Craig Bell, Craggy and I met up and decided to go to High Tide watch and the chosen destination was Parkgate Marsh on the Wirral.   We arrived at about 9.30am and stayed until about 1.30-2pm.  One of the first birds we spotted , still a rarity but always around, was a Great White Egret.  Other species seen were Little Egret, teal, Snipe, Curlew, lapwing, godwits, Oystercatcher, Pink Footed Geese, Mallard,  herring gull, lesser black backed Gull, Black-headed Gull,  Great Black Backed Gull,  Common Gull, Pintail, Shovelever,  Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Carrion Crow, Grey Heron, Canada Geese (I think), Greylag, Coot, Moorhen, Skylark, Cormorants, Reed Bunting, Goldfinch, Linnet as most of the usual suspects.

On top of that we managed to include raptors in the form of Kestrel, Merlin, Hen Harrier, Sparrowawk, Short-eared Owl and a Peregrine.  One of the Short Eared Owls was sat on a grassy bank surrounded by Lapwings.  Raptors were quite distant in general and lower in number than usual.  However, Kestrel, Sparrowawk and peregrine passed in front of us or in case of the latter hurtled above us almost.

Other than the Great White Egret a number of other unusual birds occurred including a Grey Wagtail, approx. 30 Twite, Rock Pipit, and 2 Red Breasted Merganser.  The day was quite nippy and within 5 minutes we did wonder if we would last the day out there.  Although, once  the birds started to show we had forgotten how cold we were and watched the show as thousands of birds took to the air to avoid the rising water levels and the occasional predators.

Not just birds but a rat, a voles and mice also put in appearances.  Sadly most of the latter two were swallowed by the large number of Gulls present.  The chief predators were Black Headed Gulls - one would catch a rodent, lift off, then to be pursued by comrades only to drop the rodent which was caught again by it or another gull.  I have never observed this behaviour before although not at all surprised they do it.  The water came in quite close to the sea wall, or kerb as some dubbed it so the wetland turned into a floating buffet.  We did manage to cheer one vole on which made it to safety.

We then decided to head to New Brighton and see if the Laughing Gull was present.  It had left 5 minutes ago.  On the pontoon were some members of the regular commoner gulls and the ever present resting waders which included Turnstone, redshank, Dunlin and some Purple Sandpiper - a species what the new Brighton marine Lake is famous for hosting.  The Laughing Gull was spotted and it landed right in front of us to eat some bread thrown for it but only to be chased off by some of the larger gulls.  it settled in the midst of the waders rather than the other Gulls  Maybe it used them as mobile blankets to keep warm.  It looked larger than a Black Headed Gull and it was a lifer for me.  My first lifer in the UK since that Little Bittern turned up at Elton Reservoir in Bury.

A fantastic day with a great mix of species.  My personal highlights were:-

1.  great white egret of which there were 2

2.  Twite

3.  Rock Pipit

4.  Red Breasted Merganser

5.  Laughing Gull

6.  Purple Sandpiper

7.  Hen Harrier

8.  Merlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarfrazh/16578678956/in/photostream

The birds were not the only  great thing - it was good to go out with Craggy and Craig - both good company and can say for both me and Craggy learnt a lot from Craig.   Let us hope there is at least one more high tide event before Summer kicks in!