28/02/2011 by Sabena Blackbird.

I dissected the Owl Pellet that I found and showed to a few MNA members on our coach trip to Carsington Water. The pellet matched the description of a Barn Owl pellet in the RSPB leaflet “Owl Pellets - How To Study Their Contents” http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Owlpellets_tcm9-133500.pdf

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21/02/2011 by Barbara.

Today was the highest tide of the year at Parkgate – 10.2 meters. The Sunday Group took the 487 from Victoria Street at 10.30 and arrived about 11.30. High Tide was due at about 12.30 and the water was high, filling the channels in the marsh but not lapping at the sea wall. Birdwatchers and naturalists from all over the North West had turned out in force and the RSPB had a tent. The quayside and parking area were busier than I have ever seen them, and we bumped into several MNA members during the day. The local coastguard even sent their “Mud Rescue” vehicle !

It was overcast, with gusts of bitterly cold wind in exposed places. We had good views of a Heron and a Little Egret close in, lots of Pink-footed Geese coming up, Mallards, a Cormorant, a couple of Greater Black-backed Gulls, Canada Geese, Carrion Crows and Skylarks. In the trees by the car park a Dunnock was singing. Then a Short-eared Owl flew past quite close, occasionally turning and hovering briefly as it scanned the marshes for small prey. Terry Williams was one of the people with telescopes at the sea wall and told us he had seen several Peregrines and also a Greater Black-backed Gull drowning a Water Rail then eating it !

After lunch, as the crowds began to thin, we walked north towards the Golf Course. Here the water WAS up to the sea wall and crows were poking about on the dryer islands, hoping to find an easy meal. 

We saw several little beasties swimming desperately, hiding on the wall and climbing onto bits of wood. One was probably a vole, which hid before we could get a good look at it, but we saw a tiny Harvest Mouse which took refuge on an old log.  Sorry this is a bit blurred, but it’s the best my camera can do !

It was bitterly cold across the Golf Course, when we turned back to Parkgate it was more sheltered along the Wirral Way. Catkins of Pussy Willow and Hazel were out, and we saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker in a tree.  After a cuppa in the café we got the 3.30 bus back to Liverpool.

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21/02/2011 by Sabena Blackbird.

The first MNA coach trip of 2011 brought a return to snowy wintery conditions as we headed through the Derbyshire countryside to the Severn Trent Water Reservoir - Carsington Water.

A feeding station close to the coach was packed with over thirty hungry Tree Sparrows and a few Bullfinch. The group wandered along to the wildlife centre, a glass window hide giving great views across the reservoir and surrounding fields and spit. As we tucked into sandwiches and flasks of hot drinks we watched the gathered wildfowl of Tufties, Wigeon, Teal, Coot, Mallard and Great crested Grebe. Approaching 300 Lapwing were resting on the spit frequently taking off and wheeling around. Other waders included a few Oyks and a Redshank; a few Pied Wagtails were flitting along the water’s edge. A large gathering of 120+ Fieldfare were feeding in one field joined by a Mistle Thrush and a few Woodpigeons. The feeders had yet more Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches and the odd Dunnock and Great Tit.

Dave B mentioned that he had seen the Yellow Brain Fungus Tremella mesenterica close to the centre so I changed lens, zipped up my waterproofs and returned to photograph it.

A well marked trail used by walkers and cyclists runs around the reservoir and information posts are located at various stages along the route.

I found a pellet beside a fence post along the trail. I pointed it out to some other group members and we all assume it to be from an owl. I brought the pellet back with me and will dissect it in due course.

Despite the wintery conditions there were a few signs of spring with a mass of male Hazel catkins Corylus avellana and the bright red female flowers.

A few interesting lichen with the bushy clumps of a strap lichen Evernia prunastri more commonly called Oak Moss and the elephant trunk-like podentia of Cladonia coniocrea.

Scanning the reservoir through the mist we had our first distant views of one of the Great Northern Divers that had been on the reservoir all winter. We hot hoofed along to Lane End bird hide and parked our bums. After a few minutes we re-located the bird, its heavy horizontally held beak, steep crown and flat forehead clearly visible, even in the mist! As the bird slipped under the water without even a splash we timed a number of its dives which ranged from between 1min 5sec and 1min 12sec. We soon spotted another Diver further out on the water.

