Tag Archives: birds
A Dispatch from the Depths
Or a wallow in the mire… Look away now if misery memoirs aren’t your thing… (Normal service will be resumed…)
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Tagged allotment, birds, despair, magpies, nature, one for sorrow rhyme, silent spring, tenacity
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A Good Friday’s Birding
On a glorious Good Friday, I visited a new (to me) birding site with a friend. Target species: yellowhammer – another species in rapid decline, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog (https://wordsanddeeds.co.uk/not-the-bird-we-were-looking-for/). The reasons are numerous: farmers sowing crops … Continue reading
Within Way and Hale Shore, 14th February 2023
The weather forecast had promised another beautiful sunny day, so I had made plans to re-visit Within Way and Hale Shore; however, the morning dawned cold, grey and misty – but I still went out, wondering if much would be … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birds, grey partridge, Hale, Hale lighthouse, Hale shore, nature, walking, Within Way
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Royden Park and Thurstaston Hill, 13th February 2023
On a beautiful February morning, I headed over the water to the Wirral and Royden Park – which is more of a parkland and woodland than your standard urban park. There’s a walled garden and a miniature railway, and a … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birds, nature, Royden Park, Thurstaston Hill, walking, Wirral
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An Early February Walk around Speke Hall and Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve
It is a beautiful early February morning of azure, cloud-free sky and a silvery frost on the ground, and after seeing a raven yesterday I have a desire to go and visit the pair that call Speke Hall their home, … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birds, frost, Mersey, ravens, Speke Hall, Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve, spring, wild
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Parkgate High Tide Watch, 24th January 2023
On a beautiful late January morning, I headed to Parkgate on the Wirral for the high tide watch: the spring tide would be around the 10-metre mark at 1pm, although with the weather conditions (specifically, no wind) it would not … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birds, Hen Harrier Action, lesser redpoll, nature, Parkgate
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Birding at Calderstones Park, 21-22 January 2023
It was a game of two halves, birding at Calderstones Park last weekend: the weather on the Saturday was awful – freezing cold, very dull – whilst on the Sunday it had improved, but the birds were out in force … Continue reading
Phew! I Saw the Smew!
Having unexplainably passed up the chance to be driven in comfort to see the handsome male smew (Mergus albellus) that had just been spotted at Lapwing Hall Lake in Chelford, Cheshire, the opportunity to make my own way there after … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birds, Cheshire, confidence, Lapwing Hall Lake, nature, smew, wildlife
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Winter Solstice Birding along Within Way and Hale Shore
Wednesday, 21st December 2022 – the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year; soon, the evenings and mornings will be lighter and the birds will be singing and courting again. For now, though, I am making the most of … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birds, brambling, golden plover, Hale, merlin, nature, winter solstice
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The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
As the year comes to an end, I have been thinking about ‘the ones that got away’ in 2022 – birds I haven’t managed to see this year. A notable omission is the Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis). So I thought … Continue reading
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Tagged birds, birdwatching, common crossbill, Lake Vyrnwy, northern goshawk, RSPB, Wales
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