Tatton Park

I visited Tatton Park yesterday with the family and took Dylan off looking for the deer herds in the park, we soon found good numbers of Fallow Deer and took loads of snaps of them, also saw small numbers of Red Deer but more distantly. Dylan was chuffed getting so close to these animals, as was I; unforgettable for him I hope.

Also in the park we saw Green Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, 6 Buzzards, Willow Warbler, Badger set, and best of all a juv Arctic Tern on the main lake (a good record so far inland).

Got any Leach's for this?

After the news of Wednesdays fantastic sea watching on the North Wirral coast,I arrived at New Brighton today as early as possible (6:45am), the early start was well worth it with at least 38 Leach's Petrels, Juv Sabine's Gull, Juv Arctic Skua, Fulmar, poss Roseate Tern, 30+ Sandwich Terns, 30+ Arctic Terns, Grey Seal, and 4 Guillemots. All before 11.00am.

The Leach's where particularly impressive; with some birds landing on the beach and some showing no fear and flying very close within a few feet, in fact one flew in-between me and another birder only eight feet apart! My best year this century!

Some of the Leach's and the Fulmar where seen to head downriver and not return back out again, I often wonder how far these birds go, It would be nice to see one off the South Liverpool shore at Otterspool Promenade or Speke/Garston Coastal Reserve but I haven't got the bottle to check these areas and risk missing out on a real goody from North Wirral.

In other areas today a Common Buzzard was being mobbed by crows over Sefton Park and a Grey Heron and Grey Wagtail at Greenbank Park.

Noisy.......But well worth it!

Although at times the area can be rather loud due to its proximity to Liverpool Airport, Speke Hall Estate and Speke/Garston Coastal Reserve is a very good (and under watched) area. I visited this morning and found quite a few highlights, a female/juv Marsh Harrier was pursued low over the coastal reserve and the Airport by the local crows, Peregrine at Garston Docks, Sparrowhawk still feeding young, 2 Kestrels, 2 Common Buzzards plus a recently fledged young bird calling out to its parents on the Speke Hall Estate; proving breeding in the area, who would have thought ten years ago that Buzzards would be regular in parts of the city now?

Coastal highlights included a juv Little Stint, Greenshank, 5 Turnstones, 65 Ringed Plovers, 250 Dunlin. Passerines included plenty of all three hirundines passing through, Tree Pipit and 2 Yellow Wagtails over, Chiff chaffs mixed in with mixed Tit flocks, and a flock of 250 Goldfinches!

Other highlights included plenty of Southern Hawkers, Common Darters and Brown Hawkers. I tried my hand at photographing Southern Hawkers in flight - harder than it sounds, managed to get some ok shots.


Things are certainly moving through now, AUTUMN HAS ARRIVED!

Birds, Butterflies, and Cricket

I went to the Lancashire vs Hampshire county game yesterday at Liverpool Cricket Ground on Aigburth Road, and I found Purple Hairstreaks still in flight there, with at least three of them in the vicinity of an Oak tree at North-West end of the ground, also plenty of Holly Blues and Whites. A couple of Common Buzzards circled over and drifted off towards the estuary; from the direction they came from I suspect they must have been migrants. The best of all was a Clouded Yellow which drifted across the pitch during play! Oh and I found the time to watch a bit of cricket in between also!