Freak Tidings

Today was good evidence of why tide forecasts are only rough estimates. A relatively modest high water of 9.35 metres was predicted for Liverpool this afternoon, but exceptional random factors pushed it considerably higher after lunch with the whole of Oakenholt Marsh under water before it started to ebb – something that normally only happens when the tide is around 10 metres and over!

(I remember reading that air pressure has a much higher influence on the height of a tide than one would expect. The sea level rises or sinks by one centimetre per decrease or increase in atmospheric pressure of one millibar).

There were very impressive numbers of wading birds at Connah’s Quay again this afternoon with the rising water ensuring that the big flocks of shorebirds assembling from all over the bottom reaches of the estuary were in a constant state of flux looking for the ever-decreasing areas of exposed marsh.

A lone light-bellied Brent Goose was probably the bird of the day, found feeding in the channel over towards White Sands, although it was in good company sharing the area with two Bewicks and at least thirty Whoopers.

Connah’s Quay NR 6.12.09

Oystercatcher 4,000+
Lapwing c2,500
Knot 400
Dunlin 300
Blackwit 200
Spotted Redshank 2
Brent Goose (hrota) 1
Bewick’s Swan 2
Whooper Swan 30+
Keith Duckers 1
David Jennings 1 (thanks for the sweet!)
Mute Birder 1

Inner Marsh Farm was relatively quiet this morning, with the best bird found at the back of the car park – a cracking Green Woodpecker. Five Siskins too, feeding on the alders near the boardwalk and a flock of sixty Linnet near the railway bridge.

Until later.

Slow Food

Winter can give many birders the heebie-jeebies; the low-slung sun, hours of darkness and long spells of foul weather can drive us to fervently pray for the advent of spring.

Thankfully, excellent nature documentaries such as last night’s Natural World on BBC2 and clear and calm days like today – when the marsh seems to sink down into the earth and let the tide flow over it - just about provide us with enough bird methadone to last until the arrival of the first Wheatear.

The highlight at Connah’s Quay this morning was watching a pair of Peregrines chasing down a Redshank. I have seen these falcons hunt in tandem before, but never so closely and so systematically. The raptors were taking it in turn to chase the wader, each pursuing it for around thirty seconds before letting the other bird take over. After about nine or ten shifts, the male eventually caught the Redshank and interestingly gave the quarry straight to the female!?

This method of hunting must surely make good sense. Although the reward is halved, the chances of a successful kill must improve by more than double, making it a much more efficacious tactic than hunting alone.

Other birds of note included at least five Spotted Redshank roosting in the creek over towards Flint, and also the same number of Greenshank doing exactly the same over on the bunded pools.

A female Goosander also fished briefly in front of the west hide at high tide. Like an emerging submarine the duck seemed to materialise from nowhere and it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, taking flight and heading south down the River Dee.

Connah’s Quay 4.12.09

Spotted Redshank 5
Greenshank 5
Oystercatcher 1,750
Redshank 300
Black-tailed Godwit 150
Dunlin 150
Curlew 50
Goosander 1 (female)
Wigeon 620
Teal 350
Shelduck 100
Peregrine 2
GC Grebe 5
Bullfinch 1

Until later.

Fast Food

Another cold but clear morning enticed me down to the west hide at Connah’s Quay NR early doors for the high tide.

With its gleaming white belly a Spotted Redshank stood out like a sore thumb in a flock of Commons and they were soon joined by larger flock of Dunlin eyeing nervously a circling male Peregrine.

The flock of six thousand Blackwits present in October looks like it has dispersed now – one solitary bird was in the channel this morning with no sign of any other birds near Flint.

The Ash Pool was relatively quiet; a Jack Snipe was reported from the reserve on Monday and given this is the most likely spot I had a search through the vegetation. No joy, but there was a rather dapper drake Pochard.

Driving to the field studies centre I nearly had the opportunity to dine Hugh Fearnley-Whittinghall style on fresh roadkill, as I narrowly avoided running over a speedy Red-legged Partridge that has been knocking around for a few weeks at least now.

