WeBs

By -
The main focus of today was to look out for Wading birds for our monthly count. Starting off this morning was the walk around the whole of Bidston Moss to find any waders which may be elsewhere on the reserve. The first thing that came up was not a wader but it was a Vapourer Moth Caterpillar which is yet another new insect to add to the list.
Vapourer Moth Caterpillar (Image Luke Anderson)
A Juvenile Smooth Newt was also found near by which was nice to see. While walking around the reserve there was a large flock of Long Tailed Tits with around 20 next to the path. Nearby there were not one but two Willow Warblers. When reaching the Mainlake I counted about 18 Coot overall as well as 10 Moorhen including a few from the Backpools. 18 Mallards were also counted as well as 6 Canada Geese which flew overhead. Still, present on the lake there were the 5 Mute Swans including the cygnets which have grown exponentially since I had last seen them. Overall the Backpools contained the best birds with a single Kingfisher which is the First for Autumn as well as 7 Teal which is another First for Autumn. It also contained 2 Tufted Ducks and a single Grey Heron.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WeBS

By -
Image
A fantastic day for birds and insects alike during this WeBS count, with conditions being mild and the rain holding off. To start off the day it consisted of 72 Oystercatcher , 16 Black Headed Gull, 5 Common Gull and 8 Herring gull all on Wallacre Field just before the reserve. Next, off it was a walk towards the Mainlake where a small flock of around 5 Goldcrests were picked up and later on in the day both a Male and Female Sparrowhawk . Upon reaching the Mainlake overall counts consisted of 15 Coot , 4 Moorhen , 2 Great Crested Grebes and 17 Tufted Ducks . At the Mainlake I met up with Mr.E.Montieth who had counted 3 Lesser Redpoll , 2 Siskin , 1 Snipe and a First Record of Black Tailed Godwit with the flock being made up of 205 individuals . 3 Bullfinch was also accounted for around the Mainlake and 42 Pink Footed Goose flying over on the way towards the Backpools. On the way to the Backpools a single Water Rail was picked up and when reaching the Backpools...
Read more

WeBs

By -
Image
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 ...
Read more

22/08/17

By -
A very disappointing day today with little out. The first round was a walk to the Mainlake were a single Chiffchaff, 2 Whitethroats, and 2 Buzzards which were being picked up on the way to the lake. When reaching the lake one Tufted duck was present along with the 5 Swans and 6 Great Crested Grebes . Apart from that only Mallards and Coots were present on the lake. The Backpools still has the 1 Tufted Duck chick which practically looks like a small adult now. No other bird of interest were present, not even the Little Grebes however they are elusive so bets are that they are still there somewhere. The last things included many Copper Underwings under dry bark on the dead trees and a Buff Ermine caterpillar  on the path.  
Read more