The weather forecast was for heavy rain and 30mph gusts, so I wasn’t sure if I’d have any takers, but at 9am 4 brave birders began to scour the landscape for anything avian. We began at St Helens end by the metal gate to the left. The usual Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) were in the trees near the road bridge. There were also many Carrion Crows (Corvus corone) on the grass and in flight. We checked the dead trees the White-tailed Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) frequent to no avail. Moving onward past the triangle field all we noted were 4 Common Woodpigeons (Columba palumbus) and a European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) in flight.
Visibility was atrocious and droplets of rain soon covered my glasses, binoculars and scope lenses. We took a good look at 3 Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in a field on the right past Bexley point as 4 Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) flew by behind us. We then spotted a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) stood in the next field, quite close until it knew we had noticed and took to the air. As we approached the small pond on the right Eurasian Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) were observed flitting across the path, whilst a Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) and Great Tit (Parus major) were heard in the trees there.
We stopped at Pops Wood awhile then decided not to venture further out to the old sea wall and sluice, as the wind had picked up and we were quite the bedraggled bunch by this point. On our way back 3 Swallows (Hirundo rustica) were seen flying low in the field to our right and I briefly caught a glimpse of an Egret flying in the distance, though unfortunately I couldn’t confirm species due to brevity and low visibility. We had intended to go via New Bridge Ponds and back across the adjacent field, but it might’ve been a bit slippy by this point and I got distracted by hearing Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalos caudatos) in a tree. A grand total of 13 species, 14 if you count the juvenile Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) that danced in front of my car on the way in and out. Thanks for the company Stella, Will and Karin. Hopefully we will have better weather, more species and an easier stroll next time.
Written and led by Naomi Wright.