A walk through the nature trail was quite productive with a large number of Chaffinch feeding on the perimeter of the marsh – no Brambling with them sadly…

Bird of the day was saved until last – a Common Sandpiper feeding along the riverbank underneath the bridge that sits at the very top of this website. How apt!

Connah’s Quay NR 02.12.09

GC Grebe 3
Little Egret 4
Pochard 1 (drake)
Peregrine 1 (male)
RL Partridge 1
Oystercatcher 700
Dunlin 930
Lapwing 650
Common Sandpiper 1
Spotted Redshank 1
GS Woodpecker 1
Chaffinch c450

A whistle stop tour of Shotwick boating lake revealed a few Goldeneye, but otherwise it was quiet. I had to dodge workmen laying speed bumps on the way. It’s only a small thing, but making roads harder to drive on seems to best symbolise how profligate developed nations have become. If you told a local person struggling to drive on potholed roads in a remote part of India that we spend money making roads less flat they would look at you as if you were insane – and they would be right!

Until later.

Foryd Perfect

It was one of those chilling winter mornings that would have had soft southerners reaching for the Berghaus catalogue, whilst we tough northerners ponder whether or not to get the long trousers out as we defrost the beef dripping.

Foryd Bay was bitterly cold when I arrived at the hide just after dawn – fortunately the structure had its back to the cutting south-easterly wind and I was sheltered from the worst.

It was my debut visit to this area and my initial impressions were very positive. The bay held good numbers of birds – wildfowl in particular – and seems to have been spared high levels of inappropriate development save a handful of noddy homes to my left.

Aside from the more common ducks and waders, highlights from an hour’s vigil included a dozen or so Goldeneye, a handful of Red-breasted Mergansers, a Peregrine and an unusually mute Greenshank.

The bird I had hoped to see though was absent: the Great Northern Diver. Now to paraphrase a well known song, I don’t like divers, I love them!

I relocated to the picnic site directly opposite Abermenai Point and started to scan the strait. The water in this part of the channel appears terrifying and looks like it has a stronger current flowing through it than a Dixieland electric chair. After a couple of Cormorant false alarms I managed to pick my loon up near the sailing club – excellent! It had plenty of other birds for company too including a Shag and innumerable Great Cresties.

Foryd Bay 1.12.09

Great Northern Diver 1
GC Grebe 20+
Little Grebe
Little Egret 3
Wigeon 400+
Pintail 50+
Goldeneye c10
RB Merganser 6
Greenshank 1
Turnstone 1
Bar-tailed Godwit 1
Peregrine 1

Later in the morning I dropped into Abergwyngregyn and Morfa Madyrn at Lavan Sands. The former was busy with a huge herd of Curlew roosting on the fringes of the marsh, but the most interesting bird was a Dipper casually strolling along the tide line?!

Morfa Madryn was doing good business, with a massive flock of Oysties roosting on the spit and plenty on the sea too including a trio of Slavonian Grebes and a small skein of twenty or so Brent Geese flying past Beaumaris.

Lavan Sands 1.12.09

Slavonian Grebe 3
GC Grebe 6
Brent Goose c20
Red-breasted Merganser 7
Curlew c1,500
Oystercatcher c4,000
Dipper 1

And if you are wondering why I have posted a picture of Alan Shearer, well it was the best picture I could find of a Great Northern Diver!

Until later.

Carbunkle

Not much to report on the birding front today despite a decent day of good weather. I had a fruitless search around Neston Old Quay for Water Pipits and spent two quiet hours at Inner Marsh Farm attempting to develop frostbite in my toes.

Despite the pipit no-show there was plenty of other activity on the marsh with decent sized flocks of Woodpigeons, Starlings, Lapwing and Wigeon too, who were busy whistling like a group of deranged P.E teachers.

Inner Marsh Farm held good numbers of birds too with a couple of Ruff and a male Peregrine bombing through late on the highlights of what was otherwise standard fare.