Some rather cute black and white spotty sheep that some people commented more resembled goats were found to be Jacobs Sheep. A number of the group that had reached the bird hides at Sheepwash added Goldeneye and Pintail to the wildfowl list. A few of us checked out the fungi with Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes,  Hairy Stereum Stereum hirsutum, Phlebia tremellosa, Bleeding Broadleaf Crust Stereum rugosum. Also:-

Many-zoned Polypore Trametes versicolor 

Oysterling Crepidotus sp.

After listening to a melodious Song Thrush singing its heart out from the top of a tree and watching masses of Great Tits, the odd Bullfinch and a Reed Bunting at one of the feeding stations it was all too quickly time to head back to the coach.

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18/02/2011 by Barbara.

On a cold, drizzly and windy morning we took the 1035 train to West Kirkby and walked with rain in our faces to one of the shelters opposite the Marine Lake, and admired the view to Hilbre, the Point of Air and the Great Orme. Gulls were screaming overhead (Herring and Black-backed) and there were 40+ Shelduck on the mud banks. Two Pied Wagtails flew past. As the bad weather receded towards Chester several teams of yachts emerged to manouever around buoys, including three blue ones with hulls marked New York Yacht Club – they came a long way!

After lunch we walked along the beach about half way to Red Rocks and turned back along the upper path beside the golf course. 30+ Linnets flew overhead and three Skylarks were singing.Signs of spring on the Wirral Way – snowdrops and crocuses both out. A Dunnock was singing from a high perch and we saw several Goldfinches and a Robin.

On Ashton Park lake we saw Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Mallard, Coots (no leg rings), one Moorhen and three Tufted Ducks. There was a sign on the railings urging visitors not to feed bread to the birds because it is thought to cause the deformity called Angel Wing. Despite this the visitors continued with the time-honoured practice. In an attempt to reduce the use of bread, the Park café sells special duck food at 20p per bag, but we didn’t see any in use.

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14/02/2011 by Sabena Blackbird.

With a fine sunny day forecast I decided to head up to Martin Mere WWT for a spot of Whooper Swan ring reading. Wandering along to the mere from New Lane station a few Corn Buntings were performing their jangly-keys song and skeins of Pink-footed Geese were flying overhead in ‘V’ formation and noisily honking away to each other. I had a quick wander around the captive area to begin with photographing the Hawaiian Geese that were enjoying a nice snooze in the sunshine and a Patagonian Crested Duck slurping water as though it was de-hydrated in the height of summer. A few nice specimens of fungi were dotted around on various trees.

Smoky Bracket Bjerkandera adusta with dense overlapping tiers that are quite leathery or rubbery.

Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes a common fungi on broad-leaved trees during the winter months.

Silver Leaf Fungus Chondrostereum purpureum a common parasite on fruit trees especially Prunus sp. forming small dark purple brackets with a white edge. 

Out on the main reserve plenty of Buzzards were around, a Peregrine and a distant Marsh Harrier. Although I didn’t see it myself a female redhead Smew had been reported from Harrier Hide. Plenty of ducks amongst the Whoopers out on the Mere with Pintail pairs and a few feisty scrapping females plus plenty of cute Wigeon whistling ‘wheeoo’.

One of the annual Whooper Swan catches had been held a couple of days ago with 73 Swans captured. Although some birds were re-captures i.e. those who had already been fitted with rings, the remaining Swans were fitted with the new Red Darvic rings as the WWT have run out of alpha-numeric code combinations for the Yellow Darvics.

The Whoopers looked glorious in the sunshine with their white plumage contrasting against the dark blue of the water.

When it came to feeding time at 3pm at Raines Hide the Whoopers were much warier than normal swimming far out from the edge of the Mere when the warden walked along pushing the wheelbarrow full of grain. Gradually they walked out of the water in front of the hide allowing me to read a few more rings codes before I had to head off for my returning train.

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07/02/2011 by Barbara.

John Clegg spotted some colour-ringed coots at Southport Marine Lake on Saturday 5th February 2011 and asked me to look them up and report them.

