Bidston Moss

Damp and dull morning but it brightened up later in the day getting warmer as time passed. As always with the WeBS count our main focus is to count all of the wading birds. Straight away it was a walk to the Backpools with usual birds such as the coots which added up to around 16 . 34 Mallards was a surprise as its the highest mallard count i have gotten so far.  Only 6 Moorhen were present but as always they are hard to spot as they spend most of there time in the reeds. The Tufted duck mother and single chick were still present at the backpools and combined with the total of the Mainlake , 4 Tufted Ducks were present. To my surprise a Cormorant had perched itself on a branch at the Backpools and i haven't seen one stationary here for months. A lone Heron was at the Backpools also which may be a adult from a constant passing pair or one of there recently fledged young. Great Blue Heron, you can see why it gets its name (Image By Luke Anderson) A quick meet up with a loca...

Nice and warm with a little breeze with patches of cloud and brief moments of sunlight today. To start it off it was over the bridge were a quick insect search was in order, this came up with a Dicranopalpus Ramosus which is quite crab like with its forked palps. The quick search also came up with a very interesting Hoverfly called Volucella Inasis which mimics a hornet as well as being a parasite towards them and wasps in there nests. Volucella Inasis (Image By Luke Anderson) Not much else was about in this area apart from a dragonfly up in the canopy but it didn't stop so it couldn't be identified. A bit further on and all the birds came out with a abundance of Long Tailed Tits reaching in there 20's , with a singular Male Blackcap going to a nearby nest to feed young. Juvenile Long Tailed Tit named Gizmo (Image By Luke Anderson)  Next off it was down to the Mainlake were the resident Mute swans were but the female has left so its just the father with the ...

Warm and humid with slight breeze and very over cast. To start of the day 1 Grey Heron was spotted near Bridge. This was soon followed my 6 to 7 Kestrel as many have fledged from a kestrel box next to the Mainlake. Further on, onto the Mainlake it held quite a few gulls, Common, Herring and Lesser Black Backed as well as one Black Backed Gull. To my surprise the Great Crested Grebes have bred amounting up to 4 Chicks . 1 of 4 Great Crested Grebe chicks (Image By Luke Anderson) The Mute Swan (pair) is also still on the Mainlake with 4 Cygnets and last time there was only 3 so it shows that one must not stick with the parents.  The lake also had 5 Tufted Ducks  and over head 5 Common Terns flew over which will be apart of the local colony at Birkenhead Docks . A few Swifts were also flying around including a couple of House Martins feeding above the lake. The Reed Beds next to the lake held 2 Reed Warbler which has significantly lowered from previous numbers whi...

Yet again the weather is on our side with a bright blue sky with the warmth of the summer sun. Today was concentrated around the Backpools were a few good discoveries came. Not much Bird wise however there is some great news, a Female Tufted Duck has been seen with at least one or two chicks and apparently this is the second site they have bred on in the Wirral. Other birds include 1 Grey Heron , 3 Common Buzzards and 1 Kestrel which are the only birds off interest of today. As well as 1 Chiffchaff a Swift and 2 House martins flying around. Record shot of a Female Tufted Duck with chick on Backpools (images by Luke Anderson) Today's bees and wasp numbers were great as many more Leaf Cutter Bees were out as well as a Nice Male Blue Mason Bee. Some other strange but amazing wasps were the lovely Cuckoo Wasp with the striking blue and Rose colored abdomen. Cuckoo wasp on dead tree looking for other solitary wasps and bees to prey on there larvae (Image By Luke Anderson)

Great day with warm weather, clear skies and little wind. A nice day but not totally great with birds as migration has stopped and they have all settled down now. Starting of the day with 1 Male black cap calling in the trees near the Metal Bridge and closely followed by 1 Cormorant flying over head. ChiffChaff numbers were okay with around 10 near and around the Main lake with a astonishing number of 10+ Reed Warblers presuming that most are recent fledglings. Main Lake carried 2 Mute Swans and 3 Cygnets down by 3 from the original 6. The Great Crested Grebe pair may still be present on the lake however they were not seen today as people were canoeing on the lake. Insect wise today was great with Red Admirals flying about as well as around 5 Small Skippers and many Comma Butterflies . Small Skipper  (Image by Luke Anderson) Comma Butterfly (Image by Luke Anderson) Other from the butterflies there were many moths out as well with numbers into there 20s of 6-sp...

The weather today was rather disappointing today as it was warm but it was cloudy with showers until later on in the day when the skies started to clear. Today's WeBS was not to interesting either with the main birds of interest were 3 Tufted Ducks and the resident pair of Great Crested Grebe.  Besides that the count also came up with a passing  Cormorant  and Heron which is assumed to be nesting near by as it keeps flying back and forth from the same area. The Back pools and the Mainlake came up with 20 Coots  , only 3 Moorhen  and 16 Mallards which includes a nice looking hybrid. (image by Luke Anderson) The other residents to the Mainlake are the 2 Mute swans  which originally had 6 Cygnets but now down to 5 with the last which was probably predated or killed by something other. Not to do with the WeBS count but there was a large family of Reed Warbler  with about 6 in a small area as well as 2 Sedge Warbler  and they all seemed to ...

14/5/17 A nice day for WeBs (Wetland Bird Survey) as it was sunny with little wind in this inland area. Straight away Picked up 2  Eurasian Reed Warbler  calling and a further 6 around the B&Q reed bed and backpools as well as main lake. The morning was rushed so i quickly headed off the the backpools were i seen a Stoat  walking on the edge of the train track which is quite a rare sight but a exciting one. The count for the Backpools and B&Q reed bed came up with 8 Greater Canada geese as well as a few Eurasian Coot adding up to about 14  over all. Nothing to interesting at the backpools and Reed Bed with over all counts of 8 Mallard, 4 Moorhen and 2 Grey heron. A nice suprize though was the 3 Tufted Duck as well as 3 Little Grebe with one being a chick which means they have bred for the first time in years. As you can see there is an Adult Little Grebe with chick (Image by Luke Anderson) After the nice finds at the backpools area it was a walk to t...