Larks in Full Song

I visited Speke/Garston Coastal Reserve on Friday morning, the weather was a bit grim and the place seemed fairly Quiet, yet on the shore plenty of common wader species could be seen huddled together on the rising tide; Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Knot, Redshank, and Snipe could be seen together with Teal, Mallard, Shelduck, Grey Heron, Cormorant (including breeding plumaged male Cormorants with white head plumes and large white thigh patches), and a hunting male Sparrowhawk. Up on the reserve Kestrel, 5 Reed Buntings, 10 Meadow Pipits, 2 Redwings were all I could muster until a brief spell of sunshine seemed to lift a singing Skylark from every square foot of grass! At one point at least 20 birds must have been singing over the East-end of the reserve; wonderful to hear and see, and a vivid reminder that spring is ever encroaching. I checked the areas adjacent to the reserve on the business park for Short Eared Owl but sadly was unrewarded.

Speke/Garston Coastal Reserve, 8/2/13 -  9:30-11:30

450+ Dunlin
300+ Redshank
175+ Oystercatcher
45+ Curlew
17 knot
3 Bar-Tailed Godwit
3 Common Snipe
200+ Mallard
300+ Common Teal
50+ Shelduck
14 Grey Heron

The next day (Saturday) I managed to find a Short Eared Owl on the Business park adjacent to the reserve, perched up on railings on the waste ground at the shore end of Dakota Drive at around 4:00pm.

Today I was down in China Town for the Chinese New Year, a pair of Peregrines were very active around the area for most of the afternoon over China Town and around the adjacent Anglican cathedral, great to see such a magnificent bird over such an urban environment.

More Meds

Sefton Park - 3/2/13

6 Jays, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Ring Necked Parakeets, 2 Stock Doves, 15+ Chaffinch - Feeding station behind the Palm House

14 Little Grebes, Grey Heron, 14 Mute Swans, female Mandarin Duck, 2 Mediteranean Gulls (ad and 1stw) - Sefton Park Lake

Otterspool Park - 3/2/13

Common Buzzard, 25+ Redwings, Nuthatch, Great spotted Woodpecker, imm Grey Heron (fishing in the stream as it emerges from under Aigburth Vale).

Waxwings in Wavertree

22 WAXWINGS - today at 12:45 at the bottom of Binns Road/Rathbone Road opposite the entrance to Wavertree Technology Park perched up in the back garden trees - plenty of berries in the Technology Park for them so are probably sticking around the area.

At the top of Binns Road a Peregrine was hunting pigeons over the flats and the adjacent railway cutting, later on probably the same bird was hunting pigeons around Picton Clock area.

the Mediterranean During the Big Chill

I have checked the Cotoneaster trees on Aigburth Road both today and yesterday but both times they have been Waxwing free (but they did hold 12 Redwings and a Nuthatch, and a Grey Wagtail near Sudley school), but I noticed today that the large Cotoneaster tree that overhangs Greenbank Lane from the walled gardens has been steadily stripped of berries, have I missed a flock of Waxwings? Maybe, or maybe just a flock of Redwings........I will keep my eyes peeled!

 

I walked through Sefton Park yesterday morning and found a good deal of decent sightings; I entered the park opposite Aigburth peoples hall where 30+ Redwings and a singing Nuthatch could be seen (and heard), down at the South end of the lake near the small cafe 24 Mute Swans could be seen, together with 60+ Coot, 200+ Black Headed Gulls, 5 Little Grebes. 4 Ring Necked Parakeets where showing well eating new buds on the Ash trees above the south end of the upper path that skirts the west side of the lake (near the car park), on the same path 30+ Siskin (with some brilliantly bright males) where feeding in Alder Trees (behind the Gorse clump that has been cut back on the lakeside banks). Two of the Parakeets flew along the lakeside and began to create a massive din towards the north end of the lake, they then began to be joined by Jays; they where obviously attacking something, by the time I caught up with them they had been replaced by about 50 Carrion Crows that where repeatedly mobbing a Common Buzzard in the woodland behind the cave (see previous posts), their attention was obviously doing the trick as they continued to make the raptor fly away from (try to spot it in the photo!) them until it saught refuse in nearby gardens surrounding the park! Other highlights included 17 Pink-Footed Geese south-west, 6 more Little Grebes, 15 Stock Doves, 10+ Goldcrests, 2 Coal Tits, Treecreeper, and 4 more Ring Necked Parakeets (behind the cafe).

