MOORE NATURE RESERVE AND DECCA POOLS

I visited Moore Nature Reserve again this morning, hoping to get some photos of the Bitterns that have taken up winter residence here, but of course, today being my only day off this week the weather was crap, not only that the hide at the eastern reed bed must be the most exposed in Cheshire, if only they'd put a roof on it. Anyway, after a good hour and a half in constant driving rain and wind, I gave up. Birds of note were Kingfisher, Pochard, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon and a Cetti's warbler.

Eastern reed bed hide

Kingfisher

Gadwall

 Teal

 Pochard

 Heronry behind the Eastern reed bed

Walking back to the car, I connected with a Long-tailed tit flock moving through the trees, amongst them were 2 Goldcrests and a Willow Tit, which was a real bonus. There were also good numbers of Siskins and Redpolls as I walked towards Pumphouse pool.

 Sisken

On arrival at Pumphouse pool, I was hoping to jam in on the Glaucous gull, which was reported yesterday, but again there were plenty of gulls loafing about, and they were nearly all Black headed gulls, and it was the same on Birchwood pool when I arrived there. I did see a Bullfinch, though, which has been my bogey bird of the year so far, and a Woodcock was seen flying over the tip from Birchwood pool and a single Oystercatcher overhead.

Bullfinch

Walking down Lapwing lane towards the feeding station, I saw 3 Great spotted woodpeckers, Goldfinch and at least another 20 Siskins in the trees.

Lapwing Lane

On reaching the feeding station at the bottom of Lapwing Lane, another Woodcock was flushed. And a Sparrowhawk was overhead. There was no sign of any Willow tits again on the feeders, but this was probably due to the number of squirrels knocking about. I counted at least ten.

Grey Squirrel

Walking back to the car, I received a text that the White fronted goose was still showing on the Wirral behind Decca pools, which is a scarce bird in our county, so that would be the next stop, after a bit of lunch and hot brew.

If you haven't visited Moore Nature Reserve, there is a map below of the area. It's a cracking reserve and well worth putting a few hours of birding in.

Anyway, on arrival at Decca pools, thankfully, a birder was already on the White fronted goose; it would have been trying to find a needle in a haystack, being so distant, but it was on the list showing with Pink-footed geese. Other birds seen were, Great white egret and three Short-eared owls.

Great White Egret

Three Short-eared Owls were on the Marsh

Decca Pools

Lapwings, Wigeon and Dunlin were present on the pools

SATURDAY BIRDING

I arrived at Moore Nature Reserve near Warrington just before dawn this morning and added some great birds to my year list. I started off at the feeding station, where I spotted a Brambling, which was a nice highlight. However, I didn’t see anything else noteworthy, just common woodland species. I was surprised not to see any Willow Tits, as they are usually present and feeding in this area.

The feeding station was underwater

 Long Tailed Tits

Great Spotted Woodpecker

I then moved on to Birchwood pool and Pumphouse pool. where I had Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Teal, Shoveler and Goldeneye. No white winged gulls were seen, but there were plenty of other gull species around in good numbers. I then moved onto the eastern reed bed, where I had just missed the Bittern showing well and was well gripped off with the photos I was seeing from birders in the hide. Anyway, after a good two-hour wait in freezing cold wind, I had a brief flight view over the reed bed before the Bittern disappeared into the reeds, Cetti's warbler and a Kingfisher were also good additions.

 Eastern reed bed where two Bitterns have taken up residence this winter

This Robin kept me entertained in the hide whilst waiting for the elusive Bittern

Moving on from Moore, I headed to an undisclosed site to see a very rare and scarce bird in Cheshire and Wirral, the Marsh Tit. The birds have been resident at this site for several years.

Marsh Tit

After good views of the above, I headed towards Birkenhead to the docks to try and photograph the Scaup that my mate Allan Collin had found in the week. When I arrived at the east float dock, thanks to Allan's spot-on directions, it was blowing a hooley, there were waves in the dock, and then the hail started. It wasn't looking good, but I found the Scaup over the other side of the dock sheltering out the wind with Great crested grebes. There was no chance of any photos, so Allan has kindly let me use one of his photos of the first winter male.

East float dock-Birkenhead

Scaup 1st Winter male

Finishing off the birding day, I called in at New Brighton and got good views of Purple Sandpiper, Redshank and Dunlin on the pontoon.

 Dunlin

 Purple Sandpier

The Pontoon at New Brighton with Perch Rock lighthouse in the background

NORTH WALES DAYOUT

I set out early this morning with my son Dylan for a day's birding in North Wales. We soon made are way down the A55 and I had to stop to take a few photos of the Conwy Estuary as the sun came up, the views of Snowdonia were stunning.

Conwy Estuary and Snowdonia 

Conwy Castle

We soon arrived at Llanbedr-y-cennin and soon connected with five Hawfinches around the churchyard. After a good hour, a good number of birders had turned up to see these scarce birds when a Sparrowhawk flew through the churchyard and up to 11 Hawfinches appeared out of the conifers and flew west. I have never seen this number of Hawfinches at this site, so they must be doing well in the area.

Hawfinch

Plenty of birders were around this morning

After great views of the Hawfinches, we moved on to Penrhyn Bay, where we caught up with a Twite that had joined up with a flock of Linnets on the beach.

Twite

Moving along the beach, we walked up to the quarry at Little Orme, where a Black Redstart showed really well, along with a couple of Stonechats.

Stonechat

 Black Redstart

Looking down from the quarry to Angel Bay, the Grey seals, which breed here every year, were basking in the winter sun.

  Grey Seals

Other birds of note offshore were good numbers of Common Scoter and a Great Northern Diver. The Fulmars were showing really well in the quarry.

Fulmar

A quick call in at Pensarn beach on the way home, but there was no sign of any Snow Buntings. Another cracking morning birding with my son on the North Wales coast.

My son Dylan stood on the top of the Little Orme