That Was The Year That Was/2010: a Flintshire Odyssey

Not a bad year all-in-all with 205 species recorded in the UK during 2009 – the vast majority of which were found within an hour’s drive of Casa Del Shenton. Just to put things into perspective though, I managed to log slightly more species during a fairly short trip to India – we have to work hard for our birds in Blighty!

Birding highlights include a pair of Common Cranes at Fenn’s Moss; a flock of gorgeous Waxwings at Wepre Park; two showy Shorelarks at Point of Ayr, a juvenile female Goshawk at Pennington Flash; a Dipper on my local River Gowy, and finally, finding a pair of breeding Dunlin at Cadair Berwyn.

India continued to amaze and even taking into consideration a good clutch of new birds during this year’s sojourn, watching my favourite bird - The Black-necked Stork - takes some beating as does its closest rival for the top spot: Pallas’ Fish Eagle.

However, despite 2009 containing many excellent birding moments, the year will always be most notable for the fabulous thirty minutes I spent watching my first Otter fishing in the River Severn at the marvellous Dolydd Hafren reserve in Montgomeryshire.

Plenty of positive news on bird populations too, and although only based on personal observations and hearsay, Hen Harriers, Whinchat, Redstart and oddly Bullfinch seemed to be more numerous on the Welsh Uplands this year, but on the downside Spotted Flycatchers were very difficult to find indeed.

The Cuckoo was the subject of special attention by the British Trust for Ornithology this year as it sadly continues its spectacular decline. I do not have too many previous years of experience to draw upon, but I found them to be relatively abundant in North Wales this spring, although I will concede that I walked through several areas of classic Cuckoo habitat that were unoccupied.

This year has also seen me shift the focus of the vast majority of my birding to Flintshire, so next year I have decided to intensify my watching of this area and see how many species I can find during the calendar year.

Flintshire seems to be a somewhat neglected and under-watched evidenced by the paucity of sightings on various local websites and by the rather sketchy submission of records to the North-East Wales Bird Report for 2008 – I also seldom see many other birders!

Until 2010.

As You Were

A quick morning trip down to Inner Marsh Farm turned into more of an enforced vigil as a series of heavy and prolonged showers kept me sheltering in the hide for the majority of the morning.

It didn’t take time for the reserve to reveal its secrets, with a male Peregrine and a Dunlin still largely in breeding plumage being the best of a very modest Christmas assortment.

A good flock of Fieldfare on the top field was notable too – as were thrushes in general with plenty of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds foraging to the left of the hide.

Inner Marsh Farm 27.12.09

Teal c320
Lapwing c220
Black-tailed Godwit 33
Redshank 10
Dunlin 5
Curlew 5
Ruff 1
Peregrine 1 (male)
Raven 1
Fieldfare 20+

Closer to home it has been a stellar week for the garden list with both Pied Wagtail and Chaffinch entering the roles! Hardly earth –shattering, but for some strange reason my back yard is something of a Bermuda Triangle as far as finches are concerned, with a very brief visit by a pair of Goldfinches the only other record passing the scrutiny of the Green Lane Garden Rarities Committee.

Until later.

Bean And Gone

With tantalising reports of Taiga Bean Goose eminating from Southport, I decided upon one final birding foray before loosening the old belt and engaging in some good old fashioned festive gluttony and merriment.

Now the sclerotic and traffic light infested roads of Sefton and East Lancs are not my favourite area to drive around – especially when you get stuck behind one of the many goobers driving at 35mph in the national speed limit zones – so an early start was the order of the day.

A couple of birders were on the old sand plant when I arrived, one of whom kindly put me straight on to a White-fronted Goose mingling with the Pinkie flock a good distance out into the marsh – its orangey hooter indicating a bird of the Greenland race.

A further scan through the geese produced another White-front, eight Barnacles and a strange concoction that looked as if it could have been a cross between a Pinkie and a Snow Goose, but sadly no Bean Goose.

Trying to find one in the army of Pink-feet was always going to be a tough task today though, especially as most of the birds were just too far away to scrutinise accurately, so my first Bean Goose will have to wait for another year…

Plenty of raptor activity on the marsh – the highlight being a very belligerent male Hen Harrier who tussled with at least three Short-eared Owls, before dive-bombing a nearby Peregrine.

RSPB Marshside(ish) 23.12.09

2 White-fronted Goose
8 Barnacle Goose
c2,000 Pink-footed Goose
1 Hen Harrier (male)
1 Merlin (male)
1 Peregrine
3+ Short-eared Owl
1 Rock Pipit

Until later & Merry Christmas!!

A Local Dip

Just before dusk, I took Becks for her daily constitutional to the Gowy Woodland Park behind the Nags Head at Mickle Trafford. After checking the gull roost behind the landfill site, I was strolling back along the riverbank when I caught a glimpse of a small bird flying away from me just above the water.