They are part of a project by the Loghan Hurst Ringing Group which is studying the movements of coots, mainly in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and the Lake District.  It started in September 2009 and over 500 birds have been ringed at Southport alone.
The ringing pattern is
Right leg – 1 colour ring above a BTO metal ring
Left leg – two colour rings, one above the other (and you should note which colour is above the other).
The colours in use are white, black, red, yellow, orange, dark blue, light blue, green and purple.

Of the six ringed birds John saw, two appear to have lost a ring and so were unidentifiable. The third and fourth were ringed at Southport Marine Lake last November and December and seem to have stayed there. The fifth was an adult, ringed at Southport last November, and who made a trip to Martin Mere and back in January. The sixth was ringed as a juvenile at Southport at Christmas 2009, and may have spent last summer at Stanley Park, Blackpool (sighted there in February 2010, back at Southport in November 2010).

The picture above is the star bird of the study, who was photographed in Cornwall on 28th December 2010 just 26 days after being ringed at Southport Marine Lake!

If you see a colour-ringed coot report it at the Euring site or directly to the co-ordinator Kane Brides at kanebrides (at) gmail.com
More information is on Kane’s blog. It’s worth a look.

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07/02/2011 by Barbara.

After a night of high winds and heavy rain, we met on an overcast blustery morning, took the 86A to Mather Avenue / Danefield Road and then along Springwood Avenue to Allerton Cemetery. Three of us have family burials there, and we paid our respects at the graves. There were very few obvious birds about, but we did see two Great Tits, some Jackdaws and a flock of about 100 Starlings flying overhead. Some interesting trees and shrubs, though. Margaret took us to a Medlar tree she knew, and John spotted a hedge of the now-rare Juniper.

Medlar tree

Medlar fruit

Juniper hedge

After lunch we cut across to Allerton Hall and walked by the Nature Reserve named after the MNA’s founder Eric Hardy.

 
Hardy NR sign.

A huge fallen Beech tree is lying on the field. You can see how shallow the roots were, and they are all tangled with big hunks of sandstone. The Liverpool City Council tag identifies this as tree number 00280, one of the lowest numbers I remember seeing, so it must have been quite old.

 
Fallen beech

We crossed Woolton Road to Allerton Towers and spotted signs of spring – daffs shooting up and some early snowdrops in flower. Some Goldfinches were twittering in the shrubbery and there was a Blackbird on the lawns. Three tall Cypress trees have all been burnt on one side by vandals – a passer-by told us it was done eighteen months ago. Such a shame for such elegant specimen trees.

 
Burnt Cypress

The similarly-vandalised Irish Yews near the orangery (which I mentioned in my post of 29 August 2010) have now all been trimmed back and are starting to sprout again. 

 
Irish Yew

We went through the walled garden and emerged onto Menlove Avenue at about 2pm for buses home.

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05/02/2011 by Barbara.

A treat today – a flock of Waxwings were in town, hanging about the junction of Leeds Street and Scotland Road. John C had spotted them (and their attendant photographers) earlier in the week.  Just a short bus ride and there they were, about 35 of them, high in the trees on the central reservation outside the main JMU building.  They eventually came down to the Cotoneaster bushes outside the St John’s Ambulance HQ and set to work on the berries.  These are pictures John took on the previous Friday.

Soon they wheeled off as a flock and appeared to go down somewhere in the St Anne Street area. As compensation, a pair of sparrowhawks flew up from the balcony of a flat in Edgar Street and played together in the sky before vanishing northwards. It was too cold to stand about for long, a still, damp cold, so we took the bus up to Stanley Park and checked the lake before lunch.There were lots of Canada Geese, several Mallard, two Coots and one male Pochard. There had been frost the night before, but only parts of the lake edge were frozen.

We ate our lunches outside the Conservatory then got moving again to keep warm.
There is a very striking sculpture behind the Conservatory – a sphere made of bronze leaves.

The big field had 30 Magpies and a flock of unidentified gulls. The first snowdrops were out on the lake edge.  Several of the Canada Geese surprised me by diving completely under the water and staying submerged for two or three seconds. It seemed to be associated with bathing behaviour, but I’ve never seen them do that before.
It was too cold to hang about, so we split up for buses home at about 2pm.

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