More notable news in the recent proposal by Peel Holdings to build twenty one, one hundred and twenty five metre high wind turbines at Frodsham Marsh. Link: http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/local-chester-news/2009/10/22/peel-energy-unveil-image-of-what-frodsham-marshes-wind-farm-could-look-like-59067-24989446/

What a truly dreadful prospect that such an eyesore could be built on what is potentially a beautiful, austere and wild area. Incredulously, a spokesman from Friends of the Earth has claimed that given the site is of no significant scientific importance for wildlife then this is an ideal site for such a development. This is probably true, but the marshes have been trashed by industry – can he not see the potential?

Wind Farms are grossly ineffcient to boot as they require massive subsidies and don't work during periods of weak or very strong wind.

In short, to use a quote I heard this afternoon: would you buy a fridge from Comet that worked for only three days a week and you didn't even know which three days that would be?

Until later.

Here Come The Girls!

Having watched the Dee Estuary for a number of years now, it has started to become apparent that there appears to be an imbalance between the numbers of female and male raptors, with the fairer sex apparently in the ascendancy.

This is most marked with the populations of over-wintering Hen Harriers that, in general, tend to be adult females. This seems odd when I consider that all the birds I found on the Welsh Uplands in the spring (8/8) were male and even if you take into account that the females will generally be guarding the nest and the males are more visible, it seems strange that ‘grey’ birds are uncommon on the Dee. This is further supported Hen Harrier sightings from Ynys-Hir, that tend to be almost exclusively adult male birds.

Similarly, in the case of another wintering visitor, the Merlin, it is very seldom that I see an adult male bird; again, the Marsh Harriers that pass through and occasionally winter on the marshes are mostly adult females or immature birds.

The situation with Peregrines is less clear. I would speculate that female birds do outnumber male birds, but the ratio is less acute than is the case with the Harriers and the Merlin.

For obvious reasons, Buzzard, Osprey, Hobby, Red Kite are difficult to sex, with the added difficulty that all but the former are rare or uncommon. Kestrels and Sparrowhawks may demonstrate a bias one way or another but I am guilty of not paying the falcon or the hawk enough attention, so I cannot comment!

Obviously it is hard – but possible - to determine the gender of young raptors such as Harriers and Merlin, but even taking into account a certain degree of error I believe that for some reason the Dee Estuary holds an unusually high number of female birds

It would be interesting to know if anybody else has had similar observations, or perhaps this is a ‘natural’ imbalance – this would be understandable in the case of Marsh Harriers where I believe males often service more than one nest.

Any Comments?

Until later.

'Pipers At The Gates Of Denbigh

We’ve seen all the flooding in Cumbria, but has anybody taken a look around the Afon Clwyd east of Denbigh? I could have kayaked along the Clwydian Way this morning - without having to use any section of the river!

I have had my eye on this section of the River Clwyd for a while, so now that the monsoon seems to have finally lifted I decided to investigate.

The meadows were absolutely saturated when I arrived and after wading through the first field I was on the point of turning back, but I could just see an area of exposed bank that I thought may hold a Grey Wagtail or perhaps even a Dipper, so I persevered.

Scanning the bank I immediately found a Grey Wagtail, but standing just to the right was two Green Sandpipers! Despite using an alder for cover, they clocked me almost immediately and flew off high and far back towards the road.

There was more to come in the next pasture: eight Goosander fishing on the river and also on the edge of a large area of flood water another three Green Sandpipers! These birds were less flighty than the previous pair and despite remaining wary I watched them feeding along the edge of the water.

Then, after finding yet another Green Sandpiper on the opposite side of the river, things started to get a little complicated. The next area of farmland I crossed I found another two Green Sands in the middle of a large flock of loafing gulls I was working through.

A loud gunshot disturbed the birds and they all took the air with the waders soon following. After a few minutes the gulls began to settle again followed a couple of minutes later by SIX Green Sandpipers!!!

I could barely believe my eyes; had I missed four birds before all the gulls were spooked, or more likely had the four birds I had seen in the previous field joined the two I had seen? It seems the most plausible explanation, but I guess I will never know – still eight is pretty good!

If anybody wants to have a look for the birds, they were all in or around the squares SJ0966/67.

Until later.