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Welcome …
This blog originally had a grand purpose for birding around Marshside and beyond. The map and info Pages section is still useful for that, but for rolling news of sightings and general discussion that purpose has perhaps been overtaken by the ease of use of other web developments, and I’d particularly recommend taking a look at the Ribble Estuary Nature Facebook Group.
These pages are now a repository for me to share photos and videos of my birding in and around Merseyside and occasionally further afield, and to provide me with an outlet for the occasional rant. You’ll find digiscoped photos and videos with a bit of reportage as the main posts; some useful birding info and resources are in the static Pages section.
Short form url: http://ow.ly/3b5PK
For other, more regular, blogs I recommend that everyone keeps a daily eye on John Dempsey’s Birdblog – probably the best online birding journal in the world (Theakston’s Best please, John …) as well as other local blogs of which there are links below. Of these, Colin Bushell’s Ribble to Amazon is currently the most regularly and enthusiatically updated and carries most useful information.
Comments & Sightings
jstannage on Discussion Frank Whitney on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Moore and Pennington Flas… Roger John LITTLE on Moore and Pennington Flas… phil boardman on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Latest Sightings Simon Glinn on Latest Sightings Frank Whitney on Latest Sightings Frank Whitney on Latest Sightings
Blogroll
- Another Place ~ Pete Kinsella
- Bill Aspin ~ Brockholes
- Brockholes Sightings Facebook
- Colin Bushell’s Blog
- Dave Bickerton’s Blog
- Dee Estuary Sightings
- Hilbre Island Blog
- Manchester Sightings
- Martin Mere Sightings
- Menzie Birding
- Mike Watson ~ E. Lancs
- Moore N.R. Sightings
- North Wales Sightings
- Paul Shenton ~ Flintshire
- South Liverpool Birder
- St Helens Sightings
- Steve Tomlinson
- Tony Conway ~ Seaforth
- Wirral Birder
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DEVELOPERS Peel last night pledged to replace any wetlands lost as part of their £500m expansion plans for the Port of Liverpool.
The vow came as environmentalists described the proposals – which would spell the end of the Seaforth Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest – as a “huge loss”.
Under plans to transform the Port of Liverpool and Manchester Ship Canal unveiled yesterday, marshland that currently forms the Seaforth reserve is proposed to be reclaimed for business use.
This will mean that the reserve – which is home to thousands of wintering wading birds, sea birds and breeding terns – will possibly be moved to another site.
Gary Hodgson, managing director of Mersey Ports, said: “We know this is emotive. That is why we are doing this consultation process. We need the land back but there are always mitigations.
“We want to talk to people about what is the best way of doing it. We are not going to turn up one day and tarmac the thing. We will look for mitigation. Whether we move it 100 miles or 10 miles. That is why we want environmentalists in the tent talking to us.”
But Steve White, of Lancashire Wildlife Trust, who has been based at Seaforth Nature Reserve for 20 years, said: “It would be a huge loss for wildlife. The north west coast is the most important area in the UK for sea birds.
“It’s not just a case of picking up a lagoon and putting it on the back of a truck. You can’t move a habitat. But can it be recreated somewhere else? Maybe, in theory, yes. But in practise? That’s an open question. I just don’t know. It wouldn’t be easy. And it certainly wouldn’t be cheap.”
Situated at the north end of the Liverpool/Bootle docks system the reserve consists of two pools, one freshwater and the other saltwater.
Apologies for recent silence – been abroad and then ill. Will try to do better, honest sir!
A very useful and informative blog with some great images!
However I couldn’t find a contact address to enable me to request the addition of another great birding website.
Apologies for the bum steer folks,my wife spoke to the surveyors when they arrived when I was in work and she related the tale to me,on speaking to them at breakfast turns out they are doing survey work on Hesketh out marsh,something to do with turning 80 acres of farmland purchased by the RSPB back into saltmarsh,must be an ongoing thing..
Anyone got any more info on the Sandplant,ive got a couple of surveyors staying at the moment for a couple of days who are doing survey work at the sandplant in conjunction with the RSPB,anybody got any further info on what the plans are,..
Hi Andy – maybe the surveyors could tell you! The only info the Council can come up with is that there is a plan, but they don’t know quite what it is yet!
Councillors held a site visit there on Friday last. In the short term, Rainfords are supposed to be blocking access to motor bikes, according to a letter today from Sefton Council Planning’s Team Leader for Development Control North, P Hardwicke:
So hopefully there’ll be some info in the near future.
possible LEAST TERN SEAFORTH LWT.
An intriguing report related to a possible Least Tern at Seaforth LWT (Merseyside), but only until midday. The bird, which has a grey rump and central tail, was first seen on 2nd June, but did not reappear at the well-watched site until today. The BOU currently consider Least Tern to be conspecific with Little Tern, but given that this form has only been identified once in Britain (the famous male that returned to Rye Harbour NR, East Sussex, from 1983-1992) then it will no doubt prove to be a popular attraction if it reappears and the identification is confirmed.
