September Birdseekers' Trip
Sunday, September 19th 2004
Report by Neil Glenn
Photo of Great White Egret by Lynn Demaine
It is Saturday evening and I am having to choose the next day's destination for the Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers' Birdseeker outing. There are three choices as far as I can see:
- Norfolk for Glossy Ibis, Lesser Yellowlegs and other waders. I discard this choice being as we have been to Norfolk twice already this year;
- Cornwall for Semipalmated Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Hoopoe and Wryneck. This is along way to go if any of the targets disappears but the seawatching should be good down there if all else fails. The Citrine Wagtail had also vanished a few days previously;
- Yorkshire for Great Egret, Green-winged Teal then a dash along the M62 for Leach's Petrels passing the coast of The Wirral.
After phoning around to gauge people's reactions to a long drive down to Cornwall, I decide to plump for the latter itinerary. I check the tide table and find high tide on The Wirral isn't until early afternoon so it looks like we are heading for Yorkshire first thing in the morning. Time for some sleep!
Sunday gets off to a good start when I see a Barn Owl on Barton Lane. Unfortunately, I haven't picked anyone else up yet! Everyone is on time at the pick-up points and we are heading north by 6.00am. First stop is Edderthorpe Flash for the teal but thanks to the leader bringing along an old map, we have difficulty finding the site. We park on a narrow track and walk along a setaside field to view the pool. The light is poor but we pick out an Egyptian Goose, Teal, Ruddy Duck and Pintail but no Green-winged. We can see a road across the other side of the flashes so head off to try and find it. Fortunately, Andy G sort of remembers how to get there and we are soon parked in a lay-by with excellent views of the flash. We meet a birder coming away from the site who tells us the teal is still present but as we approach the place a dog-walker flushes the ducks. Fortunately, they don't fly far and PJ and Andy soon pick out the Green-winged Teal. The vertical white flank line is obvious and everyone gets good 'scope views of this handsome bird. In fact, it is the only teal not in eclipse plumage so is relatively easy to pick out.
We next stop at Broomhill Flash but it obvious the Great Egret is not present. We see Little Egret, Snipe and a Common Sandpiper then move on to Wombwell Ings, another of the egret's favourite haunts. Just as we are getting out of the van, a message appears on my pager telling me that the Great White is at Old Moor RSPB. We pile back into the van and arrive a couple of minutes later. The trees around the visitor centre are covered in Tree Sparrows and Greenfinches but we have bigger fish to fry! It isn't long before we are all looking at the Great White Egret on the back of one of the reserve's ponds. This bird was ringed as a nestling in France this year and here it is looking bemused in the middle of Yorkshire!
After trying to ignore the Black Swan on the same pool we headed for the wader hide. Many Golden Plovers were sitting in front of us, then PJ and Steven located a couple of Curlew Sandpipers. While I was trying to get onto them, the flock flew. The sandpipers could easily be picked out from the Dunlin by size alone but the white rump was also obvious. The rest of the group got good 'scope views when the mixed flock landed again. Meanwhile, I was summoned to look at a couple of waders causing confusion from another window. The mystery was soon resolved: they were Green Sandpipers. Just for good luck we located another Common Sandpiper next to the Greens, allowing a good comparison of the two similar species.
The RSPB café was the next stop and everyone filled up with the second breakfast of the day. More Tree Sparrows were seen from the café balcony. Now that's my idea of birdwatching: bacon butty in one hand, birds being scanned with the other hand! It was 11.00am and time to move on.
Navigation by Frank and Richard meant we arrived at New Brighton with no hitches. There was a line of birdwatchers 'scoping the rough sea from the sea wall so we stopped and joined them. It wasn't long before someone managed to pick out a dark bird flying very low at some distance. It was our first Arctic Skua of the day. By this time, we were attracting much attention from bemused locals and many stopped to ask us what we were looking at
There were many Arctics flying out at sea then the shout we had wanted to hear went up, “Leach´s coming out of the river mouth!” Several of our group managed reasonable ´scope views as the petrel flew directly away from us out to sea. Not everyone connected though and many were asking when a closer one might appear! We didn´t have to wait very long as a Leach´s Petrel flew along the seawall at about 150 yards distance. It remained in view for over ten minutes and everyone was able to get superb views of the upperwing pattern. A thrilling bird!
