The Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens Bird Report  2001

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Merlin                                                                 F. columbarius 
Winter visitor
16 records from the 1st. winter period, the last being a male feeding on a Meadow Pipit on the main path May 7th. There were 3 records from the second winter period.
[This is one of the best years for Merlin since the wardening scheme began. Although fairly frequent higher up the estuary the number of sightings annually, from the wardening area, are usually less than 10.]

Eurasian Hobby                                          F. subbuteo 
Scarce passage
1 May 6th. over the dunes, 1 ( juv. ) disturbed off the golfcourse August 1st. 1 September 6th. over Marine Lake.
[Once regarded as a southern, heathland specialist, Hobby are now known to be far more catholic in their habitat requirements and are in a period of expansion with birds being recorded from all over the north west.]

Peregrine Falcon                                       F. peregrinus 
Resident
Recorded on 27 occasions in the 1st. winter period with a peak number of 3 February 24th. At least 2 birds were present throughout the summer. Recorded on 9 occasions during the second winter period with a peak of 4 November 7th.
[It has become the mark of a poor day on the beach when Peregrine are not present over the last five years or so but with the reduction in wader numbers during the second wardening period there has been a noticeable dearth of records this year.]

Water Rail                                                      Rallus aquaticus 
Mainly winter visitor
3 - 5 birds present during the 1st. winter period and seen frequently. 2 males set up territory at opposite ends of the Phragmites bed in April and birds were seen throughout the summer. 1 ( juv. ) on July 15th. + 16th., 2 ( not aged ) August 21st. 1 bird flushed off the golfcourse July 3rd. Up to 3 birds were present during the second winter period.
[ For many years the question of Water Rail breeding at Red Rocks marsh has been debated. On May 27th. a female was giving a diagnostic gug - gug - gug call and answered by at least 2 young. This, along with the sighting of a very young juvenile a few weeks later, indicates that breeding occurred this year. Evidence of breeding is very difficult to come by, as proved in the Cheshire Atlas, with only 2 confirmed breeding records for the whole of Cheshire and Wirral. The national figures are not much better with the New Breeding Atlas recording 304 tetrads showing evidence of breeding in the whole of Britain and Ireland. To put this into context there were 216 for Golden Eagle and 966 for Kingfisher.]

Common Moorhen                                  Gallinula chloropus 
Mainly winter visitor
3 birds were present in Red Rocks marsh during the 1st winter period. The first returning birds were 2 seen dropping into the marsh on July 15th. The peak count for the 2nd. winter period was 3 December 4th..
[ Moorhen are usually not the most difficult of birds to see but all those this year kept well within the Phragmites and were only visually recorded on 9 occasions.]

Black Coot                                                        Fulica atra 
Vagrant
1 ( m. ) July 20th. in the dune slack was possibly the first ever recorded in the marsh. The same bird was present on July 26th. when it was accompanied by 2 downy young. 2 well grown young August 21st.
[The appearance of the first bird, and subsequent proof of breeding was exceptional and was one of the most unexpected records of the year. This may be the first record of the species for the site. The habitat present is, at best, sub-optimal for Coot which has a preference for much larger areas of open water.]

( Records of Waders in brackets have been obtained outside the days when wardens were present. )

Northern Oystercatcher                         Haematopus haematopus
Resident. More common in winter
Peak monthly counts :-
No systematic counts were made outside the Wardening period

Peak count of returning birds in August was of 3,500 on the 7th.
[ The average number of birds using the roost continues to drop, in line with the general decline of Oystercatcher on the estuary but despite this the river still holds the third largest wintering numbers in Britain. The drop in numbers has been linked to the decline of the cockle fishery, and there does appear to be a correlation ( correlation is not conformation - one of the basic tenets of statistics ! ). There is a danger that ‘low’ yields from the cockle beds, based on selective data, may lead to a simplistic call for a cull by those who opposed the regulation of the season this year i.e. the ‘season’ being confined to brief 3 day bursts of ruthless plunder reminiscent of tales concerning the more excessive days on the Yukon.]

Ringed Plover                                                   Charadrius hiaticula
Passage + winter visitor
Peak monthly counts :-
No systematic counts were made outside the Wardening period

There were no reports of birds showing the characteristics of C. h. tundrae this year.
[ Ringed Plover , although present throughout the winter, have always been regarded as more of a passage migrant on site. Over the past couple of years numbers using the roost throughout the winter have been steadily rising but the actual reason behind this is unknown, disturbance at previously used roost sites is suspected.]

European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria 
Scarce winter visitor
2 February 3rd, 19 February 8th, 7 February 21st, 3 March 11th, 6 September 18th. 2 December 1st
[ An excellent year for records. Although Golden Plover are a regular wintering species higher up the estuary they rarely appear over the site. The flooding throughout the 1st winter period made the fields in north Wirral much more attractive to this species than they normally are, and probably contributed to the rise in numbers. ]

Grey Plover                                          P. squatarola
 Winter visitor
Peak monthly counts :-
No systematic counts were made outside the Wardening period

[Although the peak monthly figures during the first part of the year show a small decrease in the numbers using the roost, the overall figures show almost total collapse. Grey Plover used to be a major constituent of the roost but now they are very erratic in their appearance, although the estuary as a whole still holds Internationally Important numbers. The figure for February was obtained after the high tide, was probably of birds disturbed from their normal site and was the only record of 1000+ for the whole of the 2000 / 2001 winter. There have been suggestions that birds have transferred to the Alt and Mersey but the Webs figures for 1999 / 2000 do not seem to bear this out.]

Lapwing to Bar-tailed Godwit.