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Tina McDonald and her
husband came to the Dee Estuary in September for a bit of birding away from
their more usual haunts in Canada. Tina runs a wonderful website from Canada
called - Where do
you want go birding today?, full of links and information about birding
sites from around the world. Tina has written a visit report -
Dee Day - on her web site which is well worth a read as it gives a real
sense of the excitement from seeing species we take for granted as seen
through the eyes of a foreign visitor. Tina added eleven lifers to her list. |
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Readers of the 2002
Birdwatcher's Yearbook will know by now that this Web site was voted Web
site of the year 2001 by the newsgroup uk.rec.birdwatching. Particularly
pleasing as the votes were cast by fellow birdwatchers for which the site
was designed. |
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Count
from Hilbre Island on 17th November, kindly
provided by John Gittins and John Eliot of the Hilbre Bird Observatory:
22 Great Crested Grebe, 70 Cormorant, 6 Wigeon, 23 Pintail, 1 Scaup, 7 Common Scoter, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 10,000 Oystercatcher, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 100 Ringed Plover, 10 Grey Plover, 6,000 Knot, 18 Purple Sandpiper, 1,000 Dunlin, 22 Bar-tailed Godwit, 100 Turnstone, 1 Rock Pipit and 1 Stonechat.
Wetland Bird Survey Count for
Heswall Shore - (Kindly provided by the
Wirral Ranger Service). 4th November.
Wetland Bird Survey Count for
Flint and
Connah's Quay (Kindly provided by the Deeside Naturalist's Society). 4th
November. North Wirral
Shore Low Tide WeBS count, carried out between 22nd and 26th November,
kindly provided by Carl Clee. |
November Bird News |
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November was excellent for waders. 3,900 Black-tailed Godwits at Connah's Quay early in the month was not only a record WeBS (wetland bird survey) count for the Dee, but may even be the biggest single roosting flock ever seen in this country! Towards the end of the month some of these birds moved over to the English side with 1,200 off Thurstaston. The other Godwits of the estuary, Bar-tailed, were also present in large numbers with 7,944 counted at low tide off Leasowe - the highest count for several years. There were plenty of Knot and Dunlin about, the highest counts being 19,900 (north Wirral) of the former and 29,000 (Hoylake) of the latter. It's also been a good year for Grey Plover, counts included 1,500 at Hoylake, 605 on West Kirby Shore and 292 off Parkgate. Eight Jack Snipe at Gronant was an excellent count for this under recorded species.
Brent Geese increased from three at the beginning of the month to eighteen at the end, this time last year we only had eight - yet we ended up with a record forty by January. Scaup are quite scarce ducks these days on the estuary so it was pleasing to have 188 off Hilbre, may be they are coming back into the estuary, or more likely these were part of the over-wintering flock off Abergele along the welsh coast. If you want to see diving ducks close to go along to West Kirby Marine Lake where there has been up to 20 Red-breasted Mergansers and 7 Goldeneye most days during the month. Rarities included a female Red-crested Pochard in Greenfield Valley and a Green-winged Teal at Inner Marsh Farm. Two interesting gulls were a Ring-billed Gull on Hoylake beach which then came to food in a sea front garden, followed by a Mediterranean Gull seen on Chris Butterworth's house roof when he came back home after spending an hour birdwatching on West Kirby beach! There was a Wheatear on West Kirby beach on the 17th, only a few days short of the latest ever Wheatear seen in Wirral. The Greenfield Valley bird survey continues, the total is now 92 birds. Click here for a complete list. What to expect in December: Christmas can be a magical time on the estuary. Take an early morning walk in clear frosty weather before anyone else is about - after the cold night the birds will be too busy feeding to worry about you. Flocks of Knot right up to the beach, Teal all along the gutters, Shelduck bathing in the streams running over the beach, Redshank and Oystercatcher not moving until you are almost on top of them, Godwits and Curlew in a line at the water's edge - I could go on and on!
A drake Smew has visited Inner Marsh Farm during the past four winters, with a female joining it during the past two years. As the Pink-footed Geese in south Lancashire disperse in mid-winter some end up on the Dee - you may be lucky to see flocks of several hundred flying over any part of the estuary or maybe feeding in the surrounding fields. Many thanks go to Mick Hayhurst, Paul Vautrinot, Mike Hart, Colin Wells, Adam King, John Elliot, Lyn Greenstreet, Iain Douglas, John Gittins, Brian Grey, Jeff Clarke, Chris Butterworth, Bill Owens, Julian Weldrick, David Esther, Dave Harrington, Martyn Jaimeson, Carl Clee, Ken Mullins, Colin Jones, John Kirkland, Jane Turner, Brian Roberts, Gareth Stamp and the Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens for their sightings during November. I rely on the goodwill of people like this, unlike some commercial sites I cannot offer financial inducements! |
Forthcoming Events |
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Forthcoming Events (organised by the
Wirral Ranger Service,
Flintshire Countryside Service and/or the RSPB): All these events and walks have bird interest, even those not advertised specifically for birdwatching. No need to book for these events unless specified - please check below. Sunday 2nd December 10:00am (HW 11:58, 9.3m)High tide at
Flint Foreshore Saturday 15th December 8:45am (HW 11:21, 9.4m) Birdwatch at Banks Road,
Heswall. Note: Many of these forthcoming events are extracted from 'Birdwatchers Diary 2002', which covers both the Dee and Mersey regions. Copies available from the visitor centre at Thurstaston, Wirral Country Park 0151 648 4371 or by from myself. |