Dee Estuary Birding

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May 2018 Newsletter

Little Terns - Review of 2017 season.
April Bird News.
Colour Ring Report.
Forthcoming Events.
Latest Newsletter.

 

The Little Tern colony at Gronant had an excellent season in 2017 with a record number of breeding pairs (161) and the second highest fledgling count of 202.  

The increase in breeding pairs, up from 141 in 2016, was unexpected as we had five relative poor years from 2011 to 2015 with fledgling success and in the past that meant a subsequent dip in breeding pairs. For example, looking at the graph you can see two poor fledgling years in 1997 and 1998 resulted in fewer breeding pairs in 2002 whilst a very poor year in 2001 saw less breeding pairs in both 2004 and 2005. The increase in 2017 could be explained by high adult survival in the wintering grounds and on migration, and/or immigration of breeding birds to Gronant from other colonies because of ideal breeding habitat and good feeding. Or maybe the colony is still benefiting from the record breaking season of 2010.

According to the RSPB, Gronant was the largest Little Tern colony, in terms of breeding pairs, in the whole of the British Isles in 2017. But it wasn't the most productive with that accolade going to Kilcoole, just south of Dublin, with 141 pairs producing an estimated 255 successfully fledged young. Kilcoole is only 100 miles due west of Gronant and there appears to be quite a lot of inter-change between the two colonies. We know this because a big effort has been made to colour ring Little Terns over the past two or three years and there were no less than 56 records of birds ringed at Kilcoole at Gronant in 2017, including newly fledged young birds. Colour-ringing is going to revolutionise our understanding of these birds but a couple of fascinating facts have already emerged - a bird ringed as a chick with a black ring in 1991 was recorded at Gronant in 2017 which means it is 26 years old, a world longevity record for Little Tern (previous record was 23.8 years), and the other interesting finding was that several one year old birds, including five ringed at Gronant in 2016, were recorded as well as several two year old birds. Perceived wisdom had it that the first year birds all stay on their wintering grounds off West Africa through the summer, as do most second year birds - well, it seems perceived wisdom was wrong! 

Although 2017 was undoubtedly a good year it wasn't without it's problems with some exceptional high tides, gales and not least a fox which got into the breeding pens. Quite a lot of eggs were lost to that fox but it was early in the season so the birds could re-lay but if the wardens hadn't stopped it's activities the whole colony could well have been destroyed. This just demonstrates how vitally important wardening is and, as always, a large proportion of these are volunteers. Anybody can volunteer so if you are interested please contact either  the North Wales Little Tern Group by emailing nwlittletern@gmail.com or ring Denbighshire Countryside Services 01745 356197. See also Little Tern Events below.

References and Further Reading

1. Henry Cook, Ben Harrington, Sasha Taylor & Jack Slattery, Gronant Little Tern Report 2017, Denbighshire County Council Countryside Service.

2. North Wales Little Tern Group - https://en-gb.facebook.com/nwlittletern/,
email: nwlittletern@gmail.com.

3. Gronant Site Guide: http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/news0609.htm 

4. Kilcoole Little Tern Conservation Project - littleternconservation.blogspot.co.uk.

5. Little Terns and Sea Holly, Three Summers at Gronant Dunes by Judith Samuel.
Review: http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/news0617.htm.

Richard Smith

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Black-tailed Godwits

A lot fewer colour-ringed birds this spring compared with 2017 when northerly winds delayed the migration. The godwits were already in full breeding plumage by the second week of April and we had a couple of interesting ringed ones, as described below.

WOL-YRY Ringed on Seaton Marshes, Devon, on 9th February 2013.
Between 6th April and 14th April recorded five times at Caldy Wildfowl Collection and twice on Thurstaston Shore. This is the first bird recorded on the Dee estuary which has been ringed in Devon.
Apart from a trip to Dorset in early June, this bird spent the whole of 2013, including the breeding season, in Devon suggesting it was an immature (i.e. non-breeding) bird when caught. All records for 2014 to 2016 were also in Devon. This bird wasn't seen anywhere between July 16th 2016 and April 2018 until it turned up at Caldy.

L//L-L Ringed in southern Iceland in June 2003, as a chick.
August 2003 saw this bird in Yorkshire and in December 2005 it was in France.
The first Dee estuary record was in September 2005 and since November 2006 it has been recorded here almost 200 times, but nowhere else.
It was on Thurstaston shore November and December 2017 but hadn't been seen since until it arrived at Caldy Wildfowl Collection in early April 2018 where it stayed for the rest of the month.

