Foxing Around

Ive spent a fair bit of time lately trying to get decent snaps of the local Foxes in the area, and was rewarded on a few occasions with this individual which took to sleeping in the same area of fallen leaves for a couple of hours; at always the same time each night. After a few visits it became very very approachable and I managed to get decent (amateur) shots on three occasions, if it was a dry night it would always be reliably in the same area, until Glendale decided to blow all of the fallen leaves away and collect them in.....hence, since this happened I haven't seen it again! Why on earth the parks department deems it important to remove leaves from wooded sections of parkland is anyones guess! But I did feel rather privileged to have had the opportunity to get so close to a wild animal without disturbing it.

Firecrest

After visiting Sudley House today I was walking down North Mossley Hill road today around 3:30pm and heard a small mixed flock calling away at the entrance to the Halls of Residence just before Rose Lane, I was delighted to find a (female?) Firecrest accompanied by at least 3 Goldcrests, Treecreeper, and plenty of mixed Tit species. The sighting was brief but 100% and my first in the area for about ten years (Calderstones Park), the flock could be easily located by the amount of calling birds including the Firecrest, I viewed the flock for around five minutes before leaving them in the same area (and of course their was no trespassing on the university grounds......heaven forbid).
Apart from this sighting Redwings, Nuthatch, and Sparrowhawk in Sudley House along with a clump of flowering escaped Japanese Anenome near to Mossley Hill church. In Greenbank Park the Parakeets are still in attendance, coupled with a pair of Tufted Ducks, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a Tawny Owl on Greenbank Lane yesterday evening and two Foxes, also in the park a couple of flowering Daffodils and a clump of flowering Snowdrop on Gorsebank Road....... am I missing something?!!!

Odds and Sods

There has been a great deal of foxes in the local area recently including this bedraggled young individual in Greenbank on Saturday, this sighting was even better as my boy Dylan managed to watch it for a few minutes through his binoculars......great stuff (nerd in the making)!

Not a great deal around of late, but usual late autumn migrants have been seen recently including 6 sightings of Woodcock (3 Greenbank, 1 Calderstones Park, 1 Sefton Park, 1 Uni of Liverpool) all of these have been birds in flight at dusk. Ring Necked Parakeets are an obvious species in the local area with up to 7 birds frequenting the Greenbank area, and single sightings in Sefton Park, and Calderstones Park (Saturday); recently on warm autumn days the Greenbank birds have been seen pairing up..........I know they are hardy but surely this is a bit premature!

The pair of Mute Swans have now left Greenbank Park for a winter in Sefton Park (as well as 21 others), Tawny Owl calling on Greenbank Drive recently was a good sighting as these birds which were common in the area at one time have become very scarce; probably due to the over cautious guidelines of the council arboriculture department..............how much would it cost them to fit an owl box each time they remove dangerous rotten limbs?.........voluntary nest box building days could even be run through the ranger service or RSPB for example.

Plenty of autumn passerines are moving through; Redwings are evident in the parks and at night calling overhead, smaller numbers of Fieldfares have been passing through but not lingering, Finches, Grey Wagtails, Pied Wagtails, Long Tailed Tits, and Goldcrests have all been present in decent numbers, with Meadow Pipits still migrating overhead.

Ivy Broomrape flower stalks could be seen near to the cafe at Calderstones on Saturday, coupled with flowering Red Dead Nettle, Coal Tits, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Tufted Ducks, Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, and the aforementioned Woodcock.

Dovedale

Had a decent treck through the Dovedale area of the White Peak on Sunday; not a great deal around (pheasant shooting season!) but still managed a few decent sightings with at least 5 Dippers in Dovedale along with a Goosander, 3 Green Woodpeckers, Peregrine, Little Owl, Siskins, Redpolls, and Bullfinches; and a well earned kip in the back seat after a good 12 miles!

More from Anglesey

South Stacks and the West Coast of Anglesey 23rd September

Still Around

Its been a while, but that's what being off-line and having to buy a new computer does for a blog! Ahhh well lets get it started again! Instead of listing every bleedin sighting I have had over the last couple of months I will just post a number of photos over the next few days,for anyone who is interested.......I haven't been that active over the last few weeks due to work and Uni; but I still have managed to pick up the odd decent sighting. Still feel free to post recent sightings as per usual.

Thurstston Common

I visited Royden Park and Thurstson Common with the family on Saturday, we had a great old time and Dylan Really enjoyed it; lets face it what four year old wouldn't like climbing Thorrs Stone (as well as the occasional tree). Not a great deal about yet a cracking Hobby bombing along over the heathland was a great surprise and the star of the day! Possibly a close second was 9 Barnacle Geese heading west; whether or not they where genuinely wild is another thing altogether, yet another flock (15 I think) flew over Hilbre at the weekend; pointing towards a small passage of birds............maybe. Other highlights included a Crossbill, Buzzard, Redpolls, Green Woodpecker, Chiff Chaff, and Wild Asparagus.

