparrowhawk Fence Post In Front Reception
Whooper Swans x9 Main Scrape
Ruff x2 Main Scrape
Pink Footed Geese Wet Grassland
Peregrine Over Main Scrape
Kingfisher Burton Mere

Parkgate
6 Hen Harrier (2 Adult male,2 Juvenile male,2 Female,Juvenile,7 Marsh Harrier,Bittern flew to Neston Reed Bed,3 Short-eared Owl,Barn Owl and 2+ Great White Egret.


Neston Reedbed
2 Bittern,6 Marsh Harrier,Hen Harrier(Female) and a Short-eared Owl.


Leasowe Lighthouse
3 Crossbill and several Brambling over.

West Kirby Marine Lake
3 Goosander(Female) on lake,Eider (Female) on sand.

CHESHIRE
Frodsham Marshes
Ringtail Hen Harrier.

Marbury Country Park
Bittern-One in flight yesterday evening. 

Newchurch Common

Smew of unknown origin-Adult female on the large pool north of the track.

CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 1ST NOVEMBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Marsh Harrier Over Wet Grassland 
Pink Footed Geese Wet Grassland 
Peregrine Over Main Scrape 
Whooper Swans x3 Main Scrape
Ruff x2 Marsh Covert Hide
Hen Harrier Over Marsh Covert Hide
Pintail x2 Bridge Pool
Bearded Tits x2 Near Bridge Screen
Cetti's Warbler By 2 Gates Along Boardwalk
Dunlin x17 IMF
Water Rail IMF
Snipe IMF
Kingfisher Reception Pool
Green Sandpiper Reception Pool
Mediterranean Gulls Main Scrape
Water Pipit IMF

BEARDED TIT

(C)ELLIOT MONTIETH

Parkgate
Bittern,4 Marsh Harrier and 3 Hen Harrier(2 male and a Ringtail)..


Neston Reedbed
Bittern.


West Kirby Marine Lake
Scaup (juv).

CHESHIRE
Marbury Country Park
Firecrest-In spindly yew by Grotto sign, (opposite path to woodland hide). 

Hale
Goshawk-Female over south at 9:45.

CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 31ST OCTOBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Dunlin x22 IMF 
Pintail x4 Bridge Pool 
Jack Snipe (x2) 1IMF & 1MC Hide 
Water Pipit Marsh Covert Hide
Peregrine Over Marsh Covert Hide
Stonechat Bridge Screen
Common Gulls 200+ Main Scrape
Mediterranean Gulls x4 Main Scrape
Whooper Swans Field Back Of Wet Grassland
Pink Footed Geese Wet Grassland
Hen Harrier Over Wet Grassland

Red Rocks
630 Chaffinch and 6 Fieldfare over flying south.

Neston Reedbed
2 Bittern roosted.

Hilbre
Black Redstart-1st winter Male

CHESHIRE
Hale
Hen Harrier-Two ringtails flew south 07:15-08:15,Ring Ouzel and 2 Water Pipit on Duck decoy marsh.

Poynton Pool
Little egret,Water rail and 2 Ring necked parakeet's

BIRDGUIDES REVIEW OF RARE BIRDS THIS WEEK IN BRITAIN-24TH-30TH OCTOBER 2018

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BIRDGUIDES PHOTO OF THE WEEK 24TH-30TH OCTOBER 2018

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CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 30TH OCTOBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Whooper Swans x13 Field Back Of Wet Grassland 
Pink Footed Geese 2000+Wet Grassland 
Mediterranean Gull (Adult) Main Scrape 
Common Gulls x50+ Main Scrape
Snipe x10 Main Scrape
Hen Harrier Over Main Scrape
Ruff x4 Left Main Scrape
Curlew x6 From Marsh Covert Hide
Pintail x4 Bridge Pool
Dunlin x23 IMF
Golden Plover IMF
Stonechat x2 IMF
Mediterranean Gull (Juv 1st W) Main Scrape

Shotwick Fields
15 Whooper Swan including 2 on the Boating lake. 

West Kirby Marine Lake
Scaup (Juv).

Hilbre
197 Brent Geese, 178 Redshank, 2 Teal and 650 Starling.


Thurstaston Shore
3,400 Knot.

Parkgate
Bittern and 2 Hen Harrier (grey male and ringtail)- At dusk Bittern again flew towards Neston reedbed to roost.


Neston Reed Bed
7 Marsh Harrier,4 Hen Harrier (Incl 1 Grey male),2 Barn Owl and 2 Cetti's Warbler.

CHESHIRE
Hale
2 Water Pipit and a Jack Snipe.

PROBABLE STEJNEGER'S STONECHAT-October 29th 2018

An “Eastern” Stonechat was found last week in fields at Salthouse in Norfolk.After much debate all week with birding friends and further reading on this species, I decided to go and see it. Currently, this species can only be validated 100% by DNA analysis, which thankfully was collected last week and sent off. This was my first opportunity to observe this taxon since the adoption of IOC taxonomy, giving Stejnegeri as a full species.

