Quay Notes

It may well be the North West Birdwatching Fair at Martin Mere this weekend, but even the WWT’s premier reserve would have struggled to match the festival of wildlife on show at Connah’s Quay NR this weekend.

Oakenholt Marsh was the reluctant host to thousands of wildfowl and waders as a very high tide forced them to compete for a rapidly decreasing amount of exposed marsh – I imagined it to be a sort of biblical scene for the unlucky creatures that didn’t make the cut for Noah’s Arc!

With Black-tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Redshank, Lapwing and Teal all probably numbering over two thousand each, plus hundreds of Wigeon, Pintail and Knot on the scene too, it was truly an incredible spectacle.

Rarer birds included the immature Spoonbill, a score or so Twite, a monster juvenile female Peregrine, a Rock Pipit and on the Bunded Pools a trio of Greenshank and a Red-breasted Merganser.

More distantly a juvenile Hen Harrier hunted over White Sands, whilst in the same vicinity a family party of probable Whooper Swans grazed.

Mildly comic was the most incompetent wildfowler I have ever seen, who displayed about as much field craft as a NWBF photographer.

I did give me an idea though. Now that the Snow Bunting stalkers have succeeded in chasing-off their quarry, perhaps they could consider buying a few wooden decoys and attempt to lure them back!

Until later.

Snow Buntings to appear at Leveson Inquiry

High profile celebrities such as Siena Miller, JK Rowling and Hugh Grant may have grabbed the headlines with their appearances at Lord Leveson's inquiry into standards in the press, but next week - in an unprecedented move - a flock of birds will share their experiences at the hands of the craparazzi.

The avian witnesses are a flock of Snow Buntings that regularly overwinter at a beach near Rhyl in North Wales. In recent years they have been relentlessly hounded by a small group of photographers, making their lives a living hell.,

One of the group - who are now holed-up at at a secret coastal location after being chased up and down the beach last weekend - commented:

"When we first arrive things are generally okay, but as soon as the word gets out that we have returned all hell breakes loose."

"..you think Siena Miller has problems, but we no more than she'll ever know about bring relentlessly pursued by a group of weird male fetishists with cameras.."

Another added:

"We were hoping to bargain with them and maybe arrange one weekend when we strike a few poses (you know, a few of us playing poker or pool etc) and in return we then get left in peace. But it's hopless, they just can't help themselves and we just don't understand what they want. What did Einstein say was the definition of stupidity...doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results? I think that pretty much sums them all up, however I was caught with a rather wistful look last weekend and I've never done that before."

Until later.

RSPB Valley Lakes Discovery

Excited botanists made a beeline for Llyn Penrhyn this weekend following the discovery last week of a stem of Phragmites that was slightly longer than any of the others surrounding it, leading many eminent scientists to speculate that it could be the American subspecies americanus.

Dr Reed from Bangor University was out for his weekly peregrinations around the RSPB’s Valley Lakes when he happened upon this startling discovery.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes at first, but there it was growing in front of me and clearly 2 inches taller than all the other reeds around it.”

“On closer inspection I was even more exited as the ligules measured 0.95 millimetres. As any fool knows The Eurasian genotype can be distinguished from the North American genotype by its shorter ligules of up to 0.9 millimetres (0.04 in) as opposed to over 1.0 millimetre (0.04 in), shorter glumes of under 3.2 millimetres (0.13 in) against over 3.2 millimetres (0.13 in) (although there is some overlap in this character), and in culm characteristics.”

If verified this will be the first confirmed occurrence of the subspecies in the UK, but there are sceptics, most notably Professor Communis who quickly poured scorn on Dr Reed’s find.

In language more colourful than most in academia, he boomed:

“Seriously, what fucking planet is he on? Pluto? Actually not Pluto, because it’s not a cocking planet is it anymore – who do you think I am? Professor friggin Brian Cox or something? Anyway, does he think that all species in the natural world are manufactured in a mould so that there are all feckin’ identical? Has he never seen a bleedin’ Red-necked Grebe?”

Until later.

Spoonerism

An immature Spoonbill found feeding in the ‘White Sands’ channel, viewed from the West Hide was the highpoint of yet another rewarding visit to the excellent Connah’s Quay NR.

A Red-breasted Merganser (as per Keith & Bob – great to catch-up with you both!) was also present in the Bunded Pools, where a male Peregrine delighted in giving two small flocks of Wigeon the heebie-jeebies.

The only notable no-show was the sizable flock of Twite that has been patronizing the car park and wire fence near the West Hide.

Interestingly these finches are apparently to be the subject of a netting exercise in order to determine the birds’ provenance. One can sort of understand the targeted study of a group of these declining finches, but why risk injuring or killing them in a mist net?

If the birds are colour ringed, then surely patient observation from the West Hide with a telescope would enable somebody to obtain all the salient details without mithering them?

Also the subject of a good gossip was the news that the long-staying Long-billed Dowitcher of a couple of winters ago has yet to be officially accepted by the relevant bodies.

