Red Rocks Marsh NNR, Merseyside (2 Viewers)

[Jane Turner]

Much less promising this morning - though the Ring Ouzel is still playing hard to get in the dunes. Overhead passage included a Brambling, 23 Siskin and 2 Redpolls (lessers). One Swallow, a few Phylloscs and a mega 2 species of Goose - Greylag and Canada - the former new for the year

 

[Jane Turner]

Two Swallows, two Redpolls 18 Siskins 78 Woopigeons and 5 Jackdaws and 8 vis migging Magpies were the rather paltry returns from this morning. No sign of the Ring Ouzel this morning, though a few phylloscs clung on from yesterday. Two Herons came in off. Assorted brooding skies with dots in them, the magpies being especially high

 

[Jane Turner]

These really are the final agreed minutes of the meeting with NE and CWT

 

[Jane Turner]

Depressingly cold this morning, with a keen NW wind. I'd barely arrived when comfortably the best bird of the day loomed out of the dunes and headed out across the estuary directly at Hilbre - a particularly chunky female Marsh Harrier. I couldn't get the camera to focus on it - so settle from some atmospheric shots, before phoning the Obs on Hilbre to let them know it was heading directly at them. There was then an amusing conversation on the lines of its right over your head... I can't see it from the balcony ... oh then it must be over the west side of the island.... run.... Steve eventually got a much better photo (with his phone) than I managed. Not much else to report - 100+ Woodpigeons went south, 132 Meadow Pipits went north 14 Redpolls South and 6 Siskin. The only grounded bird was a Blackcap.

A male Merlin flew through the dunes at about 7 and a female was on the beach by bird rock at high tide

The view from Hilbre https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bk_-iYrIgAARw4z.jpg:large

 

[Jane Turner]

That's the 12th ever for Red Rocks

 

[Jane Turner]

Bright but cold early on with an increasing stiff southerly wind.

The unexpected event of the day was a pair of very noisy Ravens at 6.30, doing barrel rolls high over the golf course. A 3rd bird came in from Hilbre at about 8. Migrants were thin on the ground - with 2 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff plus a Blackcap singing from the far end of the gardens. The lack of cover is really starting to show in the amount of grounded birds

Overhead was a little more cheery. 110 Woogpigeons, 63 Redpoll spp 16 Siskins and a Tree pipit.

Three Wheatears Arrived at about 7.30, including two very smart male Greenlands. There were around 15 White Wagtails in the spartina/beach

 

[Jane Turner]

Not much warmer this morning - and still a bit too windy to make birding easy. Ovenight saw a small arrival of warblers, with a singing Grasshopper Warbler in the Superbowl, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Willow Warblers, a Blackcap and the Reed Warbler still occasionally singing in the marsh.

Overhead passge included 26 Redpoll spp (a few came down and looked lesser), 5 Jackdaws 90 Woodpigeons and 6 Magpies as well as the star bird of the day - a Bullfinch

One of the Chiffies, which snuck up on me when I was failing to photograph the Gropper!

 

[Jane Turner]

It rapidly became too windy to be able to see anything this morning but in the brief period after dawn when it was relatively calm a Sedge Warbler joined in the the well established Reed Warbler and yesterday's Grasshopper Warbler which is still glued to the superbowl. There was virtually no overhead passage today, but two Wheatears dropped into the remaining tree .

 

[Jane Turner]

Its been raining Grasshopper warblers overnight. 7 singing males, and many border disputes making them quite visible before 6.30! All but one are singing in bushes scheduled for removal from the dunes by CWT. Three tree pipits over and a Ring Ouzel so high I'd never have seen it had I not been looking for a Tree pipit at the time.

2 Blackcaps, 2 Reed Warblers and a Sedge Warbler were also present

Because I'm trying to record vocalisations of Redpolls - I was in a good place to get one of the Tree pipits buzzing away

 

[Jane Turner]

Yesterday I was only able to go down for a bit at dawn. Handily15 mins from dawn was when everything happened.

