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).