RED- FOOTED FALCON St.Helens update:
The guy who found it is not claiming it’s an RFF – he mentioned it as a possbility. He’s not seen it through bins but says the jizz is wrong for a Kestrel and definitely not a Hobby Peregrine or Merlin.
Birders were looking for the bird Above and behind the town hall.
According to Sefton Council’s planning peoples’ latest report to members of the Council’s Southport Area Committee, everything’s going absolutely fine with the work at the sand plant. Anyone who thinks they’ve seen people riding motorbikes through puddles that minutes previously had Temminck’s Stints in them, for example, is clearly hallucinating. And you’ll be delighted to know that the unstable banks filled with huge lumps of concrete have a neutral impact on safety but a positive impact on our well-being. Overall, the process is “improving the quality of Council services and strengthening local democracy.” Quite.
The latest report from Planning (I have removed the phrase “full detail of the report” as the report is lacking in both crucial detail and scope), who are working under delegated powers in the matter (and therefore with the risk that, left unchallenged, unaccountable and non-communicative officials will give rise to a scheme for more piss-poor half-hearted governance and custodianship of the site and a continuing lack of consultation with regular users) can be downloaded here. It will be “considered” at a meeting of the Southport Area Committee at the Town Hall at 6.30pm on Wednesday. I think we can safely assume that, if we sit back and say nothing, we’re on track for an outcome that equals the quality of political vision and aspiration so admirably demonstrated in the development of a potentially worldclass waterfront with a JJB Sports, Matalan and McDonalds …
Meanwhile, a phone call to (a very defensive – “It’s Rainford’s land, not ours”) Neil Fleming at Sefton Planning, author of the initial report, advised that Sefton Council had received no reports of motorcycling on the site; he went on to say that no concerns about the wellbeing of birds and the potential for nesting on the site had been raised either at the public planning process that apparently “regular users of site were all told about and invited to” (remember that?!) nor since.
The nice Mr Fleming is good for a natter about the historical background to sandwinning in Southport and the basis of the original planning consent (And if you’re reading Neil, you were right about the first date of extraction from Horse Bank, I was wrong …) He stated that there’s no way the works will be completed by August 2009, admitted he had given no recent consideration to whether any birds may be nesting in the vegetation on the banks and if there are, whether Rainfords disturbing them may be unlawful, and promised to take up the issue of motor sports on the site with Rainfords, agreeing that the site definitely didn’t have planning permission for use for motorsports! The trouble is, others have spoken to officers of the Council about these various matters and their promises simply haven’t been kept … But Neil didn’t seem sufficiently averse to being contacted with any further reports of concerns for me not to note that his number is 0151 234 2211 and his email is Neil.Fleming@Sefton.Gov.Uk. I’m hoping Neil will get back with an answer to an email asking what precisely is the agreement referred to in the report, concerning the reinstatement of the Haul Road … and about the Planning process and status of the development, which a member of the Area Committee claimed tonight was formally agreed and ought to be in the public domain, for the site to be used as an RSPB car park?
An email from Neil this morning explains that the part of the report that indicates that the works have a positive impact on four of the Council’s corporate objectives (ie improving health and well-being, environmental sustainability, improving the quality of Council services and strengthening local democracy, and children and young people) is an ERROR! It should state that the project has no impact on any of these objectives (although some might need persuading that there’s not been a bit of a negative impact on the strengthening local democracy front …)
A further email advises “The RSPB have been involved in informal discussions concerning their possible future use of part of the former sandwinning compound. There is no formal agreement in place with the Council.” He goes on to confirm that planning permission would be required for such use even as a car park. Nothing new there, then.
Meanwhile, it seems that a Council Planning & Economic Regeneration workshop held in Southport this month had widespread agreement that Marshside “needs” a visitor centre. And toilets. (But no mention of improving public transport links to reduce the need for a car park !!!!) Report here. There’s no mention of any study that leads to this conclusion, just an assumption of “need.” I wonder what happened to the study done by the university student who was hanging out in Sandgrounders and appeared to be the means of consultation … the one who received a lot of emphatic “please leave the banks alone, please improve public transport links, please do NOT build a visitor centre” responses …
Councillors were so concerned about the issues raised that they decided to proceed with their site visit. In September!
Mindful of the fact that it’s probably down to the madness of nicotine withdrawal as I’ve been off the ciggies for nearly four weeks, and recognising that I’m gradually morphing into Linda Snell from The Archers, I’ll give it a rest now that The
Borsetshire EchoSouthport Visiter has picked up the issue in a story which is online hereHi Simon. Went to see the Dotterel Sun 10th 9am on Plex Moss. Several cars abandoned with occupants stood outside in full view of the birds!!! So much for yours and Johns
appeal to stay in ones car. I could see them clearly from my car window with the scope. You would think that people would take heed of respected birders like yourself and John,or being new to this game am i just being naive?
