Horsehay Pool

 My first time birding at this little pool in Horsehay. Present were 9 Goosander, 2 Great-crested Grebes, 3 Muscovey ducks which i believe are resident here and in the Gull roost was a 2nd winter Great Black-backed Gull.

 

Muscovey Duck

Venus Pool



An afternoon off work i headed to 'Venus Pool once again, the car park was fairly full so the signs were good so i thought, but the hides were empty. It turned out to be just a duck fest with two female Goldeneye the highlight of a quiet two hours. 

 

Female Goldeneye

Goldeneye 'diving'

 

Gadwall



Shoveler

Teal



Wigeon pair



Just before i left a pair of Mallards flew in, with the female being leucistic.



Mallard

 

Venus Pool, White-fronted Geese

Saturday 2nd February 2013
I returned to Polemere earlier in the day to see if i could get some photo's of the long staying Green-winged Teal. I had previously seen it early in January but it was tucked up on the far bank and with the light almost gone there was no chance of a record shot. So after 2 hours of looking and waiting i left empty handed and headed to Venus Pool. On my arrival the main hide was full, Jim and Yvonne were taking photo's of two White-fronted Geese, so i duely joined in. With a county tick in the bag i headed to Priorslee lake, but with nothing of note there and a freezing wind i headed home.

White-fronted Geese

Venus Pool

Saturday 5th January 2013  

 A brief dinnertime visit to VP was to reveal a Shropshire first for me and on my local patch. There were 8 Bewick Swans, scarce for our county and 2 Whooper Swans to boot. I have seen these many times at WWT Martin Mere and Slimbridge but for them to be local, was great to see.

 

Bewick Swan

Whooper Swan

Two Whoopers

 

The Wirral

Friday 4th January 2013 

It was an early start and i was off to 'The Wirral', a place i visit about four or five times a year. This was not a 9m or 10m high tide day but with fairly good weather promised plus the chance to add plenty of ticks to the year list, it was too good of an opportunity to miss.

      

I arrived at West Kirby about 8, the first thing i did was to have breakfast in Morrison's. I drove around the corner to find the 'Marine Lake' was so calm it was like a mirror. With the tide not to peak until about 3 and no Goldeneye or Red breasted Mergansers about, it was going to be a long day. 

 

West Kirby Marine Lake
Hilbre Island in the background

 

I headed to New Brighton Marine Lake for the chance of Purple Sandpiper, alas another no show.    

Pied Wagtail, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Redshank, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull and a flyover of six Pink-footed geese were seen here.

 

Pied Wagtail

 

Black-headed Gull

Turnstone

 

Redshank

 Always good for Common Gull here on the fields opposite the sea front.

 

Common Gull

I called in at Leasowe 'Lighthouse'  with Lapwing and Dunlin seen here. Thurstaston Country Park and Shore was next, with the tide finally heading in there was plenty of warders on the shore. Approximately 20,000 including Knot, Dunlin, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Shore Cottage, Thurstaston

Knot, Thurstaston Shore

Parkgate was next with only Little Egret and Peregrine of note seen here. Last place was Burton Marsh and with the sun rapidly disappearing there was just enough light to see four raptors, with the help of some other birders: Sparrowhawk, Short-eared Owl, Merlin and Hen Harrier (Ringtail and a male, my first sighting).

It had been a poor days birding but the weather had been kind with one young birder in a T-shirt, but the finish more than made up for it. The highlight being the male Hen Harrier.

 

New Year Day 2013



First day of the new year and i headed to my local patch 'Venus Pool'. This is a small nature reserve with five hides and lies between Cross Houses and Cound. There were plenty of birders about but what was disappointing there were little on the front of birds. There was a flock of c30 snipe plus a few Linnet and this little Wren which i picked out on the way to the main hide.





Wren



After an uninventful few hours at VP i called in at 'Priorslee Lake' where a Scaup had been reported. It was soon spotted by a fellow birder, though fairly distant i got a couple of record shots.

Scaup

Scaup with Tufted Duck

On the dam was this Grey Wagtail, with only a couple of sightings last year it was a welcome addition to the year list.

Grey Wagtail