Back on the Beat

I was back on my old beat of Greenfield this morning looking for migrants. With good numbers of Ring Ouzel popping up all over the show, I was hoping to strike lucky this morning too.

I didn’t. However, nine Wheatears, nine Swallows, four Chiffchaffs and a good count of five White Wagtails near the sewage works was a satisfactory return for a ninety minute walk and provided good evidence that this area is a decent spot for birds on the move. Keep watching this space – a Hoopoe is just around the corner!

Still feeling sprightly, I opted to a walk around another of my favourite spots: Garth Wood. As soon as I opened the car door a Comma butterfly floated past and at least four different Chiffchaffs could be heard singing nearby; in fact I think for the entire duration of the walk I was never out of earshot of at least one Chiffchaff and by the end I had racked up twelve males in full verse.

No Willow Warblers or Blackcaps (or Ioras DJ!) yet though and I can’t remember the last time I was in a woodland during spring and didn’t hear one single Great Tit singing its familiar ‘teacher-teacher’ refrain.

Garth did give up one of its more uncommon residents today mind you – I enjoyed a good twenty minutes sat in a sea of Wood Anemone watching a Dipper near where the footpath crosses the stream.

It was heartening to see a few other flowers finally in bloom too – Lesser Celandine and Primrose were in flower, plus a couple of others I snapped on my mobile phone that I still trying to reconcile with illustrations from my Collins’ book of British Wildlife!!

Until later.

I've Been Expecting You...

Finally a Wheatear – spring has officially begun! A day later than at least two other members of the Clwyd birding fraternity though!

I picked up the dapper male roughly halfway along the seawall between Greenfield Docks and the Duke of Lancaster, but although an extremely welcome sight, four Chiffchaffs (one singing) dotted along the same route stole the show.

I had received information of one bird seen in the area on Wednesday, but an additional three birds was a pleasant surprise and provided confirmation that the first influx of long distant migrants has finally arrived.

As I am looking to cover this area regularly in the spring, I hope that this morning’s modest count of avian travellers bodes well for the weeks ahead – what chance for something really good?

Other interesting birds before lunch included a male Peregrine circling near the ship and yet more great views of a hunting Stoat that seems to appear as regular as clockwork down here at present.

Early afternoon I passed a couple of tranquil hours at Inner Marsh Farm in the company of a few regulars an adult Spoonbill, but missing four Sand Martins that has flown through earlier on in the day.

Moving on to matters floral, it was interesting to hear a piece of news relating to a Ghost Orchid that has been found in oak woodland at Herefordshire. Link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/8576232.stm

Until later.

Muchas Gracias

A thousand thanks to Jim Almond, the veritable Shropshire Birder for supplying me with a couple of excellent images of one of the Tundra Bean Geese at Plex Moss on Saturday afternoon.

The flight shot in particular is a corker – so after studying the picture closely, there is now no excuse for not picking out a Beanie in flight amidst a huge skein of Pinkies!!

A couple more shots of the Beanies, plus many other excellent images can be found on his blog at: http://shropshirebirder.blogspot.com/

Back in Flintshire, I went out Wheatear hunting this morning at Greenfield and early in the afternoon on Halkyn Mountain.

With a light southerly wind overnight, I had anticipated striking lucky today, but despite a fastidious search of both sites I drew yet another blank – they can’t be to far away?!

Nevertheless, a game of ‘Chad’ behind the seawall at Greenfield did produce some very close views of around thirty roosting Turnstone. One of the birds was clearly ringed with bands of green over yellow on the right tarsus, plus what looked like a single red band on the left tarsus. Time for some sleuthing me thinks!

Halkyn Mountain was dead aside from a lovely pair of Stonechat and a very distant but nonetheless extremely noisy Raven displaying over towards the ‘Scouse Alps’ that looked magnificent in the midday sun.

A couple of signs that spring is gathering pace today, with a Red-tipped Bumblebee at Greenfield and my first singing Meadow Pipit on Halkyn Mountain, but as we all know, it doesn’t really get into full swing until the Wheatears rock-up – Godspeed!

Until later.

The Iron Oxide Duke

A walk along the breakwater at Greenfield this morning yielded good numbers of commoner estuarine birds – especially Gulls – all enjoying life loafing on the sand banks and dozing in the spring sunshine.

By my humble reckonings, this stretch between the small dock and the rusting Duke of Lancaster has potential for a good selection of migrants during spring.

The habitat is a mixture of wet grassland, arable, rough pasture and scrub all squeezed between the railway and the estuary. Wheatears in particular would feel at home here, especially today as the farmer – with perfect timing – was busy ploughing one of his fields.

In many ways it is similar to the front at Leasowe and whilst this spot on the North Wirral coast is probably better positioned to receive migrants, Greenfield is much quieter and considerably less disturbed.

I had half expected to find a Wheatear today. I have noticed that a couple have cropped up in Cheshire over the last few days in addition to one or two in North Wales, so surely it wont be too long before one appears on the Dee.

Monday afternoon was spent in the company of John Boswell trying to track down a Crane at F/W Moss. No Crane and very little else to boot. The moss is notoriously home to few birds and yesterday it excelled itself even by its own low standards – there were more birders than birds!

Nevertheless, it was interesting to learn about the hitherto unknown to me Sundew plant. Perhaps not surprisingly given the poor quality soil at the moss, it supplements its diet by other means – eating insects. After swatting up in the evening, I also learnt that Butterworts consume insects too - but according to BBC News there is a third…

The invasive Japanese Knotweed has apparently supplanted (pun intended) Indian Balsam as the gardeners’ nemesis. Not only does it grow at a fantastic rate – but according to the considered opinion of the beeb it is also ‘a real life Triffid.’ Cripes.

Until later.