The lack of a photograph is supposedly the main reason for the hold-up – notwithstanding the fact that tens of competent birders viewed the bird for weeks on end…

If local rarity committees are to remain relevant, then surely this sort of churlish and pedantic behaviour should stop?

Until later.

Short Attention Span

Talk about saving the best ‘till last.

I undertook another hike from home at Lloc to Prestatyn yesterday with the aim of rendezvousing with the high tide at the Point of Ayr and then moving over to Gronant to look for some Short-eared Owls.

This time I was fully tooled up with my telescope and foldaway chair and after a two hour yomp of Goose Green-esque intensity I was in situ at the old hide site.

It was glorious. Thousands of waders thronged the shoreline including surprisingly high numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits – perhaps due to the prolonged South-easterlies the birds had been pushed further east?

Sadly – as is increasingly common at the POA – the high tide roost was disturbed by a cretin with a camera. Not a craparazzi, just s casual with a basic camera grinning gormlessly at the scattering Oystercatchers. Prat.

Next up was Warren Fields that held good numbers of Lapwing a gross or so of grazing Wigeon and a pair of dozing Pochards.

En route to Gronant I pitched-up on top of the highest dune for a scan of the drink. It was very quiet, but persistence (actually more of a reluctance to move my backside) paid off eventually with a distant flyby Great Northern Loon.

Close inspection of the strandline all the way to the Little Tern watch-point at Gronant produced nowt – something I considered a little unfair considering Snow Buntings seem to be popping up everywhere else!

Moron of the day number two was loose though. Sharing the same gormless retarded grin of the aforementioned, he delighted in watching his Whippet chase every element of birdlife on the beach.

Exhausted I collapsed into the dunes at Gronant and waited for dusk. As it happens I didn’t have to wait that long.

A tick past three and the first Short-eared Owl began its first sortie. Seemingly determined to cover every inch of territory it flew back and forth up and down the gullies in the dunes – sometimes very, very close.

After thirty minutes it was joined by another bird and soon after a third. The light was fantastic and the next twenty or so minutes I spent burrowed in the vegetation watching the birds hunt was the best birding I’ve had all year. And, I flushed a Woodcock too – superb.

Until later.

Twite Place, Twite Time.

A cracking flock of seventy-two Twite – the biggest I have ever seen – was the highlight of a trip to Connah’s Quay NR over the high tide.

They must have bred like Rabbits this year as there were several smaller flocks bouncing about too - a sign of a Twite renaissance? Let’s hope so.

Otherwise things were fairly quiet, although a male Peregrine did buzz the waders roosting towards Flint before alighting on the pylon behind the Ash Pool.

A summer-plumaged Dunlin was a novelty this late in the year. I assume it must have been a female as a male Dunlin wouldn’t have taken this long to prepare its winter wardrobe!

The Bunded Pools were fairly quiet, although a quartet of Greenshanks was viewable from the middle hide.

For afters Mark Murphy and I set a course for Cop Hole and a scan of Burton Marsh.

It wasn’t too long before MM picked out a brace of Shorties, a female Merlin and a sub-adult male Hen Harrier, before my single paltry contribution of an immature female Hen Harrier.

You don’t too many male Hen Harriers on the Dee to the pound, so we enjoyed the spectacle for as long as we could before heading for home…

Until later.

Ffynnongroyw Rocks

I recently bumped in a chap I know from Oakenholt called Eddie. It was in Holywell and I was doing my shopping.

“Hello Paul, how you doin’? You’ve put on weight.”

He was right.

I had been planning to walk from Lloc to Prestatyn for a while and now it was time for action.

First port of call was the small flash at Whitford. Mallards, Mallards, Mallards, hooray a Teal, Mallards, Mallards, Mallards…you get the picture.

Then something spooked them. I was a largish falcon and although flying unusually lethargically it was definitely a young female Peregrine. Good start.

Garth Wood was next up and although I encountered two sizeable winter flocks of passerines they were both dominated by Long-tailed and Blue Tits.

After the damp and murky woodland it was good to emerge back out into the sunshine at Ffynnongroyw.

The beach and adjoining mudflats were lightly peppered with Shelducks and gulls, but it was the thin rocky shoreline parallel to the railway wall that produced the goods in the guise of a brace of Rock Pipits.

Pushing on I soon reached the old hide site at the Point of Ayr. A scan of the point revealed the unmistakable metronomic swishing action of a feeding Spoonbill – I had seen reports of one in recent days, but I had imagined the bird had probably been clocked asleep on one of the flashes on Warren Fields.

Doubly pleasing was the fact that it was a new bird for the Point of Ayr and the first I have seen anywhere for a good while.

The next leg of the trek involved a slog along the beach from Talacre to Gronant with the aim of unearthing a Snow Bunting or two.

No such luck today, with two small flocks of Linnets as good as it got.

Having nearly reached Prestatyn, I opted to negotiate the sand dunes behind the golf course. After flushing a handful of Meadow Pipits I then disturbed a larger Pipit with that flew off high and fast uttering a call more reminiscent of a Sparrow.

I immediately thought Dick’s Pipit, but I have only seen a couple before and certainly never heard one calling, so this one will have to go down firmly in the possible category…

Until later.