The Naturalists' Notebook

MNA coach trip with 20 members visiting the South Walney Reserve run by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust. The area consists of a shingle island with lagoons where salt, sand & gravel were extracted during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. As our coach driver negotiated the single track road and speed bumps to we had our first sighting of a Cuckoo looking very raptor-like from the coach window. We had been previously warned about the likely attack from the large numbers of Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gulls that nest on the reserve.

The majority of the breeding colony was now protected behind an electric fence but we still had to run the gauntlet past a few nesting pairs. One pair of Herring Gulls having chosen to nest almost on the track itself!

A few Ringed Plovers were nesting on the shingle close to the track, one bird running off to draw attention away from her nest of three speckled eggs. A few Oystercatchers were running along the waters edge.

Ringed Plover

Oystercatcher

We had seen a number of Greylags on the edge of the Reserve but two more unusual Geese caught our attention. They were Emperor Geese. These are the descendants of captive birds who escaped from Piel Island and have bred successfully here. Another big bird draw was the many Eiders Ducks, the males outnumber the females 10:1 so there is a lot of competition to impress the ladies. A few Eiders were battling the waves caused by the ferocious windy conditions and a large gathering resting on the shingle bank with the atmospheric backdrop of Piel Castle.

I had a wander along the track that runs to the Seasalter Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas hatchery / nursery in the old extraction lagoons and found a few discarded shells.

The tide was heading in as we continued south along the trail. A huge flock of Oystercatchers were resting on the edge of the saltmarsh amongst them was a leucistic bird i.e. one with reduced pigmentation causing some of its normally black feathers to be white. Shelduck and the odd Curlew were out on the marsh and a few Grey Seals were bobbing about in the water. Those that reached the Sea Hide were rewarded with views of Arctic and Sandwich Terns, distant Gannet and Manx Shearwater. A few members watched a dark Peregrine fly in from the sea just as a shower had passed overhead. John Clegg and co. watched a Brown Hare as it came and sat in the thick grass just in front of the hide.

Moths seen included a Magpie Moth Abraxas grossulariata escaping the wind in one of the hides, a Mother Shipton Moth Callistege mi hunkered down in the grass and half a dozen fat and hairy Drinker Moth Caterpillars Philudoria potatoria.

Mother Shipton Moth

Drinker Moth Caterpillar

Plants included Houndstongue Cynoglossum officinale, Germander Speedwell Veronica chamaedrys, Silverweed Potentilla anserina, Common Stork’s-bill Erodium cicutarium and Bird’s foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus.

Heavy downpours and Merseyrail engineering works didn’t put off the sixteen members of the MNA / Sunday Nature Group who reached Leasowe Lighthouse for our Spring migrants meeting. We had a good route around the area, wandering along Lingham Lane checking out the fields and along the rubbish littered lane that runs towards Moreton Brickworks pond before retracing our steps to the lighthouse for lunch when the sun eventually broke through the clouds.

We then headed along the overgrown track beside the horse paddocks before turning right towards the seawall for a bit of seawatching before again returning back to the lighthouse. A good bird list with Great Crested Grebe a pair on the Moreton Brickworks pond, Little Egret standing in a field with its head crest blowing in the wind, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot with 2 juvs on the lighthouse ponds, Lapwing a few in the fields and horse paddocks, Feral Rock Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swift 1 zooming overhead, Skylark 4 singing over the fields, Swallow 14+ flying low for insects, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Northern Wheatear 1 female in the horse paddocks, Blackbird, Grasshopper Warbler 1 reeling close to the railway line, Sedge Warbler plenty scratching away giving occasional views, Lesser Whitethroat 1 performing its bubbling chaffinch-like song in a bush close to the lighthouse which gave brief views before flying to a nearby tree, Common Whitethroat half a dozen or more scolding us from the bushes with a few performing their aerial display flight, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Great Tit one with a beakful of food flying into bushes beside the stream and another pair feeding young in a nest within a rusting signpost, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet the males looking particularly cerise pink, Reed Bunting 1 male. Chris Butterworth also had a Cuckoo perched on a wire close to the lighthouse and a few Stock Doves in one field.

The tide was in during our sea watch with a distant sandbank exposed out from Meols. More star birds with a Great Crested Grebe on the water, Cormorant few on the sandbank, Grey Plover 2, Dunlin small flock of 12+ flying, Bar-tailed Godwit 2, Whimbrel great views of a bird perched on the end of a rock groyne allowing scope views of its stripey head and less pronounced curved bill than the Curlews that were out on the sandbank, Turnstone 2 flying past, Black-headed & Lesser Black-backed & Herring Gulls in good numbers on the sandbank, Common Tern 1 flying past and another Wheatear on the rocky groyne.

Amphibians included a Common Frog and a Dead Toad. Butterflies on the wing included a Large White, a few Small Whites, Peacock 2, Small Heath 2, Cinnabar Moth 1 flying along the bottom of the seawall, no fewer than 16 Common Blues and half a dozen Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars on nettles. St Mark’s Flies Bibio marci, Picture-winged flies Tephritidae sp. and a Scorpion Fly Panorpa communis.

Yellow Flag Iris

Flowers included Yellow Flag Iris Iris pseudacorus, Common Storksbill Erodium cicutarium, Woody Nightshade a.k.a. Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara,  Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca, Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus, Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens, Oilseed Rape Brassica napa, Jack-By-The-Hedge Alliaria petiolata, Lesser Stitchwort Stellaria graminea, Star-of-Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum.

Star-Of- Bethlehem

Bushes in flower included Hawthorn Crataegus mongyna, Gorse Ulex europaeus, Broom Cytisus scoparius and Dog Rose Rosa canina.   