More locally the Ring Necked Parakeets where on the Rathbone estate off Greenbank Road on Monday. On Tuesday three where in Greenbank Park together with 3 Tufted Duck, Nuthatch, Meadow Pipits and Linnets over, Swallows and House Martins, Grey Heron and 3 Foxes and Pipistrelles still around during the evening. Family party of Nuthatches on the railway at Penny Lane on Wednesday and 2 Foxes, Pipistrelles and another Bat SP in Sefton Park (possibly Daubentons) during the evening, and this Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar in my mums garden in Wavertree (see top of page)

Like Gibraltar

I couldn't believe my eyes today in Greenbank Park as a Common Buzzard was circling over (not that unusual) but within ten minutes it had been joined by at least 14 other birds which mostly appeared from high to the north. Most birds arrived in no more than threes, and all spiraled high over the park for another ten minutes until they gained height and drifted south; apart from three birds which headed north-west. This display duly attracted the attention of a pair of Peregrines which harassed them something rotten! I am certain that this was migrating behaviour rather than local(ish) birds, and was more reminiscent of the Gibraltar straights than urban Liverpool.

Apart from this great sighting three Ring Necked Parakeets where in their usual place in Greenbank Park at 8;30 AM, Grey Heron, male Tufted Duck, 100+ House Martins, Swift (maybe my last for the year?), Hybrid Goose, Farm Goose, Grey Wagtail, nesting Coot, and 2 Red-Eared Terrapins, Red Admiral in the park too.

Elsewhere in the local area there was a large amount of flyover passerines heading south this morning which included at least 200 Mipits, Tree Pipit, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Grey Wagtails, and large numbers of common finches and hirrundines.

Chiff Chaff in song on Dovedale Road, 6 Red Admirals, 5 Speckled Wood, and escaped Russian Vine on Penny Lane

Last rays of Summer

Autumn is rapidly creeping in especialy with the weather so far this week, yet on Sunday morning it felt like a Spring day with both Willow Warbler and Blackcap in full song on Greenbank Lane along with a juv Redstart (good local record), together with a soaring Buzzard and Swallows and House Martins, Large Whites, Red Admirals, and Commas it made those early nights seem a million miles away.

The pair of Ring Necked Parakeets whwere still in residence in Greenbank Park on sunday and monday, and continuing the line of escapees a Harris Hawk and 3 Terrapins where also in the park together with a female Tufted Duck.

Quite a late record was a Purple Hairstreak at the junction of Greenbank Road and Stalbridge Avenue last thursday and my first for the Greenbank area.

With a more Autumnal feel Fly Argaric toadstools are appearing under the birch trees in the halls of residence at the top of Greenbank Lane yeasterday.

Odds and Sods

The Ring-Necked Parakeets are still very much evident in the local area; with two birds present in Greenbank Park for much of yesterday in the canopy at the southern end of the lake, with another bird heard near to the cafe in Sefton Park also, still today I could hear them calling from the same area of Greenbank Park at 6:00pm; it is however much easier to hear them than to actually see them while the trees are in leaf.

Apart from Parakeets Nuthatches have been very vocal lately with four birds calling in Greenbank and Sefton Park yesterday. The best bird yesterday in Sefton Park was a 1st yr Med Gull near to the children's play area at 1:00pm, my first for the area for a couple of years. The pair of Mute Swans accompanied by their youngster are still moving between the main lake and the higher lake via the self constructed 'swan slide' - a bare slope of about 12 feet they slide down! the 2 adult Little Grebes are still around the island, yet still no sign of any youngsters. Other birds around the park included Grey Wagtail, House Martins, and Swift, imm Grey Heron, other highlights included a Migrant Hawker, Royal Ferns, Betony, Purple Loostrife, and a Red-Eared Terrapin.

In Greenbank Park over the last week Swifts have been gathering in the evening with up to 30 birds at times, its getting quite late in the year for these now and they will soon be off. Pipistelles have been around the northern end of the park at dusk too. The hybrid Goose from last winter has now returned and a female Peregrine over today too.

the best of the rest

Elsewhere whilst on holiday on the Lleyn Peninsular I had a Purple Hairstreak and Southern Hawker (see photo of it eating a wasp) at PortMerion and a distant Osprey on the estuary here, and 2 Whooper Swans and 5 Little Egrets at the Glassyln Marshes near Porthmadog on the 10th whilst traveling home along the Conwy valley we had an Osprey over the river Conwy near Dolgarrog.

Closer to home Autumn seems to be coming in thick and fast with many of trees now turning; especialy the Limes and Poplars, and the Swifts steadily disappearing summer will soon be gone. Signs of Autumn where evident in Wavertree Mystery Park yesterday with the Long Tailed Tits now grouping up the flock contained a Lesser Whitethroat and Chiff Chaff. In Greenbank Park Nuthatch and Willow Warbler where both in song, along with Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Swallows, Grey Heron, female Tufted Duck, Farm Goose, Swift, and 2 Red Eared Terrapins.

