Mar 29th Inner Marsh Farm

A gloriously sunny day at Inner Marsh Farm......I saw 12 Avocets on the first pool in front of the hide....most of them furiously feeding. On walking back I saw 3 Wheatears and a small Tortoiseshell sunning itself on a rock. I sketched the Wheatear and Avocet and have added these too......just for a change. Tried to get the Chiff-Chaff....but it was a lot quicker than me!!

Mar.20th Leasowe.

Leasowe seems to be one of my favourite spots...not just for the sheer beauty..but the wildlife and tranquility...so here are some shots that were of interest to me.

Mar. 19th Burton Marsh.

Spring has really sprung, it was another glorious day and really warm....So I took photos to depict the first signs of spring...a few daffodils, a spring lamb, a gorgeous Peacock butterfly and a toad....not quite sure what species the toad is!(would be grateful for any-one letting me know)

Mar. 18th New Brighton.

It was a beautiful spring day with not a cloud in the sky and a temperature of 14 degrees.It was lovely just taking a leisurely walk.I took the picture of the lighthouse from a different perspective......and low and behold managed to find where the Sanderlings were hiding....A totally glorious day..

New Brighton 16th March.

This was a view of the pontoon, where waders come into roost when there is a high tide. The Redshanks, Purple Sandpipers, Dunlin and Turnstile......all roosting together.


This was a view from the hide of the feeding station at Moore.....two Mallards enjoying tne sunshine.

Leasowe Lighthouse. 6th March

Leasowe Lighthouse in all it's glory.


This Beautiful male Stonechat at Leasowe.


Boating lake at New Brighton,,,minus the Med-Gull!


A view of New Brighton Lighthouse.


On the way back I could not resist taking this picture of a horse.

Woke up to another beautiful day, so headed off towards Leasowe Lighthouse.
On our approach we saw at least 8 Stonechats (3 male and 5 female) flitting around the field, although there may have been more. What gorgeous, delicate little birds they are!
Also seen were 14 Curlew, a good many Oystercatchers, a good number of Redshank, a lone Buzzard, 18 Black-tailed Godwits and a Snipe flushed from the field.
We stayed till at least 1.p.m. As it was still sunny we headed towards New Brighton to see if we could get a view of the Med-Gull, but no such luck! We had a really good walk round as it was like a spring day and quite mild. What an unexpectedly glorious day....

Inner Marsh Farm. 5th March

A view from the Hide.


Teal.


Black-tailed Godwit.

Sunny again this morning, so we headed back towards IMF, we arrived about 8.30. From the hide we saw a Hen Harrier gracefully gliding low across the far marsh. On the pool in front of us we saw 3 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank,and about 24 Golden Plover, still half asleep. There was also at least 86 Black-tailed Godwits,14 Redshank, a very close male Reed Bunting and 7 Buzzards circling overhead.
A Cormorant also made a flying visit, but was immediately ousted by the local Gulls! One O'clock arrived at the same time as the big black clouds and sleet...an improvement on yesterday though....so can't complain...

Inner Marsh Farm 4th March

A view from the hide looking over the pool and woods.

Glorious sunshine this morning, so we were up and out for 8.30. There were 2 Buzzards circling across the woods as we walked towards the hide.On the pool in front of the hide there were 4 Ruff,2 Water Rail, a Redshank, 14 Black-Tailed Godwits and a good many Teal.On the far bank was a lone Curlew,plenty of birds were also seen on the pool behind, amongst them were an abundance of Shelduck, 18 Wigeon and 5 Pintail. A Fox was even seen in the woodland as well! Although the pictures were in bright sunshine, it snowed quite heavily a couple of hours later....oh well...always another day.

Moore NR

A few tranquil images.

We woke up this morning to really bright sunshine (2nd March) which I hasten to add was not forcast, so we were on our way by 10 past 9. We had a nice trek through the woods to our first hide, I was taking snaps with my camera all the way, in case the sun decided to go in.
On the lake we saw 14 Shovelers, 10 Godwits, 4 Pair of Teals, a male Wigeon, 2 Buzzards, a Long Tailed Tit, 8 Little Grebes, a Goldfinch and 2 Jays. Unfortunately the sun went in about noon, but it was a good morning well spent.

Inner Marsh Farm

A somewhat cloudy view of one of the pools.

