A day in Cheshire and Leicestershire - September 11, 2014

Dave, Roger and I set off for Burton Mere Wetlands in Cheshire as there had been a Cattle Egret, Pectoral Sandpiper and Red-necked Phalarope present for a few days.

It was our fisrt visit to this RSPB reserve and we arrived at about 09:45, mainly due to a slow last third of the journey.  However it was bright and sunny and the area in front of the centre was teaming with birds, mainly Canada Geese but quite a few Pintail.  There was also a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, a Ruff, ten Black-tailed Godwits, two Spotted Redshanks and two Redshank.  However the news was not too good as neither the Pectoral Sandpiper nor Red-necked Phalarope had been seen this morning and the Cattle Egret had flown off.  As we were finding out about the layout of the reserve the Cattle Egret flew in and landed on one of the islands and Roger found a couple of Pink-footed Geese.

The area were the sandpiper and phalarope were being seen was about a mile walk and so we set off hoping they might appear as the poor light was possible a reason for them not being picked up.  There was a small feeding station just outside the centre and a Nuthatch paid a brief visit and we found a Treecreeper as we walked through the woodland.  There were a few screens as we walked along the path and from one we had a single Green Sandpiper and from another a load more Pintail of which there must have been over two hundred on the reserve.  On reaching the hide it was packed with standing room only and the light was still poor, particularly to the right.  As I scoped the mere I found two Little Stints, two Curlew Sandpiper, four Ruff, fifteen Snipe and fourteen Sparrowhawks but there was no sign of the target birds.  We eventually got a seat in the hide but it soon became obvious that the Pectoral Sandpiper and Red-necked Phalarope were not there.  A rather disappointing morning missing two of the three target birds and to make matters worse the phalarope was present again late evening and the following day.

Teal over the marsh

Female Pintail

Pintail over the marsh

As we walked back Dave thought it would be a good idea to go to Parkgate which overlooks part of the Dee estuary and we would be there for high tide.  On arrival we sat having lunch waiting for the tide to peak but it wasn’t as high as we thought it was going to be and the only movement we saw were eighty-three Cormorants, three Black-tailed Godwits and circa thirty Curlew all moving up river.  There was also at least fourteen Little Egrets and we did hear a Greenshank and see a single Redshank.

We finally decided to move off home and called at Dean’s Lane in Leicestershire on the way mainly for a break.  This area is a watch point for visible migration and so we weren’t expecting too much but we did see at least five Buzzards, a Jay and there were a few Swallow and House Martin over the valley.