8th October 2011

After two long days of almost dawn to dusk coverage, Saturday morning started with no Obs members present ... how times have changed! However, with two days of gales and the wind dropping to West force 5 the only real expectation was some lingering seabirds....

An afternoon visit produced a couple of nice surprises in the form of a new Wren (right) and a fine male Goldcrest (left) both trapped and ringed and the Chaffinch from yesterday was still present making use of the bird feeders.



There were plenty of gulls and waders along the North shore with Knot being the main species (up to 4,000 have been around the islands recently - see below).

A scan of the tide edge for lingering seabirds revealed a first winter Little Gull dancing along the surf (see above). It was watched as it made steady progress past the North End slipway.

Waders numbers included 12 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1,500 Oystercatcher, 25 Sanderling and an increase in Redshank with at least 85 counted in the gutter. Also in the gutter was the colour-ringed Little Egret (also seen last Sunday and first seen at Hilbre on 17th September 2011 - see above; details of where and when it was ringed to follow shortly), as well as single Grey Heron and three drake Mallards. Not a bad afternoon considering the intermittment drizzle.
(SRW) [870-43]