Grey Plover

Oflag(EM) - P   Ringed at Altcar (Alt Estuary) on 30th March 2018.
Recorded on Meols Shore on 7th April 2018 and at Southport on 14th April 2018.
On Good Friday 2018 78 Grey Plovers (along with a large catch of Knot) were caught and ringed at Altcar and fitted with Orange flags, this was the largest catch of Grey Plovers in the UK for 20 years.
There have been several sightings of these Orange flagged Grey Plovers on the Dee estuary/North Wirral but 'EM' has been the only one, so far, that was close enough to read the letters on the flag.

Oystercatchers

Two Oystercatchers ringed in Iceland were seen in March and  April, to read about this colour-ringing scheme see: http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/news0417.htm.

NG-GG(YY). 
Metal ringed as a small nestling on 25th May 2016 in southern Iceland, then colour ringed on 16th June 2016 as a large chick just before it fledged.
Only record since June 2016 was on Hoylake Shore on 29th March 2018.

WL-W(CA). 
Ringed as a chick on 28th May 2017 in southern Iceland, and recorded at the same site in June 2017.
Recorded at Thurstaston Shore on 19th April 2018.

Richard Smith.
Colour-rings were also recorded by Steve Hinde, Eddie Williams, Matt Thomas, Steve Williams, Derek Bates, Allan Hitchmough and Tim Kinch.

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The spring migration was steady without being spectacular, although there were big numbers of White Wagtails moving through Hoylake Shore with three figure counts on four dates, max 300+ on the 16th. There were also 40 on Hilbre on the 16th, over 20 at Leasowe Lighthouse on the 19th and 30 at Gronant on the 29th. 

The table below shows the first arrival of some of our commoner migrants (plus Cuckoo which is now scarce), apart from the early Wheatear arrival dates were not untypical for recent years.

Species	2018	Location	2017	2016
Wheatear	9th March	Leasowe Lighthouse	11th March	23rd March
White Wagtail	14th March	Hilbre	4th March	15th March
Sand Martin	15th March	West Kirby	11th March	16th March
Willow Warbler	27th March	Greasby	17th March	29th March
Swallow	29th March	West Kirby	14th March	24th March
House Martin	6th April	Burton	27th March	7th April
Whitethroat	7th April	Leasowe Lighthouse	17th April	13th April
Swift	22nd April	Burton	19th April	22nd April
Cuckoo	23rd April	Decca Pools	24th April	21st April

Wood Warblers are getting quite rare these days so it was good to see a nice showy one at Leasowe Lighthouse on the 15th as the photo shows, first one there for many years. One singing male (there were some reports of two?) was in the wood by the Reception Hide at Burton Mere Wetlands from 20th to 25th. It is always good to see Ring Ouzels and Common Redstarts and we had plenty of both with the first of the former on the 3rd and the latter on the 9th, a lovely male Ring Ouzel stayed at least a week at Leasowe Lighthouse see photo below. The first Whinchats were early arriving on April 9th, Yellow Wagtails were a bit thin on the ground, the first one was seen on the 14th with just one or two since.

A Green-winged Teal was on Heswall Shore from the 19th to 24th giving good views, we think a first for that part of the estuary. A white-morph Snow Goose was on Burton Marsh on the 24th and 25th, with several hundred Pink-footed Geese. Pink-footed Geese are known as 'carriers' for this species so it is a possible wild bird, although it's origin as a feral or escaped bird is probably more likely. Over 8,000 Pink-footed Geese were recorded heading north through the month, mainly at dawn, a spectacular sight. Having been present all winter two or three Eiders were present off Hilbre all month and it was presumably two of these which were seen off Heswall on the 28th. A Long-tailed Duck was spotted off the north end of Hilbre on the 18th.

There were several reports of a single Red Kite over Wirral, both early in the month and in the third week. I'm told they are breeding on Halkyn Mountain (inland of Holywell) so perhaps they are coming over from there. Ospreys were recorded on four dates, including excellent views on two consecutive days at Leasowe Lighthouse including one landing on the shore and eating a fish.

Whimbrels peaked on the 27th with 49 at Heswall and there was a record 155 Avocets at Burton Mere Wetlands right at the end of the month. Out to sea there were three Great Northern Divers and 42 Red-throated Divers off north Wirral/Hilbre on the 17th. The most unusual record of the month was of a White Stork over Burton Mere Wetlands on the 9th.

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