5 October 2025 - The Wirral
« Newer | Older »c. 15 Leach's Petrels, Storm Petrel, Great Skua, Pomarine Skua, 2 Manx Shearwaters, (Sabine's Gull), Little Gull
Had a great day out with Stuart on the Wirral after strong Westerlies this Friday and Saturday (Storm Anna). We'd originally discussed going on Saturday, but the winds were WSW on Friday, and looking at the wind direction for Saturday and Sunday morning, this seemed to be switching more to WNW. It seems we made the right decision! We arrived at New Brighton at around 08:10 (high tide being around 10:05) and immediately got onto a couple of Leach's Petrels battling their way out of the Mersey Channel. They weren't exactly close, but even with the buffeting of the wind it was possible to make out most of the salient features. We spent the next 2-3 hours there, watching what was coming out of the estuary, and we estimated maybe a dozen or so Leach's. At one point somebody picked out a Storm Petrel, and we watched this as it fluttered right next to a Leach's for comparison! A couple of Manx Shearwaters flew out, as did a stonking Great Skua right up the edge of the shoreline closest to us. Supporting species were a nice first-year Little Gull, an adult Med Gull, at least one Gannet, a Pink-footed Goose and lots of Kittiwakes. There was a Sabine's Gull at one point apparently, and although I saw the bird, it was rather fleeting and distant, so not very satisfactory.
We'd heard that there was a Great Skua near Leasowe Lighthouse, feeding on a corpse on the shoreline, so we then headed there. A short walk along the seawall revealed the bird as described, feeding on what appeared to be a Lesser Black-back corpse. I took some photos and after a while we decided to start heading back, and we'd only gone a few yards when the skua left its meal and landed nearby on the sea. I decided to try approaching it a little closer on the sea, though it was drifting up the shore in the wind, and as I was photographing it, Stuart shouted me to say there was a Leach's going past. I tried to photograph it but couldn't get it in the viewfinder, and then a few seconds later he shouted again about another Leach's, this time much closer. This time I was prepared and rattled off a great many photos (most of which later turned out to be out of focus!). At one point it passed close to the sitting Great Skua, so I was able to get both in one shot, though it just happened that the skua was shaking its head at the time and the petrel was further back, so again out of focus.
Once the Leach's had gone past, I carried on following the skua and trying to catch it up to get some better shots of it on the sea. This I managed, but I'd just decided to call it a day, turned my back, and it took off, flying a short distance, so I missed the opportunity to get it in flight.
We then went to West Kirby, but there were lots of windsurfers on the Marine Lake, so not much chance of finding the Slav Grebe which had been around until a couple of days ago. Heading back up the coast we stopped at a few vantage points, clocking a few more Leach's, and ended up at Leasowe Gunsight car park (where there looks to be a nice cafe and you can park on the beach, apparently, viewing from the car). Climbing up the grassy slope to view, we found out we'd just missed a couple of Great Skuas, but not long after, someone picked out a Skua, and Stu got onto it with his scope, identifying it as a Pomarine. It took me a fair while to get onto it but eventually I did, and was able to follow it in the scope before it moved off to our right and disappeared. A few more Leach's passed offshore from here.
Supporting species along the coast included Raven, Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey Plovers, Ringed Plovers and Sanderling.
Having had our fill, and feeling somewhat wind-blown, we decided to call it a day and head home. However on the way back we suddenly made a decision to call in at Frodsham to try to boost our day list. We'd planned to try to drive around the tracks around the meadows but actually ended up at the Weaver Bend, a real blast from the past. There's a footpath from where you can park, which takes you to the Bend and overlooks 'Frodsham Marsh Pool'. It turned out to be quite good for a brief visit; we saw good numbers of Stock Doves in the ploughed fields, at least 4 Little Egrets, 2 Great White Egrets, Marsh Harrier and a couple of Ravens, as well as Kestrel and some possible Yellowhammers.
All in all, a great day's birding!
Leachs Petrel , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640 (view full size image)
Leachs Petrel , 1/2000 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640
Leachs Petrel , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640
Leachs Petrel , 1/2000 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640
Bonxie , 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 400 (view full size image)
Bonxie , 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 400 (view full size image)
Bonxie , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640 (view full size image)