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.

Martin Mere Dash

I took a visit to Martin Mere with the family yesterday on a 'family day out'; mainly for Dylan to go on the new Canoe Safari (surprisingly enjoyable, seriously try it out!), and to see the Otter feeding time, and the play area..........need I go on. Yet I did manage to sneak off for a quick hour to the 'real' Martin Mere. There was quite a good deal of decent things knocking about including 14 Avocets and 5 chicks, Ringed Plover with 4 chicks, Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper, 30 Black-Tailed Godwits, 2 Dunlin, female Marsh Harrier, Tree Sparrows, Corn Bunting, Willow Warbler and Chiff Chaff, Pink-Footed Geese, and 2 Whooper Swans. Not bad for an hours birding, but the surprise of the day and award for the strangest nest location goes to this Moorhen nesting in the middle of one of the pond dipping troughs! Other highlights included a Fox disturbed near the tower hide, where Wild Liquorice was in flower, also Greater Knapweed, Wild Marjoram, Devils-Bit Scabious, Greater Celandine. Southern Hawker and Peacock too.

Moochings in Malham

I visited the Malham area on Tuesday; and despite dire wheather reports we only had one short spell of rain. We took the route from Malham up through Goredale Scar (climbing up through the waterfall as we went), on to Malham Tarn (brilliant site and well worth another visit) and then over the tops on to Malham Cove, not a massive walk but a very varied one with plenty of highlights.

A male Hen Harrier was a real surprise between Gordale Scar and Malham Tarn, also Peregrine, over 80 Wheatear, Wood Warbler, 15 Redstart, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtails, Great Crested Grebes with young, Oystercatchers, Lapwings, and Curlews.

Plant species included Birds-Eye Primrose, Bog Asphodel, Round Leaved Sundew, Northern Marsh Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid, Giant Bellflower, Lady's Bedstraw, Marsh Cinquefoil, Common Valerian, Devils Bit Scabious, and a number of rather odd looking Orchids at Malham Tarn that seemed to show charachteristics of the rare Pugsley's Marsh Orchid (see photo below).


Also 2 Common Lizzards on the boardwalks at Malham Tarn, Dark Green Fritilary, Small Heaths; but alas no sign of the areas holy grail...............Northern Brown Argus.

Parakeets in the Papers!

Below is an article from Liverpool Daily Post from Friday (also in the Echo); now they're gettin' famous!

Exotic ring-necked parakeets spotted in gardens in South Liverpoolby John Sutton, Liverpool Daily Post
Jul 15 2011

FAMILIES in south Liverpool have been welcoming some exotic ring-necked parakeets to their gardens.
Numerous ring-necked Parakeets have been spotted perched in gardens near to Calderstones Park and Sefton Park and appear to have made the city their new home.
The bright green birds, which originate from India and are the UK’s only naturalised parrot, have colonised areas of London but have not been known to live in Liverpool.

Keen twitcher Ged Clarke and daughter Rachel, 13, spotted the bright birds in their garden on St Anne’s Grove, Aigburth.
Mr Clarke said: “The first time I saw them I couldn’t believe my eyes. We saw three in our garden – all enjoying themselves at our birdfeeders.
Rachel added: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked out and saw the parakeets in my garden. I’m used to seeing some more unusual birds like woodpeckers and nuthatches, but nothing like this.
“They were eating a lot of the nuts from the birdfeeder, and weren’t a bit scared when a gang of magpies came and tried to frighten them away.”

Avian enthusiast Danny Foy, a student at University of Liverpool shared his knowledge about the brightly coloured birds.
He said:“The parakeets have been seen since the mid-winter period in a number of localities including Calderstones Park, Greenbank/Mossley Hill, Sefton Park, and Aigburth.
“They have been quick to establish with at least one family party being seen in the Greenbank area, and the Aigburth sighting of three individuals may well represent a second breeding pair.
“These birds are a really exciting addition to the local avifauna with their bright green plumage, bright greeny-yellow long tails, bright red bills, and loud powerful shrieks they really do stand out as something different to the untrained eye.”
There is a famous well established population in south-east England, mainly in London which consists of thousands of birds, but in the North West only a small population can be found near Blackpool.

