The Wirral and Cheshire. 6th & 11th September 2020
With the last couple of weeks producing easterly winds a sudden change to westerlies had us thinking about a trip onto The Wirral to try to find Leach`s Petrel`s. A few had been seen the day previously so our hopes were up as four of us left Castleton. We knew the tide was around 2pm on The Wirral leaving us lots of time to check out the waders etc. The wind was fairly strong but the rain soon stopped which seemed to lessen our chances of seeing any petrels. There were lots of waders at Hoylake as we watched from the lifeboat station which included: - 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 4 Grey Plovers (still in breeding plumage) Ringed Plover, Redshank and Curlew. Some small flocks of Common Scoter, Cormorants and the regular gulls kept us entertained as the tide began to come in.
At this point we observed a Peregrine Falcon that landed on a sandbar looking a bit bedraggled and just wanting to rest, maybe it had managed a good feed? A small flock of Sandwich Terns arrived ahead of the tide, then a winter plumaged Common Guillemot swam by us. A Sanderling on its own then another 6 or so joined it, the first we had all seen this year. Unfortunately no sightings of the petrels were made but news that a Peregrine had taken a Leach`s Petrel off the water, seen from New Brighton, had us thinking had we seen the perpetrator? We had a trip to Burton Mere to try to have another look for the Spotted Crakes that had bred there, but without any success. A pleasant days birdwatching we all agreed.
Hale near lighthouse. 11/9/2020.
A Sabine`s Gull is a very uncommon bird in Cheshire, so a juvenile bird seen late on Wednesday was a real treat for the birders as they dashed down to the quaint village of Hale which overlooks the River Mersey, to see it. The bird remained there on Thursday and spent its time flying around a Kale field with Black headed Gulls catching insects from the ground. After checking out the bird information service on Friday morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bird was still present. After telling our regular team that I would be going to see the bird, I set off. The motorway system was reasonable and the strange journey through Widnes soon had me parking up in Hale. I saw a few birders returning from the lighthouse area, who informed me that the Sabine`s Gull was still present. After 15 minutes or so a fellow birder pointed out a dark bird on a distant mud flat, could this be the juvenile gull? Well it took off and began flying around in front of us, it was the Sabine`s Gull! The bird showed really well then settled down on the water in front of us, what a nice thing to do. A Peregrine Falcon fly past us all and news that a Lapland Bunting had been seen/heard and that there were Curlew Sandpiper`s on the foreshore, not seen by me, but a nice short trip out on a Friday was enjoyed.
