Birding/ Bird watching in Liverpool, United Kingdom


Tuesday 14th of August 2018 and we will start at Sefton Park in Liverpool. I had been up since 4 o´clock and I felt like a million when my new friend came to pick me up. Today, oatmeal in my room for breakfast and I could skip the bacon and all the other stuff at the breakfast buffet.

Sefton Park is across the Mersey River and I hope to be able to cross off a few birds from the RSPB Liverpool field checklist

We drove via the Queensway tunnel under the Mersey River, I have passed Queensway tunnel a few times, but then I have been drunk coming ashore from a ship in the Queen Elizabeth Dock in Eastham.

Queensway tunnel
Reaching the toll both at Queensway tunnel

Queensway tunnel
Entering Queensway tunnel

Queensway tunnel
Driving under Mersey River and the excitement is killing me

Queensway tunnel
Almost there

It was a gloomy and grey morning and when we reached the parking lot at Sefton Park we were met by a drizzle. Lasted for a few minutes and then it was gone. We spotted a Magpie in one of the trees on the parking lot. Sitting there calling for friends and I took the opportunity to record the bird with m ZOOM H5 Handy recorder.

So the day started good, a recording of a Magpie, but the pictures left a whole lot to wish for.

Listen to the Eurasian Magpie

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy recorder. Applied High Pass Filter with Audacity

Getting out of the car at the parking lot and the Magpie sitting in a tree. I make a recording and try to take pictures at the same time. It was raining and noise form the roads and airplane. But I´m happy, not so much with the picture, but the sound is OK.


www.xeno-canto.org

Eurasian Magpie, Common Magpie, Pica pica, Skata

We walk down to the lake, or pond and we started to walk around the lake, or if they call it a pond. It is a man-made lake so I guess we have to call it a big pond. We spot a Magpie looking for food in one of the garbage bins. We are soon running in to a huge group of Canada Geese and we see some Mallards and Eurasian Coots.

There are tents along the pond with people fishing. I was told they put up their tents, hang out a fishing rod and then they stay in the tents smoking pot and it looks like they are fishing.

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - Sefton Park
Pond at Sefton Park

Eurasian Magpie, Common Magpie, Pica pica, Skata
Eurasian Magpie looking for food in a garbage bin

Eurasian Magpie, Common Magpie, Pica pica, Skata
Eurasian Magpie looking for food in a garbage bin

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis,  Kanadagås
Canada Goose / Kanadagås

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis,  Kanadagås
Canada Goose / Kanadagås

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis,  Kanadagås
Canada Goose / Kanadagås

Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, Sothöna, オオバン
Eurasian Coot / Sothöna

Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, Sothöna, オオバン
Eurasian Coot / Sothöna

Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, Sothöna, オオバン
Eurasian Coot / Sothöna




Bird watching in Sefton Park, Liverpool, United Kingdom and I saw a very funny thing. I walked by an abandoned nest in the lake. A Eurasian Coot came swimming and the Coot climbed up on the nest to inspect the nest. Maybe something to move in to?

Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, Sothöna, オオバン
Eurasian Coot inspecting a nest
Sefton Park, Liverpool - August 2018

It was very funny to see the Coot stepping up in to the nest like a King thinking “well, what do we have here?” The bird looked just like a guy looking to buy an old second hand car kicking the tyres. I could hear the banging when the bird was kicking the sticks.

The Coot was obviously not impressed and left the nest. The whole thing just took a few seconds and when the Coot disappeared I was swearing. DARN! DARN! I should have taken a video!

We walk along the pond and we see some abandoned nests in the pond. A Eurasian Coot came to check on of the nests out but the bird didn´t like what it saw so it took off again. We saw another nest, this time with a juvenile Eurasian Coot in it and the adult was improving the nest.

I made a video and now I had decided to go buy a video camera first thing when I´m back home in Bangkok. I had checked the internet and the best “small” video camera I can have in my belt is a Panasonic. So I hope we get better videos in the future.



