Dee Estuary Birding

The Spring Migration starts around early March and can still be underway in early June, but it no doubt peaks in the second half of April and into early May.  It can be an exciting and magical time - waking up on a spring morning to find Wheatears in every field and Willow Warblers in every bush. It's about far more than just those two species, of course, and it's exciting because we see species rarely recorded here at other times of the year. No spring is the same and we will remember days when the beach is covered in White Wagtails, or four or five Ring Ouzels in one field, or hearing dozens of Whimbrels calling on the shore, or a mega rarity turns up, or.......  So I thought I'd recount some of these magical days from the past few years.

May 2nd 2012 - Willow Warblers and Wheatears

I quote from the Hilbre Bird Observatory Blog for May 2nd 2012 "Today saw almost certainly the largest ever fall of migrants recorded at Hilbre since the Bird Observatory was established in 1957". It had been a miserable April, and the last week had included gales and torrential rain, but April 30th saw a vast improvement and by May 2nd there was a warm south-easterly airflow and the birds reacted accordingly. Observatory members on their way to the island at first light knew something amazing was happening when they counted 72 Wheatears around the West Kirby Marine Lake Car Park! When they reached Hilbre birds were everywhere and it was like that all day. Next I quote Matt Thomas (Hilbre Ranger) from his 'From the Muddy Banks of the Dee' Blog -  "Looking around it was as if a Wheatear bomb had gone off. All along the west side of the island were Wheatears. Some loafing on the grass, others scromping grubs from the sandy cliffs. If you got one in the viewfinder of the camera there was almost always another in the same frame. There must have been around two hundred of them during the course of the day but their numbers were dwarfed by the amount of Willow Warblers that fell from the skies. Final total was 800. You looked at every bush, fence post and there was a Willow Warbler there. I walked out of the garden of the Bird Obs and nearly trod on one. I have never seen anything like it before." Other Hilbre highlights that day were six Common Redstarts, 3,000 Swallows and 250 House Martins.

Common Redstarts

Fabulous birds to see with their red breast and tail, in the sun they really stand out like red jewels. Most pass through here in the last three weeks of April with a few stragglers in May. We rarely see any at other times of the year here on the coast although they do breed inland in small numbers in both Cheshire and Clwyd.

Two years stand out - 2014 and 2015. April 2014 started well with singles recorded at various locations between 8th and 20th then on the 21st six were at Leasowe Lighthouse with birds also at Hoylake and Hilbre. There was a total of 42 records that year, the highest in recent years.

The total in 2015 was not quite as high, with 37, but one day stands out - the 17th April. It had been a good week with three at Red Rocks on the 15th and four males at Leasowe Lighthouse on the 16th. The 17th started well with two stunning males along Park Lane (near the Lighthouse) at 8am. During a visit in the afternoon it quickly became apparent there had been a second arrival of birds with an additional eight Common Redstarts logged, making an incredible 10 for the day and 19 for that week.

Ring Ouzels

The Ring Ouzel migration can be quite prolonged with the few we see in March thought to be British breeding birds whereas the higher numbers we get in April mostly breed in Scandinavia. Most come down to feed for a few hours before moving on but occasionally we will get one that stays for several days. I remember a lovely male bird in Heswall Fields NT in 2007 which stayed for a week, one day it was joined by another male plus a female.  That same April a female Ring Ouzel was in a field just below Stapledon Woods for five days, a five minute walk from my house - fantastic!

But it was 2019 which stands out with the highest numbers this century. Things started quite slowly with just one record in March that year. Three, at Leasowe Lighthouse on the 8th, was a good start to April but it wasn't until the 15th that we started seeing them every day. The 18th was outstanding. We had a flock of seven in one field at Leasowe Lighthouse with at least 10 in the area. That same day there were also Ring Ouzels at Red Rocks (three), Hilbre, Burton and Caldy making for a total of at least 16. The total number of records for Spring 2019 was 43, the next highest this century was 37 in 2014 with the average being 20.

Yellow Wagtails

Stunning looking birds. Although we've had good numbers of Yellow Wagtails since, especially in 2019 as described below, I've never seen a flock of them as there was in early May 2011 and I quote from the Dee Estuary June 2011 Newsletter:

They were like bright yellow leaves blown by a swirling wind. Sorry to go all poetical on you but that's what I thought whilst watching a flock of 25 Yellow Wagtails in the horse paddocks by Leasowe Lighthouse on the 5th. Earlier in the day over 40 had been reported here and by the evening numbers had built up to 58 - these must be the highest numbers here for well over 20 years where anything over 10 is usually considered exceptional. What intrigued me was the way the large flock were behaving, very restless, constantly on the move and swirling around in flight in contrast to the behaviour of most Yellow Wagtails here which usually just stay on the ground busy feeding. It was nice to see so many females in the flock, looking as beautiful as the males but much more of a pale primrose colour as opposed to the males' bright buttercup yellow.

As mentioned above, April 2019 was an excellent month for Yellow Wagtails and I can do no better than to quote from my Newsletter again (May 2019):

It's been a great year for Yellow Wagtails with a max count of at least 40 at Leasowe Lighthouse on the 22nd. Hilbre rarely gets more than ones and twos as most fly over, so it was fantastic to have 23 on the island on the 21st and 31 two days later. Channel Wagtails (Yellow/Blue-headed Wagtail intergrade - M f flava x favissima) are unusual here, and we rarely get more than the odd one, so to get seven records was great. Two turned up at Burton Mere Wetlands on the 14th and later in the month we had a few at Leasowe Lighthouse. But the sumptuous icing on the cake was the arrival of a Spanish Wagtail (Motacilla flava iberiae) found by Stan Davidson in Kerr's Field at Leasowe on the 26th, despite gales and rain on the 27th it was still present on the 28th and briefly the next day.

Whimbrels

I love to go down to the estuary between West Kirby and Heswall in late April and early May to hear the Whimbrels with their seven whistle call. At that time of year many of the other waders have already left us so you really notice the Whimbrels which are passing through here on their way between West Africa and Iceland. On an incoming tide they often perch on the rocks on the stretch between Caldy steps and the causeway at Dee Sailing Club, giving very good views and an opportunity for photos.

As the tide comes in further the Whimbrels make their way to Heswall shore, and here a large roost gathers. We've had record numbers here over the past few years with peak counts as follows:

142   May 6th 2020
173   May 1st 2021
211   May 5th 2022
184   May 2nd 2023

Rarities

The spring migration is a great time for spotting rarities and I finish this article with a selection from 2007 to 2023.

Red-breasted Flycatcher, Hilbre 2007; Whiskered Tern, Inner Marsh Farm, 2008; Red-rumped Swallow, Leasowe Lighthouse, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011; Stone Curlew, Leasowe Lighthouse, 2009; Bluethroat, Leasowe Lighthouse, 2010 and 2022; Nightingale, Hilbre, 2010; Citrine Wagtail, Red Rocks, 2014; 9 Surf Scoters, Hoylake, 2015; 3 Dotterels, Meols, 2015; Nightjar, Hilbre, 2016; Shorelark, Hilbre, 2017; Gull-billed Tern, Burton Mere Wetlands, 2018 and 2023; Spanish Wagtail, Leasowe Lighthouse, 2019; Collared Pratincole, Leasowe Lighthouse, 2021; Bonaparte's Gull, Burton Mere Wetlands, 2021; Black-winged Stilt and Savi's Warbler, Burton Mere Wetlands, 2023.

So I hope you've enjoyed reading what has happened in previous years, we can now look forward to April 2024!

Richard Smith