 

In Greenbank Park I was surprised to see an adult Mediterranean Gull with the Black Headed Gull flock, the bird was present for around twenty minutes before flying off towards Wavertree Mystery Park at 11:15, a fantastic bird starting to moult into summer plumage and sporting rings on each leg, probably the bird Liverpool RSPB found on Sefton Park lake last week. Also in the park Redwings where in song in the Beech Trees that skirt the park along Greenbank Park, male and female Tufted Duck, 2 Nuthach, Treecreeper. Hopefully I will see the Med Gull again as it has obviously been around for a while.

Finally were they should be!

Thanks to the post informing me that WAXWINGS had been seen perching in trees surrounding Saint Margarets school on Aigburth Road this morning, this is where they where two years ago, presumably they will be feeding on the Cotoneaster trees opposite the school playing fields and then perching up in the trees opposite. I have been watching these trees this winter (see previous posts) as they are full of berries and an obvious magnet to any self respecting Waxwings! I haven't the chance to get down until Tuesday but if any other local birders do .... good luck!

Anger Management

 I took a wander around Sefton and Greenbank Park, well I thought it would be best as if we believe some of the weather forecasts, we are in for a bit of a baltic period! Down on the lake I found 13 Little Grebes (I think that's a record for me), Grey Heron, female Mandarin (in the first smaller lake), and 24 Mute Swans; with one male bird (I presume the resident male) puffing himself up and aggressively pursuing the other birds, in the process driving them all down towards the small cafe, pretty good going - 1 vs 23! During this chaos I was startled to hear the honking of three Whooper Swans which flew in low from the north and circled the lake a few times before flying out of sight

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A Common Buzzard spooked the local birdlife as it lazily flew from the bowling club into the wooded area behind the lakeside cave, and 15+ Siskin in the Alders behind the small cafe where more unusual; also in that area at least 50 Goldfinch, 3 Pied Wagtails, and singing Goldcrests in the lakeside Yews. Walking back through Greenbank Park I found another Grey Heron, 2 Ring Necked Parakeets where squawking away and Nuthatch and Treecreeper in song, best of all the three Whooper Swans then came flying over the lake calling and headed off towards Smithdown......I wonder if they dropped down onto Sefton Park lake for a small time, or if they headed back there. Maybe they are still there! wishful thinking!

 

On Wednesday I was in Calderstones Park, not much around - Nuthatch, plenty of singing Goldcrest, 20 Redwings, 3 Stock Doves, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 13 Tufted Duck, and a very strange small duck on the lake - obviously a leuscistic plumage variant but of what species? My guess is Teal, bill colour and body and head shape, and size all look right.....but a bit confusing to say the least!

65+ Pink Footed Geese south-east over Penny Lane last Tuesday too.

Waxwings at last!

As the previous posts show, a Waxwing flock that can be relied upon has now been found in the area, thanks to the tip off from Will on Friday. I only managed to see one of the 135 birds at Prince Alfred Road on Thursday, but on Friday morning at least 90 birds could be viewed.

The majority of the flock perch up in Sycamores and Willows next to the electricity sub-station behind the closed down carpet world on Smithdown Road and make occasional forays in smaller groups over to the berry trees in the Penny Lane shopping precinct and down onto the rosehips opposite the carpet world, and occasionally onto the old factory roof for a bit of bathing and preening. Waxwings at any time are a real treat but to have them just 'around the corner' is even better! 15 Goldfinch and a Cormorant flying north-west where also in the area.
 

 

Elsewhere, in Greenbank Park 2 singing Treecreepers, singing Nuthatch, male and female Tufted Duck, hybrid Goose, Mute Swan, 10 Redwing, Grey Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, and flowering Daffodils could all be seen this morning.

I took advantage of the glorious weather today and had a walk along Crosby shore with the family this afternoon and was rewarded with two Divers, which looked very much like Great Northern Divers flying into the Mersey River mouth, apart from this sighting small numbers of Sanderling could be seen along with 600+ Oystercatchers and 100+ Bar-Tailed Godwits, 15 Skylarks, 14 Tufted Ducks and a female Red Breasted Merganser on the Marine Lake, and bizarrely a decapitated Auk species on the beach!

90+ WAXWINGS moving between berry trees at Penny Lane Precinct - Church Road, and the closed down carpet warehouse on Smithdown Road today between 9-10 am.

135 WAXWINGS - CHURCH ROAD/PENNY LANE PRECINCT TODAY!!!!!!!

Daffodils before the years end.....always a good sign!

I was surprised to see the first signs of spring today as a number of Daffodils have began to flower in Sefton Park near to the bottom of Greenbank Lane, wishful thinking I presume!

A pair of Ring Necked Parakeets where squawking away today in the Beech trees at the Greenbank Lane entrance to Greenbank Park, also in the park 2 Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail, Mute Swan, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and the GreylagxCanada Goose hybrid.