Listen to the Eurasian Coot

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder, applied High Pass Filter in Audacity

Coot baby making sound while the parents improve the nest. A dry summer and a sudden rain and they need to raise the nest. The parents brings sticks and twigs and I can see that the small baby help as much as it can. See video.


www.xeno-canto.org


Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, Rörhöna
Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, Rörhöna
Common Moorhen

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - Sefton Park
Eurasian Coots taking a rest form the nest building

We get to see a Moorhen next to the Coot nest and before we leave we see one of the adult Coots and the young ones having a rest from the nest building. We continued up the lawn pass the lake to look for Parakeets. Sefton Park have a lot of Parakeets in the park, most likely escaped cage birds. But I’m not sure, if it would have been cage birds there should have been other kinds of Parakeets. But there was only the Rose-ringed Parakeet.

So maybe someone brought them home from India. But I don´t know, I will look at the internet, maybe some information available.

Parakeets in the Papers!

Monday, 18 July 2011

Below is an article from Liverpool Daily Post from Friday (also in the Echo); now they're gettin' famous!

Exotic Ring-necked Parakeets spotted in gardens in South Liverpool by John Sutton, Liverpool Daily Post Jul 15 2011

FAMILIES in south Liverpool have been welcoming some exotic Ring-necked Parakeets to their gardens. Numerous ring-necked Parakeets have been spotted perched in gardens near to Calderstones Park and Sefton Park and appear to have made the city their new home. The bright green birds, which originate from India and are the UK’s only naturalised parrot, have colonised areas of London but have not been known to live in Liverpool.

Keen twitcher Ged Clarke and daughter Rachel, 13, spotted the bright birds in their garden on St Anne’s Grove, Aigburth.
Mr Clarke said: “The first time I saw them I couldn’t believe my eyes. We saw three in our garden – all enjoying themselves at our birdfeeders.
Rachel added: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked out and saw the parakeets in my garden. I’m used to seeing some more unusual birds like Woodpeckers and nuthatches, but nothing like this.
“They were eating a lot of the nuts from the birdfeeder, and weren’t a bit scared when a gang of magpies came and tried to frighten them away.”

Avian enthusiast Danny Foy, a student at University of Liverpool shared his knowledge about the brightly coloured birds. He said:“The parakeets have been seen since the mid-winter period in a number of localities including Calderstones Park, Greenbank/Mossley Hill, Sefton Park, and Aigburth.
“They have been quick to establish with at least one family party being seen in the Greenbank area, and the Aigburth sighting of three individuals may well represent a second breeding pair.
“These birds are a really exciting addition to the local avifauna with their bright green plumage, bright greeny-yellow long tails, bright red bills, and loud powerful shrieks they really do stand out as something different to the untrained eye.”

There is a famous well established population in south-east England, mainly in London which consists of thousands of birds, but in the North West only a small population can be found near Blackpool.

Mr Foy added: “It is almost certain that our birds do not originate from the London population but have escaped from local captive collections.
“My personal explanation is that with the heavy snowfall during the winter some outdoor aviaries have collapsed and allowed a number of birds to escape and establish themselves.”

HAVE you seen a Parakeet or any other exotic birds in your garden? Call the Daily Post on 0151 472 2491.

Danny Foy at 08:51 Monday, July 18, 2011

Aticle found at http://southliverpoolbirder.blogspot.com There are plenty more interesting birding things on the web page



We walked back to the car and we saw a Little Grebe, but the picture was not very good so the bird won´t make it to my list of observed birds. But we made it around the park without any rain so this was good. It had been a nice morning and the Coots had put on a show for us with nest inspection, babies and nest building, so I was happy.

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - Sefton Park
Little Grebe
Picture not good enough for the bird to make it to my list of observed birds

Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, Sothöna, オオバン
Eurasian Coot / Sothöna

We left Sefton Park driving towards Southport Pier in Southport and Ainsdale Beach. We will also go to another RSBP site, RSPB Marshside to look for waders and we will have a look for waders from Southport Pier

We are staying on the north side of the River Mersey going West to the coast driving north to the Southport Pier and we passed through Southport and it looked to have a lot of restaurants so we know where to go for lunch. We drove for 10 to 15 minutes and we reached RSPB Marshside Nature Reserve

This fantastic wetland site is located north of Southport town centre and has some of the best wildlife in the region, with amazing year round viewing opportunities. In the summer, you'll spot nesting birds like avocets and lapwings, while the skies fill with pink-footed geese and wigeons in the winter. Read more HERE

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - RSPB Marshside


Find your way around RSPB Marshside Nature Reserve with this trail map and information from RSBP, click HERE The nature reserve is very well worth visiting.