Mr Foy added: “It is almost certain that our birds do not originate from the London population but have escaped from local captive collections.
“My personal explanation is that with the heavy snowfall during the winter some outdoor aviaries have collapsed and allowed a number of birds to escape and establish themselves.”

HAVE you seen a Parakeet or any other exotic birds in your garden? Call the Daily Post on 0151 472 2491.

Moel Siabod

I had a brilliant walk last Wednesday up Moel Siabod from Pont Cyfyng near Capel Curig, I haven't done this route for about fifteen years so it was a delight to get out onto this mountain again. I forgot how much fun it was, with loads of low grade scrambling I took my time and enjoyed myself. A relatively short walk, but with loads of hands on rock and stunning views it was well worth it. I wont leave it so long next time.

On the route I managed to see many Ravens including a family party on the summit which undoubtedly appreciated my chocolate swiss roll, with some birds sporting rings (check out the photo). A family of Ring Ouzels could be heard and occasionally glimpsed on the Heather and Rowan clad slopes high above the old slate quarry. 3 Redstarts, Grey Wagtails, 5 Buzzards, Kestrel, and a singing Yellowhammer where other bird highlights. Broad Bodied Chaser, 2 Large Heath, and a brief Fritillary which I think was Small Pearl Bordered.

Up towards the summit on an inaccessible ledge I found a couple of odd yellow flowered plants reminiscent of Ragwort but obviously shorter and with very different narrow straight leaves.........any ideas..........see the photo below (sorry about the quality but it was rather windy!). Other plants included Heath Spotted Orchids, and the mountain was full of flowering Heather,English Stonecrop, Navelwort, Tormentill, and Thyme; all together making for a magnificent sight.



Hope you enjoy some of the shots.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

I was delighted to find a Hummingbird Hawkmoth hovering around the front gardens in my road today, it has been a few years since I have seen one in the UK, a little overdue if you ask me; as everyone under the sun seems to be spotting these little critters in their gardens this summer. After I had ran into the house and returned with the camera, the little git had of course departed, oh well maybe next time. At 7.30pm today on Greenbank Drive I again heard a Ring-Necked Parakeet calling, coming from the vicinity of the Allotments/Greenbank Lane area. I have again heard a Little Owl calling during the night from my home, but no sign during the day, Pipistrelles have been up and down my road lately; coming from the wooded northern end of Greenbank Park. A Redshank flew over my mums house in Wavertree calling during the early hours of Sunday morning as well as distant calling Bullfinches which seemed to be coming from the vicinity of the railway sidings off Mill Lane (a great local breeding season record). Also a Redpoll over my home today heading South and a calling Nuthatch in Greenbank Park.

Foxing Around

An evening stroll yesterday produced three separate Foxes in the local area, with one in Greenbank Park being very approachable indeed, it is great seeing a decent local population in the area; but I always worry when they are so obvious that they will attract the scalies and their dogs!
I have just walked down Greenbank Lane outside of Greenbank College when a massive din in the canopy alerted me to a family of Ring-Necked Parakeets, they where there for at least five minutes and seemed to consist of two or three juveniles hounding a parent for food, surprisingly hard to locate in the canopy their calls certainly caught my attention. So they are breeding locally! My guess is in the University of Liverpool Rathbone Estate or the adjacent Commonwealth Cricket Ground area, to which they then flew towards. I hope these birds do well; they have only been in the area since the winter and already have bred.......not a bad start.
In Sefton Park yesterday the family of Mute Swans was now down to only two adults and one juvenile, not sure what has happened but its never usually natural causes...............yobs, dogs, anglers..........need I go on! Elsewhere in the park the two adult Little Grebes where around but no sign of any young, Goldcrests, Blackcaps, and Treecreepers in song, Painted Lady, Red Admirals, Green Veined Whites, Small and Large Whites in the park too.
A Buzzard moved low East over Penny Lane accompanied by mobbing Crows yesterday afternoon.
Pipistrelles over my home lately too.