In Sefton Park dell area another Grey Wagtail, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, 20+ Long Tailed Tits, 2 Ring Necked Parakeets, Treecreeper, 4 Jays, and 3 Stock Dove. Walking towards Aigburth Vale I found Redwings, a Jay and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Whilst walking through the Albert Dock this morning I was surprised to see a pair of Raven around the area, at one time a bird was perched on a Liver Bird (a first for me!), they frequented the area for over ten minutes; moving around the building tops on Liverpool One, Mann Island, and the Dock Road. This may well be a pair in courtship as they are one of our earliest breeders, with birds high up in the Cumbrian fells breeding in February, a breeding pair in the near future may well be on the cards.

SEASONS GREETINGS

Firstly can I thank all of you who have continued to visit South Liverpool Birder of the last twelve months and hopefully you will continue to do so, and a special thank you to those who have left comments; which really improve the effectiveness of the blog. I hope everyone had a great Christmas period and you have a fantastic New Years Eve and not to groggy New Years Day!

 

I visited Sefton Park yesterday where on the lake around the island I found a male Pochard dozing by the island (we seem to be getting these in the park annually now), female Mandarin, three Tufted Ducks, 6 Little Grebes (with some males in song), female Sparrowhawk, three Mute Swans, with a further twenty Mute Swans and five Little Grebes at the south-end of the lake (unusual to see the Grebes down that end), on the field between the cafe and the cricket club 150+ Goldfinches could be seen together with 65 Redwings feeding on the ground with the finches. Plenty of birdsong can be heard around the area at present.....warming up for spring I presume!

Odds and Sods

I checked the Cotoneaster trees on Aigburth Road opposite St Margarets playing fields this morning in the hope of finding Waxwings, but I drew a complete blank! These trees attracted Waxwings during the last influx a couple of years back and they are full of berries....so fingers crossed. Ten Redwings where feeding away on the berries and a pair of Pied Wagtails scuttled along underneath. There must be Waxwings around in South Liverpool but pining them down is another thing altogether, there have been birds in Wavertree and Garston recently, and my own recent sighting in Sefton Park; but they dont seem to be sticking around, which is quite surprising really because unlike the last influx a couple of years back the berry crop seems poor, the trees on Allerton Road central reservation and the chandlers, and the junction of Booker and Brodie Avenues have no berries on them; so the trees on Aigburth Road may prove to be a magnet for them. There have been two separate flocks in Formby today and 16 just up the road in Court Hey Park, Roby.

9 Swans which looked to be Whooper flew south over Penny Lane today as did a calling Redshank and 2 Rooks.

A Cold Start

I visited Sefton Park early this morning together with twelve day old Connor (my new addition to the family) on his first ever birdwatch!

In the dell plenty of small birds could be seen and heard, with over thirty Long Tailed Tits amongst other Tit species, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, 3 Goldcrests, Nuthatch, and a female Blackcap could all be seen. On the feeders behind the Palm House 5 Stock Dove and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a female Sparrowhawk zooming through livened things up a bit. On the main lake it was very easy to see what was around as only the extreme ends of the lake are ice free! 10 Little Grebes, 7 Tufted Duck, 17 Mute Swans, 75+ Coot, Goldfinches on the Alders near the island, Grey Heron, with the female Mandarin returning again. On the ice a large flock of mixed Gulls could be seen; with Common Gulls of varying degrees of plumage detail showing how diverse this species is: some having yellow legs and bills and light streaking on the head, and the other end of the spectrum some showing grey-blue legs and bills and very heavy streaking on the head. At least 500 Gulls where on the lake around 9:30am with nearly all of them moving off shortly after. Whilst walking past the main island the alarm calls of Blue Tits alerted me to a Common Buzzard which flew in very low over the lake in between the island and the Rathbone statue, from the direction of the Palm House and was obviously trying to spook some of the wildfowl, it then landed in trees behind the main path, after going looking for the bird I spooked it and it flew into the wooded section behind the cave/tunnel.

Waxwings are possible anywhere at the moment with 10 near to Wavertree Technology Park roundabout on Rathbone Road and 50 over the Matalan on Wavertree Road today alone!

female Mandarin - Sefton Park, December 2012

IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG!