We park the car and we cross the road to the hide. I was not surprised to discover yet another well maintained hide with friendly RSBP staff when I entered the hide with my new friend. And as a bonus we got to see a nest of the Eurasian Wren just above the door to the hide.

Eurasian Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, Gärdsmyg
Eurasian Wren nest

Eurasian Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, Gärdsmyg
Eurasian Wren nest - Adult

Eurasian Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, Gärdsmyg
Eurasian Wren nest - Babies?

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - RSPB Marshside
Canada Geese at RSPB Marshside

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - RSPB Marshside
Juvenile Shell Duck at RSPB Marshside

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - RSPB Marshside
RSPB Marshside from the hide

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - RSPB Marshside
Canade Geese landing at RSPB Marshside

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - RSPB Marshside
Black-tailed Goodwit at RSPB Marshside

We spent an hour or so at RSPB Marshside before we continued our drive north along the coast. A beautiful area and I enjoyed the scenery. We turned around and we drove back passing the RSPB Marshside and we stopped at Southport Pier. We went out on the pier but there was no waders on the mudflats. The high tide was coming in but there was no birds getting pushed in on the beach.

But there was a lot of Common Starlings in the area feeding from the tourists snacks along the pier. The starling is a really beautiful bird but it was a little too cold and windy on the pier to enjoy the birds. We left the pier and we took refuge in pub. Time for lunch.

Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Stare
Juvenile moulting in to adult winter plumage

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - Southport Pier
Southport Pier

Birding / Bird watching in Liverpool - Southport Pier
Southport Pier

It was some kind of self-service place and I paid for the food and then I went to the buffet and someone was serving me the food. I had paid for a “big” plate, meat was served and I could have as much vegies as I wanted. A pot of tea and now I was lucky for the self-service thing. If they would have had table service I would have gone for dessert.

Good for my diet, no dessert. The food was good and we were happy when we left for a burger place across the road for milkshakes. We saw some starlings, well, many starlings outside the restaurants looking for food and one of them were lucky. He got a Chinese take away shrimp, what a feast for the bird! No need to look for food for some time after that meal.

Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Stare
Eating Chinese take away

Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Stare
Eating Chinese take away

We left Southport driving to the Ainsdale Beach to look for waders. We parked the car and we walked down to the beach and we were soon running in to huge groups of Dunlins resting on the beach during the high water. We walked along the beach trying to get close to them but they moved away every time we approached.

It was windy and a little chilli so we were soon walking back to the cars and I had not managed to get any close up pictures of the birds.

Bird watching in United Kingdom - Ainsdale Beach
Ainsdale Beach

Bird watching in United Kingdom - Ainsdale Beach

Bird watching in United Kingdom - Ainsdale Beach

Bird watching in United Kingdom - Ainsdale Beach

Bird watching in United Kingdom - Ainsdale Beach

Bird watching in United Kingdom - Ainsdale Beach

We had have a very nice day in the field, but now it was getting chilli so let´s call it a day. I wanted to go back to my room at Holiday Inn Ellesmere Port. We drove back to Liverpool and we had to go under River Mersey to get to Holiday Inn Ellesmere Port on the other side of the river.

We drove through the country side to reach Liverpool and of course, we were keeping our eyes out for birds. We saw some herons but no pictures, well, I have had some nice pictures from today and I´m happy with the day. And 2 more days before I go back home.

Kingsway Tunnel
We take the Kingsway Tunnel going back

Kingsway Tunnel
We take the Kingsway Tunnel going back

Kingsway Tunnel
Kingsway Tunnel

I spent the night in my room and again, early to bed and my alarm set to go off at 4 o´clock tomorrow morning. My new friend will come to pick me up for another day in the field looking for birds tomorrow. Click HERE to find out if we find any birds tomorrow.


Alternativ för Sverige


       
                  
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Flag of Skåne / Skånska flaggan Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.


                                       

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