Friday - 3 Whooper Swans flew NW over Greenbank Drive.
Sunday - Common Buzzard, Treecreeper, 5 Bullfinches, and flowering Snowdrops - Eric Hardy Nature Reserve, and a male Sparrowhawk caught a caling male Nuthatch at Clarkes Gardens, with Crocus and Snowdrop in flower in Springwood Crem.
Monday - female Perregrine, singing Grey Wagtail, 35+ Goldfinches, and a Starling singing during the evening under streetlights! - University of Liverpool.
Tuesday - Sparrowhawk - Catherine Street
Wednesday - Peregrine hunting Feral Pigeons over Wavertree Mystery Park, 2 Rooks low East over Penny Lane, Gorse, Crocus, and Daffodils all in flower - Woolton Road (approaching Woolton Village), Snowdrops and a Sparrowhawk (with prey) - Mill Lane, Wavertree.
Thursday - Sparrowhawk hunting Long Tailed Tits, 10+ Redwing, Treecreeper, Grey Heron, hybrid Goose, and the pair of Mute Swans - Greenbank Park.
6 Ring Necked Parakeets went to roost in the dell (behind Sefton Park Palm House) and a female Brambling on the feeders their.
Friday - pair of Bullfinches, 2 Ring Necked Parakeets, and a female Tufted Duck - Greenbank Park.
16 comments:
sefton park today - female mandarin duck feeding amongst the usual geese/ducks/swans and around 4 little grebe around the island. also found a dead tanwy owl, victim of the high winds in some way?
Garston Coastal Reserve on Saturday 21 Jan - not much showing in the late afternoon strong winds and heavy showers, but half a dozen partridge disturbed by quad bikers were of note (light too bad and too far off to work out if red legged or grey) and then really pleased to see an adult male merlin hunting along the shoreline near the yacht club.
I enjoy your blog, it has introduced me to a number of previous unknown south Liverpool sites which I explore when visiting family near Calderstones Park.
Best
Matt Evans
Hi Matt
Great to hear from readers of the blog, and I am glad it has come of use to you. Great sighting of the Merlin, I havent been down there for a while (should pop down over the next week). The Partridge are most probably Grey as they breed on the site.
Cheers
Danny
Hi Neil
I saw the Mandarin today, and a female Pochard (near rarity in this area!), 6 Little Grebe too. Where about was the Tawny Owl? Had 3 Parakeets feeding behind the Palm House too, late afternoon (they go to roost in the area). Thanks for the info.
Cheers
Danny
Hi Danny, the owl was in the overgrown garden out the back of ours, undisturbed site and not accesible from the road (house it belongs to is all boarded up) it's a lovely naturalised bit of space on the edge of sefton park so i've set up feeders in the trees to watch from upstairs window. So far we've had blue/great/long tailed tits, nuthatches (pair of) amongst the usual hedgerow species, a goldcrest and on a couple of occasions an escaped harris hawk came in to roost - got some really clear views of it. still never seen a sparrowhawk in liverpool (my favourite bird) but i'll look out for one in sefton park when i go to check out the parakeets.... really interesting blog, great to see such diversity in the city parks and gardens.
Hi Danny, just stumbled across your blog. Recently got back from a holiday in Gran Canaria were I saw a juvenile Great Spotted Cuckoo, when I got back to look up it's status I was amazed to see that there didn't seem to be any recorded sightings.I was also surprised at the hoopoes there they were really tame, I was able to approach with in a couple of feet. There was as many as 8 on a grass verge in the centre of Puerto Rico. Have you come across any recorded sightings of the Great Spotted Cuckoo on Gran Canaria?
Glad I found your sight will keep in touch.
Mark
did the RSPB 'garden birdwatch' today, went to the feeders behind the Palm House with the ulterior motive of seeing parakeets - which turned up just as i was about to leave! 2 of them, one with a very clear black ring round it's neck and a black chin, the other less so, not sure if this is one of differences between sexes? other than that there was plenty of the usual tits/chaffinches/robins, a woodpecker and a couple of jays. and a nuthatch checking out holes in branches presumably for nest sites. still no sparrowhawk......
Hi mark,
Had a chat to a mate of mine who regularily visits the Canaries; he tells me that they are a very occasional accidental visitor; i.e. they are not a reular migrant. So your record is indeed a very good one, and worth submitting if you know the relevant body.
Great to hear from new readers.
Danny Foy
Hi Neil
Yeah, I have seen those two Parakeets; and I may be wrong but I think the poorly marked individual is a young bird (1st winter). A tip for the Sparrowhawks is a breeding pair around Greenbank Drive area over the last couple of years, early spring displaying around that area would be a good bet on o sunny day.
Good luck
Danny Foy
There is a sparrow hawk which hunts regularly over south Liverpool - often provoking mobbing by smaller birds. We've seen it several times in our garden (in Aigburth) usually feeding on starling.
Thanks Ged and Danny for the sparrowhawk tips, i'll try to get out towards greenbank when this rain stops. due to the ice on the lake in sefton park the birds are all bunched up on the patch of clear water near the island, counted some 35 or so coots and 3 pairs of tufted duck amongst the usual geese and mallards. the little grebes are still there too.
Hi Danny,I have also been watching the short eared owls at speke on and off since November. Had some fantastic views they really are the bird on a string. what a joy to have them so close to home I used to have to go as far as Frodsham marsh or Parkgate to see them and never as good as the veiws at speke. Mark
Hi Mark, thats great someone else has enjoyed the Short Eared Owls. Just by way of interest have you seen them around dusk like me, or at other times of the day? I agree its great to see them in Liverpool, and yer great views too.
Cheers
Danny
Hi Danny,the Short Eared Owls at Speke were on the wing at 2pm yesterday I think the cold weather has forced them to hunt prey earlier than usual.If any other birders would like to visit the site to see them they wont be disappointed even the local dog walkers are appreciating them.They were having aerial duals with each other.I dont think this anything to do with courtship they probably do that at their breeding site.Mark
not a bad little stroll round sefton park this afternoon, 4 parakeets behind the pam house and on the lake the tufted duck numbers seem to be slowly increasing, counted around 10, and there were 2 male and 1 female pochard on there too.
Hello. A question really. We saw several 4-6? birds of prey over Woolton today - 29 March 2014- right on the top of the hil but over our houses. I came across your blog when searching for what they might be! We now believe sparrow hawks - why would they have been flying around in numbers in a fairly build up area? Tanks in anticipation. Helen
Post a Comment