Sean Cole rang me on Friday morning offering to drive, so I asked Malc Curtin if he was up for it, and he was, and also Cliff Smith, car full! WERE GOING!I picked Malc up from Northwich at 4.30am, and we headed across the country to meet Sean and Cliff. A quick change of car and we were on site for just before 10.00am with plenty of red kites and thrush movement keeping us all awake on the way. I soon got on the bird after we arrived, but the bird flew into a hawthorn bush. The bird was really elusive, but we did get a few flight views of it. The bird then went missing as it had flown quite a long way from where it was originally, so I headed back there. Me and Cliff stood scanning the fields when the bird flew around us and popped up in a bush, giving good views before flying off again.

 Probable Stejneger’s Stonechat-Salthouse, Norfolk

This was a really interesting-looking bird, but I couldn't believe how elusive it was. Anyway, the bird appeared again in the reeds and then flew into the fields and showed distantly for a while. I will just have to wait now for the DNA to come back for confirmation that it is a Stejneger's Stonechat, and it could also be my 500th bird for Britain 😀.

The Twitch

There have been three previous records of Stejneger’s Stonechat:
2016 Landguard-Suffolk-1CY male S. m. stejnegeri,trapped, 6th–7th October.
2016 Spurn-East Yorkshire-1CY female S. m. stejnegeri-22nd–26th October.
2012 Portland Bill-Devon-first-winter male,trapped 24th to 26th October.

After good views of the bird, we moved on to Cley and did some seawatching, which was really good, and we saw some great birds:
1 Great Northern Diver
1 Black-Throated Diver
2 Red-Throated Diver
5 Pomarine Skuas
1 Slavonian Grebe
10+Red Breasted Merganser
4 Great Skua
18 Teal
1 Long-Tailed Skua
14 Wigeon
30+ Common Scoter
200+ Kittiwake
7 Little Auk
1 Short-Eared Owl—Off the Sea.
2 Manx Shearwater
18 Brent Geese
13 Goldeneye
30+ Gannets
5 Razorbill
9 Guillemot

Cliff, Malcolm, and Sean enjoying the seawatch

After freezing conditions, we headed back into Wells for some well-deserved fish and chips, arriving home just after 10 p.m. A great day birding and hopefully another lifer on the list!

CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 29TH OCTOBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Water Rail x2 1IMF & 1Bridge Screen 
Water Pipit IMF Left Side of Hide 
Dunlin x17 IMF 
Jack Snipe x2 1IMF & 1MC Hide
Linnets 20+ Blrdcrop Field
Pintail x4 Bridge Pool
Ruff x2 Main Scrape
Sparrowhawk Main Scrape
Pink Footed Geese Wet Grassland
Whooper Swans x7 Field Back Of Wet Grassland
Kingfisher Over Reception Pool
Cetti's Warbler Near IMF Hide
Golden Plover x15 IMF
Merlin Over Main Scrape
2 Bearded Tit
Curlew Sandpiper
6 Whooper Swan
4,500 Pink-footed Geese

Parkgate
4 Hen Harrier,6-7 Marsh Harrier,3 Great White Egret,4 Brambling,2 Merlin and a Bittern off Old Baths

Leasowe Lighthouse
160 Chaffinch,12 Brambling,30 Greenfinch,16 Siskins,20 Skylarks,24 Reed Buntings,6 Redwing a and  Fieldfare

Heswall Marsh
240 Pink-footed Geese,18 Barnacle Geese (presumed feral) and 54 Golden Plover.

West Kirby Marine Lake
Scaup (juv).

CHESHIRE

Newchurch Common

Smew of unknown origin-Adult female on the large pool north of the track.

CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL BIRD NEWS 28TH OCTOBER 2018

WIRRAL
Burton RSPB
Pink Footed Geese 2500+ Wet Grassland 
Stonechat x2 Near Bunker 
Mediterranean Gull (1st W) Main Scrape 
Cetti's Warbler Far End boardwalk
Whooper Swans x6 Border Pool
Bearded Tit (Heard) Near Marsh Covert Hide
Spoonbill x3 Main Scrape
Sparrowhawk Over Main Scrape
Golden Plover IMF
Dunlin x20 IMF
Nuthatch Feeder By Reception
Hen Harrier Near Marsh Covert Hide
Linnets Flock Near Railway Bridge
Water Pipit-Marsh Covert hide

Hilbre Island

3 Purple Sandpiper,6 Whooper Swan (flying east),2 Long-tailed Duck,116 Turnstone,24 Wigeon,2 Brambling,8 Skylark and a  Rock Pipit.

Leasowe Lighthouse

6 Whooper Swan flying east over and Water Rail on River Birket by Lingham bridge.

Gilroy,West Kirby

Water Rail.

Hoylake

3 Eider (1 male & 2 fem) flew east before high tide.

Denhall Quay
2 Hen Harrier(Grey male and ringtail).

CHESHIRE
Hale
2 Water Pipit and Yellow wagtail flew over south-Town lane flood.Chiffchaff by Curlender Way,Merlin on Hale Marsh,2 Little Grebe on Decoy,Merlin,Little Owl Within Way,2 Great White Egret and 3 Whooper Ince Marshes.


Handforth
7 Whooper Swan's over.