Pete's Favourite Things

Today saw me travelling out to the Wirral coast in search of more waders. My first stop however is Bidston Moss, an area of lakes and trees about 2 miles inland.

The star birds here were birds of prey with Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel all present. Also a single Common Chiffchaff and a Comma butterfly trying to shelter from the rain.

Comma

Rain on a spiders web

The next stop was Leasowe Common where again the most notable thing was the movement of Swallows as well as a pair of Reed Buntings amongst common species. Also good numbers of Small tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood Butterflies

Speckled wood

Leasowes Lighthouse

Starlings

Then onto Meols beach. Meols is a good place to look for waders as there is an channel in the mud which retains water even at low tide and is attractive to wading birds. Checking through the waders present the most frequent is Common Redshank (c400), Ruddy Turnstone (c40) and Oystercatcher (c25). However also present were a Bar-tailed Godwit, a few Dunlin and a pair of Curlew Sandpipers.

Oystercatcher

The final stop was the seafront at West Kirby which is the place where the Wirral coast meets the Dee estuary. It is one of the best places to see waers at high tide. The wader roost on the mudflats was comprised of Oystercatcher (c500), Curlew (c50) and Dunlin (c20). In addition there were many birds roosting on the off-shore islands. There seemed to be mostly Oystercatcher, but distance and haze made it difficult to see if there was anything present with them.

Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo)
Common Kestrel [sp] (Falco tinnunculus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Eurasian Oystercatcher [sp] (Haematopus ostralegus)
Bar-tailed Godwit [sp] (Limosa lapponica)
Eurasian Curlew [sp] (Numenius arquata)
Common Redshank [sp] (Tringa totanus)
Ruddy Turnstone [sp] (Arenaria interpres)
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)
Dunlin [sp] (Calidris alpina)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Common Gull (Larus canus canus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica)
Common Chiffchaff [sp] (Phylloscopus collybita)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Song Thrush [sp] (Turdus philomelos)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Common Linnet [sp] (Carduelis cannabina)
Common Reed Bunting [sp] (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Small Tortoiseshell [sp] (Aglais urticae)
Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
Speckled Wood [sp] (Pararge aegeria)

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)