Guess I've had a bit of a break on the old blogging front of late (work, Uni, decorating, and the overdue birth of my second son being among the extensive list of excuses!), but alas the blog is up and running again....the sighting of Waxwings has gave me a kick up the backside. Can I just give a big thanks to everyone for keeping the blog up and running through the comments section. I have managed to get out a fair bit and will post some snaps in a later post, but for now I will concentrate on the here and now:-

 

I heard that familiar trill of Waxwings today in Sefton Park as I was walking past the cafe; a loose flock of at least 25 flew over towards the Rathbone Statue and seemed to be going down (I couldn't follow them any further as my 9 months pregnant wife couldn't take the excitement!). Hopefully they may be feeding around the park somewhere (they came from the direction of the kids playground), the cotoneaster trees opposite St Margarets School on Aigburth Road may be a good bet too, as they where feeding on these trees during the last influx. Over the last week there have been records from Garston, Bootle, Birkenhead, Crosby, Formby, Warrington to name just a few, so these beauties could turn up anywhere. Otherwise the park was quiet - 15 Redwings, 2 Ring Necked Parakeets and that was about it.

 

Elsewhere, on Tuesday at Speke/Garston Coastal Reserve I had a Short Eared Owl, Peregrine, Kestrel, Grey Partridge, and 20+Skylarks during a fifteen minute check of the area.....not bad, this is such a good site.

Dragonflies of the Festival Gardens

I visited the newly revamped and very recently opened Festival Gardens on Sunday, and what a brilliant job they have done with it, it is regrettable that in order for this to happen a percentage of the former festival gardens site has been sold off for development, but positives must be gained from negatives. The site consists of formal oriental gardens and open areas; great for families and day trippers, but the site also consists of wilder areas of semi mature woodland and meadowland, plus an impressive string of lakes that flow through the area. Although the park was very busy I still managed to find a Kestrel, Buzzard, plenty of Swifts and House Martins, Whitethroat, and singing Chiff Chaffs and Blackcaps, the tide was high at the time but at low tide the area leads on to the promenade and the shore which at low tide should hold plenty of goodies! Apart from birds; insects where evident with Small Copper, Common Blue, and Speckled Wood but best of all the Dragonfly's and Damselfly's which consisted of Blue Tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Variable Damselfly, Common Darters and best of all 2 male and 1 female Black Tailed Skimmer. I have seen Black Tailed Skimmers in the area now for three summers in Sefton Park and seeing them here suggests that this species which is rapidly moving North is now a breeding species in the South Liverpool area. I later had another Black Tailed Skimmer on Sefton Park main lake. Click on the following link for more information on the Festival Gardens.

Last Thursday night on Penny Lane Pipistrelle Bats where flying at dusk around the North end of the lane, and what looked like a slightly larger Brown Long-Eared Bat flying around the corner of Penny Lane and Dovedale Road. Further down Penny Lane on the edge of the Cricket Pitch and railway a Vixen was accompanied by her three cubs, a brilliant sight as they slowly emerged from cover and walked out onto the pitch; the Vixen foraging as the cubs spent more time fighting and causing havock! At the bottom of Penny Lane more Pipistrelles could be seen hunting moths (of which two Swallowtail Moths could easily be identified) and another adult Fox crossed my path. When passing Greenbank Park another adult Fox was mooching around and another two well grown youngsters nearby........... I have never seen so many in such a short space of time.

In Wavertree Mystery Park yesterday I was very surprised to find what looked like a Hooded Crow, unfortunately I didn't have my camera or binoculars but I did get quite close and the bird looked more like a hybrid Hooded Crow X Carrion Crow a very unusual bird in the area, and possibly the offspring of a Hooded Crow that infamously bred with Carrion Crows in the Anfield Cemetery area, but this was over ten years ago; however the Crow family are long lived so it could be possible, the nearest other breeding or interbreeding Hooded Crows are in Holyhead and the Isle Of Man! Elsewhere in the park Chiff Chaff is still in song, plenty of Swallows and a lone Sand Martin was a rare sighting, numbers of Gulls are now starting to return......it is autumn for them now! Coming out of the park I was startled to see a Fox cub running up Wellington Road under the railway bridge in the middle of the day! After zig-zagging over the main road a few times and narrowly being missed by traffic it was in a frantic state,I followed it down the road and ushered it into the royal mail compound where I watched it head for the railway embankment, I recon it would have been okay from there as the den is not far away....fingers crossed.

In Sefton Park yesterday a Peregrine spooked the local pigeons as it shot through heading South over the South end of the Marine Lake, the Little Grebe nesting attempt appears to have failed again, as the water levels rose following the heavy rains the nest seems to have been washed away.........but I would love to be proved wrong. The family of Mute Swans snoozed on the island and  large Carp could be seen surfacing around the South end of the lake. In the dell a Chiff Chaff was in song along with a Grey Wagtail, and a family of Nuthatch. Two immature Grey Herons were fishing around the bandstand area and allowed every close approach (always when I haven't got my camera), in the lake behind the cafe a family of Canada Geese have three young; which is a very rare sight in the park.