Pennington Flash

Bullfinch 7
Willow Tit 2

Buzzards

Lots of Buzzards today, at least 4 along Dairy Farm Road, 2 Old Coach Road, 2 Berrington's Lane and 2 Eccleston Mere. The only Geese were 50 Pink-feet Dairy Farm Road.

Eccleston Mere

Siskin 50+ in trees at southern end
Lesser Redpoll 1+
Goldfinch 50+
Pochard 9
Kingfisher 1
Buzzard 1
Great Crested Grebe 10
Tufted Duck 6
Pink-footed Goose 50 (flying in direction of Catchdale Moss)

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, the year has petered out a bit, which is not unusual I suppose, what with dark nights and gloomy days. Hopefully in the New Year things will pick up again. Merry Christmas everybody!!

Eccleston Mere

Pochard 9 (7 males, 2 females)
Goldfinch 100
Siskin 1
Lesser Redpoll 1
Buzzard 2
Little Grebe 1

Eccleston Mere

Water Rail 1 in ditch in SW corner
Kingfisher 1

...but not much else. Long-tailed Duck on Prescot Reservoirs, strong westerly winds with blustery showers, there must be something on the mere surely? Nope, 2 Tufted Ducks and about 5 Great Crested Grebes the paltry total. I can almost see more birds by looking out of my window.

Hesketh Out Marsh

Great White Egret 1

Eccleston Mere

Willow Tit 1 in SW corner
Water Rail 1 in SW corner
Goldfinch 100
Siskin 1
Pochard 9

Tatton Park

We had a lovely walk through Tatton Park, the trees were full of autumn colour and there were plenty of deer around, including some impressive stags. There seemed to be a mini invasion of Harlequin Ladybirds, with at least five seen at various places around the park, and later we saw one in the nearby village of Rostherne. On the mere there were at least 200 Coot, 20 Shoveler and about 50 Gadwall, amongst other wildlfowl. Perhaps most interestingly, we watched as a Mute Swan adopted its aggressive wings up head down posture and drove away another Swan, virtually the whole length of Tatton Mere.

Eccleston Mere

Wigeon 10 (2 males, 8 females)
Pochard 10 (9 males, 1 female)
Tufted Duck 12
Water Rail 1 in ditch in SW corner
Little Grebe 1
Great Crested Grebe 5
Buzzard 1
Siskin 2


Wigeon. This is the biggest flock of Wigeon I have ever seen at Eccleston Mere.

Other species have not fared so well. By recent standards 10 Pochard is not bad, but as recently as 16th November 1997 I recorded 59 Pochard on the mere, and counts of over 30 were regular around that time. This seems to be a long term decline, the Liverpool naturalist Eric Hardy recorded over 200 on the mere in 1941.

Five Great crested Grebes is a dire count. Over wintering numbers have declined dramatically. Up until the end of the 1990s I would have expected at least 20 birds at this time of year, occasionally over 30.

On the otherhand Water Rails are now a regular feature of any birding visit to the mere at this time of year, up to 3 in recent winters, and Willow Tits have made a come back, and would appear to be safe for a few years at least given the accidental creation of some nice wet woodland at the southern end.

Eccleston Mere

Water Rail 1 in ditch in SW corner
Kingfisher 3 together near where stream enters the mere.
Pochard 5 (4 males 1 female)
Siskin 2
Goldfinch 50

Eccleston Mere

Water Rail 1 in ditch in SW corner
Goldeneye 1 female
Pochard 1 male
Siskin 10