Hilbre Island

I was on the island for 7am today, hoping that the moderate westerly wind might produce a decent seawatch, despite the "low" high tide of just 6.87m. There were plenty of Gannets out on the horizon, and a two came very close past the north end, but the Manx Shearwaters were very distant, and even through the scope were just dots. Seabird of the day was a pale phase Arctic Skua which attacked a Sandwich Tern. Unfortunately I had already left the island when a Leach's Petrel was seen mid-morning.

On the island, it was a bit too windy to expect to see much in the way of passerines, but there were at least two Wheatears.

There was a decent amount of waders in the gutter adjacent to Middle Eye, and I found a sheltered geo and set myself up with the scope to watch them. There were at least 200 Dunlin, 100 Ringed Plover, 100 Knot, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel and 50 Curlew. In the channel four 1st winter Little Terns were fishing.

Red Rocks, Hoylake

Manx Shearwater 50 (Year 208)
Gannet 30
Sandwich Tern 50

Though the wind was in the wrong direction for Red Rocks, it was a high tide (about 9.76m) and I managed to get some spectacular and pretty close views of the Manxies and Gannets. The autumn seabird passage is here, let's hope it's a good one!

Martin Mere

Wilsons Phalarope 1 ad non-breeding
Marsh Harrier

No idea why this bird was put on the pagers and bird guides as an adult summer female, because it clearly wasn't.

Year list: 207

Hilbre Island

It was a glorious summers day, and a joy to be on the island.

Passerines were thin on the ground, with just a handful of Willow Warblers seen. At around 9am there was a small passage of Swallows, all heading south, low over the island. There are still about 400 Sandwich Terns in the area, but today most were roosting on the West Hoyle Bank. Around the island the Oystercatcher flock has grown considerably, but I saw (and heard) only one Whimbrel. Ringed Plover numbers have increased, to about 30 birds, and there were a similar number of Curlew.

Recent high tides have produced counts of up to 700 Manx Shearwaters, a few hundred Gannets and a few Skuas, but today I had to be off before the tide, so didn't see any sea birds.



Small Tortoiseshell on Purple-loostrife.


Oystercatchers


Large White on Purple-loostrife.

Rainford Bypass, near Bottle and Glass

Yellow Wagtail 1

Leighton Moss

Red Admiral
Brimestone 1

Arnside Knott

Scotch Argus





Bramble

Hilbre Island

Things are changing fast on the island, autumn is approaching. The Willow Warbler passage is in full swing, with good numbers recorded last week at the observatory. Today I counted at least five birds flitting around the bushes, including one on Middle Eye. How many more were hidden in the Blackthorn I couldn't say. The only other migrant passerine seen was a single Wheatear.

Meanwhile out at sea, great excitment. The Little Terns have left their breeding colony at Gronant, and are now roosting on the West Hoyle Bank at low tide, and feeding off Hilbre. Today I estimated at least 150 birds, and probably more. The Sandwich Tern flock has risen dramatically, with at least 800 birds present today. Unlike the Little Terns, most of the Sandwich Terns chose to sit on the East Hoyle Bank. Probably a wise descision, since the West Hoyle was terrorised by two Arctic Skuas, a pale phase and a dark phase. These were the first skuas of any kind I have seen this year, and they hopefully herald the start of the autumn sea watching.

Still three Whimbrel around the island, and the small wader numbers continue to increase, but slowly.

Single summer plumage Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit flew over. Butterflies today included a few Painted Ladies, a Small Copper and a few Graylings.

Arctic Skua - Year 205


Small Copper


Willow Warbler


Painted Lady

Hilbre Island

A beautiful day of red sand and bright blue skies on Hilbre today, with many waders in full summer plumage. On the beach at least 40 Ringed Plover, over 80 Dunlin, 40 Curlew and hundreds of Oystercatchers. On the rocks around the island, at least 15 Whimbrel, 40 Turnstones, a few Redshanks and a single Common Sandpiper.

The Sandwich Tern flock has grown to over 200 birds, but no sign of any other terns today.
Highlights of the day were the first returning Wheatears of the autumn, with three on the west side, a single Willow Warbler, and perhaps most unexpected, a family party of six Shags. Shags do occur frequently at Hilbre, but I’ve only ever seen single birds.

After returning to the mainland today, I had a snack in the excellent Sands cafe in West Kirby, and then got my bike out of the car and headed off down the Wirral way cycle / footpath, and made it all the way to Inner Marsh Farm (via the Harp Inn at Little Neston!). By the time I returned to the car at West Kirby, I had covered 23 miles on the bike. En route I saw about 15 Little Egrets (two with my pint at the Harp!), a Green Sandpiper at Inner Marsh Farm and best of all, a Hobby at Parkgate.


Four of the six Shags


Various.

North West England

Slow Worm, one of six seen.

Hilbre Island

Heather and Bell Heather


Hilbre


Rock Sea-Lavender

After an absence of a few weeks, I finally got back to Hilbre, keeping alive my ambition of visiting the island at least once in every month this year. In fact this was my 20th visit of 2009 so far.

It was important to slot in a July visit, because I didn't want to miss the flowering of Rock Sea-Lavender, a Hilbre speciality and one of the few places it is found in the World. I though that I might have missed it this year, but fortunately it was still very much in evidence with lots of plants still in flower.

Also around the island are patches of heather, mainly Calluna Vulgaris but also a few patches of Bell Heather Erica cinerea.

From a birding point of view, there is very much an autumnal feel in the air. Waders have begun to build up in numbers, notably 12 Whimbrel around the island, and some spectacularly plumaged Turnstones. What stunning birds they are! The air was full of the sounds of Sandwich terrns, with about 150 on the East Hoyle Bank. A female Peregrine flew over the island and then swooped towards the Oystercatcher flock, causing panic and mayhem.

Meanwhile, on the West Hoyle Bank Grey Seal numbers have risen to about 300 individuals, and butterflies included a couple of Graylings.

The feel of the island now is of a place bracing itself for the onset of autumn gales and the arrival of some good sea birds and hopefully a few decent passerines, now only a few weeks away!

The anticipation is almost unbearable!