Odds and Sods

I spent last Friday at Leasowe Castle at a friends wedding (I was the best man!), before the booze took hold I managed to see a Whitethroat, Northern Weatear, and a Peregrine. On the Saturday we decided to go for a meal at Sheldrakes (Heswall shore) I managed 7 Little Egrets, Chiff Chaff, and ring-tail Hen Harrier, without the use of binoculars.......not bad.

Migration time

Migration is well and truly underway again, I had a quick look around a few sites today, all of which held newly arrived birds. The Riverside Drive area of Otterspool held a singing Willow Warbler, 5 Chiff Chaffs, 5 Mipits, and a male Sparrowhawk (complete with its prey). The shore adjacent to this site held small numbers of Redshanks and Curlews, with a female Merganser flying downriver being the highlight. The Japanese Garden in the Garden Festival compound, currently being refurbished looks amazing (a least when peering through the fence); I cant wait to have a look around, but its still a shame that this could only happen as part of a building contractual agreement! St. Michael's In The Hamlet wood held Blackcap and Chiff Chaff, and flowering Lesser Celandine accompanied by tonnes of (soon to be flowering) Ramsons (wild Garlic). The surprise of the day was yet another male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker calling along the Western flank of Sefton Park lake (near the Cedar of Lebanon) although by the time I got around the lake to it, it had shut up! This was around 11am, but again I heard it as I was coming back through the park at 12:30 pm; further North along the lake near to the tunnels. Although I have had Lesser Spots in the area during the early Spring before (annually), this year has been especially good, and it seems that their are indeed at least two male birds in the Sefton Park/Greenbank areas, yet a large part of the geographical area is in private land and these birds are mostly overlooked it seems. A Common Buzzard drifted high East and seemed to be migrating rather than a local bird, also:- 5 Cormorants, 2 Little Grebes, nesting Mute Swans, 5 Coot nests, 6 Nuthatches, 3 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Grey Wagtails, and large numbers of Mipits overhead. Lesser Celandine, 2 Grey Wagtails, Cormorant, 2 Nuthatch, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in Greenbank Park too.

Waxwings again

I was surprised to find 19 Waxwings today at 4:20pm perched on TV Ariels in Lidderdale Road, off Smithdown Road; this is a really strange place to find them and I have no idea where they must be feeding (treeless terraced streets) unless they where just passing through. I will have a search tomorrow, fingers crossed. Cant believe I am still tripping over these things, I have never known a winter like it for them! Lots of Mipits and Wagtails moving over Liverpool University today and Colts Foot in flower on Brownlow Hill/Metropolitan Cathedral.

Chiff Chaff must be Spring

Had my first Chiff Chaff of the Spring today; a singing male In the northern end of Greenbank Park, also there a calling male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again, this was in the adjacent large wooded gardens. A Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 15 Redwings, female Sparrowhawk, Grey and Pied Wagatails in the park also. On a sad note, the Cormorant pictured on the previous post was seen freshly dead on one of the rafts, hopefully not but possibly the work of the local anglers. Spring has definitely sprung with all the daffodils in full swing, Coots nesting, Swans courting, and Greenfinches in their lovely song flights.........its only going to get better! Mistletoe in the Lime Tree above the Penny Lane sign on the corner of Penny Lane/Greenbank Road, this is a really rare sight in the city now and it would be interesting to hear of any others around. Sparrowhawk over the Liverpool Womens Hospital today also.

Its been a while!

I have been really snowed under lately, as the lack of posts show! I managed to briefly catch up with the Waxwings (55 in total) on Aigburth Road at 9:00 AM today, as they where perched up amongst the canopy and soon took flight and headed NE towards Allerton. I had a scout around, Sudley, Brodie Avenue, Rose Lane etc........ but no sign. These birds have been present since the beginning of February and I have tried to catch up with them on a couple of occasions, with no success; so finally finding them this morning was rewarding. 2 Cormorants on Greenbank Park lake was unusual also, along with Nuthach, nesting Coot, the pair of Mute Swans (male constantly tyring to drive off the Geese). I have seen a pair of Peregrines over the last couple of weeks in the Hope Street area, and a pair of Mistle Thrushes nesting in the UoL Campus. 6 Waxwings South over Hoole Road, Chester last Sunday morning at 11:15 AM.