*** Posting to this blog - Please read ***

*** Posting to this blog – Please read ***

Welcome to the St Helens Birds and Wildlife blog. We welcome your reports from across the borough regarding all forms of wildlife. Please click on the "Report a sighting" tab if you would like to contribute to this blog.

We ask that you refrain from posting exact breeding locations of any species which may be considered scarce or vulnerable, and in particular schedule 1 species. In the context of St Helens, schedule 1 species usually means kingfisher and little ringed plover. Little ringed plover should not be reported at all on this blog between 1st May and 1st August.

Scarce or vulnerable species include but are not restricted to any species of wader, ducks other than mallard, all owls, any birds of prey, grey or yellow wagtails, grey heron, all grebes, Cetti’s warbler, water rail, willow tit, corn bunting etc. If in doubt, please ask.

We reserve the right to edit or delete posts which contravene this rule.

*Whinchat* Dairy Farm Road - Old Coach Road Lap

I did a lap of the Rainford Mosslands this afternoon hoping to see the recent whimbrel. There was a bird in the last sheep field on the right but I'm not sure if it's a whimbrel or a curlew. The bill shape looks good for whimbrel on some photos but I'd expect the medial crown stripe to be visible on some of them and it isn't...

Bill shape looks ok to me for whimbrel on some of the photos...








But - no medial crown stripe...





And on this one, the bill looks distinctly curlewy..


I'm thinking this is a curlew but would be delighted if anyone says differently! Maybe it was too distant to see the crown stripe clearly?

Also today was this whinchat which was on the ploughed field on the left of the public footpath which runs from Inglenook Farm to Dairy Farm Road. It had me really confused because it was behaving a bit like a wheatear at first and was also quite distant and into the light. It was only when I got home that I worked out (via stonechat!) what it was...






Whinchat 1
Curlew? 1
Shelduck 2
Oysercatcher 3
Wheatear 2 (1m,1f)
Stock Dove 3
Whitethroat 5+ heard along the way
Blackcap 1 heard
Willow Warbler 2 heard
Chiffchaff 1 heard
Skylark 15+
Lapwing 25+

Damian P

Posted by at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )