27/03/2016 Ainsdale Beach, Southport

Caspian Gull: After eating my fill of chocolate easter eggs, Dawn and I decided we should walk off the excess calories and go take a look at Birkdale's Crossbills.

After a long walk in the rain we found gate 29, where the birds had regularly been seen and after a short wait we didn't see or hear any so moved on to Ainsdale Beach.

The  2nd-winter caspo was sitting in full view right opposite the burger van waiting for the day trippers to share their lunch.

Something you don't see everyday - the gullet of a caspo.

This must have been my 5th visit to Ainsdale in search of this bird since originally seeing it back August 2015.

Back then the bird had both its legs!

 It's sad to see that it has twine wrapped around its good leg! This might be catastrophic to the birds health as gulls can live a good, normal life with one leg but I don't think it will survive with no legs at all.

Here is a closer look at the gulls problem, I have a soft spot for gulls and wish this particular gull all the best and hope I don't see a post in the near future saying 'found dead'.

Sandwich Tern: Another bird to note was a single Sandwich Tern close in, off the shore but it was unable to settle down due to the dog walkers disturbing the bird.








I watched it fly around the burger vans and towards the RLNI watch-out before landing on the tideline itself and again getting spooked by a passing dog walker.

01/08/2014 Liverpool Bay

Gannet: As a Liverpool native, who has lived away from the city since my childhood years, it seemed like a long time since I last set sail on the Mersey.

Common Tern: This time it was under the guidance of Liverpool Bay Marine Trust - a great local charity working across the Mersey, Wirral, Dee and across to Morecambe and are dedicated to the study of its biodiversity and educating the public.

Our route took us up the Mersey and out of the estuary towards the nearby wind farm and down to Hilbre and back.

The first interesting birds we came across were tons of Common Tern fishing in the Mersey.



Gannet: As we approached the wind turbines we spotted several adult Gannet loafing around on the water. Probably too full of fish to soar off in to the distance. We also saw plenty of Common and Sandwich Tern around this area.

Grey Seal: The signature mammal of the Dee and Hilbre; the Grey Seal, bobbing up and down around the boat while we stopped for a breather off Hilbre.

Here we spotted this female Common Scoter and a male on the other side, both really close to the island. We also got super views of Ringed Plover and Dunlin flocking past the boat.

Sandwich Tern: After a quick cup of tea and some awesome views of the seals the we took the boat all the way around Hilbre where we saw hundreds of Turnstone, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Knot roosting on the red cliffs and ledges of Hilbre.





Dunlin: Unfortunately we didn't see any cetaceans and at times it was wet, very wet! But that didn't dampen the spirits of the boat's enthusiastic passengers.  

Overall the trip was a fantastic reminder of what a wonderful part of the world I live in and how proud we should be of it. I would recommend anyone to check out the fantastic work of Liverpool Bay Marine Trust.

They are involved in some really exciting projects from shark tagging and cetacean monitoring, so get in touch and get involved people!! 

www.liverpoolbaymlt.org

www.facebook.com/LiverpoolBayMarineLifeTrust

19/08/2013 West Kirby Shore

Sandwich Tern: From the Marina Lake I walked up to Red Rocks where I confronted by a huge number of gulls and terns along the shore line.

As the tide went out these were joined by dozens of Ringed Plover and Dunlin.



On my walk back to the car I was also treated to a great but failed hunting attempt on the small waders from an adult peregrine falcon, a short but sweat day out - beats house work any day!

12/08/2013 Hilbre Island, West Kirby

Sandwich Tern: Once again the usual crew of Scott, Laim, myself and this time joined by Mr Alex Jones himself made our way across to Hilbre Island for a spot of sea watching.

After a very wet and windy walk across to the main island we hunkered down in the sea watch hide.

The tide was out but slowly creeping in, pushing the tern roosts further up the shore and displacing the waders and gulls.

Cormorant:  For the first few hours we mainly saw flocks of Sandwich Tern, Common Tern and a few Cormorants.

The light was good and wind OK, but could of been better and we sat with bated breath while the haze lifted and the birds moved closer with the tide.

 Fulmar: With the winds picking up slightly Liam spotted a single Fulmar soaring past the hide, this was the only Fulmar we saw all day.

Common Tern: Around mid afternoon the tern numbers picked up and we saw streams of Common Tern and Little Tern flying past towards he welsh side of the Dee.

One of the highlights of the day came from the haze as couple of Maxies emerged banking around the tops of the waves.

Arctic Skua: Out in the distance we spotted a couple of Arctic Skua chasing terns just in front of the wind turbines.

For most of the day the skua stayed far out at sea we were hoping for a Pomarine to make an appearance but we were only rewarded with Arctic Skua.

Just before we left the hide a single skua came pretty close busily chasing a tern. The tern made a dash for it and got away with its fish meal leaving the skua to bomb back over to the wind turbines.

Whimbrel: On the way off the Island we spotted a few Whimbrel feeding among the newly exposed rocks and a huge number of Ringed Plover and Dunlin.

A good day birding.






Laim Langley's blog: www.liamsbirding.blogspot.co.uk

Alex Jone's blog: www.birdingnorthwales.blogspot.co.uk

03/07/2013 Coquet Island, Northumberland Coast

Guillemot: (bridled variety) The second ferry across to Coquet from Amble was just as fun as the first without the excitement of seeing the Bridled Tern but with new excitement of seeing the Roseate Tern which breed on the island.

Guillemot: (normal variety) It was nice to see both types of Guillemot on this crossing, we also spotted several rose terns on and around the island.







Sandwich Tern: Although I didn't manage to get a decent shot of the rose terns I did get a few of the larger sand terns which were dotted within the arctic.

Puffin:  Puffin are always nice to see but I gutted I never got a good shot of the Roseate Tern as Coquet is famous for being the largest breeding site of Roseate Terns and is home to 98% of the UK population.

Grey Seal: The puffin cruise we took was really good and Dave who operated the trips is a really nice guy.

If you are ever in the area you must go see the Roseate Tens, Seals, Puffins and the whole lot more the island has to offer.

http://www.puffincruises.co.uk/

16/04/2013 Houghton Green Flash

Sandwich Tern: After dropping Dawn off at work in Warrington I was in two minds of going back to Houghton Green after my last two unsuccessful trips, but I am really glad I did.

As soon as I parked up and walked across the farm field I could hear a Tern calling.

After a quick scan I could see it was a pair of Sandwich Tern, they where actively feeding and fending off the local gulls.

Common Sandpiper: Another good find were two Common Sands on the muddy edges and the Little Ring Plover was still present.

I then went over to Martin Mere to chance my luck for the Crossbill but alas they were not to be seen.

So all in all it tern-ed out to be a good trip in the end!