July and August 2020 Mersey Estuary Summary
After the pause, due to Covid-19, we have re-started bird counts on the Mersey Estuary.
This post is a combined July and August summary and although I have not had all counts in yet we have had a pretty impressive start to the year.
After just two months of new Webs year we have already broken four records, recorded a new species and had four species in internationally important numbers and two species in nationally important numbers. And we are still not counting the whole site as we cannot cover all of Manisty due to understandable coronavirus restrictions at Stanlow.
The record breakers were eider with seven seen at Ince on the July count, little egret with ninety-eight in August breaking the previous record of 60. I thought this figure would be above the nationally important threshold, however, these thresholds have recently been revised and little egret has gone from 45 up to 110, to account for the increase in these birds in the UK. It is interesting that the international figure dropped 200 indicating that they are doing so well across all of Europe.
Another record breaker, and this one is above the nationally important threshold, was cormorant with 573 recorded in July. The previous record 544 was set last year. 136 avocets in July also beat the previous record of 83, also set last year and is above the recently raised nationally important threshold of 87. This has been increased by 12. We didn’t see any avocets in August.
This post is a combined July and August summary and although I have not had all counts in yet we have had a pretty impressive start to the year.
After just two months of new Webs year we have already broken four records, recorded a new species and had four species in internationally important numbers and two species in nationally important numbers. And we are still not counting the whole site as we cannot cover all of Manisty due to understandable coronavirus restrictions at Stanlow.
The record breakers were eider with seven seen at Ince on the July count, little egret with ninety-eight in August breaking the previous record of 60. I thought this figure would be above the nationally important threshold, however, these thresholds have recently been revised and little egret has gone from 45 up to 110, to account for the increase in these birds in the UK. It is interesting that the international figure dropped 200 indicating that they are doing so well across all of Europe.
Another record breaker, and this one is above the nationally important threshold, was cormorant with 573 recorded in July. The previous record 544 was set last year. 136 avocets in July also beat the previous record of 83, also set last year and is above the recently raised nationally important threshold of 87. This has been increased by 12. We didn’t see any avocets in August.
Roosting cormorants. © Rob Cockbain
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Cormorant at Hale Duck Decoy. © Rob Cockbain
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Cormorant youngsters on nest. © Rob Cockbain
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Canada geese peaked in July with 4,298, about half the previous record set 4 years ago. Their numbers have stopped increasing and may well be decreasing, but there are still a huge number of geese using the site in the summer post-breeding moult. There has been one pink-footed goose, seen on the July count, that seems to be summering here. Amongst the Canadas at Hale were six feral barnacle geese.
Shelduck with ducklings - Hale Marsh. © Rob Cockbain
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The Mersey is the best place in the UK for shelduck, with around 10,000 sometimes appearing in July and August. However, there are fewer around this year with just 5,000 counted in August. I was contacted by the Ribble and they said they had recorded their highest count ever with 3,700 birds. Previously they had only had two counts above 1,000, so perhaps some “our” birds have found the Ribble to their liking.
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Two garganey are always nice to find: both were at Frodsham, along with the first returning wigeon. The two most remarkable ducks in August were a common scoter and a goldeneye, both on the Ship Canal in August. In July the most remarkable ducks were seven eider.
Little egrets were all over the place with ninety eight counted and there are usually some on Manisty marshes which we were not able to count fully, so the number could have been over 100 and maybe exceeded the new nationally important threshold of 110.
There were two great egrets and I found a cattle egret on the Ship Canal which Paul had earlier seen on Ince Marshes. It perched in a hawthorn and then flew west along the canal.
There were two great egrets and I found a cattle egret on the Ship Canal which Paul had earlier seen on Ince Marshes. It perched in a hawthorn and then flew west along the canal.
.Cattle egret on the Manchester Ship Canal © Mersey WeBS
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High tide little egret roost. © Rob Cockbain
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One of two newly fledged little egrets at Hale Duck Decoy. © Rob Cockbain
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Ringed plovers always peaks in August and this year we hit 1,300. This is the 7th time they have been over 1,000, since counting waders began in 1970. In the last eight years we have exceeded 1,000 five times. This is because we are now including casual counts; made mostly by Rob at Hale, outside the WeBS counts, as we know the ringed plover move through quite quickly and so the WeBS count often misses their peak. Counts of over 540 are internationally important.
Eighty five grey plovers included many birds still in at least partial summer plumage and when I got home and looked at my pictures I noticed one had a red flag on its leg but so far I have not been able to find out where it was ringed.
Two thousand one hundred black-tailed godwits were similar to last month and is internationally important. However, I know that Frodsham has had over 2,500 roosting on No 6 bed in recent weeks. 3,400 redshanks is internationally important, while 8 greeshanks, all at Eastham, meets the new lowered nationally important threshold for greenshank.
The new species for the Mersey was an Arctic Tern seen by Toni and Ray at Eastham in July.
Six raptor species included a hobby and two marsh harriers together. 14 kestrels isn’t record breaking but at Ince I had six in the air together, all of them young birds, so it seems it has been a good breeding season for this species.
Amongst the passerines there were a few wheatears passing but most notable for me were at least 12 yellow wagtails passing over and calling with several also on the ground.
September is always an interesting month for birding with many migrants on the move. There should be plenty of waders about and curlew and redshank often peak in September or October.
Eighty five grey plovers included many birds still in at least partial summer plumage and when I got home and looked at my pictures I noticed one had a red flag on its leg but so far I have not been able to find out where it was ringed.
Two thousand one hundred black-tailed godwits were similar to last month and is internationally important. However, I know that Frodsham has had over 2,500 roosting on No 6 bed in recent weeks. 3,400 redshanks is internationally important, while 8 greeshanks, all at Eastham, meets the new lowered nationally important threshold for greenshank.
The new species for the Mersey was an Arctic Tern seen by Toni and Ray at Eastham in July.
Six raptor species included a hobby and two marsh harriers together. 14 kestrels isn’t record breaking but at Ince I had six in the air together, all of them young birds, so it seems it has been a good breeding season for this species.
Amongst the passerines there were a few wheatears passing but most notable for me were at least 12 yellow wagtails passing over and calling with several also on the ground.
September is always an interesting month for birding with many migrants on the move. There should be plenty of waders about and curlew and redshank often peak in September or October.
Dermot Smith
Flock of grey plover; one bird on the right has a red flag on its leg. © Mersey WeBS
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Close up of the bird with a red flag on its leg which means it was ringed on the Alt Estuary. © Mersey WeBS
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Marsh harrier - Ince Marshes. © Mersey WeBS
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