Pied Wheatear on the Wirral!

Pied Wheatear had been missing from my arsenal of British Wheatears for some time now, having never managed to make it down to the Nottinghamshire bird back in 2013. With no readily available birds in the 5 years since, I therefore jumped on the chance to pay a visit to the bird that took up residence on the sea wall at Dove Point in Meols on the Wirral in November, less than an hour away from home and showing extremely well to the masses.

Pied Wheatear!

The Wheatear and its many admirers! 

Sure enough, upon pulling up next to the assembled crowd of birders and cameras, the Pied Wheatear was instantly on view – quite possibly the easiest and quickest twitch I have ever been to!

Over the next few hours the Wheatear continued to show exceptionally well, flitting from point to point on the sea wall and never disappearing for more than a minute at a time, on one occasion flying down on to the floor and proceeding to scurry right up to my boots! Extremely confiding and showing no fear, it didn’t even seem too bothered when locals passed right next to it with their dogs!

Aged as a first winter male, whilst some questioned the ID with relation to the width of the black band on the end of the tail (and the similarity to Eastern Black-eared Wheatear), tail patterns vary between individuals and this particular bird is well in the range for Pied. The dark feather colouration of the mantle along with the white edges to the feathers creating a ‘scaly’ effect are also both classic for Pied, nailing the ID.

Note the scaly looking back - a key feature for Pied Wheatear

Having already been present for two days before being identified from photos and the news put out to the masses, this was the first record for Cheshire/Wirral and a fantastic local bird to connect with.

January Birding!

There have been a whole host of great birds during January in Cheshire, with some returning favourites such as the Burton Mere Long-eared Owl putting on a great show in the Hawthorn tree leading up to Inner Marsh Farm  hide, to finally getting a Green-winged Teal at my local Neumann’s Flash.

Long-eared Owl - Burton Mere RSPB

Record shot of the Neumann's Green-winged Teal

The start of the month also brought my first Cheshire Pallas’s Warbler in the form of the well twitched individual at Heswall on the Wirral. Present for nearly two weeks in the scrub around the sewage works on Target Road and associating with a group of Goldcrests, Long-tailed Tits and Chiffchaffs, we got great views of what is one of my favourite warbler species bumbling through the branches next to the sewage tanks. Giving fantastic scope views through the wire fencing, the yellow rump stood out a mile (a feature I didn’t manage to see on the Norfolk bird) as did the bold eye stripe, while the colouration was noticeably different from the accompanying Goldcrests, being much more of a green-olive colour on the back.

The Great Northern Diver at West Kirby Marine Lake also continued to show well throughout the month, and we managed to catch up with this impressive diver on the far side of the lake after seeing the Pallas’s Warbler just as the sun had started to go down. 

Great Northern Diver - West Kirby Marine Lake

It’s always lovely to see these beautiful divers up close, and this particularly confiding individual came to within just a few metres of the side whilst diving for fish and crustaceans.

You've got to be having a laugh

With an alert popping up on my phone during a meeting on Tuesday causing panic after a Laughing Gull was reported at New Brighton, which then proceeded to show well on and off for the rest of the afternoon, it was a tense few days before I could really do anything about it. With work and the fact that Alex had parent’s evening and extra tuition from Tuesday – Thursday throwing a spanner in the works, it wasn’t until later on in the week that I could make it up there.

Just as I was leaving work, the dreaded news broke that the gull had flown off inland at half 1, and with just a narrow window that day in which to see it, the drive over was a little nervy.

Arriving at the Marine Lake, there was still no sign, and a walk along the promenade checking the beach and surrounding area proved fruitless. The bird had apparently flown off over Morrisons, but chatting to a local revealed that the bird usually returns to the lake around 3pm each day, so I decided that the best option would be to head back to the pontoon.

Whilst scanning the gulls lining the distant breakwater by Fort Perch lighthouse and feeling a touch despondent that this was going to be a dip, my mum of all people exclaimed there was a lone gull standing on the pontoon. Turning round to take a look, I was stunned to see that this was our target – the Laughing Gull had returned!!

Originally on the other side of the pontoon, we crossed over by the restaurants to get a better view.

It wasn’t until later that I found out she wasn’t as eagle eyed as she’d led me to believe, and had instead just spotted another birder raising his bins and looking excitedly in the direction of the pontoon instead of the actual gull itself….

Phoning Alex, he made a mad dash over from somewhere far up the promenade, wheezing like an 80 year old man as he set up his scope. Glad and relieved that we had connected with this often hard to come across gull, the first winter individual showed really well for around half an hour, at one point taking flight to snaffle some of the bread thrown down by one of the locals and swooping round right in front of us.

Differing from our similar sized Black-headed Gulls by the slightly elongated bill, more lengthy appearance and light brown colouration on the wings, this American visitor has proved harder to catch up with these last few years, after a huge influx back in 2005/06 when an amazing 104 possible individuals made it across to these shores. With only 26 records in the 8 years since however, and several being one day birds with really only one twitchable record up in Aberdeenshire, this was a much welcome opportunity relatively close to home.

Map showing the distribution of Laughing Gulls in the UK back in 2005/06

With some having a reputation for being long stayers – including the current Ballycotton bird in Ireland which has been present for over a year, there is every chance that this bird may follow suit and stick around for the coming weeks.