Broom

13 people met for this joint MNA / RSPB walk, starting from Liverpool Central or Overpool Merseyrail stations.  Only one Liverpool RSPB member, but several of the MNA regulars have dual membership. Two or three others were MNA members on their first outing with us.  It was a warm, mostly sunny day.

Birds – as well as the expected woodland species we noted Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker (heard by all but seen briefly by only one of us), both a male and a female Bullfinch at different times, Grey Wagtail on the stream, many Chiffchaffs calling.  The most surprising was a flock of 17 Waxwings which we saw in flight. They had been reported at the Ranger Station by another walker earlier in the day.  (We left some MNA leaflets there.) The leader’s total for the day was 29 species of birds.

Butterflies – Small White, Large White, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, several pairs of Orange Tip and one pair of Speckled Wood. 7 species.

 Only one mammal species, a grey squirrel in the trees.

Plants included Wood Anemones, Lesser Celandine, native Blubells just coming into flower, the very poisonous Hemlock Waterwort and the uncommon Town Hall Clock  Adoxa moschatellina.

After our visit to The Spinnies we retraced our route back along the A55 to Conwy RSPB reserve at Llandudno Junction.

As always there was plenty of birdlife on the lagoons that could be viewed from the many hides on the circular route including Red-breasted Merganser 2males + 1 Female, Goldeneye 1 male, Wigeon, Tufties, Teal, a pair of Shoveler, A Little Egret, a few squabbling Mute Swans, loads of Canada Geese – one of which was missing an egg from its nest that had rolled down to the edge of a spit, plenty of Shelduck, displaying Lapwings and Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls. Overhead there was a Raven and Buzzards. More migrants with Sedgies in the reedbeds, Blackcaps, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff.

Out on the estuary mudflats Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatcher were silhouetted in the sun. Seven Grey Heron were stalking around the shallows, a few Cormorants were floating around occasionally diving and White Wagtails were picking at insects on the narrow stretch of saltmarsh. Mammals included both Stoat and Weasel. A few nice insects with Comma and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, I saw a few Tawny Mining Bees Andrena fulva and Nomada Bees burrowing in the sand embankment close to one of the lagoon viewing screens and Pond-skaters were quick to move onto the newly developed ponds. I found some fine yellow rosettes of the Lichen Caloplaca thallincola

Plantlife included Marsh Marigold Caltha palustris, Primrose Primula vulgaris, Cowslip Primula veris, Common Dog Violet Viola riviniana and Spotted Medick Medicago arabica.

Marsh Marigold or Kingcup

A number of Willow Trees Salix sp. were laden with male catkins whereas others held the spiky pistillate (female) flowers.

Pinky white Apple blossom was just beginning to appear on  some trees.

Whilst stuck in roadworks on the A55 at Penmaenhead we did a bit of birding and watched the Fulmars that were nesting on the cliffs and gliding by on their stiff wings.   

After a delayed depature leaving Liverpool the MNA coach eventually arrived around 11:30am at North Wales Wildlife Trust Reserve at The Spinnies. We wandered down the small lane that runs alongside the high stone wall of Penrhyn Estate. Gloriously sunny day with signs of Spring all around with a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcap in song along with the usual Robins, Dunnocks, Chaffinches, Goldfinches and Tits. Much botanical interest with flowering Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria, Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis perennis, Jack-By-The-Hedge Alliaria petiolata, Common Dog Violet Viola riviniana, the garden variety of  Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon, Ivy-leaved Speedwell Veronica hederifolia, Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum, Ramsons Allium ursinum, Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta just beginning to emerge and Lords And Ladies Arum maculatum the  pale green spathe or leaf-like hood was closed when we walked down but had opened up to show the purple spadix on our return along the lane. I was lucky and heard a movement in the vegetation beside the wall and caught a glimpse of a Bank Vole Myodes glareolus as it scurried into a hole in the wall.

Jack-by-the-Hedge

The tide was out in the Aber Ogwen and I took the opportunity to wander along to photograph the wooden groynes. I had a brief mooch around photographing some Knotted Wrack Ascophyllum nodosum with its egg-shaped bladders and a few encrusting Barnacles on a rock. They are Chthamalus montagui with a characteristic kite shaped aperture.

Groynes

Egg Wrack

Mature Barnacles with smaller baby barnacles 🙂

Gorgeous white blossom on the Blackthorn bushes Prunus spinosa edging the beach.

Birdlife included a Raven cronking as it flew overhead, a few Buzzards circling over woodland across the estuary, Shelduck far out on the mudflats, two Mute Swans and a few Mallards in the tidal creeks where a Goosander was also spotted plus a great gathering of Gulls in the distance. As we wandered back past the Spinnies reedbed a Sedge Warbler erupted into its scratchy song. A few Butterflies with Small Tortoiseshell, a Speckled Wood sunbathing amongst the ivy on the wall and a bright newly emerged Orange Tip.

An eventful and exciting day. Eighteen of us set out from West Kirby, five of us made it to Hilbre Island and the rest ended up marooned on Middle Eye as the tide cut them off.

Gazzilions of Wheatears, the Bird Observatory guys were kept busy ringing the phylloscopus Warblers that had hankered down on the island after the overnight rain. The best bird caught in one of the heliogoland traps was a Ring Ouzel!

A moulting Merlin, hirundines – Swallows, Sand Martins & House Martin overhead, Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers, a Tree Pipit overhead, Gannets and a Sandwich Tern out at sea kept us busy. A Grey Seal hauled out at the north end of the island and a Common Frog kept my camera busy.

Lots of marine life with Beadlet and Green Sea Anemones, Sand Gobies, Lugworms, Limpets, various Bivalves.

All with the wonderful backdrop of the weathered and mottled bunter sandstone on the island.