A very smart male Redstart was in the big ALder. As I was manoeuvring south trying to get a view of it on the outside of the bush in the sun, I got distracted by a Marsh Harrier lumbering about in the marsh. Another cream crown,but a different bird to last week's. After putting the wind up the breeding Moorhen,it started to gain height and headed off high North. There were still 5 singing Grasshopper Warblers,a small arrival of Blackcaps (3) and the bird of the day,a very vocal but unseen Little Ringed Plover. Yellow Wagtial(2) Tree PIpit (1) and a Whimbrel plus plenty of finches and hirundines

Today was much less interesting, though 3 Grassopper Warbler were reeling.I was a little late - so its possible the rest were just quiet.

 

[Jane Turner]

A big drop of migrants at 1st light, and a suggestion that more were moving through till about 8am at least. c50 Willow Warblers, - no more than 35 at a time, but plenty of evidence of filtering through and still 30+ at 8.30. With them was a Lesser Whitethoat that came in off and quickly moved onto the golf course. There are still three Grasshopper Warblers reeling in the dunes, though the one in the Wryneck hollow (identified by having a Holly bush in it and lupins on the NW edge) is much the most showy. There are now two Sedge Warblers and two Reed Warblers in the reed bed. Overhead was slow, but of quality - with two each of Tree Pipit and Yellow wagtail


The showy Gropper is here

http://youtu.be/Up0jX1aoJrs

 

[Jane Turner]

Here is the LRP from the other day minus the bit where I say what's that and oh.. LRP. Its a long time since I heard one!

High pass filter used to get rid of all the wind and heavy breathing. Its looking good for nailing calling flyovers as a method. Also added the Sonagram now.

 

[Jane Turner]

Today was a little disappointing, not much overhead passage a 2 each of Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail and more unusually a male Common Redstart, which came in off the sea,circled a few times and saw nothing worth landing on and carried on East. The Wryneck hollow Grasshopper warbler has found a female, but the Superbowl pair appear to have relocated to the 14th tee burnet roses - possibly due toa new and substantial fence being installed yesterday. A Black Swan made a surprise visit!

 

[Jane Turner]

An excellent day today - though I spent most of the morning staring at bushes! A couple of Wheatears dropped in from great height into the Pine tree left behind the ex Poplar stand. Then a little further up the boardwalk a Whitethroat dropped out of the sky into the small dog rose to the right of the boardwalk. It was joined by a Reed Bunting. Then there was a burst of hard "checck" calls. I was sort of suspecting something like a disgruntled Grrasshopper warbler, so was completely amazed to find myself looking at part of the back of a Wryneck I fired off a record shot and backed up, since at the time I was at the minimum focus range of my bins. I was still reversing when the bird flew across the reed bed and dropped into the base of one of the marsh bushes. I called a couple of people then staked it out. After 20 mins or so I went back to where I'd left my scope. On coming back I saw a movement in the base of the bush - but couldn't see the bird. 10 mins later I was focusing the scope and the bird materialised in the middle of the view, before dropping to the ground - only 30 secs or so before Mark turned up. After a further 40 minute stake out the bird suddenly flew out SE at or just below reed height and appeared to be heading for the hollow at the S.end, though we didn't see it cross the boardwalk. We edged our way south, checking the "wryneck hollow 22 - named since it had the only other record of Wryneck 37 years ago. Having drawn a blank there and next hollow, we carried on south, where we flushed the Wryneck from the ground beside the boardwalk in the cleared area of reeds at the south end. It flew into the big apple tree at the south end. Worried that we were in danger of pushing it further south still, I stayed where I was and Mark circumnavigated the reed bed to get south of it. I saw the bird drop out of the tree to the ground next to the boardwalk - but couldn't see it on the ground. After a further 15 mins or so it suddenly lifted off the ground and settled in a sunny patch of Apple - 7/8th hidden from view, where it fluffed up, looked very ropey and fell asleep. It was joined by a Garden warbler. We were able to watch it for a good 20 minutes, when it suddenly hopped up higher then dived into cover, just before Colin Jones, then Chris William arrived. A full 2 hours and many joggers later, just as Steve Williams arrived from the south, it appeared from the other side of the boardwalk and flew out onto the very top of the Apple tree, sitting there for a good 5 minutes before rather unexpectedly flying the entire length of the reed bed and apparently into the point bushes.