This was our first visit to Inner Marsh Farm (26th Feb)
I particularly liked this place, it was very tranquil and teeming with wildlife. A must for when the weather gets a little better and different birds migrate to here.
We walked a fair way to our first hide, which overlooked a lake, these are just some of the birds we saw..........A Ruff, 12 Redshank, at least 48 Pink Footed Geese, 2 pairs of Pintail, a Teal, 29 Curlews, 5 Black Tailed Godwits, a lone Stonechat, 4 Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk, several Shovelers and a pair of Bullfinches. It really was well worth the visit, and well worth many future visitations. A beautiful idyllic spot.

New Brighton

We headed up to New Brighton to try and catch the Med Gull (18th Feb)but it was as elusive as ever, although we did manage to get some shots of a Black Tailed Godwit, a Turnstone and quite a few Redshank.The tide was still well out so we had some fish and chips in the car to warm us up and descided to call it a day here. Fortunately we were just driving past some grassland when a flock of gulls flew down near the round-a-bout, and there nestling amongst them was the Med Gull ! Thank goodness for a small pack of stale biscuits in the glove compartment, which we threw up for them. After a very noisy free for all we managed to get quite a few good shots of the Med Gull, and all purely by chance.
We then carried on back to Parkgate as the light was beginning to diminish, As soon as we had parked up 3 Short Eared Owls came flying towards our vicinity ,we also saw a Hen-Harrier, a single Ringtail, 2 Little Egrets and 2 Stonechats. A long, but very satisfying day !

New Brighton

To-day we went to New Brighton (14th feb), which is a pretty little seaside town. It was a mixture of both sunshine and cloud, but quite warm when the sun poked through the clouds...We saw 5 Purple Sandpipers, and roughly about 70 Sanderlings. Further along we saw some Turnstones and quite alot of Oystercatchers. I can't wait to see these birds in glorious sunshine and their new plummage.

Back to Parkgate in the afternoon to see 4 Short-eared owls, 5 Little Egrets, a Peregrine Falcon which was very close to us, the wind was beginning to really whip up at this point with an easterly chill but we still managed to catch a glimpse of a Stonechat and 3 Hen-Harriers before returning to the car for a somewhat luke-warm coffee!

Thurstaston Beach

A view that caught my eye at Thurstaston , near the visitors centre.

This particular day we went to see if we could get some shots of the Twite, who seem to be very elusive at the moment, the weather not being particularly nice either. Although we never caught a glimpse of the Twite we were not disappointed. We managed to capture some Wigeon, Pintail, Curlew, Turnstone, Knot, Dunlin, 500+ Black-tailed Godwits and at least 3000 (give or take one or two) Oystercatchers
After a spot of lunch and hot coffee we went to Parkgate, it was about 3 p.m and the light was starting to go, but we were rewarded with 3 Hen-Harriers who came very close to the wall, and 3 Short-eared Owls, one of which posed on a pole for about 6 minutes. A lovely formation of rather noisy Pink-footed Geese flew past as well. As the light was begining to fade even further we saw a Barn Owl, and 5 Little Egrets. A really good day !!

West Kirby Marine Lake

I had never been to West Kirby Marine lake before, it is a beautiful place to have a good walk around.As soon as we pulled up in the car we spotted the Red breasted Merganser's bobbing up and down right next to the wall, they were so close........there were four male and 4 females. We also spotted 400+ Knot's, 500+ Oystercatchers, at least 50 Black-tailed Godwits and some very sleepy Turnstone's. Later on that day we went onto the boat slipway and watched the Dunlin, Sanderling, Curlew, Redshank, and Shelduck as the tide was coming in. It was amazing to see such a variety of birds in one place, and topped off with lovely scenic views.......what more could one want !

Warrington, Cheshire

On the 24th Jan, we heard that there were some Waxwings very local to where we live, five minutes later we were watching them come down from the trees to feed on the berry bushes.It was an awesome sight, although the Waxwings are very nervous we did manage to get quite close to them. We went again the next day and saw them in the same place as the day before, this time it was in quite good sunshine. We noticed one of the Waxwings had been ringed, how lovely to know that it had come all the way fom Scandinavia!

Ainsdale Beach,Cheshire

It was a lovely reasonably sunny Sunday (25th Jan), but very, very windy! We walked along the beach for about 10 minutes until we heard the very distinctive tingling sound of the Snow Bunting. We found 5 flitting backwards and forwards amongst the sand dunes. as the beach got busier we lost sight of them, unfortunately. I also nearly lost a boot in the quick-sand too! We had a great day and a much deserved hot coffee.