It landed thirty yards or so further up the bank on some dead reed stems and when I put my bins on it I could hardly believe what I was looking at – a Dipper! I thought the sight of one casually strolling along the tide line at Abergwyngregyn was weird enough, but this takes the biscuit!

I tried to creep closer to the bird to check that I wasn’t hallucinating, but it soon clocked me and flew further up the river and out of view, so I decided to leave it in peace.

Obviously Dipper are generally restricted to the more typical surroundings of boulder-strewn, upland, wooded streams, but I assume during harsh weather they are inclined to move to lowland areas.

Interested to see if there have been any other records in lowland Cheshire I had a look through the Coward & Oldham’s Birds of Cheshire (1900) for any evidence. Intriguingly, it contained this reference “There is a specimen in the Warrington Museum which was killed at Tarporley in the spring of 1893, and we have seen another which was shot at Romiley in winter”.

Not unheard of then, but still fairly unusual. If anybody out there as anymore information on the occurrence of Dippers in lowland Cheshire, I would be delighted to hear from you!

Until later.

Richards & Bewicks

On a cracking crisp winter morning, I decided to defy the 'elf and safety mafia and undertake one of those non-essential journeys the Highways Agency is always banging on about and head down to Denhall Old Quay to check out the Richard’s Pipit.

There was no sign early doors, but the stunning light aided me in picking out a couple of Peregrines, two different ringtail Hen Harriers and a Merlin out on the marsh.

Neston Old Quay was also pipitless – not heard of any sightings of Water Pipit near the stream here for ages, but apparently there is a poorly-marked possible candidate near the Caldy Sailing Club.

Returning to the quay at Denhall an hour later I caught up with John Boswell & another birder who had managed to peg-down (not in a literal sense!) the Richard’s Pipit to an area at the end of the sandstone wall.

After playing hide and seek for ten minutes near the sewage outfall, it eventually popped out for fifteen minutes to share the stage with a couple of Starlings, before disappearing again.

The bird could have obviously been here for a little while, but yesterday at White Sands when doing my WeBS count it was noticeable how many small passerines were feeding on the marsh – Skylarks in particular, perhaps birds forced from frozen fields further away to warmer coastal climes?

Other interesting birds on White Sands included a decent count of nineteen Bewick’s Swans, a now resident Black Swan and conspicuous by their absence – no Whooper Swans.

Until later.

Shotwick Refugee Camp

With nothing much doing at Connah’s Quay – apart from an ingenious Song Thrush rooting out snails from down a rabbit hole – and the onset of hyperthermia a distinct possibility, Stan Skelton and I decided to call it a day and use the last half an hour of good light to run the rule over Shotwick Boating Lake.

Just before leaving a quick scan across White Sands revealed good numbers of Whooper Swans and a family of six Bewick’s Swans being shunted around the marsh by the wildfowlers, plus a ringtail Hen Harrier and a pair of tussling Short-eared Owls.

No sign of any significant numbers of Twite this winter and Stan suggested that it may be a good idea to seed an area near the West Hide – especially given the success of a similar project in North Wales. Perhaps this could coax the Twite out of exile and even tempt a Black Redstart or Snow Bunting…

When we arrived at the Boating Lake it seemed to be playing host to the Inner Marsh Farm crowd with good numbers of Wigeon, Shoveler and Mallard on the water -presumably forced over here by the frozen pools at the adjacent RSPB reserve.

A pair of Scaup was a good find and other interesting wildfowl included a female Goldeneye and most surprising of all a drake Common Scoter. As with most areas on the Welsh side of the estuary, the lake is probably under-watched – especially on calm winter’s days when the lack of wind and plummeting temperatures deter disturbance by the sailing club members.

There was also plenty of activity in the surrounding stubble fields with good numbers of Pied Wagtails, Skylarks, various Thrushes and a flock of circa 100 Linnet.

Until later.

Fur Scarf Anybody?

With England batting like lemons I decided to head to Moore NR for a poke around Birchwood Pool and the eastern reedbed.

The Glaucous Gull was playing easy to get, prancing around the small island in front of the main hide. Looks like a first winter bird to me, although not being well-versed in the scary and cultish activity of gull watching, my knowledge is somewhat rudimentary.

Within a couple of minutes a mangy Fox rocked-up and virtually cleared the pool save a handful of Little Grebes and a few wildfowl, so I decided to walk over to the Bittern enclosure that is the eastern reedbed.

Normally a home banker, there have been scant – if any – good sightings of this elusive little critter so far this winter and this seems indicative of a wider funk the North West seems to be going through on the birding front currently – let’s hope this cold-snap shakes things up a little!

Predictably there was no sign of any Bitterns today, so I had to entertain myself by watching a male Sparrowhawk trying to cunningly inch itself along a branch in order to get within striking distance of a Jay – unsuccessfully.

Before leaving I had a final scan of the reed stems only to reveal the rather unwelcome sight of a mink strolling across the ice. In the increasing cold, I could not help thinking the best solution all round would be for it to be hanging round my neck…

Until later.