Parkgate Raptors (1 Viewer)

[Pitvar]

And a distant hunting barn owl either side of sunset yesterday? But I didn't get good views.

 

[parkgater]

It's worth checking but I think there's a Raptor watch this sunday 11th at Parkgate Old baths - starting about 5pm.

 

[bradinho]

Parkgate Raptor Watches

Sunday 13th December 2.30pm

@ Old Baths Car Park

Come along and find out about the birds of prey that overwinter on the estuary including Hen Harriers, Merlins, Peregrines and the Short-eared owls.

Reports of Hen Harriers and Short-eared owls are now regular - last time peregrine, merlin, mating kestrels and barn owl all showed too!

Can't forget the pink-feet neither!

 

[PhilW]

Parkgate Raptor Watches

Sunday 13th December 2.30pm

@ Old Baths Car Park

Come along and find out about the birds of prey that overwinter on the estuary including Hen Harriers, Merlins, Peregrines and the Short-eared owls.

Reports of Hen Harriers and Short-eared owls are now regular - last time peregrine, merlin, mating kestrels and barn owl all showed too!

Can't forget the pink-feet neither!

Surely you wear suitable foot wear???:-O

Keep your ears open as well. Found a Richard's Pipit here around the same time last year.

 

[Boom]

5 Short Eared Owls and 4 Hen Harriers (all Ring Tails) from the Old Baths this afternoon plus the usual abundance of Kestrels incuding a pair mating. It`s no wonder they`re doing so well there if they`re starting this early!!

cheers

 

[bradinho]

Latest Dates for Raptor Watches 2010:

January Sunday 10th, 2.30pm

February Sunday 21st, 3pm start

March Sunday 21st, 3pm start

See you there!

 

[bradinho]

Grey Male now reported for last two nights

 

[bradinho]

We had the marsh harrier fly by us on the Raptor Watch on Sunday afternoon/evening

 

[Boom]

Is it a Juvenile would you say? last time i saw one there was in very early November from Old Baths-that one looked like a juvenile male to me admittedly it was a reasonable distance away.

cheers

 

[bradinho]

Is it a Juvenile would you say? last time i saw one there was in very early November from Old Baths-that one looked like a juvenile male to me admittedly it was a reasonable distance away.

cheers

I must admit that I didn't get onto it as I was chatting away and it literallt flew from left to right w/o stopping - most reckoned it was a juv female I think.

 

[Boom]

thanks for that hoping to get over there this weekend-hope it puts in another appearance.

cheers

 

[bradinho]

thanks for that hoping to get over there this weekend-hope it puts in another appearance.

cheers

Well if it doesn't then you'll have to put up 4 hen harriers and 16 short-eared owls!!!

 

[Cheshire Birder]

A spectacular late afternoon at Parkgate - female Marsh Harrier again, 2 Hen Harriers, Merlin, several Short-eared Owls and a Barn Owl.

CB

 

[Jaff]

How close do they come?

 

[Boom]

Obviously it varies but Hen Harriers/ Short Eared Owls and Barn Owl you can usually see with the naked eye.

Had an hour there this afternoon, really quiet for the first time i can remember-didn`t see any of the above which is very suprising in my experience there.

Distant perched Peregrine and Kestrel

cheers

 

[Cheshire Birder]

How close do they come?

They can come very close. The Barn Owl flew over the car as I was leaving. Generally you get very good views of SEO & HH. Worth bringing a scope and arrive about an hour before dusk to get the full experience.

Had an hour there this afternoon, really quiet for the first time i can remember-didn`t see any of the above which is very suprising in my experience there.

Distant perched Peregrine and Kestrel

cheers

Loads of people yesterday afternoon. Bad luck Boom. Always worth another visit anyway.

CB

 

[Boom]

I usually go every week to ten days-that`s why i was surprised at how quiet it was today-it`s usually amazing for raptors. Just one of those days!!

Pretty heaving today as well-loads of visitors at Inner Marsh Farm and at Burton as well.

cheers

 

[bradinho]

I usually go every week to ten days-that`s why i was surprised at how quiet it was today-it`s usually amazing for raptors. Just one of those days!!

Pretty heaving today as well-loads of visitors at Inner Marsh Farm and at Burton as well.

cheers

Myself and a colleaugue were down at the Donkey Stand from 11am until about 4pm and yes it was busy - made it our worthwhile! And we had some great sightings too prob 300-400 pink-feet, up and down most of the morning before returning about 3ish.

Plus we had the marsh harrier off the Boathouse and a ringtail hen harrier twice flew right past us - 1st time about 100m away!

We had about 20 Black-tailed godwits, redshank, curlew, pied wag, golfinsch, fieldfare feeding about 30m away too!

Not to mention the poor views of peregrine and merlin, a kestrel actually perched on a chimney behind us lots of calling as it was being bothered by a crow!

Lots of herons and a few cormorants standing around in the marsh too:eat:

Then at about 2.30pm a few owls came out to play and we reckon we had about 5 in total. Awesome!

Better look/luck next time Boom!

 

[Boom]

To be fair you can get rather spoiled there as its more usual to have excellent sights than not- some of the things we`ve seen there over the last few years we still talk about- i remember the first raptorwatch we went to a few years back and we had 2 Hen Harriers mobbing two Merlins, one of which had just taken a meadow pipit and they flew right above our heads in the struggle- it was unreal.

Prob consistently the best site for raptor sightings in the NW in my experience and i`ve "looked/lucked" at quite a few.

cheers

 

[bradinho]

To be fair you can get rather spoiled there as its more usual to have excellent sights than not- some of the things we`ve seen there over the last few years we still talk about- i remember the first raptorwatch we went to a few years back and we had 2 Hen Harriers mobbing two Merlins, one of which had just taken a meadow pipit and they flew right above our heads in the struggle- it was unreal.

Prob consistently the best site for raptor sightings in the NW in my experience and i`ve "looked/lucked" at quite a few.

cheers

Exactly right - it is really nice to be able show people the birds and get so many positive comments and create memories for people that last a long time.