Not long after this sighting, the wind dropped and so did the frequency of bird sightings. We decided to move a little further along the coast to Meols where a Sabine´s Gull had lingered yesterday. As we were leaving New Brighton we met a birder who had seen a Long-tailed Skua fly off out to sea, no doubt as we had all been engrossed with the Leach´s. Oh well.
Meols provided more sightings of Leach´s Petrels, Manx Shearwaters and many gulls and terns but no Sabine´s. Apparently, this handsome gull was showing well across The Mersey at Crosby but by the time we could get there it would no doubt have flown across to where we are now standing. Such are the dilemmas of birding! All eyes scanned the sea in case the Sabine´s came our way, but no luck. It was time to head home with 83 species on our list for the day, some participants with four lifers.
Bird of the Day was voted Leach´s Petrel (9 votes), with five votes counted for the Great White Egret and one for the Green-winged Teal. And as for Cornwall, the Semi-P had gone and the Baird´s wasn´t seen after 11.00am. I think we made the right choice…
| SPECIES POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED ON SEPT 19th: | |
|---|---|
| Little Grebe | 1 or 2, Broomhill & Old Moor |
| Great Crested Grebe | 1, Old Moor; 1 or 2 New Brighton. |
| MANX SHEARWATER | 3 or 4, Meols |
| LEACH´S PETREL | 2, New Brighton; 4, Meols |
| Gannet | 1, Meols |
| Cormorant | Everywhere |
| LITTLE EGRET | Broomhill Flash |
| GREAT WHITE EGRET | Old Moor RSPB, leg-ringed juvenile |
| Grey Heron | |
| Mute Swan | |
| (Black Swan) | Old Moor RSPB |
| Greylag Goose | |
| Canada Goose | |
| Egyptian Goose | 1, Edderthorpe Flashes |
| Wigeon | |
| Gadwall | |
| Mallard | |
| Teal | |
| GREEN-WINGED TEAL | 1 drake, Edderthorpe Flashes |
| Pintail | Edderthorpe Flashes |
| Shoveler | |
| Pochard | |
| Tufted Duck | |
| Ruddy Duck | Several, Edderthorpe Flashes |
| Sparrowhawk | Old Moor RSPB |
| Kestrel | Travelling |
| Buzzard | 2, Travelling |
| Pheasant | |
| Moorhen | |
| Coot | |
| Oystercatcher | |
| Ringed Plover | 1, Old Moor |
| Golden Plover | approx 20, Broomhill Flash; ~ 200, Old Moor. |
| Lapwing | |
| CURLEW SANDPIPER | 2 juveniles, Old Moor RSPB |
| Dunlin | Old Moor RSPB |
| Snipe | 6, Broomhill Flash |
| Redshank | Lots, Meols |
| Green Sandpiper | 2, Old Moor RSPB |
| Common Sandpiper | 1, Broomhill Flash; 1, Old Moor |
| Turnstone | very close views of several, New Brighton. |
| ARCTIC SKUA | Several, New Brighton, mostly distant |
| Black-headed Gull | |
| Common Gull | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | Broomhill Flash |
| Great Black-backed Gull | New Brighton. |
| Herring Gull | New Brighton. |
| Kittiwake | 1 or 2, New Brighton. |
| Sandwich tern | Several, New Brighton & Meols. |
| Common Tern | Several, New Brighton & Meols. |
| Guillemot | A few, New Brighton |
| Stock Dove | Old Moor |
| Woodpigeon | |
| (Feral Pigeon) | |
| Collared Dove | |
| BARN OWL | Barton Lane, 5.15am NG only. |
| Green Woodpecker | Edderthorpe Flash |
| Skylark | Edderthorpe Flash. |
| Swallow | |
| House Martin | |
| Meadow pipit | Edderthorpe Flash |
| Grey Wagtail | |
| Pied Wagtail | |
| Wren | |
| Dunnock | |
| Robin | |
| Blackbird | |
| Chiffchaff | (heard, Edderthorpe). |
| Long-tailed Tit | |
| Blue Tit | |
| Great Tit | |
| Jay | 1, Travelling |
| Magpie | |
| Jackdaw | |
| Carrion Crow | |
| Rook | |
| Starling | |
| House Sparrow | |
| TREE SPARROW | Several, Old Moor RSPB. |
| Greenfinch | |
| Goldfinch | |
| Yellowhammer | |