Birding Group at New Brighton and Hoylake 4th March 2025
The birding group could not take full advantage of the high tides on the Wirral that ran from the 1st to the 3rd of March. The nearest they could find was Tuesday the 4th so the tide was only 9.8m at 14:16.
We started out at New Brighton in the hope that we could get some birds on the pontoon early in the day. Although the pontoon was not very full there were three Purple Sandpipers on the outside of a group of Turnstones showing very well and quite active preening. This afforded us good opportunities for comparing the two species. There were also numbers of Redshank but no Dunlin. We spent about twenty minutes there before going to Caffe Cream for a cup of tea and a bacon buttie before heading off.
We stopped first at Meols promenade where we got good close views of the waders. As the tide came in we walked down the promenade before driving on to Hoylake. At both places we saw, essentially, the same species. There were good numbers of Oystercatchers but erhaps not as many as usual. There were also satisfying numbers of Redshank, Dunlin and Sanderling. There was also a smattering of Knot and a good number of Curlew.
Out on the water there were rafts of Common Scoter and nearer in a few Shelduck. The beach continues to turn into a sand dune system and the greenery continues to expand eastwards. The tide was quite modest and it was a lovely sunny day with perfect visibility with no wind so I suppose it was never going to be a spectacular. However, it did come in past the lighthouse; the problem is that when the beach was sandy the birds would have come in much closer after the passed the lifeboat station. With the beach the way it is, they remain a fair way out.
Despite the lack of drama it was a satisfying day with excellent views of Purple Sandpipers and lots of other waders feeding in a glow of winter sunshine.
Bird Sightings : New Brighton 4 March 2025
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Black-headed Gull | 30 |
| Collared Dove | 2 |
| Cormorant | 3 |
| Herring Gull | 4 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 |
| Pied Wagtail | 2 |
| Purple Sandpiper | 3 |
| Redshank | 140 |
| Starling | 8 |
| Turnstone | 40 |
| Woodpigeon | 2 |
Bird Sightings : Hoylake 4 March 2025
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Black-tailed Godwit | 4 |
| Common Scoter | 30 |
| Curlew | 50 |
| Dunlin | 500 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 2 |
| Herring Gull | 10 |
| Knot | 70 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Oystercatcher | 200 |
| Redshank | 300 |
| Feral Pigeon | 4 |
| Sanderling | 40 |
| Shelduck | 28 |
| Starling | 20 |
| Woodpigeon | 10 |