Sea Legs

Whilst away on the Llyn Peninsular last week we ventured out on a wildlife cruise from Pwllheli Harbour, the trip was run by Shearwater Coastal Cruises (for details click or see the end of the post) and really is a must if you are spending time in the area. The cruises encounter regular Bottlenose Dolphins and on many occasions if they are not feeding they will join the boat and ride the waves on the bow, yet alas I was not in luck this time, but they do provide up to date photo diaries of all the dolphins they encounter on board..........bit of a kick in the face but never mind!

Yet the trip still was successful with very close groups of Grey Seals, feeding Gannets and Sandwich Terns, Manx Shearwaters, and large numbers of Shags which included nursery groups of immature birds; I had never heard of this behaviour before but the adults and immatures seem to totally remove themselves from each other (check out the disgusted look on the faces of the left hand birds above!), Kittiwakes where still breeding on the cliffs, as where Cormorants, we where to late to catch up with other breeding sea birds such as the four breeding species of Auk as they will have left the cliffs around two weeks previously and headed out to sea. But if you did use this service in June and July you would undoubtedly be treated to close up views. 2 Chough, and a family group of hunting Peregrines over the sea cliffs rounded the day off nicely.

The trip is run by Shearwater Coastal Criuises, 01758612251 or 07815717241, alan@shearwatercruises.com

Lleyn Peninsular

We took a weeks family break at Hafan-Y-Mor on the southern Lleyn Peninsular last week and apart from it being a truly family orientated holiday (Horseriding, boating, Steam trains, archery............) I managed to find loads of goodies in the area, the benefit of getting up early!

At the holiday park where we were staying I happened to meet a couple of chaps undertaking some environmental consultancy work on site, monitoring the pipistrelle bat population, after giving them a helping hand one night trying to locate roosting locations, they showed me a Lesser Horseshoe Bat roost site, this is a first for me, and I managed to get brilliant views of them around the park and the boating lake; one particular night we saw two or three at really close range moving in and out of their roosting site and fluttering around us under the street lights, and a couple of times dropping to the ground to catch moths! Apart from the Lesser Horseshoes and the Common Pipistrelles, Noctules could be seen at dusk along the coast at the same site.

There was a steady stream of migrants moving through Hafan-Y-Mor during the week; Chiff Chaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Sedge warbler, Swift, nothing incredibly rare yet good to see. During the evening good numbers of Manx Shearwater (up to 200 one evening)could be seen gathering in the bay as well as regular Gannets, Shags, and up to 200 Sandwich Terns feeding young.

I managed to catch a glimpse of a couple of Adders over the week near the headland on the site, but being well into the afternoon they didn't hang around and disappeared into the Bracken covered slopes; judging by the amount of numbered roofing felt mats commonly used for surveying work in the area there must be a decent local population.

Also nearby I was lucky enough to find Otter Straints (nearest I got to the real thing on the trip). There is a good local population now but are still almost totally nocturnal, but as I was informed they do now venture out from nearby rivers to scavenge and hunt along this popular stretch of coastline under the cover of darkness.

In the cliffs above the beach on the site Sand Martins where still breeding, definitely a second brood maybe even a third, and Eels where feeding on bread in the boating lake........very strange indeed!

Lastly I found good numbers of Broad Leaved Helleborine in the woodland on the site, and one other Helleborine which I am struggling to ID, which was flowering with the Broad Leaves yet was very different ...... check out the photos below......any ideas? Something different or just a very strange Broad Leaved Helleborine?

White Letter Day

Before going on holiday we visited Gulliver's World (sucker for punishment I know), I was however very surprised to find at least three White-Letter Hairstreaks around the park, along with Holly Blues, Buzzards, Blackcaps, and Chiff-Chaffs. Although I have never heard of White-Letter Hairstreaks at this site (Ive never heard of anything here!) it is surrounded by good mature woodland with many Elm trees and looks like the ideal habitat.

During the same week I took Dylan to see a local fox den and it didn't let us down with a Vixen and three young on show.........great and a first for him.

Elsewhere I had three Purple Hairstreaks near to the cafe in Sefton Park, 3 Buzzards over Camp Hill, Woolton.

Hilbre Island

I have just returned from a weeks holiday on the Llyn Peninsular (more about that in later posts), the beautiful Llyn Peninsular really is a world away from the streets of south Liverpool at present (if you don't read or watch the news I'm not going to explain)! Before we left I visited Hilbre Island on Wednesday 27th, Hilbre is great for Terns at this time of year and I was not disappointed; with over 400 Sandwhich Terns amongst smaller numbers of Common and 2 Little Terns, these Terns in the process attracting a pale phase Arctic Skua. Migrants where trickling through with a juv Stonechat being the highlight, others included good numbers of Swallows, Willow Warbler, Mipits and Pied Wags. Waders included over 30 Turnstones and a Whimbrell. Other highlights included the rare Cotton Sea Lavender and plenty of Graylings on the West side of the island, with each fervently patrolling its own territory and chasing off rival males. The Grey Seals showed well as usual from the North-end........show offs.