Dee Estuary Birding

Here is my usual yearly summary on the 26th Anniversary of this Dee Estuary Birding website. I always enjoy looking back over the previous 12 months, and there is certainly plenty to write about.

Spring

Cold northerly winds and some thick snow in early March meant that the spring migration was late - but the weather changed, the 17th was a lovely spring day and brought in our first Wheatears, Sandwich Tern, White Wagtail and loads of Stonechats including over 30 at Leasowe Lighthouse. Five days later we were in for a big surprise when four Alpine Swifts were seen, our first ever multiple record for this species which is far from being annual in our area -  in total we reckoned eight different  Alpine Swifts were recorded  in March.

Another unexpected multiple record of a rarity were two Black Guillemots at Hilbre on March 25th. Presumably it was one of these which was later seen in summer plumage off both Hilbre and North Wirral on many occasions right through to June. Amusingly, this bird seemed to think it was an Oystercatcher as it was frequently seen with them on the rocks at the north end of Hilbre!

RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands (BMW) had more than it's fair share of rarities in April with a Black-winged Stilt (later also at Talacre), a Gull Billed Tern and a Savi's Warbler. Four records of Blue-headed Wagtail was a good number for this continental race of Yellow Wagtails. The spring migration continued into early May with 33 Wheatears at Burton on the 1st and 184 Whimbrels at Heswall on the 2nd.

Summer

A White-tailed Eagle, which had been on the Mersey Estuary, flew over the Dee Estuary in June - it had a tracker so seen by a satellite but unfortunately not by any human. Two nice rairites in July were a Red-backed Shrike in the dunes between Gronant and Point of Ayr and a Night Heron at Burton Mere Wetlands. Some strong winds blew in three Storm Petrels.

In August the mud off Meols attracted Cheshire and Wirral's second ever Citrine Wagtail, and also several adult Curlew Sandpipers in various stages of moult.

Autumn

September saw a good passage of juvenile Curlew Sandpipers, 13 were at BMW for six days but probably the best views of them were just off the West Kirby Marine Lake wall where the birds were happily feeding just a few feet from the many people walking around the lake.

A Baird's Sandpiper was a nice find off Hoylake, a third record for the Dee Estuary. A few Leach's Petrels were seen in the second half of September, we would have had a lot more if the winds had blown in the right direction for a day or two longer - so we were a bit frustrated!

A few Black Terns were spotted including five off Hilbre, and there was a high count of 190 Arctic Terns at Hoylake.

Cattle Egrets continue to increase and there were 19 at BMW in October, 13 Spoonbills were also present. The last day of October saw a Pallas's Warbler at Talacre and one was at Hilbre just a few days later in early November. Other nice rarities were a Richard's Pipit and a Barred Warbler.

There was a big influx of Short-eared Owls into the country in November and we saw quite a few here including six off Denhall Quay early in the month. Disappointingly, numbers soon dropped and just one was seen in December. There were plenty of Marsh Harriers around including 18 at Parkgate on Nov 4th.

Winter

It was a Waxwing winter. And about time too, as the last one was in the winter of 2012/13 (see Species Spotlight - Waxwings). We first saw a handful at the end of November with more around in December including 10 by M&S Foodhall in Heswall. Up to 17 in Saughall Massie at the end of December gave good views but the lack of Rowan berries meant numbers remained low. But Waxwings also eat Hawthorn berries and they found plenty on Halkyn Mountain amidst the quarries west of Pentre Halkyn. The first report was of at least 50 on Jan 24th and two days later it was reckoned over 180 were in the area, and they remained there right through to the end of February. So if they were there for at least 30 days, and if we say, at a rough conservative guess, there were an average of 80 a day - that makes 2400 records (sum of daily totals), more than the 2250 total records in the winter of 2012/13 which, until now, was regarded as the best Waxwing winter ever in our area. Fantastic!

We had some nice ducks in January including a lovely drake Smew both on Warren Farm at Talacre and, for one day, West Kirby Marine Lake. There were up to three Long-tailed Ducks off Hoylake and an American Wigeon at BMW, the latter was the rare 'Storm Wigeon' variant with a white head - presumably the same one seen on Anglesey earlier in the winter. A Slavonian Grebe was off Hilbre for a couple of days then after a brief visit to West Kirby Marine Lake, visited the Welsh side of the estuary near Bagillt. Six Snow Buntings were at Point of Ayr and five at Gronant, and a Glaucous Gull flew along the Shore at Meols.

February 12th saw one of the biggest tides of the year which covered the marshes right up to Burton. In fact there were at least three very high spring tides around that date giving a great spectacle of birds including thousands of Pink-footed Geese and waders, plus great views of Water Rails and both Hen and Marsh Harriers. Three Short-eared Owls were at Decca Pools on the highest tide with six over Burton Marsh four days later.