Wirral - 15 Jan 25

On Wednesday 15 January I made a trip to The Wirral, visiting three locations.

Starting at Hoylake where the reasonably high tide was covering most of the sand and mud in the Dee Estuary and the waders congregating closer to the shore-line. Here a small part of the flock moves toward higher ground. Almost all these are Dunlin and Knot.

More. The resident birdwatcher who runs the deeestuary.co.uk web site reported there were "11,000+ Knot, 9,000+ Dunlin, 2000+ Oystercatcher, 1,000+ Grey Plover, 1,000+ Redshank and c.400 Sanderling" present.

As far as I can tell apart from one Redshank (just right of centre, one quarter of the way up) these are all Dunlins in Winter plumage. In Summer this species has a black belly and the backs are rufous tinged.

Closer views of Dunlins flying by. Note the sides of their tails are white, the bellies are mainly white with the head shaded.

While these are all Knots. Note the speckled tails and flanks with a dark straight bill. Often this species referred to as Red Knot. In breeding plumage they are indeed a stunning shade of deep red.

No ATC needed for this mixed flock.

Compare and contrast. A Knot on the left. This shows the longer, thinner and very slightly decurved bill of the Dunlin. Just to confuse things here are several different races of Dunlin that vary slightly in average size and length of bill.

A few other things seen. A Curlew flies by.

And a Redshank, identifiable at long range due to the large white area along the trailing edge of the wing.

Also in the area were a few Shelduck. This is a female: the male has a large swelling at the base of his bill and a wider chestnut breast band.

An Oystercatcher tries to find space among its fellows. The foreground is likely to be mainly Dunlin.

Time to move on. Next stop New Brighton where a small lake behind the Morrisons supermarket has pontoons used for water sports during Summer. On Winter high tides waders use these as a roost. There are four species here. The Redshank on the left is obvious. Many of the others are Turnstones. The highlight on the pontoons is the occasional Purple Sandpiper that sometimes roost on the higher tides. There are two here front-right. They do have a purple gloss in the breeding season. We do not see that in the UK. The two birds behind the Purple Sandpipers are Dunlin.

The sandpipers cannot feed in their favoured rock-pools which are inundated at high tide. Time to catch up on sleep as they will feed happily in the dark when the tide recedes. A lone Purple Sandpiper is here with three sleeping Turnstones.

Lots of sleeping Turnstones....

...too distant for a great shot.

Not something I expected to find even on a sunny day in January – a Honey Bee Apis mellifera!

It was indeed a sunny day. Next stop West Kirby seen here across the Marine Lake.

A footpath runs around the lake. When the tide is high in the River Dee it gives the impression that folk are walking on the water. Hard to believe this is mid-January after the snow, mist and murk.

It is amazing what turns up on the lake and seems relatively unfazed by the walkers (and, I was told, wind-surfers). Sadly the birds all decided to appear while I was looking in to the sun. Here are a pair of Goosander, the drake at the back.

A splendid drake.

And a duck. There was reportedly a Red-breasted Merganser present. This is a very similar species but prefers salt or brackish water.

Separation of the ducks is best done by looking at the neck. The fresh-water loving Goosander has, as here, a sharp divide between the upper and lower neck: on the merganser the brown fades away and she also has a more wispy hair-do. (The breast is all-red in the drake merganser as the name implies).

"I see no fish". For many years this species has frequented The Flash in some numbers between October and March. This Winter after a few early birds this species has been absent.

Venus Pool - 4 Jan 25

A visit to Venus Pool on Saturday 4 January found much of the water iced-over and the few ducks present at long range. So it was to look at lesser-visited parts of the reserve area to see what was about.

A few images.

Definite star of the day was this Marsh Tit. This bird was dashing in from place unknown, grabbing a seed out of the feeder and sprinting away often in a different direction. A photo at the feeder was the only option and here, for once, outside the cage. Separating this species from the very similar and also declining Willow Tit is not easy unless the bird calls or sings - this one didn't make a sound. The pale at the base of the bill is the best clue here. Willow Tit, which excavates its own nest hole, has a more bull-necked appearance: difficult to judge on a quick view of a lone individual.

This is a Fieldfare, a species more often seen on open ground than, as here, briefly in bushes. The warm upper breast is well-developed showing this bird is already coming in to breeding condition.

A Redwing was scrabbling about on the ground and tossing leaves about as it looked for morsels much in the manner of a Blackbird.

Some other views of this unusually tame (or perhaps hungry) bird.

The jury is out as to whether birds in the thrush group adopt this pose to listen for movement or are merely looking. With eyes on the sides of their heads the view birds have is not easy to compare with our two forward-facing eyes.

The other side. This species is somewhat misnamed. The forward part of the under-wing is red-toned but rarely visible against the bright sky as the bird flies over and what we usually see, as here, are the red flanks. "Red-flanked Thrush" anyone?

Concentrating hard.

A female Chaffinch.

And a male Chaffinch.

Another "at feeder" shot of a female Greenfinch. The markings on the breast are often described as flammulations.

A female Reed Bunting.

And another.

As always Mrs. Angry Bird when viewed head-on.

Somewhat obscured by twigs is a male Reed Bunting. The black-feathers on the head and throat still have white fringes that will wear away as he comes in to full breeding plumage when these parts become jet-black. Note that the back is a richer colour than shown by the female.