Assorted record shots - the better one taken by mark... this was the view from the other side of the bush

https://twitter.com/SteveOnHilbre/status/460328843174481920/photo/1/large

 

[Jane Turner]

And this is what I take to be the alarm call of the Wryneck, recorded when I was just a few feet from it. I could see its tail twitching in time with the Wren-like tcheck call, before I knew what it was (and was expecting it to be a Gropper). It was being hassled by a Whitethroat at the time. Sound below 1500 Hz is filtered out (all the wind basically)

Nice new photo of it too!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmOh_2FIUAAT2gA.jpg

 

[Jane Turner]

It smelled of rare birds this morning. As it turns out Hilbre got in the way - not for the 1st time. Overnight there had been a clear increase in the number of breeding warblers present - and I saw 2 Reed and one Sedge Warbler come through the superbowl out of the gardens. There was a new Grasshopper warbler singing in the Superbowl - the bird that was previously in there has relocated to by the 14th tee.

Between 5:50 and 6:15 a bare minimum of 15 Whinchats dropped out of the sky. Its possible that there were many more, since they moved inland almost instantly and appeared to have arrived on a broad front right down the reserve. I had 8 in view at one time. Other migrants were in evidence, with 2 Garden Warblers, a female Redstart, 7 Blackcaps, 10 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff that was only chiff-ing. It didn't manage a splutter of and sieeu notes and it called like a regular bird.

Acouple of straggling Whinchats - still pre dawn, and a Moth patch tick for me

Otherwise more of the same in terms of overhead - small nos of hirundines and singles of Tree Pipit and Yellow wagtail

 

[Jane Turner]

As good an April days as its possible to have today - though there were very few new arrivals or overhead passage. I as creeping up the boardwalk at about 5.45, when I noticed a pair of Grasshopper Warblers collecting nesting material - well one was and the other was directing proceedings. I was hoping to locate the nest to a greater degree of accuracy than "in the Wryneck hollow" and so was edging up the boardwalk when I head a soft 'plop' in the marsh. Coincidentally I was opposite one of the rides cut through the reed bed by the CWT. I could see ripples in the water - an was expecting to see a Moorhen - except I could see anything... then a small rotund Crake with buff under tail coverts and a short greeny-yellow bill furtled off into the reeds. At the time I thought I failed to eliminate Sora - but completely forgot that Soras don't have any spots and Spotted Crakes do! I staked it out for an hour, but unsurprisingly heard and saw nothing more.

After getting the kids to school I came back to have another go and found MGT looking slightly agitated - he'd had a Tawny Pipit fly over him twice! We wirked our way up the board walk to where he thought he had seen it drop, found nothing, carried on to the south end of the reserve and were heading back up north for another crack at the Crake, when I head the flight call of Tawny Pipit and saw a bird lift off the edge of the boardwalk and pitch in on the crown of the highest fixed dune at the north end. A slow and careful approach yielded nothing, then unexpectedly a silent, but very obvious Tawny Pipit took off out of the exact place i'd seen it ditch and proceed to fly round our heads for a good 30 seconds about 60ft up. It almost landed several times, giving great views, but then settled down on the wrong side of the dune system - on the Golf course.

Waiting to see if we might get an encore, two Tree pipits and a male Redstart came in off the sea. Its been a fabulous few days on north Wirral

Its not as long since the last Spotted Crake and Tawny Pipit as the last Wryneck - but they were three birds I really didn't expect to see

 

[John Barber]

Oh to live on the coast !

 

[chris butterworth]

Wryneck, Spotted Crake, Tawny Pipit and Little Bunting on Hilbre? I'm really glad I'm not at home now Jane. Honestly. :C

 

[wolfbirder]

Hope that Tawny pipit is refound though i know its on private land (golf course). Irritatingly i still need it as a uk lifer, and was unfortunately away for the recent yorkshire bird.

Great bit of local birding there Jane.