Hi Jack, I went to see them today too – trouble is, neither I nor my 2 colleagues use cars. We got there on the bus, and got a lift for the last few yards from someone else on the way there Thanks Les, top man!. But as you say, people were doing the usual thing of chasing the birds around – on foot and in cars, and ironically it was car noise that seemed to spook them on at least a couple of occasions whilst we were there. Beautiful birds, and therefore popular, and sadly there’ll always be some muppets. My reflection on events was that the very best way to approach them would be silently, on foot, keeping a very low profile against the horizon and moving slowly. But there aren’t a lot of folk who go for the stalking approach, and it would need to be a collective effort. Shame! I was a bit un-nerved by the suggestion that only car users should go and see these birds … truth is, nearly all of the non-car dependent birders I know tend to be fully in tune with the softly, slowly, low profile, best interest of the bird approach, whereas there are clearly some car users who are anything but …
Although it can be beyond irritating visiting a hide on a reserve to find every seat taken by photographers and what seems like a million whirs and clicks from their cameras each time a bird so much as passes gas, at the end of the day they have as much right to be there as everyone else. Unfortunately the incidents above are not just extreme examples and perhaps photography publications could highlight how a few idiots are giving photographers a bad name nationwide. Why not have a wildlife photographer code of conduct and try to educate the photographers in better fieldcraft and behaviour? To balance this out it should be said that there are also idiot birders out there who wouldnt know the birdwatching code if it jumped up and bit them!
Any comments, questions or other feedback about the website? Anyone viewing it in a programme other than Firefox (and if so, why?!) finding any technical glitches? Anything you’d like to see that isn’t here, or included in the list of things that will be here when we’ve finished merging the content from Neill’s site?
OK, let’s kick this discussion thing off with an email received from Graham this evening ~
This evening I decided to visit Mere Sands Wood to glean some roving records, as the north-western corner is in one of my tetrads. I arrived at 18.05 and fairly soon was pleased to be listening to a Wood Warbler singing on the path from the car park to the Marshall hide, I then popped into the Marshall hide, quickly followed by a visit to Ainscough hide. As I settled down to counting various waterfowl I became aware that some Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler were flying towards the hide at speed. As I looked to find what had disturbed them I was surprised to see a gentleman walk around in front of Rufford hide pulling up birch logs out of the ground and discarding them; this was a real surprise, it seemed a strange time of day for a volunteer to be undertaking any necessary reserve management. So I rang the reserve office, and it was confirmed that the person shouldn’t be there. I walked round to Rufford hide as Mere Sands Wood staff walked from the other direction; I got to the hide first and asked the ‘gentleman’ what he was doing in front of the hide between 18.25 and 18.30 – to my astonishment he denied that he had been out there! Clearly very embarrassed, probably as I recognised him as a Marshside regular (note – not one of Regulars listed on this or Neill’s websites – Ed!), he admitted what he had done. I then courteously explained to him the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and the Birdwatchers code of conduct. He seemed to me to be completely disinterested and solely focused on the positioning of perches in order to photograph Kingfishers. To get to the front of Rufford hide, he had had to go to a great deal of effort – a very determined man, and for someone in his 70s quite an achievement!
Staff from Mere Sands Wood then joined and I left the talking to them (not my reserve and my day off!): they did a cracking job of telling the man off (who, along with his wife, denied they had disturbed, without any justification, a range of wildlife). They did a wonderful job of giving the chap a dressing down and in fact eventually received an apology. Well done to them!
Please can all birdwatchers, birders, twitchers, bird photographers and wildlife photographers please, please, please use some common sense when out in the field and while guests on nature reserves; respect wildlife and habitats first and foremost; but please also show some respect to those of us who have been given the privileged task of managing our wildlife havens – we generally know what we are talking about and what we are doing.
Well done Graham!
I had a similar experience earlier this week at Caerlaverock WWT involving a “regular” (according to the warden).
An excerpt from my blog: In excess of a thousand or so Barnacle Geese could be seen from the Farmhouse Tower feeding near the Saltcot Hide so we thought we’d take a walk down there. On approaching the hide we watched a “photographer” go through the gate and approach the field where the Barnies were feeding. Surprise, surprise, up went the Barnacle Geese. The culprit didn’t appear but I managed to question his intentions later and he explained that he was “chasing the geese to make them fly, so another photographer could get a flight shot”! After explaining the concept of hides and reasons for leaving migratory birds to feed in peace I realised I was fighting a losing battle when he answered with “They were not molested and they’ll come back”.
Name and shame, I say … You missed some beaut at Marshside today jump in the sandplant lagoon to “rescue” his black labrador …